Ramiel, the Thunder of God, the Fifth Angel glided in the air towards it's target.
The Remains of the White Moon still echoed in the remote world's noosphere, and Ramiel was drawn to it like a moth to flame. It had no need to move with swiftness- It's target would not escape it.
Ramiel's reach enveloped the stars, and the Remain was trapped in its cradle.
Indeed, the Hated spawn of Lilith came to Ramiel, to defend the Original Invader, as a swirling portal opened just between the massive floating Angel's optimal ranges- Between where a higher-power projectile would not reliably hit, and where a shorter-ranged barrage might lose effectiveness. However, in a range where Ramiel's intermediate forms would deal damage.
It would not matter, as Ramiel had no blind spots-
The Angel paused for a nanosecond as the singular Spawn of Lilith was reinforced by two others, and the Spawn were carrying a Abomination in a throne made of metal and wire- Alongside the Remains, trapped in a world within a world.
Ramiel's life-soul lurched to a new conclusion: That the Liln had allied with Abomination, the One Outside the Cycle- nay, submitted themselves to it.
The renewal would not come- The Great Plan was led astray by the Abomination.
Yet, the scent of White Moon wafted from the soul-construct of the Abomination, driving Ramel's mind to rage.
There would be no quarter.
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The portal vomited all three EVA's in combat-formation, Unit-00 slamming it's slab-shield against the ground with harmonious, well-prepared motions and Unit-01 placed the barrel of the Positron Rifle on it's shoulder so that Uni-02 could use the EVA as a bipod of sorts.
Momonga drank tea from a flask as he sat on a white plastic garden chair fused into the 'stock' of the Positron Rifle.
EVA Unit-02 charged the rifle… and the massive Angel fired a beam at the trio of EVA's.
"[Maximize Magic: Anti-Magic Barrier]" Momonga decided to be helpful and cast a protective wall against the incoming blast, well aware that the barrier wouldn't hold but it would at least blunt the Angel's attack so that the slab-shield would not be disintegrated from a single hit.
True to Momonga's predictions, the incoming shot pierced through the barrier but failed to do much more than splash against Unit-00's shield, as the barrier had taken much of the projectile's energy.
"HOOAA! TAKEE THIIISSS! DIEEEE!" Asuka's scream came through an earpiece that allowed Momonga to talk with all three EVA pilots, and Momonga cleaned his other ear for a while as his ear started to ring.
'Young people are so loud nowadays… Shouting gives no tactical advantage whatsoever… Then again, she's a chuunibyou so I should be thanking my luck she's not-' Momonga though but his thoughts were interrupted.
"ASSUUUKAAA SHOOOOOTTTOOOO!"
'-That she's not shouting out corny attack names. Ugh.' Momonga covered his face with his hand as Unit-02 crouched to lift the gun's barrel towards the massive Angel and fired instantly.
The Angel fired its second energy projectile at the same time as Unit-02 fired the Positron Rifle, and the two shots entwined eachother mid-flight to throw both off their mark- Unit-02's shot landing in the sea, and Angel's shot landing near the original concrete-trench firing position in the distance.
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"Guh!" Misato's head slammed against the table of the temporary operations-command vehicle as the Angel's shot landed a few miles away, causing the entrenched support staff and vehicles to get knocked flat on the floor or toppled over by the shockwave and earthquake of the blast- Followed by a loss of a few trucks and even some armored vehicles to rain of rocks and debris that the shot had launched to the air.
"What happened?" Misato demanded as soon as she picked herself up from the floor.
"The Angel fired at the same time as Unit-02! Both missed due to resonance!" Maya answered as she had her laptop on her lap."The shot took out a communications car, we've lost communication with the EVA's until we get the backup antenna-car up! All umbilical cables severed- Unit-00 at three minutes of operational effectiveness due to exertion, Unit-01 at five minutes, and Unit-02 at five minutes! Unit-02 is loading another fuse into the Positron Rifle!"
"And the energy levels?" Misato demanded.
"Report from the Positron Rifle's computer before the communications were cut off shows that the capacitors are charged already!" Maya told her. "Sheesh… S2 Organs are amazing…"
"...Asuka, don't screw this up!" Misato bit her lip as she looked at one of the screens in the command-vehicle's interior that showed interior footage of Asuka's pale face, frozen in screen to show the last view the communicator had of the pilots.
As well as Second drinking tea from a thermos as if he was on a picnic in his garden-chair.
