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Neon Genesis Evangelion ANIMA Vol. 4
Neon Genesis Evangelion ANIMA Vol. 4
Table of Contents
Color Inserts
Title Page
Copyrights and Credits
Table of Contents Page
Part 1: Stormy Weather
Chapter 1: Watermelon Patch in the Morning Mist
Chapter 2: Urgent
Chapter 3: The Throes of a New World
Chapter 4: Lost Compass
Chapter 5: Super Eva Lifts Off
Chapter 6: Uninvited Guest
Chapter 7: Reactivating Eva-0.0
Chapter 8: Second Joker in a Deck
Part 2: Wander the Earth
Chapter 9: Stray Beast
Chapter 10: Where Memories Lie
Chapter 11: Observer Kaji
Chapter 12: Black Fragment
Chapter 13: Interference
Chapter 14: Summons
Part 3: New World Border
Chapter 15: Aftereffects
Chapter 16: Shadow Puppets
Chapter 17: Shadow Puppets
Chapter 18: Christening
Chapter 19: The Sunlit Path of Yomotsu Hirasaka
Chapter 20: Underground Experiments
Chapter 21: Beyond the Reticule
Part 4: Mass Hysteria
Chapter 22: Airborne Theater
Chapter 23: Solarside Struggles
Chapter 24: Visitors
Chapter 25: Mari
Chapter 26: Riot Red
Chapter 27: Phase Shift
Chapter 28: Shifting Blue
Part 5: Lens
Chapter 29: Black Armor
Chapter 30: Hikari Redux
Chapter 31: The Thick of the Swarm
Chapter 32: Cloud of Witnesses
Chapter 33: Confined Space
Chapter 34: Rotating Rock
Part 6: Point of Convergence
Chapter 35: The Old Longinus Curtain
Chapter 36: Landfall
Chapter 37: The Old Central Dogma
Chapter 38: Shinji
Chapter 39: Mutant Eva
Chapter 40: Apostate’s Bow
Chapter 41: Mari
Chapter 42: Armaros
Chapter 43: Moving Anomaly
Chapter 44: Convergence
Part 7: Collision Course
Chapter 45: Nerv Japan Hakone
Chapter 46: Yomotsu Hirasaka
Chapter 47: Shinji’s Impact
Chapter 48: Rumble in the Pacific
Part 8: New Land
Chapter 49: Noise
Chapter 50: A Dawn Without Shinji
Chapter 51: Ordinary Classroom
Chapter 52: Ritterschaft
Chapter 53: Sleeping Shinji
Chapter 54: Yomotsu Hirasaka Island
Part 9: Many Roads to Home
Chapter 55: White Coat Party
Chapter 56: Midnight Raid
Chapter 57: Instinct
Chapter 58: Many Roads to Home
Omake: Concept Gallery
Postscript
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Chapter 1:
Watermelon Patch in the Morning Mist
Glass Egg was the name given to the structure found buried at the
T
HE MOON HAD ABSORBED massive amounts of matter from the Earth
and had swelled immensely. The gargantuan satellite had also absorbed heat
from the tiny blue planet, which had resulted in violent meltdowns within its
core. Magma burst all over the surface of the moon as its crust fissured,
producing crevices large enough to be seen from the Earth.
The stolen material wasn’t just boiling over but causing impossible
alchemical changes across the moon—changes that were only visible on the
X-ray spectrum. Less subtle, although more violent, metamorphoses were
occurring on the dark side.
Another eruption, one so large it seemed like it might split the moon in
two, rocked the surface, and twelve hundred kilometers of crust exploded into
the air. Most of it crumbled and crashed back down, but a huge chunk of
basalt bedrock, four hundred kilometers in diameter, rode the force of the
eruption and took to the sky.
The moon’s orbit had changed significantly since its rapid expansion
and advancement toward Earth. Now, the seismic activity further distorted it.
The chunk of bedrock was flung aside just as it was about to break the Roche
limit. As the rock’s descent accelerated from this gravitational slingshot,
observers on Earth finally noticed that violent explosions were shooting
chunks of the moon’s crust into the sky.
Volcanic gases from the dark side of the moon began flowing over to
the near side. The volcanic activity had already been noted by government
institutions and amateur astronomers, but none of them could have predicted
what happened next.
The hunk of bedrock hurtled toward the Earth, propelled by the
gravitational slingshot. If the moon had still been distant, the massive rock
would have eventually fallen back to its surface. But the Earth and moon
were now only 150,000 kilometers apart. As such, the rock was now on a
collision course.
