Aozaki Aoko [682-683] (Patreon)

Chapter 682 Blood Type: Blue

"The activation test for Unit-03 is ready," Akagi Ritsuko said. "Looks like you'll be on a business trip over there for a while, Misato. Tough work."

"This kind of frontline command job always ends up on mid-level folks like me. Some laws of the universe never change, huh," Misato groused wearily. Lately she'd been run ragged over Unit-03; her already not-so-tidy apartment was now a disaster. After all, neither she nor Kaji Ryoji was any good at housework. "How's the pilot's physical condition?"

"Other than being a bit nervous, everything else looks good. He's an athletic kid, after all—physically stronger than Shinji," Ritsuko said, flipping through the diagnostic report in her hand. "But he can't compare to the two from the European branch. They're professionals."

"Sigh. I just hope everything goes smoothly," Katsuragi Misato said with a sigh. "By the way, North America is being really irresponsible—shipping a potentially risky activation test over here and making us provide the pilot…"

"In life there are always things we have to face," Ritsuko said calmly. "No matter how much we complain, in the end we still have to do it. Misato, you know that better than I do."

…

Monday, NERV HQ, Matsushiro temporary testing site for Unit-03, Unit-03 activation test hangar.

"Lead for the Unit-03 manned activation test has arrived," the PA announced on the site. "Proceeding to the command center."

"Power linkage confirmed. Restraint power lines nominal. Internal voltage within specified range. Entry plug locked in position."

"Restart the countdown," Misato ordered from the command vehicle. "All ground personnel, clear the area and enter nearby shelters."

"Don't be nervous, Toji. Just keep calm," Misato reassured the athletic boy. "The calmer you feel, the higher your synchronization with the EVA will be. Got it?"

"Yes, Ms. Katsuragi, I understand!" Suzuhara Toji clenched his teeth. Though he said so, he couldn't relax at all.

"LCL ionization procedure beginning. Pressure normal… First excitation state stable… Entry plug sensor status normal, values within normal error margin…"

"Proceeding to second-stage transition, second link…!"

"So Shinji wasn't lying. This isn't that hard, is it?"

Toji muttered to himself. He relaxed a little. Breathing in LCL felt weird at first, but once he adapted, a strange sense of safety welled up—like being held in a mother's arms.

I really hope I can become a pilot as capable as Shinji. If I did, would Sakura be proud of me…?

"Entry plug depth exceeding one hundred!" Hyuga Makoto shouted. "Mental contamination density entering the danger zone!"

"What's going on?!" Misato demanded. "Did synchronization fail?!"

"Pilot exceeds safe depth—current depth at two hundred!"

"Stop it! At this rate the pilot will lose consciousness, and his body will dissolve into the entry plug!" Ritsuko said. "Cut the power connection!"

"We can't! There's a high-energy reaction inside Unit-03—" Before Hyuga could finish, Unit-03 tore free of the temporary restraints. If anyone had been in the hangar then, they would have seen blue organic tissue seeping outward from the armor around the dorsal entry plug mount.

"Blood Type: Blue!" Ritsuko shouted at the monitors. "It's an Angel—" The roar of Unit-03 shook the entire Matsushiro site, followed by a colossal explosion, cross-shaped beams lancing out and consuming all the temporary structures nearby.

…

NERV HQ, European Branch, sub-bay. Under the pretext of a "synchronization test," Asuka and Gray waited in the entry plugs of Unit-02 and Unit-05.

The European branch had not been briefed about the parasitic Ninth Angel inside Unit-03. But with Touko's current clearance, she could "slip in" a sudden sync test to be ready for immediate sortie.

"Be ready to launch at any time, Asuka, Gray," Touko said to the two via a telepathic magic device. "The situation at Matsushiro should already have blown up. Unit-01 will likely sortie first; we'll follow right after."

"Unlucky Shinji…" Asuka frowned. "Suzuhara Toji is his friend, right? Is his father joking, sending him to fight?"

