A/N: Ah, back once more for the 58th round. I'm glad I got you guys and gals with me, reading into the final frontier. However, not everything is good news. First off, do not send any requests as to whom the Eighth Child should be. I've already made my choice and that is that.

A/O/N: Zack and Elly managed to blow up the comet which appeared to be the Black Angel. But something came out of nowhere and injured Elly. Now Zack is all alone against whatever is still out there…

"What's the status of the Seventh Child and Unit 06?" asked Ritsuko

"Pilot is alive, but has suffered severe trauma to the upper chest area. Her vitals are in serious danger! She's on the borderline of a cardiac arrest!" reported one technician.

"Her brainwaves are destabilizing!

"Reroute all power to the life support system!" ordered the doctor. "Give her a heart massage now!"

At the doctor's command, the technicians issued a command to Unit 06. As a result, a quick charge went through the LCL of Elly's entry plug, making the pilot's body jump for a moment.

"Pilot's vitals and brainwaves are stabilizing now," reported a technician. "The EVA has landed on a fragment of the comet which is now moving in a lunar orbit around the planet."

Misato didn't need to be told that whatever had attacked Elly was the Black Angel. She probably assumed that the comet itself was nothing more than the demon's armour. Unit 06 had landed on a fragment of the comet that was now in orbit around the planet after it was hit by the attack, its pilot unconscious.

Unit 05 on the other hand, was now in a standoff with what appeared to be the true form of the 6th Black Angel, its true identity been previously concealed by the comet. The Black Angel in question, was probably about as abhorrent as the Angels were in Misato's mind. In contrast to the green EVA, the skin of the Black Angel was red. It appeared to be bulkier than Unit 05 was. Where most of the body minus the forearms and forelegs were red, it appeared to have a large black chest plate to protect where one would assume its core was. One arm had what looked like a long black blade below the elbow, whereas the other arm sported what looked like a black cannon below the elbow. The head was black, and it reminded Misato of a wolverine. And to top it off, huge red wings were spread out, approximately fifty percent longer than its complete arm span.

"So you're one of those Black Angels," said Zack. "What exactly are you trying to do?"

In response, the demon gave off a high-pitched hiss. And for some reason, Zack and Unit 05 in sync began clutching their heads in pain.

"Ack! What the fuck are you doing?" screamed Zack as he felt like something was attacking his mind. But then it came to him. He could suddenly hear a voice in his mind

A fourth time…

It happened three times before…

Thrice it failed to end mankind…

We will do what God cannot…

"Unit 05's pilot's brainwaves are going crazy?" said the chief technician. "It's going to breach his ego-borderline!"

"What's going on?" asked Misato feeling a little left out of this chaos due to the language barrier.

"That Black Angel is attacking his mind somehow," replied a frantic Ritsuko. "It's something similar to the 15th Angel, only it's attack is invisible to the eye!"

"Casanova! Attack!" ordered Misato. "Don't let that thing fry your mind!"

Zack struggled, as the beast kept repeating the same lines in his mind. However, he managed to draw his progressive sword. "You're going down you son of a bitch!" he yelled over the voices in his mind. With a roar from the thrusters of the E-type equipment, Unit 05 charged forward at the Black Angel.

Knowing that the EVA was about to attack it, the Black Angel opened its wings and flew up, dodging the incoming stab from Unit 05. Using its gun arm, it shot more fireballs at Zack.

With the mind attack removed, Zack could fully concentrate. He saw more fireballs coming towards him. Quickly he raised his AT Field, deflecting the blasts. Then he flew up after the demon, sword drawn and ready to take action. The Black Angel noticed this, and prepped its blade arm for melee combat.

Zack knew a bit of Kenjutsu, which was what he planned to teach Elly and maybe Shinji and Toji, and he hoped that could help him take on this bastard that dared harm his loved one. From a faraway view, one could see that the two were clashing blades very quickly.

