AN: Working in a hospital during a pandemic plus moving to a new place is tough. That's all I really have to say. It's been a really hectic few months. Sorry for the wait. This chapter was extremely fun to type. It just flowed too. No writer's block or anything. I suppose having like three hours on my way to Houston earlier today helped to pump it out too, but eh. Technicalities.

Let's get on with the show!

Sahaquiel felt dread stir in her core at the sight of Armaros. Her eyes narrowed as the cracks on its skin flared brightly. She blinked. Armaros was now directly in front of her. She tried to fly backwards, but the black beast already had a firm grip on her left arm, stopping her actions with an effortless tug upon her that jerked her whole body roughly towards her opponent. Fear flooded her brain the same moment she found a fist planted in her stomach. She doubled over with a rattling gasp.

Sahaquiel lifted her head, planning to spit icicles into Armaros's face. there was an explosion and she was flung away, carried off by a yet to dissipate beam of crimson energy. Armaros closed its mouth as she dug her feet into the iced dirt and rubble beneath her, attempting to slow herself down. Armaros growled low in its throat as it dropped onto all fours. The way it eyed her was so much more than unsettling.

"Ye are no kin of mine…" steam poured out of Armaros's mouth at her words and it lurched forward. Sahaquiel's wings beat once.

"Ye are the devil." She said. Armaros roared, lunging faster than she could truly track. It was a good thing, then, that she had been prepared. Her wings carried her into the air, just barely allowing her to avoid her enemy's attack. Her eyes flashed and there was an explosion beneath her, a mushroom cloud that climbed into the sky. A thin layer of ice built up around her mouth as she inhaled. With her exhale a blizzard roared out of her mouth into the cloud.

And then her vision flipped. Sahaquiel found herself tumbling out of the air, no wings on her back to keep her airborne. Above her was the domineering form of Armaros glaring down at her, her bleeding wings firmly in its grasp. An enraged, frustrated scream ripped its way out of her throat and then she found herself in a mushroom cloud as the light died out of Armaros's eyes.

Burned Out ~ The Sound of Silence

Misato and those within the protection of Central Dogma simply had no words. What was there to say? There was no real way to express what they thought of this… massacre going on above them. Central Dogma was silent.

"His sync rate is still rising…" Maya commented.

"Is there any way to patch us into his comms?" asked Misato. She desperately hoped there would be some way to communicate with the boy. Yui's breakdown upon realizing what was happening with her son was nothing to disregard.

"I'll get it done," Maya responded as they all watched Armaros dive bomb into the cloud like a burning warhead, pursuing Sahaquiel. Central shook. And then it shook again at the same time another explosion rocked the city above, more smoke permeating the entire area of the fight. They could still see Armaros. Like an ominous vengeful spirit, its crimson cracked skin burned brightly in the dust cloud, allowing its movements to be visible. In a way, that was more terrifying than it was originally. It was almost as though the humongous creature—for at this point it could be nothing but a creature—was teleporting around the battlefield. Even without blinking it would simply escape their field of view only to appear again elsewhere.

"I'm about to patch us in, Lieutenant Colonel," Maya informed. Misato nodded.

"Do it." A moment later Maya's finger came down on one of her keys and the most disconcerting sound flooded the comms of Central and the pilots. Shinji was screaming. Two Shinji's; their voices overlapped with one another like a demented a cappella. A never-ending roar boomed in the background, sounding lower than the screams but noticeable all the same. And rounding out the horrid noise was singing. It sounded as though angels were singing.

"Turn it… turn it off, Maya." Misato ordered. Maya was all too eager to comply. Misato brought her hand up to her face, covering her eyes as she took some shaky breaths. She wondered how she'd allowed things to get this far in the confines of her mind.

~X~

"This is not good," grunted Nuriel, watching the battle rage.

