Aozaki Aoko [672-673] (Patreon)

Chapter 672: The Vanished Commanders

When Ryoji Kaji went to stay at Misato Katsuragi’s place, it was Friday night. By the time Aoko and Touko returned to work at NERV HQ on Monday, Kaji was nowhere to be seen, but Misato looked positively radiant.

“Did something good happen, Miss Misato?” Aoko asked, a little puzzled. “You look as happy as someone who just won a jackpot…”

“Hahaha, as if. I never enter raffles~” Misato replied with a bright grin to Aoko’s teasing, but she didn’t say why she was so happy.

Although Aoko felt it was a bit baffling, she wasn’t particularly interested in the private life of this “homebody woman,” so she let it go.

NERV’s overall “aggregate strength” was now at a historical peak. After all, four EVAs were gathered in one place—something that hadn’t happened since the Vatican Treaty was signed.

But without a doubt, the UN and the five permanent Security Council members had no intention of allowing too much military power to concentrate in Japan; even if two of those EVAs weren’t under NERV HQ or Japanese jurisdiction, it was still the same issue.

So, after a series of political struggles, the Committee had to compromise with the secular apex of state power—the P5—and temporarily seal one EVA: Unit-00. Rei Ayanami had recently been put on leave by Gendo Ikari and would only come to NERV HQ for her scheduled medical checkups.

Most HQ staff were indignant about this, but Shinji was actually happy. He believed a girl like his little sister, Rei Ayanami, shouldn’t be piloting an EVA and risking her life on the battlefield.

She only needed to live a normal, happy life. He, as her big brother, would shoulder the rest.

In the past that would have been unthinkable, and even in the previous loops Aoko had witnessed there had never been such a Shinji. You could say the power of family and responsibility is truly great—or that, while the ritual hasn’t formally completed, Shinji’s current state is very close to “being complemented.”

Even the overly hollow Rei Ayanami now looked more and more like an ordinary fourteen-year-old girl. Her brother’s care and attention had deepened her bonds with others, and piloting an EVA was no longer her only means of maintaining connections.

Aoko was pleased to see it. Two children tormented by middle-aged man-babies saving each other absolutely counted as a good thing. If Gendo tried anything, she’d be more than willing to step in.

Since returning to work, Touko had stayed in the lab where the core of the Seventh Angel was stored. As a scientist with prior experience modifying the Third Angel, she immediately obtained authorization to study this “brand-new” core.

Unlike with the Third Angel, whose body was still intact—making “deep” core research risky in case the Third Angel became “unusable”—this time the Seventh Angel’s body had collapsed after losing its core, which still had a sealing stake embedded in it. So taking appropriate destructive samples wouldn’t be much of a problem; Touko could go all out.

If possible, Touko intended to seize this chance to acquire technology for replicating Angel cores. That would solve internal power for starships or new EVA models. N2 reactors were still inconvenient—

They added a weak point to Unit-05’s back out of thin air.

However, until Unit-01 truly awakened, artificial Angel-core technology would likely have to be kept as a reserve and hidden away. SEELE would not allow any EVA not fully under their control to possess excessive power. That applied to both Unit-02 and Unit-05 now; those two branches were essentially no different from Gendo’s HQ in nature.

Of course, Aoko had no objection to any of this, because she had already begun building an EVA base in Land of Sapphire Flowers. Aside from materials and equipment produced by magic, the vast majority came from what Touko “scrimped and saved” out of the Bethany Base—since Touko was the primary person in charge there, skimming a little from “daily burn rate” was child’s play.

Aoko had also done plenty, at least during her time working at NERV HQ. She had figured out the architecture and hardware composition of the MAGI system. This fully bionic supercomputer system wasn’t entirely hand-built by Naoko Akagi; components were procured from suppliers around the world.

So, starting years ago, under the guise of “system maintenance,” Aoko had been ordering various parts,

and began slowly “accumulating” a brand-new MAGI. Although it wasn’t fully tuned yet, putting it into service in Land of Sapphire Flowers was only a matter of time. She wasn’t in any hurry.

One great benefit of coming to the EVA world was getting a variety of modern industrial products. While manpower was still lacking (the education level in the Lostbelt was basically like a magical Middle Ages, and the fae were even further behind), she was trying to solve this with animated intelligent constructs. After all, robots are always more efficient than humans—and magical robots are still robots.

Thus, the “partial modernization” of Land of Sapphire Flowers was on track. With a demi-plane possessing semi-permanent power supply, environmental pollution wasn’t a concern. For the inhabitants, it just meant more handy machines—what’s not to like?

Although the Fairy-Tale Witch wasn’t keen on these “modern contraptions,” she didn’t reject truly simple and practical products. That was an unexpected gain from Aoko bringing her along this time; at least Jew now wasn’t so opposed to things like televisions.

Since the two EVAs from Europe arrived in Tokyo-3, changes at NERV HQ had come like a storm. The staff, once mostly Japanese, now included a smattering of blond, blue-eyed faces, which made the originally introverted Maya a bit uncomfortable.

“Excuse me, am I heading the right way to Commander Ikari’s office?” A staffer from the French branch stopped Maya and asked in English.

“Ah, our HQ has a navigation app you can use, but it has to be downloaded via the internal network,” Maya answered patiently. “However, if you want to see the Commander right now, I’m afraid you can’t. Deputy Commander Fuyutsuki isn’t at HQ either.”

“Why?” The person froze, clearly not expecting that. “When will they be back?”

“That I don’t know…” Maya said apologetically. “I work in the AI department, so I’m not familiar with the Commanders’ daily schedules. Sorry.”