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"But I had the gun aimed straight at its core! This isn't fair! Everyone keeps getting in my way…" Asuka complained to herself as she maneuvered her beloved Unit-02 to load another fuse into the rifle, and almost dropped the truck-sized red cylinder as ground shook when another shot landed on Unit-00's shield, this time causing the slab-shield to lose a huge chunk of metal that splashed all over the mountainside forest from where the EVA units were engaging the massive Angel, that in turn was floating above the central basin between the hilly and mountainous terrain.
The red-hot metal from the slab-shield splashed onto the forest and set it aflame.
"We're relocating. The smoke is hampering our ranged effectiveness." Second's ever-damnably collected voice came from the speaker inside the EVA's Entry Plug. "[Gate]- Go."
A swirling energy portal opened beside the three EVA's, and Unit-01 and Unit-00 moved towards it… And paused as Unit-02 stood her ground.
"Don't look down on me! I can hit it from here!" Asuka growled in anger at Second's snub of her skills. "Shinji! You useless coward! Come back and help me hold the rifle!"
"-What?! Asuka- you- Fine!" Shinji's voice was quaking with fear, but within that fear was anger and frustration as Unit-01 dodged a razor-sharp looking beam from the Angel, which sliced a long vertical slash into the ground, similar to the one that had severed Unit-02's leg and fingers.
Asuka flinched from instinctive fright as she saw Unit-01 nearly suffering the same fate as Unit-02 had just two days prior, thus reminding her of the feeling of getting her leg 'severed' through neural feedback, and she maneuvered Unit-02 to slam the fuse into it's loaded position in the rifle to draw herself away from the memory. "Dammit- Get back, doll! Now!"
"...This is an unwise engagement position." Rei's flat tone was not interrupted by the Sixth Angel's attack landing on the Unit-00's slab-shield.
The attack landed on some sort of crystalline barrier that sprung into existence before the shot could connect with Unit-00's shield, and the shot failed to do much damage on the shield after penetrating the barrier- Until the attack was followed by a barrage of weaker light-projectiles that shred the shield into pieces and forced Unit-00 to throw it's arms in front of it to create a hexagonal, rainbow-like barrier. "...Unit-00. AT-field engaged- Operational time: Fifteen seconds."
"...This is the most unwise tactical decision. I am disappointed, Asuka-san." Second's voice was quite resigned and was followed by a slurp of some sort of liquid. "Ah well. I might have to use one of those again… Haa… Although, I wonder if… Hm…"
"SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP!" Asuka screamed as Unit-02 lifted the rifle again. "ALL OF YOU! JUST SHUT UP AND DO WHAT YOU ARE TOLD! STOP DRAGGING ME DOWN!"
"Asuka-san. Fire on target when the target is still: [Hold Species]- [Scroll of Dispel Illusion]."
Asuka's eyes widened as the Angel's ever-shifting geometric shape suddenly froze, and in the already huge-Angel's place was a massive, city-sized geometric half-star with a red orb in the center.
Unit-02 froze as Asuka felt instinctive fear over confronting something so alien and huge… But she shook it off, spurned by her rage and anger, and she aimed the Positron Rifle at the red orb in the center.
The rifle fired, the shot flew straight and true- Except that the Angel suddenly disappeared before the shot could land.
"This is problematic- It's starting to learn. [Gate]" Second sounded somewhat resigned, and Asuka realized that the swirling portal had appeared below the three EVA's.
Asuka screamed as Unit-02, Unit-01 and Unit-00 fell into the gateway and appeared out of a similar portal that shot them right out against a mountainside in a heap.
"OW! Idiot! Second! Stop getting in my way!" Asuka instantly deflected her miss into anger and pointed a finger at Second's voice-only 'screen' in the heads-up display of her Entry Plug.
"Observe." Second's voice was quite calm and Asuka looked at the man-like shape on top of Unit-02's Positron Rifle, and saw that he was pointing in a direction.
Asuka looked at the direction, and saw that Sixth Angel had appeared above their earlier firing position and had shot it's ridiculously large anti-battleship shot almost point-blank directly downwards, which would have evaporated the clumped-together EVA's with a single shot had they remained in their previous position.
"The Angel seems to have decided to reveal more of its abilities- Namely it's teleportation capability. It was quite expected, after all it ambushed a fleet in the sea- As ridiculous as it sounds." Second advised. "We may have to move for even more risky tactics to ensure that the Angel can't just teleport between the shot being fired and landing. [Hold Species] has diminishing returns, so each time I use it, it'll stun the Angel for shorter and shorter time."
"I got it, it's like a game- Thanks for putting it in a way that we can understand. Ritsuko always uses super complicated words…" Shinji half-thanked half-complained. "Rei?"
Unit-00 had slumped down against the ground.