The work went smoothly, despite Super Eva almost getting lost in
space three times. Eva-0.0 was resupplied, rearmed, and updated as best as it
could have been.
Hyuga’s voice came over the intercom. <<This is Hakone command to
Shinji. Return with Super Eva once four simulation runs come up green.>>
“Copy that.”
Super Eva’s eyes were locked on to the terrible engine on Eva-0.0’s
back, waiting for the slightest anomaly to occur.
The giant moon rock kicked up massive sandstorms, obscuring its
trajectory from observers. As it was, the gargantuan mass looked as if
someone had taken a picture of the underside of a landslide.
H AVING GONE ROGUE at the end of the Novaya Zemlya operation, the
U.S. Evangelion, Wolfpack, had reached the northern coast of Norway after
swimming across the Barents Sea. There were reports of the quadrupedal
giant breaking land on the beaches of Norway, but the military and local
authorities could do little about it. By the time they found out, Wolfpack had
already fled into the forest, heeding its primal instincts.
Mari, its pilot, didn’t seem to have a goal in mind—but she did. She
was on the prowl.
The U.S. Evangelion had been created by splicing its pilot’s genes with
those of multiple animals. The A.T. Field surrounding it contained remnants
of the beasts’ souls. Despite Mari’s inexplicable statements about herself and
the Eva, she’d never failed to comply with her orders.
Or at least, not until she found her ideal. Once she did, she’d ignored
Nerv U.S.’s command to withdraw and gone rogue.
Mari was hunting for the Asuka/Eva synthesis, current designation
Torwächter A1. Asuka had encountered the Ark on the moon, where the data
of all organic life existing from the beginning of time had flowed through
her.
Data and matter were equivalent to each other on the Ark, and Eva-02
had synthesized with its pilot to prevent Asuka’s organic data from being
overwritten. Most of the organic data had been spent in North Africa, and
Asuka/Eva had managed to retain her amalgamated form. However, a mass
of individual information continued to swirl inside her, dormant.
To Mari, this was the ideal self. She would stop at nothing to find her
role model and quarry.
THRUM!
Super Eva’s heartbeat pulsed in the forest of the northern coast.
Mari wasn’t surprised by the appearance of the Torwächters, since she
was the one who’d summoned them.
The trees here had turned white, perhaps from a swarm of locusts or
extreme climate change. Wolfpack cleared a path through the withered woods
to where the black messengers had appeared.
Is that B I see? Looks like he’s fully recovered. And here I thought I
could finish him off while he was damaged!
Wolfpack kicked the ground and leaped at the black giant with reckless
abandon.
Torwächters A1 and B summoned their Angel Carriers. With a two-on-
one situation, the fight was already in their favor, but the Carriers widened
the gap in their firepower. Even Wolfpack couldn’t kill them instantly.
The two Torwächters had had their back plates pressed against each
other when Wolfpack attacked. The two giants split apart, opening a pitch-
black dimensional window between them.
Wolfpack had no choice but to charge right through the window.
Before she could process what was going on, she was overwhelmed by
a rumble of wings beating right behind her.
What is it now?!
Having barely adjusted to the vacuum of space, Wolfpack was now
subjected to a rush of wind.
What the…?!
The giant tumbled forward.
A white mist whipped toward her, and she discovered its true identity.
Countless birds, which had disappeared from the face of the Earth, emerged
from the mist, casting a dark shadow over her with their outstretched wings.
A hallucination? Mari hoped so, because she couldn’t possibly avoid
the swarm. Thankfully, they all passed harmlessly through Wolfpack.
She could still feel the wind, though. She turned to her environmental
sensors and was shocked to find the barometer showing a solid zero. When
the “wind” disappeared, the pitch-black sky and rocky terrain returned in
nauseating contrast.
What the hell was that about?!
Mari had no time to dwell on it. She’d have to wait until she caught
Torwächters A1 and B and the heartbeat. She leaped out of the window they
opened—together with four Angel Carriers.
<<The quantum flow indicator’s the only thing that picked that
up?!>>
“No echoes on the radar and lidar. Clear of emissions and reflections.”
But they all felt the small, hazardous object’s approach. The search for
the orbiting Eva-00 Type-F Allegorica was put on hold as they frantically
prepared the gamma-ray laser cannon for operation.
As the unit’s N2 reactor kicked into emergency protocol and clanged to
life, its pilot, Trois, set her course according to the quantum flow indicator.
“Unit Zero, Trois to command. Adjusting course to avoid impact.
