Creation began on 09-29-22

Creation ended on 04-11-24

Neon Genesis Evangelion

Grimoire of Evangelion: Insulting Wounds

A/N: Just as there are words that can harm people's hearts, there are injuries in which can hurt just as much as what is spoken.

Another week had gone by in the Geo-Front since the Twelfth Angel attack. There didn't seem to be any sign of the next attack coming any time right now or later, which left the personnel time to prepare for what may never come and what they may never fully comprehend.

"…She's just making things worse between herself and her family," Misato expressed as she stood in front of the two testing plugs where Asuka and Rei were currently undergoing synchronization testing again. "She can call herself a scientist all she wants, but to them, she's just this horrible person that unjustly attacks them and puts a considerable strain on her relationships within her family."

"What relationships?" Ritsuko counters. "The more we look at those photos in the album, the more I can see that this woman, despite coming from a family that was very tight knit once upon a time, has no relationships between herself or any of them, including Shinji. She's just obsessed with doing as she pleases with a creature that might as well be a devil, and she thinks her methods are the best ones to implement. If something happens to bring her back to this dimension, it's likely that it won't end well for any of us."

"In what way?"

"Nothing logical."

"You can't be more specific?"

Meanwhile, Fuyutsuki was in his office looking down at the album and kept finding it difficult to fathom how Yui was related to these people that seemed to fit in with people from a world in which witches and wizards were commonplace with elves and other creatures that resided in there. The woman he had admired for years seemed like an incredible scientist…but lacked all the factors necessary to be a social person to regular people, instead being similar to Gendo when it came to dealing with people, keeping them at a distance or just making their lives harder to live because she chose to make trouble for them. Even as he looked at another photo from her past depicting her looking down at this dog that belonged to her sister, he didn't want to believe that she would actually go and declare that her family, all save for Shinji, were in her way and needed to be removed permanently. But then he had to take another look at Yui in the photo of herself with her sister and the dog; it probably went unnoticed by many, but it was the way Yui looked that made Fuyutsuki think that she was…resentful towards Suki…just for having a dog.

Her sister had to be in her late-twenties or early-thirties when she got her dog, he suspected; he couldn't find a date on or near the picture, so he had to guess based on their appearances. What did she had to resent about her having the dog?

He touched the photo, wondering why it seemed Yui had this…this hatred in her that seemed infectious and self-destructive.

Flash! He found himself in a room that looked like it belonged to Yui…and seeing the young woman herself handling her sister's dog roughly.

"Yui?" He questioned.

"She doesn't deserve you," he heard her say, tying the small animal up. "She's doesn't deserve you! You don't belong here! You don't contribute, so just disappear."

Then, he saw her pick up a pair of scissors…and wished he hadn't seen what she did with them.

Flash! He was back in his office…and he ran to his trash bin to vomit.

"Gah! Gaaurgh!" He went as he puked his guts out.

-x-

So far, the Black Bull had managed to create a handful of new spells that could be used with Anti Magic, but whether or not they would be effective enough against Harbinger was up to how well they could act against him. Mirror Magic, Thread Magic, Water Magic, Lightning Magic, even Cotton Magic have been combined with Anti Magic to form Union Magic methods of attack and defense, something Guardian had to praise the mages for, having worked their limbs to the bone to achieve. Even Rades, without his grimoire, aided in the success by serving as a practice target for the Black Bull alongside Nacht and his four devils.

"They should be taking a day to recover," said Grey to Guardian as he sat on the ground, observing Shinji and Suki as they fought against Nacht in his Unite form with the devil Gimodelo. "Isn't Shinji tired from swinging his naginata so much?"

"Yes," Guardian told her. "As much as he wants to stop and rest for several hours, he feels he can't because of what his mother is up to. And as for Harbinger, it's not a matter of how or where the two will strike…but when. I wouldn't be surprised if he decided to go to the underworld and visit the other devils of the Tree of Qliphoth."

"But…if he did that, wouldn't he just take their magic powers and add them to his own, becoming stronger than he is now?"

"He might, but still, he wouldn't be able to fight for extended periods if he doesn't have the power of the Time Magic Devil, Astoroth. He'd be able to undo the damage I inflicted upon him all of those generations ago. But so long as the devil remains hidden, Harbinger isn't an unstoppable force if we know how to avoid him and counter his methods."

