There was no roaring, no berserk state, no deus ex machina. There was only a silent combat weapon and the scattered remains of flesh and blood everywhere.
The shattered city, burning buildings, the cross of light in the sky, and the steel giant standing amidst the rainbow—these elents combined to form a scene of profound impact.
The command center was dead silent. From the generals of the Self-Defense Force to the mbers of NERV, everyone stared blankly at the scene.
Their minds felt sluggish as they replayed the entire battle. Everyone looked at the EVA Unit-01 on the monitors, unable to utter a single word.
This was more shocking than a dazzling display of power that instantly obliterated the Angel, because the entire battle had been perfectly understandable—and it was precisely that comprehensibility that made it so staggering.
It was a total crushing victory through tactics and strength. There was nothing that exceeded their understanding; it was silent, decisive, and efficient. Every attack was as flawless as a piece of art.
"The Angel is silent."
The operator's voice finally snapped everyone back to reality. The generals of the Self-Defense Force blinked, looking toward Gendo Ikari with complex expressions.
"Commander Ikari, congratulations. As expected of NERV—to think you found such an incredible ace pilot."
The congratulations were offered with a degree of sincerity. If Unit-01 had gone berserk, they would have viewed the machine as uncontrollable, but this was clearly the rit of the pilot. How exactly had he been trained?
Gendo Ikari maintained his signature pose with fingers interlaced, his mood far more complicated.
'The script is wrong.'
In his scenario, how could Ikari Shinji, who had just climbed into Unit-01, possibly defeat the Angel? Shouldn't he have been beaten to a pulp, forcing Unit-01 into a berserk state?
Activating the consciousness of Unit-01 itself was a crucial part of the entire plan. But this ti, Shinji had defeated the Angel entirely through his own power. The entire process wasn't even particularly perilous, let alone difficult to comprehend.
This was simply the process of a highly skilled, battle-hardened warrior defeating a powerful enemy as a matter of course.
'Could he really be a genius?'
Gendo didn't understand. He even shot a glance of dissatisfaction at Ritsuko Akagi; losing data monitoring at the critical mont ant he had no idea what had actually transpired.
He lowered his hands, stood up, and spoke loudly: "What are you all standing around for? Start the cleanup."
The Commander's voice snapped everyone to attention. This was no ti to watch a show. Ritsuko Akagi frowned, forcibly terminating her line of thought, and poked the twitching Misato Katsuragi with her elbow.
"Hey, stop staring. Get to the cleanup."
Misato had been the most profoundly affected. As NERV's Operations Director, she was supposed to have commanded the battle, but she had ended up playing a supporting role the entire ti.
Even playing a supporting role hadn't been easy. She had focused every ounce of her concentration just to keep pace, and she kept replaying those incredibly precise commands in her mind—
'Is this a 14-year-old child?'
Shock aside, there was work to be done; at the very least, she had to salvage so dignity for the adults.
"Clear the battlefield imdiately, locate the wounded, and lock down Sector F." Misato issued orders in rapid succession before leaning over her console. "Shinji-kun, are you okay?"
The voice reached Shinji, but he had no heart to answer; he simply hung his head and looked at his own hands.
'What is going on?'
That an AT Field could be used for offense was sothing he had learned in the heat of battle. That psychic power could strengthen an AT Field was also within his expectations—after all, the essence of an AT Field was a phase-shift space composed of soul-stuff.
What substance could be purer than psychic energy?
And so, he had sliced through the AT Field with his axe, dismbering the Angel like a hot knife through butter. And when it prepared to self-destruct, he had shattered its core. But the problem arose right at that mont.
The axe blade, imbued with psychic energy, had pierced the crimson sphere. Psychic energy, like tentacles, had reached deep inside, and a sensation—at once strange and familiar—had been transmitted into the depths of his consciousness through Unit-01.
'The Warp. No, rather, sothing similar to the Warp—a space devoid of matter, filled with energy.'