Object will be identified after adjustment. Seventy-five percent chance of
being a Q.R. Signum.”
<<I knew it! This is Hakone to Trois. You’re free to fire as long as you
don’t point that cannon toward Earth. Weapons free! I repeat, weapons free!
Blow that thing out of the sky if it tries to take you over like Quatre’s Eva!>>
The cannon trigger dropped into position on Toji’s command.
An avalanche of population inversions occurred in the cannon’s
gigantic triple-nuclear excitation unit, producing lasers that converged upon a
single point.
The electric field produced a massive, distorted thud as thirty-six
thousand capacitors lost their charge all at once.
The cannon fired, though the motion was terribly subdued in outer
space. Still, a blinding light spread into the far distance as fragments scattered
like shattered glass.
“Signal lost. Q.R. Signum neutralized.”
Shinji watched as a vast flock of birds flew across the sky, like rapidly
moving mist.
I wonder where Kaworu-kun’s last dove is… I couldn’t catch it last
time…
The white mist turned to darkness. A mountain? And stars? What was I
doing…?
Wait! I just landed with Super Eva.
What am I looking at?!
Was he dreaming? The white mist rushed closer, and the flock of birds
passed him like the wind.
When the mist faded, he noticed that Asuka—Torwächter A1—was
beside him.
THRUM!
Shinji’s chest burned with his heartbeat. He felt blood rushing through
his veins. The Center Trigonus in his chest burned as bright as a furnace. The
heat it produced certainly wasn’t imaginary. If this was where Shinji’s stolen
The arrow reached the lunar landmass at the speed of light, burning so
bright that it seared a hole right through the Earth’s upper atmosphere. Once
the light faded, only half of the lunar landmass was left behind. Even its
fragments had been displaced.
The sky above Tokyo-3 sucked in everything around it. The
surrounding air pressure rose to over 6500 hectopascals, causing great shock
waves at all altitudes.
The window of the sky was slamming shut, and everything in and
around the Hakone caldera was getting the brunt of it.
Most of the command center personnel had collapsed once gravity
returned. Toji, however, had hooked his pale blue arm around the desk
console and braced himself. By the time he got his feet back on the floor,
damage reports from all over the base were flooding in. The command center
turned into a buzzing beehive, but Toji remained calm and called Cage Two.
“Maya-san, report! What did Super Eva do?!”
Outside, an artificial night had fallen as clouds formed from the drastic
difference in pressure. Heavy rain poured out of the sky, as if someone had
punched a hole through the heavens.
Water rushed into the now-roofless Cage Two like a waterfall. Maya
watched from the blast shield of her control booth as the gigantic salt
sculpture before her crumbled.
“No!”
The thing that had been Super Eva was now falling apart.
The bow had disappeared immediately after firing, and now the white
salt giant was being eroded by the heavy downpour, starting from its
shoulders. Its body broke off into clumps, each over a hundred meters long,
which fell to the ground with a resounding clang that echoed its destruction.
The lightning snake’s forked red tongue stuck out of its mouth like a
spear.
Without an arrow to nock into his great bow, the black giant held out
his right hand to protect the blue-eyed girl who wore the red wind over her
bare skin. This was the form she took when he could see her, but when out
of sight, he sensed the amalgamation of many others behind her.
In any case, the girl was fighting back. She stepped forward, clearly
wanting to protect rather than be protected. She recognized him somehow.
The Torwächter used the bow as a pivot and spun his whole body to
deliver a roundhouse kick to the prongs of the lance in Wolfpack’s mouth.
The blow caught the beast in the jaw, and it was sent flying. It twisted
its body, extended its claws, and forcibly latched on to the ground to bring its
three-thousand-ton body to a halt.
He smells different. Why?
<<You’re Shinji, aren’t you?! That’s what you said before
disappearing from Novaya Zemlya!>> Mari yelled at the black messenger
that was Torwächter B. Or at least, she’d intended to. What came through her
speakers amounted to little more than a canine howl.
Eva-00 Type-F Allegorica was still in the fight, however, and Ayanami
Rei Six had managed to understand her. <<That’s not Shinji!>> she retorted.
<<Shinji’s more absentminded than that.>>
But Mari trusted her animal instincts more than human reason.
<<This black Shinji… He has the same scent as the Shinji I know…
Have they become one?>>
Six was still fighting off Angel Carriers, and she was unable to get
closer to Mari.
Mari kicked the gravel beneath her to resume attacking Torwächter A1,
who was behind Torwächter B. She was fighting the low-gravity environment
for footing.