"I'm sorry I'm useless."

"That's not true, Grey. You're stronger than you realize."

"But…all I do is Transformation Magic. That's…pretty useless."

"But is it your primary magic? Is it the magic you have had since you started practicing in the mystical arts? I have seen Transformation Magic in the past, and none of the mages that have ever used it had it from the beginning. It has to be practiced, learned, refined. What is your power, Grey? What is your true strength?"

Grey could've said nothing, that her magic was next to useless because she rarely used it, but with Guardian, it was like Shinji when he saw through her disguise all those months ago, before he had tried out for the Magic Knights. It was like…he could see right through her, but not in the same extent as Shinji; it was as though he could see what she was capable of if she chose to pursue her goals instead of looking for another path to move forward.

"I don't know what it is," she expressed, "only that I inherited the attribute from my parents. I didn't think much about it. It wasn't really something that seemed special, so I practiced Transformation Magic, hoping it would help me connect with my stepsisters."

"And how did that turn out?"

"I…I never saw them again that day."

"I'm guessing that…their lifestyle had no place for you to belong?"

"Yeah."

"I'd probably want to meet your stepsisters…just to make them look at themselves in a dirt-encrusted mirror."

"Why?"

"Because then, of course, I'd make them see that, whatever their reasons were for you having to leave your home, they can't hide behind some faces painted up with makeup or dresses with fancy jewelry. They did wear makeup and had fancy jewelry, right?"

"Pretty much, yes."

"What do you think I see…when I look at you?"

"It's hard to read your face, Guardian of the Void. I never pictured you as having a readable expression. I mean (Grey then transforms to resemble Guardian), you're like this wall that can't be adorned with anything."

"Even a wall without any decorations can speak volumes…if you let yourself see it from a different angle, a different perspective. And why, Grey? Why hide yourself? When people look back at the Black Bull years from now, they're gonna wonder who you are, who you were…and there will be very little details. So, why hide your true self behind a false face?"

Grey returned to her true self and sighs.

"I just want to fit in," she explained to him, "to belong."

"Not all that different from Shinji and Suki," he told her, pointing to the pair. "Or Ms. Noelle…or Asta…or even Luck. Maybe one of the greatest of reasons for why this squad exists and why each of you are in it. When there is no place for those considered different from others and the assumption that they don't belong, they, the ones deemed to not belong, will carve their own place so that they do belong. And I see you…each of you…and I see just a little bit more of why Shinji, the one faced with a false destiny he wants to break from…and why he likes this band of mages over all the other squads that desired him for themselves when he aced his tryouts for the Magic Knights."

"Why?"

"Because none of you are perfect. Not a single one of you has the world in your hands. You're either ridiculous or embarrassing, out of this world or underneath it, you have ambitions different from people that desire for selfish reasons, such as greed or power. You don't have success handed over to you. You work to obtain it, to earn it, to deserve it. You're a ragtag bunch…and Shinji, if he had to relive the day that he got to choose which squad to join all over again…he would make the same choice to join the Black Bull in a heartbeat…because in his mind, this ragtag bunch gives him the opportunity to work his way up his mountain and reach his peak. And along the way, help each of you reach your own further."

Grey handed him her grimoire and opened it to a page that seemed to be the only spell she initially had before developing a few new ones.

"'Magic Convert'," he uttered. "This is…Transmutation Magic. Grey…this is a rare attribute to have. In the Heart Kingdom, this would make you an Arcane Stage mage because it defies conventional magic standards. Why would you think this form of magic isn't special when it really is?"

"My stepmother and stepsisters," she confessed. "They were Fire Magic mages, and they…said I would never amount to anything."

"Well, they're wrong. You show this spell to Shinji and Suki, even Tenshi and Rika, and if they don't know it, it'll incite them to develop it on their own, thus…you'd be responsible for expanding this rare form of magic that enables a mage to change the properties of substances into other forms, physical or magical. And in this squad of people perceived as nobodies (he closes her grimoire and hands it back to her), it will make you more of someone that can't be ignored by others…or underestimated if you put in the effort to develop this power further."