"No… it is not. Something must have occurred, for this is not the agreed upon strategy. Ye can go assist Seraphiel now, sister. It is very possible the two of us will need to fight him into submission after Sahaquiel falls… I will go find out what happened." Said Leliel. Nuriel nodded and took off, tearing through the air, a visible burning meteor contrasted against the cloudy, grey sky. Leliel slid into a portal at her feet. A moment later she dropped down from the ceiling of Central Dogma. The Nerv personnel were startled for a moment but calmed somewhat upon realizing it was only Leliel.

The seraph's eyes moved over those within Central Dogma until they landed on Yui. Her distress was clear and Leliel understood.

"My brother has awakened the true nature of the black beast, something that we all agreed should never occur. What caused this? We will not be able to even attempt reversing this without that information," said Leliel. No one responded to her for a moment, but when one finally did, it was Kyoko.

"Asuka. She… my daughter called him a creature and said we were all better off without him."

"That is… most unsettling," sighed Leliel. Another portal appeared beneath her feet and she allowed it to devour her. In a moment she was gone, and Misato scowled.

"How long until the other Eva's are battle ready?" Misato asked.

"Twenty minutes," Kyoko responded.

"Alright. We'll sortie everyone. Except Asuka."

"What? Why!?" Asuka shouted over the comms.

"Don't ask stupid questions, Asuka. While unintentional on your part, you have caused a clear problem on the battlefield. We do not know the current state of Shinji's mind. There's no telling what will happen if he sees you," Misato replied. Asuka quieted, but the rage on her face was clear. Misato didn't care.

~X~

Armaros threw a claw forward, catching Sahaquiel in the throat as she tried in vain to get it off her. The next breath she took was wet until her wound closed up. With a growl, she dipped into the well of her strength and pushed, trying to force Armaros off her. Its burning eyes narrowed. Armaros pushed back. A snap sounded. Sahaquiel screamed as the brute force of Armaros broke her arms at the elbows, forcing the bone through her skin. Sahaquiel's arms fell pitifully to her side.

"Ye are… a monster…" Sahaquiel rattled out. Armaros roared into her face as a light built up at the back off its throat. This was it, Sahaquiel knew. She closed her eyes.

And then, suddenly, all the light from Armaros winked out. Its eyes, the cracks, the building power in the back of its throat, and the circle of light above its head. Armaros's limbs creaked to a stop, locking up as if it had suddenly lost all its power to function. When Sahaquiel noticed the light outside of her eyes turn to darkness, she allowed herself to crack her eyes open and take in the motionless sight of her adversary.

And then she struck.

With a ghostly wale, Ice blossomed at the center of Armaros's chest and with the sound of grinding metal, it burst through Armaros's back dyed red and dripping. Sahaquiel pushed the unmoving form of Armaros off her and stood.

The Seraph of the Void laughed.

Until a raging ball of fire crashed into her from above.

"You… You!" the flame screamed. Sahaquiel felt her skin melting and with a new fear blooming within her, she jumped out of the fire as she worked on healing her injuries, understanding a new battle was upon her. The flames before her exploded into a pillar of fire before it collapsed on itself, taking up the form of a humanoid woman. Her body burned crimson, her hands and face a white fire. Her burning blue eyes were narrowed into a heated glare as her orange hair whipped about her, melting every bit of ice around her form.

"Shinji was mine…" the fire spoke. Sahaquiel smirked.

"Ye should be thanking me. He would have been too much for ye to handle, dear sister," Sahaquiel responded, "now run along… before I put ye down as well."

"You? Put me down? Do not be a fool… you die here!" Nuriel snapped, fire exploding from her and rising into the air. Where once the entire city felt cold, overcome by a never-ending chill, this one explosive show of might from Nuriel changed all of that. The ice throughout the city melted, the air became uncomfortably hot as a pillar of fire rose high into the sky, banishing the clouds and allowing the light of the sun to rain down upon them all.