<<Why are you picking on Asuka?!>> Six saw no reason for it.
Wolfpack shook its neck and twirled the red lance in its mouth like a
baton. The prongs were facing the right way now.
<<Like I said, I’m going to eat her.>>
Six felt a chill run down her spine. She knew Mari was serious, though
she didn’t know why.
His hands and feet moved at an energetic pace, but it all felt wrong…
I’m being manipulated…like a puppet.
Against the lightning snake, he’d first felt ecstatic that he was
moving faster than he could think. But he’d slowly come to the realization
that his will was being overridden.
<<You called on me, and now I call on your body. That’s all.>>
The voice came from his chest. Was it his heart?
Who are you?
<<I will soon become all of you. There is no need to remember your
own name.>>
The grinder that had been polishing the railway had been removed.
Aoba’s mentor scoffed when he saw the hundreds of jagged edges still left on
the rail. They looked like a fluctuating graph.
“That’s about as smooth as we can get it. Any more, and it’ll warp out
of shape.”
“Indeed.” Alarms rang throughout the sarcophagus.
“All right, back up, everyone! We’re about to begin!” The old
associate professor announced to the rest of the staff.
The observation team moved to the booth inside the railway loop,
which doubled as a shelter, while the construction team moved out of the area
via the elevator. When the effect was reproduced, it was highly likely that
A sudden bustle had taken over the command center of Nerv Japan.
They’d received word that Yomotsu Hirasaka, having lost half its mass,
would return to the moon without making contact with Earth. Now Six,
who’d gone missing in space, had been found against all odds.
“What’s all this now…?” Misato said, surprised by what she was
Ayanami Rei Trois made her appeal from the orbiting Eva-0.0, since
no one on Earth seemed like they’d make it for her.
“Hakone command, requesting permission to take Unit Zero out of
orbit.”
Now that she’d found Six, Trois wanted nothing more than to rush to
her aid on the surface of Yomotsu Hirasaka.
Eva-0.0 levitated using FSB technology, which used the explosions
from tiny N2 pellets. These reactions were controlled by the A.T. Field
He was engulfed in the mist of the endless flock of birds. His heart
had taken control of his body, and he still couldn’t remember his name.
The lightning snake continued its assault. It branched off, creating
twenty lesser shades of itself, which now surrounded him. Unsure whether
he could protect her, he worried for the girl clothed in wind behind him.
<<Sweet release!>>
His heart turned his body around to grab the spear.
No! Stay close to her!
His heart exploded into a violent dance, as if flinging away his pent-
up gloom. Using the exaggerated motion, he charged right through the
swarm of snakes. He made it to the other side unscathed and landed on a
sandbank. Together with his stolen body, he jumped off of it and brought
the spear down onto the water, splitting it in two.
<<This is amazing!>>
He heard the joyous voice that was his own and yet not. His vision
grew darker in the chaos.
What are you going to do once you’re me?!
<<Well…for now, I’m going to free myself from my shackles.>>
Wait! Protect the red girl!
<<She is no longer—>>
HER PACK WASa mere diversion. She didn’t want anything to get in
the way of what she was about to do. Mari’s Eva turned to the other giant and
attacked Torwächter A1.
Wonderful… How did you achieve that form, Asuka? All the entities
inside you make my pack seem solitary in comparison!
The Asuka/Eva synthesis abandoned her spindle, a weapon highly
effective against the pack, without a moment’s hesitation. She knew that it
would be useless in single combat against the U.S. Eva.
She held her empty hands in front of her. Black currents of electricity
gathered and formed into the shape of a ball…the Type-F’s impact bolt. It
was a weapon constructed from the Eva’s memories—from Asuka’s
memories. She launched the black bolt at her attacker. Wolfpack began
gathering energy through the ring around its waist—electrical energy this
time instead of a particle blast. It fired its lightning, causing the bolts to crash
into each other.
The two massive charges of energy swapped positions as they
propelled forward.
A part of my memories die each time they introduce a new animal into
my DNA. I can’t remember the faces of my mother and father, and I can
barely distinguish myself these days… Whatever promises I made have
ceased to be important… The only truths left are the souls within me. Nothing
else seems real. That’s why I’ll risk everything to protect my pack! That’s
why I want to become just like you!
Mari roared long and hard at Asuka instead of speaking. Several
hundred kilometers of the avian wind blew through the choking vacuum of
space. A1 stood within the white mist of the flock as it flew toward the moon,
and Mari saw a barefoot girl clothed in crimson wind.
