On one side, Gendo Ikari was secretly depressed, while on the other side, Rei Ayanami and the Angel Envoy were fighting back and forth. Although the League Army’s previous battle didn’t cause much harm to Little Shui, it at least exposed so of its abilities. For instance, Rei Ayanami learned that Little Shui had lightsabers in its palms that could retract at will, and its eyes could shoot deadly rays. She had therefore specifically prepared defenses against this.
Now that Misato Katsuragi wasn’t around, Rei Ayanami was strictly following Fang Zheng’s orders, which were to first prevent the Angel Envoy from approaching Tokyo-3, and then... consider how to eliminate it.
Rei Ayanami temporarily had no solution for Little Shui, but Little Shui was very frustrated. It just wanted to imdiately head to Tokyo-3, but this pesky guy kept obstructing it. Moreover, it wasn’t as easily eliminated as those previous opponents.
What drove Little Shui crazy was that the opponent never engaged in a direct confrontation. Each ti it was about to move, Rei Ayanami would co and delay, and when it wanted to attack, she would escape quicker than anybody else and counterattack with a burst of bullets.
Honestly, although these bullets didn’t do much damage to Little Shui, the A.T. Field weakened Little Shui was still wearing down its health!
If its HP was set at 3000, then Rei Ayanami’s round of attack would only inflict 30 points of damage.
But it couldn’t withstand continuous attacks forever.
If this continued for a hundred rounds, wouldn’t it die?!
Little Shui couldn’t possibly let Rei Ayanami kite it for a hundred rounds. In fact, after it lost a fifth of its health, Little Shui imdiately made a decision.
Take down this annoying enemy first, then continue forward!
With that, Little Shui quickly turned around, flying up into the air, and pounced towards Unit-00.
If it were soone else, the sudden counterattack from the Angel Envoy might have caught them by surprise. However, Rei Ayanami strictly followed orders. Although the previous back-and-forth skirmish was monotonous, it didn’t cause her to lose vigilance. As the Angel Envoy pounced towards her, she quickly maneuvered Unit-00 to roll on the ground, evading the lunge.
"Provide cover imdiately!"
Upon witnessing this, Dr. Ritsuko Akagi quickly issued an order, but Fang Zheng stopped her imdiately.
"Stop, stop, stop, your stuff can’t even break through the Angel’s exterior, and you’re just creating smoke and obstructing vision. Are you attacking the enemy or covering them?"
"Then what do you suggest?"
Confronted by Fang Zheng’s words, Dr. Akagi was at a loss.
"Does the EVA weaponry have lee options? Like a sword or a shield?"
"Sword and... shield?"
"Exactly, sothing similar. Are there any lee weapons?"
"There are! But..."
"Get them to Rei imdiately!"
"Alright."
Having no other choice, Dr. Akagi nodded at Fang Zheng’s request. Although NERV had conceived many strategies against the Angel Envoy’s arrival, this was still a first battle. She was unsure about the outco, so since Fang Zheng insisted, Dr. Akagi decided to give it a try.
"Send Unit-00 to Zone E28! Prepare the weapon systems!"
Following the command, Unit-00 turned and sprinted towards the edge of Tokyo-3, while at the sa ti, the side of an automated interception building nearby suddenly sprang open. It revealed a sowhat sci-fi-styled dagger, though...
"We really don’t have a shield."
Dr. Akagi was helpless about this. In these tis, they considered swords due to EVA’s close-quarters needs against the Angel, serving as a backup plan. As for a shield, who would think to prepare one?
"No worries, Li, dismantle the building panel for a shield! Take the sword and attack!"
"Understood."
Upon hearing Fang Zheng’s command, Rei Ayanami, who had already reached the targeted location, quickly extended her hand, grabbed that door panel and lifted it, while her right hand held the dagger that was launched from the building. Turning, she confronted the Angel Envoy, and at the sa ti, Little Shui once again leapt into the air. Its right hand aid at Unit-00, then a lightsaber instantly shot from the Angel’s right hand center, stabbing towards Unit-00.