"Thank you."

"Shinji, that's enough!" They hear Suki say to her nephew, and saw Shinji on his palms and knees, out of breath, drenched in sweat.

He looked like he had over-exerted himself, causing fatigue set in.

"Now, he really needs to take a break," Guardian sighs as he gets up to go over to them.

"Shinji," Grey expresses in concern over the young man's current state, and then watches him fall over to his right side.

"Damn," she hears him say.

-x-

It was only because he was out in the wilderness for some personal training of his own that Tenshi found himself in the presence of Secré Swallowtail, who was surprised to see him.

"We really need to stop meeting like this," Tenshi tells her, using his magic to levitate them into the air. "Where are you off to in such a hurry?"

"The Black Bull," she responds, "the Wizard King…and Rika. There's…something wrong with the Spade Kingdom."

"What's wrong with the Spade Kingdom, other than being decimated?"

"Something…has replaced the buildings that were once there."

Tenshi then takes out his grimoire and uses a spell.

"Memory Magic: Untainted by the Darkness," he utters, and a darkness surrounds them, allowing for images from Secré's memories to be viewed, and Tenshi saw what she had seen. "Son of a… Yui… This is going to rattle many cages, Secré. I'll escort you to the capital and alert the Black Bull and my mother."

"Many thanks, Tenshi."

Secré couldn't guess how enraged Tenshi was to see what she had seen, but she could fathom that he had seen something like what she saw…and was upset enough to be willing to help her inform everyone about this.

"Have you seen this before?" She asks him.

"Yes," he answers, "and it's awful. Wretched."

The darkness around them disappeared and Tenshi conjured another spell.

"Light Creation Magic: Celestial Glider."

A glider of light appeared around the two, and Tenshi grabbed the steering bar as it took off towards their destination, faster than Secré could comprehend.

"Incredible," she expresses; this spell had to be on par with Lemiel's magic…if not higher.

"Thank you," he replies. "It took me four months to master this spell. We'll reach the capital in thirty seconds."

-x-

"How is he?" Noelle asks Suki as she steps out of Shinji's room.

"He's recovering, but his muscles are all overworked," Suki reveals. "He really needs to sleep it off before he does something strenuous all over again."

"But…he is getting stronger, isn't he?"

"Strength means nothing…if he tears himself up to obtain it. And strength won't mean anything…if he can't move to use it. There are other ways to be stronger than others."

Noelle looks into the room to see Shinji laying on his bed, out cold and oblivious to the world.

"You should…make sure he eats something when he wakes up later," she tells Suki.

"Yeah," she agrees.

"Look, your sister… Why…do you suppose she turned out this way, making things worse when all she could've done was walk away?"

"It could be a number of reasons why. But one reason I can understand is that she simply…blames us for Shinji not choosing to side her. Not that he was ever going to, that is, because he knows right from wrong."

"That's true. Need a sparring partner?"

"Yes, please."

In his room, Shinji, barely ten minutes into resting from exertion, could barely move a muscle that his subconscious felt had been shredded by his actions from training.

Okay, I really went overboard with it all, he thought as he accepts his fault for wearing himself out. But I can't cheat my way to stopping my mother and Harbinger from destroying the world.

But if they're still behind on time to do what they aim to do, he hears Guardian's voice, then there's still time to stop them. You can afford to relax and recoup.

Shinji then found himself standing in front of Guardian in a strange and misty environment.

"So long as Harbinger lacks the power of Astoroth, the Time Magic Devil, he can't fight for long periods without losing strength and taking time to recover," Guardian reminds Shinji.

"And since he doesn't have access to Healing Magic, he can't do anything about the neck wound you gave him long ago," Shinji replies. "But if he continues to try and keep the magic power that he stole from his victims inside himself, won't he cause more trouble for himself than an actual solution to his situation?"

"That's the thing; he believes his methods are the only ones that matter to himself. He's only open to suggestions for as much as they can aid him, but he ignores most."

"Only one way or no way?"

"Sometimes."

Shinji then holds his right shoulder as he can still feel the soreness of his muscles.

"I won't ever be as strong as the ones that came before me, will I?" He asks Guardian.