Red petals had fallen over North Africa, over the Valley of Human
Bodies, where Asuka and Eva-02’s forms had amalgamated with the Ark’s
Torwächter B took a step back from the A.T. Field creatures that
surrounded him and kicked at the ground. Mari’s beasts stayed on him,
coordinating their attack formation to compensate for whatever losses he
incurred. Although he was in possession of the lethal Lance of Longinus, it
was far too strong for him, and he could barely hit his mark.
Even so, it had bought him some time. The animals were more cautious
now that the humanoid form had a weapon. One of them tried to attack B
from his blind spot, but by mere chance, he’d struck it with the lance. The red
prongs pierced the animal, and he held it up to the stars. Light focused on the
shade’s corpse before exploding in a luminous display of blood. It sprayed
out like a fountain, drenching the rocky landscape and Torwächter B’s
obsidian body, before freezing into crimson crystals in the cold dark of space.
Even on the chaotic battlefield of Novaya Zemlya, Mari had never lost
an individual in her pack. Her family was ethereal, which meant they were
virtually immortal. However, the Lance of Longinus had the authority to end
all life, immortal or not.
B thrust the spear into the air in victory.
<<Return to the Ark, the final resting place of all life. From thence, life
shall begin again,>> the black messenger exalted, using Shinji’s voice.
Mari growled. She felt the pain of one of her pack dying intensely, and
it caused her Eva to reel as it leaped toward Torwächter A1. Asuka saw her
chance. She dodged Mari’s A.T. Field-reinforced claw swipe and jumped
over her, generating another impact bolt and shoving it into Wolfpack’s back.
“Argh!” Mari cried. But I’m not giving up yet!
Wolfpack shook its head and opened its jaws, slipping through A1’s
arms and going straight for her neck. The Torwächter dodged, but Wolfpack
managed to clamp its fangs on her shoulders. A1’s field shone brighter than
Nooo!
He was helpless to prevent it. His body continued fighting the
enemies around him against his will.
He picked up a rock near his feet and threw it at the lightning snake
who’d bitten the girl.
Why couldn’t I protect her?!
No… Why didn’t I protect her?!
“O W… WHAT HAPPENED?”
The enlarged Wolfpack dodged Torwächter B’s lance throw and drew
closer to its quarry—the injured Torwächter A1.
“So hot…”
A sound like a rushing waterfall came from his chest as the Center
Trigonus started burning like a furnace. Golden light spewed out of the cavity
into the dark sky.
His heart wasn’t beating. This situation felt worse than his near self-
destruction at Novaya Zemlya.
“Nothing good can come out of you, can it?”
He, Ikari Shinji, stood in Torwächter B’s body with the monochromatic
backdrop of the stars above him. He focused his energy on his giant black
hand, which held the spindle.
<<Nerv Japan via Unit Zero to Euro Sixth Rapid Response Unit…
Transmission to Hakone command was lost due to electromagnetic
interference and equipment damage.>>
Hakone could only stare at their monitors in shock.
“Rei Trois…has made contact with Europe!”
“Trois…? Trois, what are you doing?!” Misato jumped out of her chair
and shouted into her receiver. “You don’t have to worry about that, we’ll take
care of it—”
She lowered her gaze from the main display to the middle deck. Hyuga
was shaking his head. “There’s a lot of interference, but not enough to affect
encoding levels. Certainly not enough to lose comms…”
I knew it! So what is she doing?
Misato racked her brain trying to figure out Trois’ plan. Trois’ pained
groans continued through the speaker. <<I’ve received a message from
Hakone…acknowledging their cooperation with General Hartmann of the
Euro Sixth Army. I, First Child Ayanami Rei Trois…am to escort Euro Eva,
Heurtebise, to the detached lunar landmass, Japanese designation Yomotsu
Hirasaka.>>
The bees of the command center started to buzz again.
Six was holding her hands to her ears, screaming, “I! Caaaan’t!
Heeaaar! Yooooou!”
Fortunately, nothing got through to her this time around. She lowered
her sync rate as low as it could go and shut her eyes and ears to let the black
giant’s message pass over her.
The quadrupedal American Eva led a pack of twenty A.T. Field beasts.
It had devoured the data of several thousand life forms from Asuka, severely
injuring her in the process. It was now much larger than the first time it had
expanded, back on Novaya Zemlya.
“I know it’s you, Mari!”
Mari kept attacking them. She’d already recognized Shinji and Asuka
as enemy Torwächters B and A1, and that they were to be destroyed. In fact,
she wanted to destroy them.