Ritsuko observed this battle carefully. She had noticed that Zack's sync had spiked since the start of this battle. He usually floated around the low to mid-seventies in terms of sync levels. However, since Elly had gotten hurt badly, his sync had gone up to his personal best of between 88.7 and 89.09. The doctor hoped that Zack would remember what happens

The Sixth Child continued what was a ferocious assault. Zack would attack from left to right at its shoulders. But as easy as it would be for anyone else to block, the demon was having trouble keeping up with this chaotic wave of attacks.

As Zack went for a 360-spin cut, the demon flew up again and shot again at him with a fireball. Big problem was, Zack wasn't ready for a counter offensive, and took the shot in the upper chest.

"FUCK!" he screamed, swearing in English. The pain he was feeling was immense, as the blast felt like it set his entire upper chest on fire. He looked at the demon that now lowered himself down to his level. The Black Angel may be able to see the EVA's eyes, but it would not be able to see Zack's eyes. His eyes were usually full of joy, and always seemed to be waiting in anticipation for a prank or a wisecrack. But now, the only feeling those emerald eyes showed was hatred. He grinded his teeth together to try to ignore the pain, and flew at the Black Angel.

Elsewhere, the man who had been watching the comet getting blown up by Zack and Elly was now watching this fight with great interest as he stood on a satellite orbiting the Earth.

"Ah, it's difficult to forget the excitement of a one-on-one duel," he said. "It is easy to understand why it even gets the lowly humans on the edge of their seats. I can't help but enjoy every minute of this."

"You really must be an evil person to take joy out of other people's suffering," called out a calm voice.

The hooded man turned his head sharply towards where he had heard the voice. Standing on the other side of the satellite, was another human shaped individual. This person who had the appearance of a teenage boy, was wearing gray pants, white sneakers, and a white t-shirt. But he showed no signs of freezing from the absolute temperatures of space. However, the most distinguishable things about this individual were not that he had gray hair, but his red eyes that looked like they could see through another's soul. And to top it all off, he was sporting a gold ring a few inches above his head. It was Tabris, known best by Shinji as Kaoru Nagisa, the 17th and last Angel in the Dead Sea Scrolls.

"Ah Tabris, so good of you to join us. Well somebody has to cheer for the EVAs." The man let out a chuckle. "But you must understand that you are in no position this time to manipulate events as you did while you were alive."

"I do not need to manipulate anything," replied Tabris as he turned to view the fight. "The events are already being set in motion, with or without my interference. Things are going as God plans it too, as through me and then through Shinji, humanity was given the chance it needed to survive. You must realize that your actions are only postponing God's will. A lowly Angel cannot halt His will. And especially one as low as you. And I know He will see to it that you will fail."

"Don't make me laugh," replied the hooded man. "These human beings have had thousands of chances to turn towards God. But have they? To a small extent, I may admit yes. But on a large scale, no. Some even hate God and forsake his flawed teachings. That is why they turn away from him and seek out new destinies that they themselves will forge."

"I see you still have your ignorance about you," said Tabris. "Thus is why you were cast out of Heaven so very long ago." Now was his chance to chuckle. "You may not be able to comprehend this, but I feel you must know so that there is even a narrow hope of redemption: you may try to initiate your plans, but there is no doubt in my mind that you will fail." And with that, he faded away.

"We shall see Tabris, we shall see…"

Elsewhere…

"What hit me?" muttered Elly, as she slowly awoke from her previously unconscious state. As she tried to raise her EVA to her feet, a stab of pain coursed through her upper chest. "Oww!" she moaned. She looked up. Up there, she saw her love, Zack trying his best to hold his own against the Black Angel. But she had a sense that wouldn't hold on much longer.

Despite the pain she was in, she paged a call to Dr. Akagi. "Doc? You there?"

Everyone else was so busy watching the fight that they had somewhat stopped paying attention to Elly once her vitals had stabilized. Dr. Akagi quickly switched the com over to Elly. "Elly. How do you feel?" she quickly asked.

"Can you cut down my sync ratio mate? Maybe it'll stop my chest from feeling like it's on fire!"