"Not all of them were strong because of their muscles, Shinji. They were strong because of their persistence and their convictions. They didn't need large muscles or absolute power. Every single one or them were able to defy their undesired fates because they had the support of their friends and family that wanted them to make their own marks in the world, along with the strength of their predecessors of the False Destiny Breaker Grimoire you possess. And when you reach the next level of your abilities, you will tap into their power and make it your own. There is much left for you to inherit that will enable you to decide how you want to live without the expectations of those that can't accept what is over what they want to."

-x-

Rika, Julius, William and even Nozel, who was still afflicted with the curse Harbinger placed on him, were beyond stunned by the relaying of Secré's memories of what she saw before she returned to the Clover Kingdom to get help.

"What is that place?" Nozel questions.

"It's a city," went Rika, recognizing it because she had visited it once before. "Yui. Somehow, Harbinger's power has enabled her to create a detailed replica of Tokyo-3 where the Spade Kingdom once resided."

"An entire city…created from magic…by this one person?" Julius expresses. "This is beyond anything magic is capable of. But this…it sends a bad message."

"How bad?" Secré questions.

"Very bad," Tenshi states. "It's basically Yui declaring to the world that she now owns the land of the Spade Kingdom by building her own dominion over it. That's as disrespectful as you can be towards the world. You tried to murder an entire nation…or clear out people you wanted removed from it…just to build or expand your own. It's unforgivable."

"I'm gonna chew her out for this," Rika expresses in front of them, and William takes three steps away from her, anticipating bad magic to emanate from her.

-x-

"…Okay, they're clearly pissed by what they just learned," Asuka declares when she sees the picture of Shinji's grandmother and uncle with these other people looking at a detailed replica of the fortress city. "But how is that possible? How did his mother build an entire city?"

"If she was in the Eva the entire time, she would've had access to her son's memories," Ritsuko states. "Everything he knew at the time, she would've known, including how Tokyo-3 looks like. But why, though? Why build a city like ours in their world? It makes no sense, whatsoever."

"Unless she's trying to make her own world by taking away theirs," Fuyutsuki says as he turns the album to the next page. "Rather than return to this world, she wants to make her own, and is willing to defile everything they hold sacred in an effort to establish her own domain where she can express herself."

"Except Ikari-Kun," went Rei, "will not like this when he finds out."

"I think he just did," says Asuka, pointing to a new photograph depicting Shinji in front of Tenshi, Rika and Secré, who were no doubt informing him of what had been discovered.

Misato touches the photo…and sees Shinji inside a room with the three, looking hurt and annoyed by the revelation of his mother's actions.

"What…in the Hell…is wrong with her?!" Shinji raises his voice as he looks away from them. "It's bad enough that she declares to want to get rid of you two and Suki, but to go and build that ugly sight in the Spade Kingdom?! Forget locking her up for the rest of her life! People are just going to want her dead now! Dead! In the ground! Shot up! Decapitated! Dead! Aaaurgh!"

Then, he turns towards Misato, and looks like he's confused.

"Shinji?" Rika says, seeing him raise his left hand.

"Can any of you…see over there?" He asks.

"See what, exactly?" Tenshi replies. "What do you see?"

"My guardian, Misato."

Rika looks over to where Shinji's pointing, but she sees nothing.

"I don't see anyone there, Shinji," Tenshi tells his nephew, and then Rika takes out her grimoire.

"Eye Magic," she utters. "One-Way Street. Show us the world…through Shinji's eyes."

Seconds later, their eyes started to glow.

"Whoa," Tenshi reacts. "Now, I see her. But why is she here? How is she here?"

"She's not truly here," Rika explains. "Not physically, that is. I've seen this before. She's tapping into a magic source."

"But…you didn't leave anything magical behind, did you?" Shinji asks her.

"No…unless your guardian is around something of ours that is mildly saturated in magic. But it'd have to be something we've been around for a long time period."

"Such as?"

"Something materialistic, like our clothes, some item we kept on us for years, decades, like… Oh. Oh."

"What is it?"

"My photo album. I was holding onto it for over fifty years. It would've been imbued with some of my magic. It was left behind in Tokyo-3 when we disappeared."

Misato slowly nods her head in the positive in front of them.

"I guess NERV has your album," Tenshi suggests. "Should I go retrieve it?"