"That's why you and Gray need to move fast," Touko instructed. "Gray takes point; Asuka provides ranged support. Be careful not to get infected by the Ninth Angel—that would be trouble. We don't have the resources to grow too many spare EVA limbs."

"Understood," Gray nodded. This wasn't her first time facing an enemy capable of corrosion; there were many such among the dead.

"Primary objective: separate the cockpit. Secondary objective: extract and seal a sample of the Ninth Angel. Clear?"

"Clear!"

Shortly after their telepathic link ended, alarms blared at NERV HQ. Ten minutes later, Unit-01 was rushed onto the launch pad and catapulted to the surface, then advanced toward Matsushiro via successive umbilical cable switches.

Although Gendo hadn't authorized it, Unit-02 and Unit-05 were transported to the surface via independent channels.

With separate power supplies for each unit, they soon caught up with Unit-01 and took up position along Unit-03's path of advance.

"Target identification mode: Blood Type. Type unconfirmed!" the tactical analyst reported.

"Initiate first-level combat readiness. Notify Unit-02 and Unit-05 of the European branch to cooperate with Unit-01," Gendo ordered, fingers steepled. "Re-thaw the core that was frozen and separated. Pilot Ayanami Rei to standby for combat."

"Suspected EVA Unit-03—target sighted!"

"Transmit the activity stop signal. Force-eject the entry plug!" Gendo commanded coolly.

Unit-03 did execute the ejection command, but the entry plug was blocked by a mass of blue material and could not be expelled. The Ninth Angel clearly did not want the pilot to leave.

"Stop signal and plug ejection code not recognized!" the analyst shouted. "Corrosive tissue detected around the plug—cannot separate!"

"Additionally, analysis report complete… Result: Blue."

"From this moment, decommission Evangelion Unit-03," Gendo ordered coldly, as if utterly unsurprised by the situation. "Classify it as the Ninth Angel."

"Are you kidding me, Father!" On hearing Gendo's order, Shinji immediately burst out. "That's an EVA—Toji is still in the plug!"

"That is the target, Shinji," Gendo said. "Blood Type: Blue. An Angel beyond doubt. Your duty is to destroy it. Engage!"

Chapter 683 Decapitation

An enraged Shinji wanted to argue with his father, but the Ninth Angel parasitizing Unit-03 wouldn't wait.

It flipped forward, halo flaring to life, sprang in, and launched a flying kick that sent Unit-01 tumbling down a hillside. Then a second pair of unnatural arms sprouted from its back; with four arms at once it pinned Unit-01 and clamped hard around its throat, as if to twist the neck off.

Shinji, piloting Unit-01, immediately felt a crushing suffocation. He instinctively tried to fight back, prying Unit-03's hands off his neck for a breath of air—but the moment he remembered that the pilot in that entry plug was his friend, who had so recently shown fear and vulnerability before him, his will to resist vanished.

Judging from how Unit-01 had just forced those hands apart, it clearly outmuscled the Angel-corrupted Unit-03. But because Shinji refused to fight back, even that last advantage evaporated.

"Neck armor being corroded!" the analyst shouted. "Contamination reaching level 6200! A.T. Field destabilizing!"

"Hold neural link rate to 28%!" Fuyutsuki ordered quickly. "Pilot safety is top priority!"

"Wait," Gendo cut in, halting Fuyutsuki's command.

"Your son will die like this!" Fuyutsuki snapped, glaring at Gendo. He could not allow Yui's son to be strangled to death by an Angel.

"Shinji, why won't you fight?" Gendo ignored Fuyutsuki and demanded of Shinji.

"Because Toji is still in there, Father!" Shinji choked out, struggling.

"Get this straight: that is an Angel—our enemy. Kill it!" Gendo ordered harshly.

"I can't kill a person!" Shinji shouted stubbornly. "I can't kill my friend!"

"You will die," Gendo replied icily.

"Then let me die!" Shinji yelled. "Better that than killing my friend with my own hands!"