At Elly's request, her sync was cut down to 40. "Okay Elly, we've cut your sync down, so it won't hurt as badly. And we've routed power back to your combat functions." Said Ritsuko. "But you need to really concentrate to use the E-type equipment. Now go help Zack."

Elly finally managed to raise Unit 06 to its feet. With a roar, Unit 06 took off after the Black Angel. Drawing her progressive sword, and remembering what Zack taught her, she zoomed in.

Zack on the other hand, was now on the defensive. That one injury had hurt him bad. He figured he could move fast enough to parry the Black Angel's attacks, but would not be able to resume an offensive assault as he usually did. His limited knowledge of Kenjutsu was not helping very much. If only an x-factor came into the equation, could come Zack's chance to attack once more.

And as he blocked the next attack, he saw it out of the corner of his eye. And apparently, the demon didn't notice it. So Zack decided to lure the beast into a trap. As the Black Angel tried to push Zack's sword into him, Zack waited as long as he could, and the shouted, "NOW!"

With a surge of strength, he pushed the Black Angel away, creating some distance between them. It seemed confused for a moment, only to not know what hit it next. Unit 06 slammed into its side with a body check and then slashed at its side with its progressive sword.

"Elly! Are you okay?" asked Zack.

"I'm fine mate!" replied Elly. "Now I know why you Canadian hockey players love to hit! That was fun!"

"Well Elly. Let's finish this bastard off so we can go home," said Zack.

"YEAH!"

And with that, the two pilots sped off after the Black Angel. The demon quickly found itself surrounded, and parrying two attacks at the same time. After suffering a few slashes from both EVAs, it backed off.

"I think we're getting him," declared Zack. "It's getting nervous."

"Let's keep going!" said Elly who started to roar after him again. Sword in front of her, she went straight for the overhead cleave, trying to force him to move. She remembered to control its central line, as it would mean controlling the battle. As a result, it moved to her right and out of the way.

"AHA! Now you're mine!" the Australian boasted. However, she didn't realize she was being led into a trap. But she saw it too late. She saw the left arm come up, and it was pointed right at her.

Zack could only watch as the Black Angel shot off both her wings, one shot to the EVA's chest, and another to the face. As he went after the two, he could hear Elly's screams of pain over the com.

Right as the demon was about to finish Elly off with its blade arm, it was suddenly shot by something. It looked to its left to see Zack with a pellet pistol out, emptying its rounds into its body. As it roared out in pain, Zack wasted no time in delivering a drop kick to its body, propelling it our deeper into space.

Once the Black Angel was out of the way, Zack quickly tended to Elly. "Elly are you okay? Speak to me!"

"Zack… I'm sorry…" she struggled to say over the pain.

"Shh. Just relax. It's okay. You're going to be okay," said Zack. Quickly thinking, he opened up a com to Ritsuko. "Doc, can you sedate Elly? There's no way she can fight anymore. And if she gets hit again, I have my doubts she'll be able to handle it. I'm gonna have to wing this alone."

There was a silence for a moment, before the blonde replied, "Understood. Increase the LCL pressure to sedate the pilot of Unit 06. And reroute all power to her life support system."

It took a few moments, but Elly's tense breathing turned into a calm rhythm. The Sixth Child took this chance to move Unit 06 to a fragment of the comet still floating around. He laid it down on the rock. "There you go Elly. You did great today. More than I could ever ask of you. So just rest for now. You've earned it, and I'll see you again when this is over."

He heard a sound coming from behind him. It was the Black Angel. Likely recovered and back to retaliate for what Zack did a few minutes ago. Zack looked at the Black Angel with even more hate than he had before. 'What is the purpose of these Black Angels? To cause nothing but suffering? Everyone we've come across who associates with these things only end up suffering in the end. And now this thing has made Elly, my love suffer. I'm gonna destroy this thing!'

Looking at Unit 06, he noticed something. Elly's progressive sword. At this sight, Zack's face went from hatred to a wicked confidence.

At the command center, one technician was shocked at the results he saw. "Doctor Akagi! You better come see this!"