"No, Tenshi. Call it an instinctual feeling, but it's probably a good thing that the woman that looked after Shinji can keep an eye on it for us."

"And…if my father were to try something with it?" Shinji questions. "He tried to get it from you once before, didn't he? Because he wanted to get rid of every trace of my mother?"

"That album is more for the family than any one individual member, but I doubt he'd be able to destroy it. If it behaves like I would when it comes to protecting something of sentimental value, it will go to extremes to protect itself from potential danger, even from a man like your father."

"Shinji, your mother…" Misato suddenly speaks, hoping he could hear her. "She's making more Evas for something."

Shinji's eyes widened.

"She WHAT?!" He yells, and then Misato disappears.

Misato lets go of the photo and shudders at what she experienced.

"What's wrong?" Kaji asks her.

"They know," she reveals. "Shinji, his grandmother, his uncle, they know we have the photo album. They likely know we're watching them through the album photos…and Shinji's likely pissed because I told him what his mother's doing."

"Well, that's new," Asuka responds, turning to the next page, seeing an old photo of Shinji in a hospital room with his relatives; he must've likely been sick or something to be there.

Underneath the photo read, "Bad tonsils begone!"

"He had to have his tonsils removed?" Misato couldn't believe; there had been a lot in his profile that simply wasn't known to her.

Under the photo was one depicting several people, including Shinji, standing in front of the fake Tokyo-3 that his mother made.

"I guess she upset him enough to make him go look for her," Fuyutsuki sighs.

-x-

When the Clover King learned of this turn of events that occurred in the Spade Kingdom, he felt even more concerned about Yui Ikari becoming a threat to the Clover Kingdom and wanted the Magic Knights to go to this replica of the city Shinji used to reside in and apprehend the woman that declared the Spade Kingdom as her domain after using Harbinger to drive away the survivors once the Dark Triad had been disposed of. That was fine with Shinji; he was furious with his mother to care much about the potential dangers that might've been in the city.

"This…is really weird," said Luck as he looks up at the tall buildings.

"Yeah," Shinji replies as he walks into the city, "it is weird."

If it wasn't for the fact that he was in a world where magic was everything, Shinji would've felt that he was literally back in Tokyo-3. Except that he didn't feel like he recognized the place. It was just a city without a shred of people living in it. What was the point of creating a place like this if there was nobody to live in it?

Sure, Shinji had questioned why such places had been abandoned for years once he heard of them, but there were justifiable reasons for why those places had been left desolated, like a war or fallout. But this…was neither because of a war or fallout. It was because his mother up and decided that the people that once lived here needed to go…just so she could build something she wanted in place of their homes, their culture, their lives that she had Harbinger snuff out without any remorse. Oh, how he was going to have words with her when she was apprehended and brought back to the Clover Kingdom for questioning and sentencing…and he had a lot of words to say to her, most of which would be unpleasant.

"So, in the world your family was exiled to," he hears Yuno say, "there are actually places like this city?"

He turns to face him and sees that he's talking to Tenshi.

"Yes," Tenshi answers him, "but not like this. Building a city takes years, decades to build, and the closest my sister ever came to building a city was a jigsaw puzzle with over a thousand pieces, which took her a month to finish. This…is a mockery."

"A mockery, you say?" Klaus utters, stopping in front of a display of that was empty. "Bare bones more like it, this place is."

"That's why it's a mockery. It's devoid of people. What's more, it's the very purpose of a city that gives it its life. People are meant to live in it, to build routines, livelihoods, develop attachments to their surroundings. A place like Tokyo-3, despite having been built by people for people, was no different from a commuter city."

"A commuter city? What exactly does that mean?"

"Basically," went Shinji, "despite Tokyo-3 being a city meant to house large numbers of people, nobody lived there often. Those that worked often worked outside the city. While there were some people that lived there, it was mainly because of the paramilitary agency that resided there. Some people actually left shortly after I showed up. Who wants to live in a place where unknown creatures randomly show up and endanger the masses and the government lies and says nothing is wrong? Oh, this is just lovely."