"Doll?" Asuka sounded uncertain against her will as she looked at the motionless EVA.
"...Emergency battery has been emptied. Life-support battery engaged. Unit-00 is no longer operational." Rei's vocal communication reconnected after a fateful second. "Leave me behind."
"The Angel will destroy Unit-00 if we leave it behind." Second noted. "We can use that as a lure to-"
"No!" Shinji shouted. "Rei- I promised that we'll all get back, and I'd make you tofu, and, and… Dammit I'll do it even if I have to drag Unit-00 with me!"
"This decision is unwise. Second's plan has merit." Rei noted emotionlessly.
However, Unit-01 had already reached down and lugged Unit-00 on one of it's shoulders, skewering the EVA on one of the shoulder-pylons to hook it in place- And at the same time, lifting the Positron Rifle into a firing position for Unit-02. "Asuka- Don't miss!"
"Dammit, I know!" Asuka screeched as Unit-02 loaded another fuse into the two hundred meter long energy sniper-rifle. "Stop telling me what to do!"
"...Attempt three- Asuka, fire when it freezes. [Hold Species]- [Scroll of Dispel Illusion]." Second's voice seemed almost mournful for some reason.
"GRAAAH- ASSSUUKAA SHOOTTOO-" Asuka aimed the Positron Rifle directly at the now-frozen half-star's center-
"Urgh… Stoop with the chuuni…" Second groaned into the mic and Asuka flinched in an attempt to stop what she was doing, based on Second's order, however the shot had already been set in motion and the rifle fired, causing the energy bolt to fly straight and true… only, fifty meters past the Angel's red core.
It penetrated right though the Angel's crystalline structure, however, causing a lakeful of red liquid to splash out from a massive gaping wound in the Angel's structure alongside a high-pitched shriek that caused windows to shatter within hundreds of kilometers of the battle-site.
However, in the next second, the Angel had regained its earlier form, as perfect as it had been when the battle started.
"FUCK- FUCK FUCK FUCKFUCKFUCKFUCK!" Asuka screamed in uncontrollable anger and swatted at Second with Unit-02's arm, causing the interfering Second Angel to get knocked off the rifle while flattening the annoying white garden chair upon which he had sat.
The Second Angel flailed around a bit as the cable connecting the rifle and the Angel's S2 organ within the folds of its cloak prevented it from falling all the way to the treeline below.
"Right, this isn't working- I'm going to charge the rifle one more time. Shinji- Take the rifle. Aim it at the ground, and fire on my mark. I'll trust you- So don't let me down." Second sounded outright paranoid as he spoke. "[Hold Species]. [Drain Mana]."
Unit-02 froze utterly still, and it's emergency battery went from three and half minutes to five seconds.
"What?" Asuka slammed her control-handles forwards within the Entry Plug… But the EVA failed to move. "What- What did you do?! WHAT DID YOU DO TO MY UNIT-02?!"
However, no-one answered her as Unit-01 tossed Unit-00 behind the two EVA's and grabbed the Positron Rifle from Unit-02's hands, and took a fuse from an ammo-bandolier-like fuse-chain tied around Unit-02's waist, and then put the rifle to the side.
Afterwards Unit-01 grabbed both Unit-02 and Unit-00 by the heads, and spun them around itself as if it was trying to tear off their heads with centrifugal force… Only to turn that energy into a huge double-throw to cause the pair of EVA's to spin off in the air to land a few kilometers away, and roll limply downhill away from the battle like dolls with their strings cut.
Meanwhile a barrage of lightning, fire and what looked like a tornado filled with sharks, for some reason, enveloped the Sixth Angel while Asuka screamed her rage at Unit-01 for taking the rifle from her, for humiliating her, for tossing her aside like a broken toy, for Second undermining her at every chance…
And then the lights went out inside Unit-02.
A second later the now-empty emergency battery switched to life-support battery, and Unit-02's Entry-Plug's view turned to harsh red emergency-light.
Asuka was frozen in her pilot-seat for a moment… Before she reached to flip the communications off, the first tears creeped into her eyes, and she curled herself into a ball in her pilot-seat with her knees against her chest. "...I fucked up… I fucked up so bad… I'm sorry, mom…"
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"Suzuki-kun! I'm ready!" Shinji's determined voice came through Momonga's earpiece as Unit-01 racked another fuse into the rifle and pointed it down at its feet, holding the rifle awkwardly from it's middle like a polearm as the two-hundred meter tall rifle was too long to properly shoulder and aim down properly without bending the barrel in the process. "Tell me when!"