Chapter 673: Acting Alone

Maya Ibuki hadn’t lied. NERV HQ’s Commander Gendo and Deputy Commander Kozo Fuyutsuki were indeed on a business trip—and their destination was a bit far from Tokyo-3. To be precise, 380,000 kilometers.

The Moon. Tabgha Base.

The two old men, traveling by spacecraft, were crammed by a small porthole, straining to look outside. The formerly white giant was now completely covered in some kind of black material, and the seven-eyed mask on its head had been fitted with a perforated shroud, as if SEELE was gradually freeing Unit-06’s field of view.

All around the Resurrection Plant stood numerous large infusion tanks, each connected to Unit-06 by piping, seemingly supplying “nutrients” to the still-unawakened white giant.

“Coming all the way to Tabgha and they won’t even let us disembark,” Kozo Fuyutsuki grumbled, frowning. “That’s going too far.”

“MARK.06’s construction differs from the other units. It’s enough that we know this,” Gendo said coolly. “The build speed has been accelerated. From that, it seems the Committee and the two European branches aren’t entirely of one mind. We should make use of that.”

“The P5’s suspicions toward SEELE and NERV are growing. Besides MARK.06, North America’s Unit-07 and Shanghai’s Unit-08 aren’t under Committee-controlled construction plans,” Fuyutsuki said, worried. “Anything after Unit-05 shouldn’t exist in the original schedule.”

“MARK.06’s construction is probably recorded in the Dead Sea Scrolls—something we don’t know yet,” Gendo said. “Leaving aside Unit-08, according to intel from covert channels, Unit-07 is an outright mass-production military EVA banned by the Vatican Treaty. With things at this stage, the Committee still hasn’t said a word. The old men’s tempers have improved.”

“Or they’re overly confident in this particular EVA… It looks like they’ve more or less figured out our endgame.”

“Even so, we will defy God’s will. That was decided the day we set foot on this path,” Gendo said firmly. “Wait… what’s that?”

Following Gendo’s gaze, Fuyutsuki saw a gray-haired boy in a black EVA plugsuit, sitting alone on Unit-06’s gigantic finger, staring into the distance at Earth.

“An EVA pilot?” Fuyutsuki frowned. “Impossible—here, of all places?”

Sensing their eyes, the gray-haired boy turned toward the ship and smiled.

That was absolutely not human, Gendo concluded.

“Looks like the Committee has prepared a big gift for us,” Gendo said. “An EVA piloted by a non-human—the ‘insurance policy’ that lets them keep control of the script.”

— — Separator — —
“Mauna Kea station has captured the target!” Makoto Hyuga reported. “Uploading coordinates. The optical satellite array is attempting emergency orbital corrections to obtain a clear image!”

An immense black sphere appeared on the command center’s main screen at NERV HQ. Countless eye-shaped patterns raced across its surface.

“The Angel’s AT Field is so strong it’s bending light… Does this thing think it’s a black hole?” Misato quipped. “Pretty terrifying… Estimated impact point?”

“According to the DepthThought model, there’s a 100% probability it will land on HQ,” Ritsuko said. “Assuming we don’t attempt to interfere.”

“Have we tried N2 airburst mines?” Misato asked.

“No good—we tried half an hour ago,” Hyuga said. “Spatial distortion is severe. The blast shock can’t even couple into the AT Field. In other words, we have no way to alter its trajectory.”

“The absolute field is concentrated almost entirely on one side. If you add the kinetic energy from the conversion of gravitational potential during descent…” Ritsuko took an unhurried sip of coffee and looked at Misato.

“…A bomb far bigger than those two from back then will wipe Tokyo-3 off the map, right?” Misato said with a self-mocking smile. “Hard to laugh at that.”

“Worse,” Ritsuko added. “According to DepthThought’s simulation, the crater depth will reach fifteen thousand meters. We may not even be able to save the Terminal Dogma sector.”

“Any word from the Commander?” Misato asked after a beat.

“The Angel’s AT Field is disrupting satellite communications. We can’t reach him for now.”

“So that means highest on-site command authority defaults to me…” Misato pondered, then said, “Immediately unseal the frozen EVA Unit-00. Notify our colleagues in Europe—have Units-02 and -05 prep for combat. Our Unit-01 and Unit-00 as well!”

“Their pilots boarded ten minutes ago,” Hyuga said. “Looks like they’re moving faster than we are.”

“Why can’t we have unified command even at a time like this…” Misato frowned. “Notify Shinji and Rei to head to the predicted impact zone and coordinate with Units-02 and -05!”

— — Separator — —
“How are you feeling, nervous, Gray?” Touko’s face appeared on the full-system display in Unit-05’s entry plug. “Don’t stress. You know that even if it fails, we can—”

“It’s okay, I understand, Sister Touko!” Gray smiled. “Even if I fail, Asuka is on the ground for support, right?”

“Of course!” Asuka’s feed popped up too. She spoke with full confidence. “Maybe the folks at HQ won’t even get a chance to act—the Angel will be down before that!”

“The Eighth Angel is about to enter the atmosphere,” Touko said. “Asuka, head to the designated point. Status on G-Type equipment?”

“No problem!” Asuka replied. “We’re running five N2 reactors this time. Even if it’s not quite like Operation Yashima, there’s no way this Angel can block everything with its AT Field!”

— — Separator — —
Three minutes later, Unit-05α was loaded once more onto the same modified bomber it had ridden before.

After a short taxi, with the engines roaring, the olive-drab EVA leapt skyward and climbed into the heavens.

“So that’s why they’re acting independently,” Misato said, watching Unit-05 in the sky. “As the only EVA that can truly fly, Unit-05 has a huge advantage in this operation.”