After the strange Machine Spirit of Unit-01, a second major question had erged. He had held doubts since fighting the Angel: with such a massive machine and the enormous energy required to release an AT Field, yet the Angel had no umbilical cable—where was that energy coming from?
'This world is even more uncanny than I imagined.'
Shinji closed his eyes, recalling that fleeting instant. His psychic power had felt as if it had fallen into a place entirely distinct from the material world.
'Was the Angel's core linked to another space? Was that where the inexhaustible energy supply ca from?'
The contact had been too brief for Shinji to have an answer, but a fierce curiosity had welled up within him.
'It must be investigated. At the very least, I can be certain it was no hallucination.'
He opened his eyes, and the deathly white glow flickered once more. His psychic energy had been nearly exhausted, but after shattering the Angel's core and probing that strange space, his strength had actually ascended to a new level.
It was as if parched earth had been nourished by a torrential downpour, pure energy pouring into his body.
'This makes no sense!'
A Psyker is not rely a "superpowered" individual; fundantally, they are a nexus point connecting the material universe to the Sea of Souls. They draw energy from the Warp through ntal links, manifesting supernatural power in reality.
'Could it be that this world also has a Sea of Souls? Have I ford a link with it, allowing to continue using psychic power? And by destroying the Angel, has my link to the Sea of Souls grown tighter?
This is dangerous. When a Psyker uses their abilities, their projection in the Sea of Souls shines like a torch—let alone making direct contact through a dium. If I am spotted by sothing... I'll be in trouble.'
To use a less-than-appropriate analogy, this was as dangerous as using a daemon to establish a direct connection to the Warp—it was an act of suicide.
He shot a lingering, fearful glance at the corpse beneath his feet. The Xenos that had effortlessly decimated human ard forces was now utterly dead, devoid of all vitality.
'Phew, it should not be the Warp, but a similar place. Otherwise, my actions just now would have been enough to be corrupted a hundred tis over.'
"Shinji-kun, are you alright? Answer !"
The voice in the comms grew anxious. Shinji finally withdrew his focus and simultaneously suppressed his psychic energy.
The visual link restored. Misato Katsuragi saw Ikari Shinji sitting in the pilot's seat; she didn't know how the system had returned to normal, but she exhaled in relief.
The boy was expressionless, showing no signs of fatigue, as if he had just completed a mundane daily chore.
"Status is good. I leave the cleanup to you." Shinji's tone was much gentler; the tacit understanding they had displayed during the battle had earned his recognition of her capabilities.
He piloted Unit-01 back toward the entrance. As the heavy footsteps thundered, the people who were still ruminating on the battle silently swallowed their saliva.
"Phew, I'm glad you're okay." Misato wrinkled her nose, looking at the indifferent boy and her tense colleagues, then suddenly clapped her hands.
"Everyone, cheer up! We won, didn't we? Humanity hasn't been extinguished!"
'Yes. We won.'
The crowd was stunned, their tense nerves finally relaxing. Many collapsed into their seats. Then, whistles, cheers, and applause erupted, traveling through the comms and into Shinji's ears.
'The Emperor protects. I have protected humanity once again.'
The cheering brought a profound sense of satisfaction. He suddenly realized the value of his existence. In the 41st Millennium, a re Astartes was like a candle fla, incapable of changing anything on his own—but here, it was different.
'My power can protect the world. I can carry out my oath.'
He clenched his fists; every cell in his body was cheering. He looked at the screen, his tone warm.
"First Lieutenant Katsuragi, this is our shared victory."
"Oh, I didn't really contribute anything this ti." Misato scratched her nose in embarrassnt, looking at this overly reliable boy. "Don't be so stiff. Smile a little! And call by my na—we'll be working together for a long ti."
Listening to the cheers and applause, Shinji paused, a rare, faint smile touching his lips.
"Understood, Misato-san."
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