S back on the ground after his short hop and saw the
HINJI LANDED
Lance of Longinus, the forked tongue of the snake in his dreams, lodged in
its own crater on the side of a cliff. He surveyed the area and found that the
abandoned great bow Azumaterasu was perched on top of a hill.
He realized then what had happened. He knew why he’d been
transported from Hakone to give flesh to the hollow armor of the Torwächter.
He’d simply returned to where he was supposed to be. That was all.
The plates on the two messengers’ backs had shortened again. The
swarm of beasts were already rushing them with the speed of demons in the
wilderness. Shinji was afraid of engaging these terrible animals, who had no
capacity for reason.
Do I have any other option?
His black body stepped toward the duplicate Longinus lodged in the
cliffside.
“!”
Was that his subconscious? Or was he still being controlled? His steps
faltered.
Mari’s still in that pack. I might kill her if I use this!
He looked toward the swarm again.
“No!”
The swarm kicking up the dust cloud wasn’t as large as he’d previously
thought. They’d split up again.
Where’s Mari?!
He was looking at a diversion, which meant…
A large shadow fell over the lance. He turned, but it was too late.
Shinji used all his energy to fling the incapacitated Asuka to the side and took
the brunt of Wolfpack’s attack with his Torwächter body.
“Bravo.”
The Kaji-vessel’s clapping echoed in the entry plug dried of its LCL.
He watched the scene from on top of a hill in Quatre’s mutant Eva.
Hieroglyphs of the tree of life began sprouting out of Wolfpack’s wound.
“Will this restart the Human Instrumentality Project?” Ayanami Rei
Quatre, Nerv Japan’s turncoat, asked with a gloomy expression.
Kaji dismissed the notion. “I told you, the black giant and his
messengers are mere parts of the system. As such, they cannot change the end
of the world. That has already been decided. Really, it’s too late for even this
disciplinary action.”
Quatre was still a bit concerned. “Ikari-kun is crying…”
“This is only the opening act. We still have to go through Act Two.”
What did the Kaji-vessel know?
“He has shown us this spectacle to build up how he will reclaim the
spear and end it all. But he will come.”
Quatre stared at his face to try and figure him out.
“That girl’s Eva is ridiculously strong.” Quatre gave Kaji her honest
assessment.
“All right. We’ll have to try activating this bow with the Q.R.
Signum.”
Quatre wasn’t pleased. Every time she tapped into the Q.R. Signum for
power, she was forced to look at Armaros’ darkness, and it hurt every time.
“…!”
But what she saw this time wasn’t the usual dark. Countless Evas were
Back on Hakone, Toji and Maya had heard a voice when the Q.R.
Signum suddenly began to resonate at high frequencies.
“It’s at max potential!”
“Shinji!”
From the command center, Misato watched his wings grow around the
landscape through the lens in the sky.
“Shinji-kun!” She clutched the cross that was her parents’ keepsake.
The curtains to the Third Impact had opened.
“Anomaly on Yomotsu Hirasaka!”
“Yes, we can see that!”
Fuyutsuki snapped at Hyuga, but the operator continued.
“No, Yomotsu Hirasaka is disappearing…starting from the side facing
the lens!”
“It’s what?!”
The wind was strong. A strange tide moved in from the southeast.
There was a rumbling in the air as fighter jets cut across the sky from Mount
Daikan Airport. They were headed south, where the object was supposed to
have fallen.
“Attention, citizens of Tokyo-3. Evacuate to the shelter areas
immediately. We are looking into appropriate anti-Angel measures for the
occasion. Please await further orders. All personnel, to your stations.”
If Yomotsu Hirasaka fell upon the Earth, and the Third Impact
followed, it would truly be the end of the world. Given how small the Earth
had gotten, it might actually split in two. Shinji’s plan was to use the force of
the Impact to destroy the lunar landmass, or at least change its trajectory.
He continued chipping away at Yomotsu Hirasaka with his powerful
A.T. Fields. He felt the violent feedback in his arms every time one of his
fields broke. The loss of energy slammed into him like a brick wall.
The spatial lens had spectralized Yomotsu Hirasaka, which had been
on the other side of the moon, and converged it right over the Earth. The
lunar landmass was originally only supposed to graze the planet, but now it
was on a collision course with it.
The spatial lens wasn’t all bad, however. It spectralized and converged
everything on Yomotsu Hirasaka, including Asuka, who was falling apart on
a particle level, and Mari, who had literally bitten off more data than she
could chew.