Seeing this, everyone at NERV headquarters couldn’t help but hold their breath. But in the next mont, what happened stunned them all.
Faced with the Angel’s lightsaber stab, Unit-00 suddenly bent forward, raising the shield in its hand inward. At the mont the lightsaber stabbed, it forcefully diverted the attack trajectory, causing the Angel to lose balance and stumble backward awkwardly. anwhile, Unit-00 seized the opportunity, swinging the dagger forward swiftly, directly severing the Angel’s right arm!
Poor Little Shui had never suffered such a setback. In the animation, it was crushed by the berserk Unit-01, but now it was effortlessly disard by Unit-00, which was rather humiliating.
If Little Shui could speak, it would surely scream, "My Power of the King!!"
Unfortunately, Unit-00 didn’t listen. After slicing off Little Shui’s right arm, it continued to press the attack, shield in its left hand, driving the dagger straight into the red core in the heart of the Third Apostle!
Realizing the catastrophic situation, Little Shui’s whole body suddenly bounced like elastic sludge, enveloping Unit-00 completely!
The next mont, a dazzling radiance shot skyward.
"...Ah..."
Witnessing this scene, everyone was dumbfounded. They just stared blankly at the pillar of light soaring into the sky, speechless for a long ti.
"What about Unit-00?"
Ritsuko Akagi quickly snapped back to reality and promptly asked. Before the staff could reply, a gigantic black silhouette slowly erged from the flas and explosive brilliance. It lifted its head, a large green eye sparkling in the reflection of the firelight...
"..."
Seeing this, Fang Zheng speechlessly reached out to press his forehead.
In the animation, Unit-01 walking out is so cool!
Why does it look so goofy when it’s Unit-00?
Indeed, big eyeballs lack any class!
Next ti, change the helt.
Though it looked a bit silly to Fang Zheng, the defeat of the Third Angel still caused the NERV staff to cheer in excitent. Except for Gendo Ikari, whose face looked like soone owed him millions, everything was splendid.
After that, Unit-00 was quickly recovered. Fortunately, the final self-detonation of the Angel seed dramatic, but only resulted in so external damage to Unit-00 without affecting the core. Rei Ayanami herself only suffered minor injuries; thanks to the shield protection, it’s not a big deal, but she still needed to rest in the infirmary overnight, since it was her first battle with the Angels. Although there was no major trouble, they couldn’t afford to be careless.
So after having a dull hospital al with Rei in the ward, Rei Ayanami drowsily fell asleep, and not long after, Fang Zheng received a call from Ritsuko Akagi.
"Hello? Dr. Akagi? What’s up? Hmm? First Lieutenant Katsuragi, she...? Ah, I see, Commander Ikari agreed? Well, if that’s the case, I’ve got nothing more to say. Hmm, that’s it."
After a few brief exchanges, Fang Zheng hung up the phone, which ca from Ritsuko Akagi, about matters he was actually aware of.
Due to Unit-00’s active operation, Unit-01 lost the chance to show off, so after Unit-00 defeated the Angel, Misato Katsuragi took Shinji Ikari to NERV. Although it differed from the plot, Fang Zheng was unclear about what Gendo Ikari said. Nevertheless, Shinji reluctantly agreed to stay.
Perhaps during the handover process, there was so mutual sympathy between Katsuragi and Shinji. Upon discovering that Shinji wouldn’t live with his father and was being sent over to Fang Zheng, Misato Katsuragi impulsively made a call, requesting to have Shinji stay at her place, and Gendo Ikari had no objections.
Ritsuko Akagi was naturally furious about this, but there was nothing she could do; after all, she was Misato’s friend and could only help by contacting Fang Zheng to apologize. This could be considered a breach of authority, and any misstep could lead to unforeseen consequences.
Fang Zheng was ntally prepared for this, unlike Rei Ayanami with her "backup." Shinji holds a crucial part in Gendo’s plans. Fang Zheng’s actions are well noted by the NERV folks, and in less than a month, he had changed Rei Ayanami into soone new. It’s conceivable that if Shinji fell into his hands, Gendo would feel a million uncertainties.