Some of the Magic Knights stop in front of a building that seemed to irritate Shinji. Only to Tenshi and Suki, it was understandable why this upset him. It was a detailed replica of the junior high school he attended shortly after arriving to Tokyo-3 to pilot the Evangelion, but it reminded Shinji of how empty his future seemed because of the stagnant education system, not to mention one of the teachers there just kept droning on about the aftermath of Second Impact. As Shinji looks away, Guardian walks over to the security gate…and places his right claw on it.

"If it were nighttime and raining," he expresses, "it would be like that night we conversed about changing your future, Shinji."

Shinji was then reminded of the dream he had where Guardian spoke to him.

"Yeah, it would," he agrees with him.

Guardian then ripped the gate off its hinges and chunked it towards the building, smashing it into a window, causing some damage.

"What value is a city that has nobody to live in it?" He questions. "What value is a school that doesn't promise young minds an education for their future? Why build such a place…if you have nobody willing to thrive in it? This whole place…is foul and empty passion represented by a mind so one-sided that it casts aside emotions in favor of unrealistic expectations."

"Amen, Guardian," said Suki as she walks away.

"Amen, Guardian," added Tenshi. "Amen."

As the Magic Knights walked away from the building, none of them noticed that the damage caused by Guardian slowly undid itself. Within three minutes, the gate was back where it had been…and the windows and side of the building were restored to their original status.

-x-

Yui watched from the hidden eyeballs she had around the city to observe the Magic Knights as they came through, looking for her. She was upset that her son didn't see the city with joyful pride. While it may not have been exactly as he remembered it, she made it based on the layout of his memories and the blueprints how it would look once completed. Just a little piece of what they both once knew as the place that would be the battleground of mankind's future, not because of any sentimentality.

"I see no reason to drag this on," went Harbinger behind her, observing the Magic Knights as they continued to wander the streets of the city. "It would be a simple task to trap them and kill them before they get wise of the hidden dangers surrounding them."

"Oh, the city isn't for them, Harbinger," Yui tells him. "It's for Shinji."

"And yet, he appears to be put off by it. I don't see your son smiling at the thought of being surrounded by a once familiar setting that isn't as familiar to him as it could've been."

"The sooner he sees what's in store for them, the better his choice to join us and save these misguided souls."

Except there won't be a difference between saving these souls…and erasing them, Harbinger thought as he gazes at the screens toward Gaurdian, feeling the stinging sensation of his neck wound as his stolen devil magic tried to seep out again. Where are you hiding, Astaroth? I will find you and your power will belong to me.

Behind Harbinger, several bone tendrils protrude from his back, wrapping around his shoulders and waist. A ring of bone wraps around his neck, covering his wound tightly.

"Aaaurgh…" He groans, causing Yui to turn around and look at him.

"Perhaps you should go find this devil you're looking for," she suggests to him. "I have things covered here."

He nods in agreement and stands up to leave the room.

"How strong will you become," she stops him with her question, "once you have the Time Magic associated with this Astaroth?"

He turns back and says, "With the power of Time Magic combined with Spatial and Gravity Magic, along with any other magic attributes acquired later on, I would be comparable to an incarnate god among mortals. I would be more than a match to Guardian of the Void, whose current level of power is tied to your son's. There would be no equal…and I'll be rid of this insulting wound he gave me that limits my power."

Yui says nothing, but nods her head in understanding, permitting Harbinger to go find this devil he was after while she continued to observe the Magic Knights within the city.

-x-

"…Why do I feel like things are going to get worse over there?" Misato questions as she looks down at the picture of Yui and Harbinger over a picture of an older Suki Ikari handing Shinji a doll shaped like him.

"Maybe because," says Asuka, "things are going to get worse over there? I mean, they're already bad as they are with his mother."

"And that creature with her," adds Ritsuko. "If it were any meaner, I'd say it was the Devil."

On the neighboring page under a photo of an elderly Rika Ikari sitting by a lake, a photo of Shinji standing before a building that had been familiar to him made Misato cringe; the building he was in front of looked exactly like her apartment building, down to the smallest detail.

If only he were actually there, she thought as she wonders how he was feeling right now.

To be continued…

A/N: I hope to get back into this at a later date because it took so long to remind myself that this needed to be finished. Wouldn't you feel Yui did something insulting to Shinji, too?