The red monster stood in the circle of the executioners
The grey arbitrator could only observe with awe, as the last breath of the Hero gave birth to that creature.
The screeching sound of its scream, made the executioners tremble, and the prolonged funeral for Asuka became instead a real battlefield.
The EVA 02, with pink, steaming flesh covering the previous injuries, started moving faster and faster. A head crushed, a mouth widened to the point of destruction, limbs broken, bodies tear apart. The pieces of the EVA series that assaulted Asuka were scattered around the lake, while Kaworu watched the scene.
" A futile fight to the end of the world. A fitting metaphor of humankind will to live perhaps, but seeing the fight being this brutal really represents mankind history in its fullest. Every man, fighting the other to stay survive, leaving only trails of destruction"
A shot reached for him in that moment. From afar, Unit05 was shooting with a giant rifle. That shot would have been devastating if it was not for Kaworu AT field. But Mari didn't give up, and she just kept shooting and shooting, every time she pressed the trigger the aim went a little off.
"She's just rage shooting as of now.I think I made her mad."
Kaworu smirked while watching towards the EVA, which was kilometers away from him. Mari and Kaworu were not really communicating, but Kaworu still watched toward her, amused by her rage. Mari was not the type of girl to be consumed by rage. She was instead the kind of fighter which was fueled by that emotion. And she just took Kaworu attention toward her, as a gamble. The only way to beat a being like Kaworu, was to put all her faith in something that was not sure to happen. And luckily for her, a certain monster was smiling at her gamble.
While Kaworu redirected the AT field towards Mari, Asuka's 02 shifted its attention. The slaughter of the EVA series was halted, and the 02 directed its focus toward Kaworu and grabbed him with its right hand while the boy for just a second showed a surprised face.
"That was a distraction…what a choice. To gamble on a berserk unit."
The Eva series started to regenerate and attacked Unit 02, but its grasp was firm, and its stance was unshaken. The 4 red leds of the Unit were shining, and Kaworu was their only focus.
Even if the enemies were trying to chomp on its exposed flesh, Asuka's EVA was not flinching, and after some moments, an unexpected voice came out.
"She gambled on me, not on the berserker unit"
"Lilin? You're still conscious?"
"Yeah, I surpassed your barrier without losing myself."
"Hmpft, it seemed like you surrender yourself to madness, and tried to survive by letting instincts take control. After all, that Evangelion has quite a genetical bond with you, he should reply to your instincts."
"The Evangelion is a tool, the pilot is what makes it move."
"So, that aggressive, brutal behaviour, that was all yours. You were that monster"
"I suppose you can say that"
"And by becoming a monster you plan to save yourself. Is it different from letting your primordial instincts go wild."
"Yeah, after all, this is my choice"
The grasp tighte suddendly, a splat of blood dirtied the hands of EVA 02. The ruthless pilot just eradicated another hindrance. The EVA series were still regenerating and attacking Asuka, but with Kaworu out of the picture, Mari could focus on taking on the other enemies and helped Asuka freeing herself.
"Good job princess, that dickhead had what he deserved"
"Your signal was on point, I don't like to ask this, but can you handle those guys? They won't regenerate if you broke their core, like the Angels. But the core is really small, you need to search for that. I stopped a couple of them, but I don't know exactly where the core is"
"No worries, without the barrier of that broken guy I can take them."
Mari clacked her rifle and shot a EVA series that had just gotten up.
"That's the best job for me. But how will go in there? Isn't that thing immaterial?"
"I'll find a way"
Asuka ran inside the white giantess, trying to grab on her body only to fail.
"There must be a way"
She had no ideas on how to proceed, so she started doing what her guts told her to. She expanded the EVA AT Field, she started to feel the giantess body as a presence around her. She knew she could become one with it, so she expanded the field as much as she could, as much as her Unit could. Inside the cockpit Asuka closed her eyes, as she tried to include everything in her AT field,until she felt something, she felt like she had touched someone with her field. So she opened her eyes, and she was not on the EVA anymore.
She was on a train.
The chaos around her was gone, instead her eyes stared a toward a familiar face. A friendly face.
"R…Rei?"
"So, in the end you're calling me by name"
"Rei, where were you? What were you doing on with the commander? Why you started this?"
"Sorry…I don't know. I was not with the commander today, and I don't even know exactly what's happening on the outside"
"So…where are we?"
"That is something I could know. Not in details, but I think this train is connected to what's happening outside."
Asuka watched her surrounding, the cold train was moving but it was not possible to see outside the windows
"You know, I met Shinji here twice, I think this place is connected to all of us since the incident of the Tenth Angel"
"So Shinji was here all this time…"
Asuka watched Rei straight in her eyesits
"Rei, what is this place?"
"Kaworu said this is the train to the promised land. But I think this is fate. We're moving towards the place where humanity fate will be decided, and the promised land will be the one Shinji chose."
"And you know what will he chose?"
"I'm not sure. I pushed him out of here before, thinking that will save him. But the fact you're here tells me that outside the situation is not good"
"Well, it's not. I entered here by expanding my AT field inside a giantess body which appeared in Neo Tokyo, and I think Shinji's on top of her."
"Maybe, to reach Shinji, you need to exit this train too."
"Let's hope that's the right way"
Asuka approached one of the open doors, then stopped and said to Rei
"You're not coming? Doors open"
"The door is closed"
"No, I see it, it's open"
"I think we are not seeing the same door"
"How is that possible?"
"I think I was chosen to foresee the fate train. Shinji was initially here, and I pushed him out, so I think he'll need to come back to decide the destination. And I'm here until then, ideally he would have been here until the time came, but I think my connection with him messed Kaworu's plan up."
With a serious face Asuka stared towards Rei
"I'll come for you after I'll fix this up with Shinji"
"We'll see each other at the right time then"
Said that, Asuka stepped out, and she found herself in her EVA, but she was not on the lake, inside the giantess- She was on the top of the giantess. A bright cross was in front of her, at the center of the cross was EVA-01. A red field on the giantess severed head was about to become the stage of the final confrontation, and the fate of the world was to be decided amidst the blazing petals of the the red twilight.