With a yell, Nuriel lunged. Sahaquiel flung a building sized block of ice at her. Nuriel didn't stop. She met the ice with her body and reduced it to mere steam. Sahaquiel dashed forward as her eyes sparked to life. There was an explosion. Then a scream. Nuriel had Sahaquiel by the throat, entirely unconcerned by her attack.

"Who cares if you're the chill of the universe or whatever, when I'm the first flame that ever was? Burn, bitch." A dome of fire engulfed them and Sahaquiel screamed. She thrashed and squirmed in Nuriel's grip, screeching in agony as her skin burned and melted off her, regenerated, and burned off again. Her screams went in and out as her throat bubbled from the heat, healed itself and repeated the cycle.

Smoke escaped into the sky as her torture continued. Seconds turned into minutes. Ten minutes passed. Sahaquiel begged for death. Nuriel obliged. Left hand free, she reared it back and plunged it into Sahaquiel's exposed core. Her regeneration stopped being able to keep up with her constant burning five minutes in and the only reason Nuriel hadn't killed her when she first spotted it was because her anger hadn't been sated. Sahaquiel's pleas for death faded into silence as Nuriel's hand burned her core into a melted chunk from the inside.

Releasing her grip on Sahaquiel's throat, Nuriel allowed her lifeless corpse to drop to the ground below as she scoffed.

"So much for showing humans their place… couldn't even handle ten minutes of torture," Nuriel scoffed. Her burning eyes flicked over to Armaros and her glare softened.

"Damn it, Shinji…" Nuriel whispered. What would happen now?

~X~

He was floating in darkness. This was nothing like the last time he'd been absorbed by an Evangelion. Is that even what had happened to him? He didn't know. The last thing he'd seen consciously was Sahaquiel taking to the air in an attempt to escape an awakened Armaros. Everything after that wasn't even clear enough to be considered a blur.

He felt pain. It was the most pain he'd ever experienced in his young life. Shinji wondered what had happened to his body. How badly had Sahaquiel injured him. How much of a fight was she capable of putting up, even against the otherworldly might of Armaros?

"You really made me work for it, didn't you, vermin?" chuckled Seraphiel. Shinji still couldn't see anything, but he heard his inner angel's voice loud and clear.

"Work…?" Shinji responded with a mouth he could not feel. His tongue felt like led.

"Yes. Much work. But now I'm quite proud to say that your body will finally be mine. Your psyche is far too overburdened to resist my influence now, my other self," Seraphiel responded.

"I won't… let you," Shinji grunted as he forced his sluggish body to right itself. He blinked rapidly, trying to clear the darkness from his eyes. He didn't, but another him appeared before his eyes. This other Shinji's skin was darker like bronze. Its hair was white and its eyes red.

"You're dying. Sahaquiel mortally wounded you," Seraphiel smiled. Shinji's hands clenched into a fist. "Oh, don't look at me like that. I won't let you die. The closer you move towards death, the weaker your mind becomes… and the nearer I am to taking over this body. When I do, I'll make sure to save your life… but in return I'll get to be in the driver's seat and you can look on from within us for a change."

"Over my dead body," Shinji retorted. Seraphiel chuckled again.

"Well yes, that is the plan."

Murder in his eyes, Shinji lunged. Sahaquiel met his charge with a laugh and the two threw their fists out, catching each other in the cheek. Every move they made was the same, dealing each other equal damage. There was no fatigue to slow them down and they continued this dance unimpeded.

Outside of his consciousness, the world around him continued on as Nuriel and Leliel searched for his body. It hadn't been within Armaros. Nearly a mile away from where they were looking, Shinji took a gasping breath.

And that's the chapter! Hoping this was to everyone's liking. I know it's shorter than normal, but there's no way I could continue on to the next part of the story within this chapter. It wouldn't feel right to continue it here I hope you all will look forward to thee next chapter as much as I'm excited to write it. Leave some reviews for me, yeah? I'd love to hear from you all.

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