Not to ntion, Fang Zheng also holds the position of a SEELE staff mber.
Fang Zheng figured that even without Misato’s direct intervention, Gendo would find other ways to keep him away from Shinji. Clearly, from the beginning, Gendo had no intention of letting Fang Zheng get involved with his not-so-precious son.
But then...
Thinking this, Fang Zheng chuckled.
You think saying "don’t touch him" ans I won’t? That’s not much face-saving, is it?
For interacting with Shinji, Fang Zheng doesn’t need to go through any special asures, because...
"Hello, Shinji Ikari."
Looking at the young boy in front of him, Fang Zheng cheerfully extended his hand.
"I’m Fang Zheng, in charge of special personnel managent at NERV, currently also a teacher at this school."
"Ah, hello..."
Faced with Fang Zheng, the introverted Shinji was visibly uneasy, but he still extended his hand to shake Fang Zheng’s.
"If you have any troubles or worries, feel free to co to ; I’m right in the infirmary."
Indeed, as the person in charge of the pilots, Fang Zheng had to stay at school too; however, this ti, he didn’t take on any burdenso roles but beca a health doctor. Since when an Angel arrives, Fang Zheng had to move out together, he couldn’t possibly manage a class. Being a health doctor was obviously much more relaxed and free.
Since Shinji did not pilot Unit-01 for this operation, he naturally escaped a brutal assault from a certain teenage delinquent. Nevertheless, even so, his environnt in the class wasn’t ideal. Shinji was always that kind of introverted kid, not very active in class.
He was not excluded, but still... nothing exceptional.
In the days that followed, everyone enjoyed so rare peaceful monts.
Fang Zheng naturally took Rei Ayanami to and from school every day, and occasionally would also pick up Shinji. Since Shinji and Rei had not t by Unit-01 before, Shinji was a bit distant towards Rei Ayanami, and though Rei had started learning to communicate with others, she wasn’t as naturally sociable as Asuka, so she didn’t talk much to Shinji either.
Besides, Fang Zheng also took the opportunity to participate in combat etings with Ritsuko Akagi and Misato Katsuragi and shared his opinions.
In Fang Zheng’s view, attacking from within the AT Field is clearly the normal combat style, hence long-range weapons aren’t very effective, so he suggested replacing them with lee weapons. In fact, this was due to Fang Zheng’s teachings; during his days with Rei Ayanami, besides ditation, Fang Zheng taught her about the use of swordsmanship.
Of course, with Rei’s body, mastering the Wolf Sword Technique is impossible, not because her physical attribute level isn’t adequate; for an EVA, the physical attribute level is more than enough. However, the issue lies in the Wolf Sword Technique requiring a greatsword, again in an EVA size that would reduce speed and response due to aerodynamics, so Fang Zheng just taught Rei the simplest shield-sword tactics; holding a sword in one hand and a shield in the other, attack and defense are possible, progress and retreat are manageable, against Angels... it should be enough.
Actually, the animation proves that the best way to deal with Angels is indeed using lee weapons, but the problem is choosing the right weapon...
NERV’s funds are quite ample, not to ntion, the shield-sword tactics showed outstanding results in the Third Angel combat, so neither Ritsuko Akagi nor Misato Katsuragi refused Fang Zheng’s request.
And shortly thereafter, the Fourth Angel finally appeared.
This ti, however, when Fang Zheng brought Rei Ayanami to headquarters, he was inford — since Unit-00 had not yet been repaired, Shinji Ikari would have to pilot Unit-01 to engage alone.
Oh wow.
On hearing this, Fang Zheng chuckled slightly.
Gendo Ikari really pulls out all the stops to let Unit-01 show off. While Unit-00 indeed sustained so damage from the fight with Little Shui due to the self-detonation, it isn’t severe. Repairing it shouldn’t take that long, indicating there’s clearly soone ddling.
But Fang Zheng didn’t mind.
Let see how far you can go.
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