Allies of the Superwomen of EVA #6: Enchantress and Nightmaster
"While NERV's battle against the creatures code-named 'Angels' began and took place mainly in Tokyo-3, Japan, the rest of the post-Second Impact world wasn't without their own freakish occurrences, be they the result of scientific happenstance...or supernatural activity. Such an instance of the latter took place in a quiet college town on the east coast side of the United States. Two students in particular, kindhearted aspiring fantasy artist June L. Moone and her musician boyfriend Jim Rook, were attending a costume party being held by some of their classmates in an old castle that had been transported from Europe originally as a tourist attraction; Jim and his garage band, "the Electrics", were to be the evening's entertainment. Following their set, Jim noticed June curiously venturing into a hallway within the castle. Upon catching up with her, the two stumbled into a hidden chamber behind a large portrait, which contained a number of unusual-looking objects.
When they reached the center of the room, a crystal ball began glowing with the image of a magical being calling itself Dzamor, who warned the two of an evil presence within the castle-which was revealed to be an 'anchor' between Earth and the mysterious dimension known as Myrra-that would threaten to harm their friends. Dzamor then pointed June towards a means of defeating the entity: a quartet of matching gems, each embedded in, respectively, a brooch, two bracelets, and two belt buckles. On donning these, June was further instructed by Dzamor to say one word, that being the name of the previous owner of the accoutrements, whose spirit was bound to them; on joining with said spirit, June could access the great magical power contained within, enough to fight off the entity. Hesitant at first, a sentiment echoed by Jim, June's wish to protect their friends won out and she uttered the name: "Enchantress". Once said, the spirit of the sorceress in question merged herself with June, garbing her in a new, cloaked outfit and changing her appearance from blue-eyed blonde to green-eyed and black-haired; the Enchantress's selfish, short-tempered, and gluttonous personality (with her great 'love' of money, treasure, and food included) also took over, further worrying Jim. Anticipating this, Dzamor then directed Jim to a weapon hanging on the wall behind the crystal ball: the Sword of Night, wielded by the mighty Myrran warrior Nacht, revealed to be Jim's distant ancestor. Taking the sword (with its ability to warn of danger and force a person to speak the truth) in his hands, Jim was soon clad in the armor of his ancestor, known by the moniker of the "Nightmaster". Dzamor informed Jim that in this way, he would be able to serve as a deterrent to the Enchantress's more darker impulses. Now armed and empowered, the two left the chamber just as the evil entity they were warned about attacked the other party guests. Between Jim's swordplay and June's magical attacks, the creature was defeated and sent back to Myrra; Enchantress then used a spell to wipe the memory of the party guests, making them forget the creature was ever there.
On returning to the chamber while the other guests started cleaning up the party, Jim and June (who had depowered following the memory spell's usage) were given a last word of information from Dzamor, who told them that this wouldn't be the first incursion from Myrra into their world, meaning they would have to wage a secret war against the forces of the evil warlocks from that dimension: Shabranigdo, Gaav, and Phibrizzo. He then mentioned that should they ever need advice and training with their newfound powers and skills, that they should visit the magic user Xellos, who as it turned out lives in this world; Dzamor then left them with a small 'tracker' gem to help them find Xellos. The two, a day later, used the gem to seek out Xellos; to their surprise, he turned out to be the owner and proprietor of a seemingly run-down bookstore in their college town called Oblivion, Inc. On seeing the gem, as well as the jewels June wore and the aura of the Sword of Night (which Jim was carrying in his electric guitar's case), Xellos agreed to help them in their efforts to keep the town (and the world) safe from the warlocks of Myrra (as well as from Enchantress's mean streak).
June and Jim would first encounter the superwomen of Tokyo-3 when an amateur would-be mage accidentally summoned the demon beast Zannafar to Japan. Casting a portal spell, Enchantress and Nightmaster were transported to the land of the rising sun, and in the midst of their search for the demon beast, crossed the paths of both the magician Zatanna (secretly NERV tech Maya Ibuki) and Wonder Girl (secretly NERV Evangelion pilot Rei Ayanami), who helped them take down Zannafar. While aiding in the search, Zatanna was a bit apprehensive, knowing of the reputation of the Enchantress thanks to gossip passed around the magical community; working with her and Nightmaster helped dissipate some of, but not all, of her wariness. Since then, Zatanna and Wonder Girl (both of whom would help found the team of superheroes known as the Justice League) have vouched for the pair whenever they needed additional help against powerful supernatural threats to the world. Partly-inspired by the League, Enchantress and Nightmaster joined forces with a few other magic-users to form a League-adjacent team specializing in the mystical and supernatural: the Shadowpact."
*Author's Note(s)*
For the next round of Superwomen of EVA allies, I picked a couple of cult-favorite DC characters that leaned more on the mystic side of things. As for their anime character visuals (for the Deviation I crafted), I turned to a franchise that's gained a new fan in yours truly: The Slayers. Given their fantasy-adventure basis, Lina Inverse and Gourry Gabriev proved to be perfect fits for my takes on Enchantress and Nightmaster, and mixing up those characters' respective mythos with some Slayers baddies helped make it easier to do so. I also primarily paired these two together as a means, in-narrative, for the villainous side of Enchantress to be dialed back. (Sidebar, I really didn't like the interpretation of the character in the 2016 Suicide Squad movie.) I also figured their being here would be a great way to tease the potential of a SWOE2 take on the Shadowpact, another cult-favorite DC team that helped pave the way for the more-exposed Justice League Dark. (Mike313 has, in a sense, featured cameos of some prominent members in his Maya-as-Zatanna story "The Magic Touch".)
