Creation began on 09-27-18

Creation ended on 03-17-19

Neon Genesis Evangelion

Sword of Destruction, Sword of Life: Sword of Death, Sword of Hatred

"…You've been a bit guarded, Shinji," said Asuka to the amateur swordsman as they walked down to the NERV base.

"I woke up earlier than I intended to and got a bad feeling that something bad is going to happen soon."

"Like another Angel?"

"No…but it may be something that might be just as bad as an Angel."

As they walked into the pyramid-shaped building, neither teen were aware of the danger they were walking into.

-x-

"…I'll take them," went Gendo to the walking corpse in front of him, wielding two swords that appeared much larger than the ones Shinji possessed.

"They must take you," the corpse responded, and then handed him the two swords; the revenant, having bypassed NERV's security, sought out Gendo and offered him the swords that would rival the two his son was bestowed…but only if he was willing to pay the required tribute to unleash their true strength against him.

And Gendo, full of hatred, of malice and his conviction to want his son to suffer for his own arrogance (as if Shinji even possessed any actual arrogance), accepted the price he would have to pay for the power to achieve his goal.

The Sword of Hatred, the Tokijin, forged from the fangs of a mind-reading oni, augmented Gendo's already-present hatred towards Shinji and those that believed in him more than the Eva, and the Sword of Death, Sounga, unleashed from within him his pent-up hatred towards this God-given world, wanting to see it end.

"AH-HA-HA-HA!" Gendo laughed maniacally, as if he had finally gone off the deep end, which he pretty much did.

-x-

Gasp! Shinji felt like something big just happened within the building.

"What is it?" Asuka asked him.

"Something is coming," he responded.

The alarms went off and alerted the personnel present of whatever it was that set them off.

Suddenly, from around the corner, three men in NERV uniform came by, but they were staggering, their faces and hands covered in blood.

"Asuka, turn back the other way," Shinji told the redhead as his swords manifested in his hands. "Get outta here! Now! Go!"

Whatever these three men were for NERV, they weren't any longer, as their eyes were completely devoid of color, and their bodies stank of a foul odor that Shinji was certain he had recognized somewhere before. As Asuka turned to run back the other way, she found her path blocked by three more men that looked like they had seen better days.

"Shinji, what's wrong with these people?" She asked him.

"I think they're dead, Asuka," he realized as Tenseiga started pulsating, but they're moving. How are they still moving?

He swung his sword and unleashed a wave of light at the walking corpses…and they stopped moving as their proper colors returned. They fell to the ground and groaned as they came to.

"…Commander Ikari…that sword…a dragon…fire and brimstone!" One of them yelled.

Shinji turned around and swung Tenseiga again at the other three men that cornered Asuka, restoring them back to life.

"…That sword…all of his hatred…trapped in the darkness…" One of them uttered, looking at Shinji and Asuka. "We gotta get out of here. Commander Ikari has gone crazy! He's…he's killing people down here with a sword that compels him to do so!"

"Aaaaahh!" They heard a woman's scream from further down the hallway.

"Y'all get outta here," Shinji told them as he ran towards the screaming.

-x-

It was like something out of a nightmare. The last thing Misato and Ritsuko realized as they were approaching Gendo's office was that the door blew right off and said man came out, wielding two large swords as his body glowed a dark red. They ran, but he paid them no mind; it was as though he had other intentions in mind…and started swinging his swords at the people that were unfortunate to be close by for him to hack at.

Gendo had never felt such exhilaration. The energy coursing through his body was unlike anything he had ever experienced before. It was like a drug…and he'd become addicted to the power. He would soon confront Shinji…and send him straight to Hell for his disobedience to his scenario that was to bring himself and Yui back together again.

You're not the only one that has received power, you brat, he thought, using Tokijin to cut in half a female personnel member, walking past her as she bled from the waist down.

-x-

A sword that compels people like my father to kill other people, thought Shinji as he ran towards his father's office. Is there such a sword capable of this? Where did he get a sword like that? Unless it has demonic origins, I don't see any other explanation for this turn of events.

Your father must've crossed paths with Sounga, he heard one of the two previous wielders of his swords suggest to him.

Sounga? Who is Sounga? He asked the older half-brother that once wielded Tenseiga.

Sounga is the third sword our father once possessed…and is the most dangerous one ever to have existed, representing Hell itself.

Against either Tessaiga or Tenseiga, it would be stronger than them, he heard the younger half-brother say to him, but against both, its power diminishes. You have both, so you can prevail, but you must be careful. There is a level of hatred emanating from him that might not be from Sounga at all.

If anything, this hatred may be the result of Tokijin, the elder half-brother suspected.

So, my father has two swords like I do.

Upon reaching the outside of his father's office, Shinji found Misato and Ritsuko on the floor, unconscious but alive. He got them up and set them against the wall on their right before leaving them to pursue his father. If the old man really did have Sounga and Tokijin in his possession, then he was more than likely being played by the former sword manipulating his inner darkness; there was nothing worse than anyone with a weapon of power being controlled by it instead of the other way around. To have power over the weapon was to demonstrate your will was stronger than any influence it might've had over you.

Sounga and Tokijin, he thought, running past the dismembered bodies of other personnel workers. Oh, dear… Tenseiga can't grant eternal life, but now that it can bring the dead back until they have lived full lives and regenerates their maimed bodies so that they can function normally. Please be patient, people. I will bring you all back.

BLAST! The sound of an explosion rattled the halls and alerted Shinji to where his father might've been within the base now: Central Dogma.