Trois said Asuka is human again, and I believed her without a second
thought…
No… If anything, I’m using Asuka’s return as an excuse to do what I’m
doing now.
He made up his mind and stopped worrying about his plans.
Super Eva’s body spread wide. His sword had followed his
transformation and was now an arc of light lacking any outline. He realized
that, in the distant past, the completion of the Human Instrumentality Project
had probably been expedited by manipulating warp technology. Perhaps the
great bow Sacrilegus had been a creation of their version of Dr. Akagi. The
arc of light fell upon the great bow and split it in two, cracking Armaros’
hardened field like ice.
THRUM!
The giant of light took a powerful step forward. The photon longsword
ran through the black giant—the Eva-01 of the past, perhaps even the Shinji
of the past.
<<Take… Eat… This is my body…>> Armaros said.
Ah…
<<Now I remember… This is what I needed…>> He spoke in Shinji’s
voice for the last time. Shinji felt his heart burn within him as the fire coiled
around it consumed all.
I see… Of course.
He’d been fruitlessly trying to trigger the Third Impact through his
own will. What he’d needed in the end was a loud voice that could
overwhelm everything.
Let’s do this. I can’t stop the descent, but I can at least slow it down…
Where should I drop it?
The people of Earth watched with bated breath as Yomotsu Hirasaka
came to a stop. The three wings of light suddenly split into six, spreading and
covering the entire sky.
The giant’s tidal wave of explosive light engulfed everything around it.
Armaros stood his ground and maintained his aim. It looked as if he noticed
Hikari for a moment, perhaps even smiling. It was an odd thing to do to
someone firing a micro black hole directly at your head.
<<Hikari-chan…?>>
The next moment, Armaros’ entire body was consumed, leaving only
his feet. The nearly invisible black hole forced out boiling jets of light as it
flew. But this was soon outshined by the light surrounding it, making it
impossible to see.
An intense light focused at the center of the six wings, which grew in
Trois had used the full power of her FSB to launch herself upward and
watched the whole procession from above.
“Ikari-kun…!”
“He’ll be back…” Asuka sighed. “He hates being around people, but
he hates being alone even more. Auf Wiedersehen, Shinji. See you soon. I’ll
leave the lights on for you. I’ll get you home this time.”
Asuka finished her goodbye, and the smile disappeared from her face.
If it weren’t for the LCL, light would have trickled down her cheeks.
The rumbling over the Pacific Ocean didn’t stop. In fact, it lasted for
several hours.
Night had fallen by the time Toji reached the surface, and the wind
blew like a typhoon over the outer rim of the Hakone caldera. The clouds
protecting Tokyo-3 had been chased away by the lightning bolts snaking
through the sky. The bolts were colorful, possibly due to electric anomalies
producing something like an aurora borealis. Sometimes, the clouds
“I’m going to school,” Ayanami Rei Six said from the open door of the
command center. She was wearing a white uniform. The personnel inside
were all startled by her sudden statement. They could only stare.
“M M…”
In the back of the class, Quatre propped her elbows on the desk and
whispered to Kensuke in front of her. “This absurdity seems nostalgic to you,
Aida Kensuke. I think you’re quite right in calling it a dream.”
“Self-study? Where’d the teacher go?” Toji said upon entering the
room.
Some students noticed him. “Yo, Suzuhara! Did you see our clothes?”
The recording had stopped playing, and the classroom was noisy again.
“Our clothes? Well, they look like something my folks would wear
back in the day, but that’s about it.”
He scanned the room and thought, Wow, everyone’s here. He waved to
Shinji, who was sitting a few rows from the windows. He fiddled with his
right hand, reveling in how good it felt, when someone started pinching his
ear.
“Ow, ow, ow!”
Rei Six was not pleased. “You are late! You missed Hikari.”
Kensuke disappeared, but I guess she just woke up…
The slender barrel of a camera lens had been crammed into the chest
T
HICK CLOUDS HAD GATHERED over the newly formed island, although
its peak was still visible, if only because the clouds didn’t reach that high.
The summit, which was so tall that its collapse seemed inevitable, was
nineteen thousand meters above sea level and just breached the bottom of the
stratosphere. You could stack two Mount Everests on top of each other, and
you still wouldn’t get to the top.
The stratospheric network of airships, which was now the world’s only
method of communication, would be forced to rethink their routes. The larger
American and European observation crafts had circled the thick clouds
several times, confirming that Yomotsu Hirasaka was now a new island in the
Pacific Ocean.
The island had the topography of a plateau and the perimeter of a
pentagon.