"Communications restored- Report! What is going on?!" A third voice entered the conversation as Unit-02 had cut it's communications and Unit-00 had lost power entirely, leaving just Momonga and Unit-01 in the comm-network. "Misato here! We got another comms car online- We still have two Pattern Blue signatures so the Angel is still active, but Units 00 and 02 are out of the comms network! Do we have losses already?!"
"Misato-san! Suzuki-kun has an idea, so don't worry! Everything is under control- We will come back home again!" Shinji sounded confident, but there was a bit of wavering in the voice that told Momonga that the boy was nearing his breaking point.
'That's great and all… But this is still a seriously bad idea… Seriously bad, bad idea…' Momonga had already formulated seven different potential combat strategies by the time Asuka had finished her initial tirade, when she had refused to enter the second [Gate].
However, out of those seven, six required usage of consumable items, and he had already used one of the strategies- Namely, hoping that Asuka had a plan of her own. Which in turn had cost him two [Scroll of Dispel Illusion]s, and had ended in abject failure.
The next strategies would involve the use of even more precious consumables and even cash-shop items, while also utilizing [Staff of Ainz Ooal Gown]- Which, naturally, meant that he relegated the five remaining strategies into strictly 'emergency only use' to the point he'd rather just turn tail and flee than use them.
There was thus only one strategy left, which made him incredibly nervous- Namely, because it was the only one which would have a chance of exposing him to a potentially lethal attack.
However, he decided to go with it as while it was a gamble, he had an ace card just in case Shinji betrayed him. And thus he sent a wave of distraction-spells ranging from [Shark Tornado] to [Dragon Lightning] to [Grand Fireball] in order to occupy the Angel for a while as it had been configuring itself to a devastating one-shot attack.
'However, the Positron Rifle round has travel time, so I should be able to… Hm… The Seal is still active, so the cast time should be instant…' Momonga charged the Positron Rifle with the S2 Organ he had visible inside his cloak, as he had been keeping his Inventory open with the S2 Organ at the forefront so that he could connect a macro-scale 'charging cable' to it without removing the item from his inventory.
He had made the charging cable using [Create Greater Item], and once the Positron Rifle was charged, he used [Break Greater Item] to sever the connection and closed the inventory.
"We lost one of the Pattern Blue signatures! Did we get it?" Misato's voice came from the earpiece.
"No, it's still here… Wait, that means- Suzuki-kun! No!" Shinji's voice suddenly cracked as Momonga teleported right under the Positron Rifle so that the end of the barrel was right beside his face. Although it was more akin to being beside a factory-chimney as the rifle was positively ludicrously big when looked at from such a close range.
"[Grasp Heart]" Momonga motioned towards the Angel in the distance that was recovering from Momonga's barrage of distraction-spells.
The Angel's S2 Organ appeared into Momonga's hand, and the 'configured' firing form in the distance froze up just before it could unleash it's laser, as it had likely intended to fire one similar to the one that had nearly leveled the carrier 'Over the Rainbow'.
"Fire!" Momonga ordered Shinji as the [Grasp Heart] had teleported the Angel's 'heart' or rather, S2 Organ, into Momonga's outstretched hand and thus directly under the Positron Rifle's barrel.
"I- Suzuki-kun, I…" Shinji's resolve seemed to crack, however. "You'll die! I can't-"
"DO IT! Now!" Momonga shouted into his earpiece as he couldn't afford another 'Asuka' moment- After all, if his current strategy failed, he'd be denied a chance to loot the Angel, the Positron Rifle, and would be forced to flee in order to not waste more consumable items on the Angel. Not to mention losing his chance to extort a favor from Gendo. "I'll be alright- Trust me! Fire!"
"I… Suzuki-kun, I- I… I- But, you'll… But if the Pattern Blue already disappeared, then you… You're already… I… I will miss you, Suzuki-kun- But I will do it, for you! FOR VICTORY!" Shinji seemed to snap out of his horror to slam the Positron Rifle down so that the barrel buried the massive S2 Organ into the soil… And fired, point-blank.
Momonga's [Time Stop] released from [Greater Seal], causing everything to freeze utterly still as the flow of time stopped.
'Right. So…' Momonga let go of the S2 Organ that was frozen in time, while the Positron Rifle's point-blank shot was in the middle of hitting the Organ square in the center.
'I can't affect anything right now, since time is stopped, and spells will only be cast once the [Time Stop] ends, which means… It's time to get out of the blast zone.' Momonga nodded to himself and queued a [Teleportation] back to the staging grounds. '...However, that shot would destroy the S2 Organ… Ah well. I'll just have to be content with learning about the Positron Rifle's operation and swipe it back afterwards…'
He had been quite worried that Shinji would backstab him at the last second and try to shoot him instead of the Angel, in which case Momonga would have used the [Time Stop] to just freeze time and flee while leaving the EVA's to take care of the Angel by themselves.