"…Enough. Cut the pilot's synchronization with Unit-01!" Gendo barked. "Activate Dummy—"

Halfway through that order, a metal "bolt" whistled in and struck Unit-03 in the chest, blasting it backward.

Freed for the moment, Shinji coughed violently and tried to get Unit-01 back on its feet.

An Angel wouldn't be beaten by a mere "bolt." Unit-03 dropped to all six limbs like some bizarre beast and scrambled toward Unit-01 at terrifying speed.

At this rate, Unit-01 would still be pinned.

But that "bolt" wasn't alone. More came streaking in one after another. This time, though, they didn't hit Unit-03's body; its A.T. Field, now prepared, blocked them.

The reason the first shot could ignore the A.T. Field at range was that Unit-01's field at close quarters had neutralized the Ninth Angel's field. With distance opened, that trick no longer worked.

However, long-range fire wasn't the only support. A military green giant dropped from the sky, gripping a massive toothed greatsword in both hands, and chopped down at Unit-03.

Unit-03's dorsal arms shot out to seize the blade, attempting to corrode and seize the weapon with Angelic infiltration. But Gray, piloting Unit-05, decisively thumbed the chainsaw switch. The snarling teeth spun at high speed, shredding the Angel's extra arms to pieces.

Having landed a telling blow, Gray didn't hesitate. She bore down with the chainsaw sword, aiming to sever Unit-03's head and end the fight cleanly. But the Ninth Angel wasn't as weak as hoped; Unit-03's A.T. Field locked the spinning blade in place, sparks spraying.

"Zero-distance breakthrough!"

Gray's arsenal obviously wasn't limited to a leaping greatsword chop. While deadlocked blade-to-field, the shoulder pylons snapped open, spewing dozens of metal spikes like driving nails. They punched through the A.T. Field and shattered the hands Unit-03 was using to guard its head.

"Incredible!"

Analysts at HQ gaped at the exchange between Unit-05 and the Ninth Angel—the split-second counters, the decisive combat judgment. This pilot was clearly a cut above "amateurs."

Gendo, who had planned to activate the Dummy System, didn't look pleased.

"This ends now!" Gray swung the chainsaw blade again, trying to seize the moment for a killing blow—but things didn't go to plan.

Perhaps the fight had dragged on too long, or the Ninth Angel had fully acclimated to Unit-03's body; at the last instant its halo flared again, pseudo-divinity engaging. A cross-shaped beam blasted out, striking Unit-05's chainsaw weapon.

The sudden shot forced Unit-05 back and destroyed the chainsaw sword, but didn't damage Unit-05's body. Gray retreated, reached to the equipment rack on Unit-05's back, and drew a short-hafted chainsaw axe with jagged teeth, ready to continue.

"Stop!" Shinji shouted then, moving Unit-01 to block Unit-05's advance. "There's still someone inside Unit-03!"

Gray frowned, about to say something—when the Ninth Angel seized the opening, lunging to infect and assimilate the hapless Unit-01 first. As a host body, Unit-03—

Unit-01's true strength—just as Unit-01 was about to be choked again, covering fire arrived.

This time the shots packed more punch. Asuka in Unit-02 had reached the scene. Her weapon wasn't the previous gauss arbalest but a giant shotgun-like piece that plastered a wide swath of "steel shot" across Unit-03's body, smashing its outer armor and splattering flesh and blood everywhere.

With three EVAs' A.T. Fields overlapping, the Angel-corrupted Unit-03 could no longer resist. Its A.T. Field was torn apart with ease by Unit-02's weapon.

"S-stop! You can't—Toji—"

"Out of the way. Don't get in the way," Asuka's icy voice cut through the comms into Shinji's ears. He blinked—and Unit-02, while continuing suppressive fire with one hand, slammed him to the ground with the other.

Seeing her partner complete the pin, Gray seized the chance. The howling chainsaw axe revved as she surged in and brought it down.

With a single stroke she lopped off Unit-03's head. A torrent of blood geysered from the severed neck, painting the farmlands red beneath the setting sun.

"Toji!!!"