"What's the problem?" the doctor asked as she looked over the technician's shoulder.

"It's Pilot Harper's sync. It's reading 100!"

The Black Angel noticed the green and pink EVAs were on a rock. The green one's back was to it. So it decided to take this chance to attack while they weren't looking. Pointing its cannon at the two EVAs, it fired a shot in hopes of finishing them off.

However, it did not expect what happened next. Almost immediately after it fired a shot, Unit 05 jumped up and roared after the Black Angel at alarming speed. Unit 05 noticed the fireball coming, and covered the sword with its AT Field. With one swing, the attack was easily deflected away. However, this time, Unit 05 was holding two progressive swords.

Zack was swinging both swords wildly. The Black Angel was indeed having difficulty deflecting this new barrage of chaotic attacks. Unit 05 would make some slash attempted, only then to attempt a flip or a spin slash. Zack at first kept his attacks repetitive, but then made a change in his patterns. It would attack with the left, than the right while spinning to the left to come back around and swing with the left, only to come back the other way with the right hand sword. The Black Angel managed to block all four attacks. It expected a fifth attack to come from the other side. But it was wrong. Zack decided to complete his second revolution and it was a stab with his left hand, successfully catching it right in the right eye.

As the Black Angel tried to backpedal in the pain it was in and bring its arms to cover the wounded eye, Zack took this chance to slash at its arms, successfully cutting off the blade arm and gun arm. The Black Angel began to bleed furiously from the serious injuries.

"Now die you bastard…" muttered Zack before screaming, "Z ULTIMA!"

It had no chance to defend itself from the psychotic flurry of slashes coming from the green EVA. Off went its arms, blood spewing out of them and into space. Next went a leg, only causing the demon to scream in more pain.

"SHUT UP!" yelled Zack as he thrust a sword into its mouth, and then stabbed at the chest plate. With the maxed out sync ratio, the sword went through the chest plate, and into its core. With a final roar, it lit up and then exploded.

Everyone watched on, as Unit 05 emerged from the explosion, unharmed by it at all. They watched as Unit 05 picked up Unit 06, and proceed towards the planet to enter its atmosphere.

Ritsuko didn't even get the chance to tell them the procedure. But then again, perhaps it wasn't necessary anymore, as Zack's sync was still at maximum and his AT Field was protecting both him and Elly who was unconscious in Unit 06. Once they both landed outside NERV HQ in Florida, everyone gave a rousing cheer, and they had successfully defeated the Black Angel, and both pilots returned home in one piece.

"Whew," said Zack. "I don't wanna do that again for a long time," he muttered before passing out from exhaustion.

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Zack didn't want to wake up at first, but eventually, he decided to finally awaken. He felt someone holding his hand. So he turned to see who it was. Turns out it was his guardian, Misato. He assumed he was in a hospital judging by his surroundings. "Hey," he muttered. "So if you're here, then I must've won right?" he asked as he struggled to sit up.

Misato mirrored his smile. "Yes you did Casanova. You won the battle. And best of all, you kept your promise to Elly and myself." She wrapped him in a hug. "I'm so proud of you Casanova," she said through choked tears.

"I'm so proud of me too," replied Zack.

"Hey Misato! Don't crush him till there's nothing left of him!" called a voice from the hospital room door. Both pilot and guardian looked to see who it was. It was Elly, who then jumped immediately into Zack's arms when she got the chance.

"Well it's good to see they're doing well," said Ritsuko as she entered the room. "I say give them a day or so to recuperate, and we can go back to Japan."

Misato decided to give them some time alone with each other once they started kissing, and motioned for Ritsuko to leave as well. 'Some things never change,' she thought to herself. 'I wanna go see Kaji…'

A/N: And that ends the battle against Nebuchadnezzar! Next time, we'll see many funny things. Things such as something coming back to haunt Zack. But is it what he thinks it is. Also coming up soon is the introduction of the Eighth Child. And best of all, the long awaited Gendo Ikari vs. Coach Thunder battle for the Heavyweight Bastard Champion of the World! Until 59, be cool!