However, it looked like his fears were unfounded.
'Hm… I suppose I should reward loyalty…' Momonga was quite glad that at least Shinji and Rei were performing to his expectations, Shinji's little hiccup notwithstanding. However he'd have to have a talk with Asuka in case joint operations like the current one became usual. '...However, I should be able to leverage Gendo to help me find Nazarick as I've now completed my part of the agreement… Er, unless he argues that the involvement of EVA's means our agreement is not completed agreeably and thus the expected 'payment' is lowered… Hm. I should prepare some leverage, just in case…'
'Having operational EVA's would increase NERV's effectiveness quite trendemously, which means disabling them would give me an upper hand in the negotiations- However, allowing Shinji to die would be quite detrimental when he shows some promise… ' Thusly, Momonga cast a delayed [Nuclear Blast] on the Angel's S2 Organ, figuring that he could just explain it away as the Angel self-destructing like the dildo-like Angel had, and the spell would blow Unit-01 out of the Positron Rifle's splash-zone- And potentially damage the EVA enough to allow Momonga to leverage his position against Gendo.
He, after all, had used the spell on the same EVA once before and it hadn't been enough to destroy it utterly, which meant that EVA and its pilot would likely survive… And if Gendo connected the two, Momonga could just claim that he was trying to protect Unit-01 from destruction due to Positron Rifle's splash-damage.
The explosion might damage the rifle, however, but Momonga was fairly sure he could restore it now that he had better idea of how exactly the rifle worked- Not to mention that Momonga had cast [All Appraisal Magic Item] on the 'completed' rifle when he had connected the S2 Organ to the rifle, giving him a good blueprint to replicate the rifle for his own use even if the original was destroyed.
'Good, good…' Momonga nodded to himself while he let [Time Stop] come to an end…
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Shinji didn't know EVA's could fly.
However, now he knew that such a thing was possible as the explosion that had resulted from him firing down with the Positron Rifle had caused a massive blast wave, turning the mountainside where the conflict had taken place into a flat crater.
"Huuuooogh!" Unit-01 impacted against the ground after a moment of free-fall, and the emergency power ran out.
A huge cross-shaped explosion in the distance told Shinji that the Sixth Angel was gone… And the ruined, near-slag Positron Rifle landed beside Unit-01's head before flopping down like a falling tower and crushing a long strip of forest under its weight.
Unit-01's life-support battery switched on and lit the Entry Plug in deep crimson.
'We… Won?' Shinji's hands trembled in the control-handles of the Pilot Seat. 'I… But… Suzuki-kun… he…'
The grip on the control-handles tightened… And then Shinji slammed his fists against the control-handles while tears streaked down his face and mixed into the LCL. 'Asuka… It's because your bull-headed, idiotic, foolish pride… Suzuki-kun had a plan, all you had to do was to enter the portal-thing… But instead you turned a life-or-death situation into something about your personal pride- it's because of you that Suzuki-san had to sacrifice himself!'
'Kaji said that if Suzuki-kun overloaded the S2 Organ it might break, and with Misato saying that one of the Pattern Blue signatures disappeared…' Shinji slammed his hands against the controls again while shivering in rage and despair. 'I… I wanted everyone to come back home, that we'd all make it… Instead, Rei almost died… Asuka was completely useless… And with Suzuki-kun gone… It's all up to me. And Mari, if she can replace Asuka…'
Shinji curled into a fetal position… Before kicking himself back to a sitting position as he realized what he was doing- Showing weakness, even if no-one was there to see it. 'Suzuki-kun… Your legacy- Your memory, It will be with me, always… Your words, the way you lived by your words… I knew you for such a short time, but… I want to become like you…'
'I… I'm so scared, I'm terrified of those things, Angels… I'm going to die, I know I will die… But if it's like that, if it means I'll save Rei, save Misato-san… I think I'll be alright with it. Was that what you thought as well, Suzuki-kun?' Shinji flopped back on his pilot-seat, feeling as if he had aged ten years in the past fifteen minutes.
However, no matter how hard he tried to shut himself down, how hard he tried to resist the urge to curl up, to resist the rising tide of self-loathing and what-ifs after the battle, he failed.
And thus, when Unit-01's Entry Plug was finally opened from the outside after a few hours, Shinji was still sitting on his seat with his knees against his chest while sobbing in loss and despair.