The energy from the fall had caused the ocean floor around it to rise up
as a ring of smaller islands. Most of the sentry drones had dropped out of
range, but one of the operators reported seeing a thick forest behind all that
fog. The lunar origins of Yomotsu Hirasaka should’ve made it impossible for
it to support any kind of plant life, yet there were chlorophyll reactions in the
log before the drone dropped out of reach. People were skeptical but not
altogether unbelieving.
The last thing the drone saw was a large-scale landslide, which
unveiled a mountain range shaped like the back of a large beast.
“S WITCH OFF THE LIGHTS at hole fifteen, please. It’s too bright.”
“This is Mount Daikan command. Copy that.”
Lieutenant Colonel Kasuga’s voice came over the speakers. <<Mount
Daikan command to Akashima. Endo, move into battle position.>>
“Akashima. Copy that. Standing by.”
South of Lake Ashi, to the west of Mount Daikan, lay a golf course that
had been repurposed by the JSSDF. Here, the mechanized giant Akashima
was stripped of its equipment. Its N2 turbines roared as power surged into its
heavy limbs.
A loud whistle indicated that all personnel should watch their step as
the robot was undressed. Various travel locks were released and waterproof
coverings removed. The containers on its arms were unloaded and set upon
three layered palettes usually reserved for heavy machinery.
“Checking gyro calibration.”
“GC check green.”
“I really wanted to catch up with I-409… The guys at Nerv Japan are
going to laugh at our poor planning, Lieutenant Colonel,” Endo complained.
The pilot of the Akashima watched as mechanics armed his mecha.
<<Let’s hope it’s a false alarm, warrant officer. We have a job to do
before we can plant our flag at Yomotsu Hirasaka.>>
“Copy that,” Endo said, looking at the container that stored an
oversized Hinomaru. The JSSDF had devoted all their efforts to search and
rescue. Meanwhile, the Air Force and Marines were currently staking out
Yomotsu Hirasaka Island.
Military forces from other nations also had their eyes on the newly
formed island, though they deployed their armies under the pretense of the
UN’s emergency forces. They filled the waters near the Ogasawara Islands,
The JSSDF recon chopper couldn’t explain what it was seeing. The
strange mass had been indistinguishable from the surface of the sea, but all of
a sudden, its center began to squirm and rise.
“Spotter 3 to Mount Daikan command. Object is no longer two-
dimensional. It looks like a snake…or some kind of fish.”
The clouds were dark and heavy, and visibility was low. Even so, they
could see that the specimen ramming itself against the cliffside was about
seventy to eighty meters long. Its efforts were eventually rewarded, as it
made it over the rock face.
“Hey…that thing has legs!”
The chopper pilot and the Mount Daikan command personnel had all
seen this creature as children. They recalled the pages of their animal
encyclopedias, particularly the section on gilled creatures turning into lunged
creatures.
“Aquatic life’s first landfall…”
The beast walked on, consuming trees as it moved.
“We have visual confirmation that two more of those things have
landed on Mishima Coast, southwest of Mount Daikan!”
Siblings of the monster attacking Izu Peninsula were making their way
to the Hakone caldera.
The Akashima launched without waiting for further orders. Its turbines
revved up, and it started dashing, shifting into ground effect mode. The giant
was still too low to the ground, however, and it scraped against the rocks. It
activated its auxiliary rockets, and by the time the shift was complete, it was
flying low and sliding down the slope.
<<Endo!>>
“Civilians are moving back to Susono and Iwanami!”
There was a large residential area near Susono and Iwanami, which had
now become a coastline. Tokyo-3 had taken in refugees whose homes might
be affected by the erratic weather activity. They stayed inside the caldera on
Maya was the first one down to the ruins of old Central Dogma.
She wanted to see it with her own eyes.
The black egg that was the Chronostatic Sphere had formed around
Lilith, swallowing all of HQ and its surroundings. Former Nerv Commander
Ikari Gendo and Dr. Akagi Ritsuko, along with several others, had also been
trapped in the Sphere.
That was three years ago. Then, the black egg had been stolen by
Armaros, leaving only the cavity where it had once lain.
A giant was now hunched over in that cavity. Its body was white hot,
turning the water around it to steam.
“Super Eva!”
That was the first thing she thought of when she saw it. It was wrapped
in orange, and its body was covered in restraint armor that looked very much
like the old Eva-01.
“Yes. I suppose that’s all you have ‘over there.’”
—Ikuto Yamashita,
Evangelion Mecha Designer