-x-

"Rise, my minions," went Gendo, raising Sounga high above himself within Central Dogma. "Rise from the dead and serve me!"

From Sounga, a viscous liquid began to ooze out and spread across the floor, covering the bodies of those slain by either said sword or by Tokijin. The magical properties of the sword's fluids corrupted the flesh of the slain, rejuvenating them, but rendering them soulless, being animated by the will of the person wielding Sounga. They began to get up and make snarling sounds as they walked away. There were at least forty-seven for now, but Gendo intended to create more soulless minions to do his bidding.

"Father!" He heard the voice of his son as he stepped into the chamber. "What have you done?!"

"I don't have to justify my choices to you."

Shinji looked at the swords his father was holding and recognized them from the memories of his swords' previous owners.

"Sounga and Tokijin," he uttered. "You have no idea how dangerous those two are! You have to let go of them right now!"

"Oh, you'd like that, wouldn't you, Third Child?"

"Do you really want to go there? I'm not an Eva pilot, anymore. I'm just a fourteen-year-old with a pair of swords that wants to see people enjoy life without the Eva."

"And I'm a man that wants nothing more than to see you dead right now."

"Do you really think it'll be worth it, to kill me…just because I chose to stop piloting the Eva…or is it just because you hate me more than your words can describe?"

Gendo then took out the other sword, Tokijin, and jumped from his would-be throne atop Central Dogma and landed atop the MAGI, staring down at Shinji with relentless hatred.

"There aren't enough words in the world to describe how much I despise you for merely breathing with every second you're in my presence," he told his son.

Shinji raised his right hand as the Tessaiga changed into its dragon-scaled form. He had seen it in action before, but didn't have much practice with it due to the fact that there weren't many demonic weapons of which to fight against. The Dragon-scaled Tessaiga was a sword that specialized in cutting away at the demonic energy of all demon-related beings and weapons, rendering them ineffective against its wielder.

"Please," he begged his old man, "as much as I hate you for almost causing Toji's death, for forcing me to pilot a robot that could send me to my grave earlier when I could've cared less about what was going on…but don't make me have to fight you. Don't make me kill you."

"You couldn't kill me, even if you wanted to, boy," Gendo remarked, clearly unintimidated by his son, and then jumped off the MAGI towards him, Tokijin brandished in front of them.

CLASH! Tessaiga and Tokijin collided blades and reminded Shinji of the old memories of Tessaiga's previous owner when he had clashed with the Sword of Hatred.

"Aaaaurgh!" Shinji grunted, feeling the pressure from Tokijin, augmented by his father's rage.

"Die!" Gendo yelled at him as the blade of Tokijin started emanating a violet-red glow.

The Dragon-scaled Tessaiga started absorbing the glow into itself; it was demonic energy, so the Sword of Destruction, a guardian of mortals, could absorb the energy to protect Shinji.

"Our swords may be demonic in nature, but where we differ with them is how we choose to use them!" Shinji uttered. "While the purpose of any blade will always be to cut whatever's in front of them, the reason behind why they do so can vary, and mine is to protect those that matter more than I do. Do you have someone to protect, Father?! Do you?!"

"Do you have someone to protect?" Father and son both heard the old voice of the demon that once wielded three of the four swords between them when he had asked his eldest son prior to his death. "Do you have someone to protect?"

I have people to protect so that they can one day enjoy life without the Eva, thought Shinji as he forced Gendo backwards with Tessaiga, strengthened by his resolve to protect the people. No matter what happens to me right now, I will protect them from you, Father!

I have no one to protect! Gendo accepted as his conviction; because his wife was no longer in his life, he had nobody that was worth protecting and no reason to go on beyond wanting to reclaim her from the deity he held responsible for creating such an imperfect world with flawed people.

The reanimated corpses surrounding them couldn't get close to Shinji due to the energy radiating from their swords; if they got any closer to them, they'd be ripped to pieces without warning.

Shinji removed his left hand from Tessaiga's hilt and summoned Tenseiga. He could see the pall-bearers surrounding each of the revenants, revealing that, although they'd been reanimated by Sounga, they could still be saved.

"With the Tenseiga, I renew you to life!" He yelled, swinging the sword at the corpses behind himself, unleashing a white wave of energy.

The corpses became afflicted with life energy as the pall-bearers were wiped away from them, losing their necrosis and decomposing features, restored to life once again.

"Run!" Shinji yelled to them, reminding them of who killed them was still present and could do so again. "Tell everyone else to get out of here! Go now!"

They did as instructed and abandoned the chamber.

"You're only delaying the inevitable!" Gendo yelled.

"I'm cherishing life!" Shinji responded, and managed to slam his father against a wall. "Protect those that matter to you, and the life you lead becomes worth having!"

"You're wrong! Everything in this world exists only to be taken away once given to you! The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh! So long as God exists, everyone will suffer! Why can't you understand that, understand me, what I'm trying to achieve here?!"

"We just can't understand each other if we've never spent any quality time together! You never say anything nice to me, and you expect me to understand you?! You, who have now made the worst mistake of your life, just to pursue some pointless vendetta you have against me, against whoever this God you blame for your faults or the faults of others, and you think I'll understand why you did it?! If you can't be honest with others about yourself, to bare your soul out to them, to express what pains you, they will never understand you! I will never understand you! I wouldn't, even if I tried to, and I see no reason with someone that wants me dead!"

To be continued…

A/N: I had forgotten how far I had gotten with this chapter, and decided to finish it today. It may seem short, but we all know that Rome wasn't built in a day. Patience yields great rewards to those that have it. In the meantime, tell me what you think. Peace.