The battle ended, and Hansen had already left the command center with his hands in his pockets.
Not until that figure, representing absolute control, had completely disappeared, did Gendo Ikari, who had remained still as a statue, finally make a move.
"Clean up the battlefield and recover the unit."
His voice was as cold as ever, as if the battle that had just overturned common knowledge and torn the script to shreds had never happened.
"Lieutenant Colonel Katsuragi, you are fully responsible for today's battle report."
"Yes, Commander."
Misato Katsuragi stood at attention and acknowledged the order subconsciously. Her nerves were still taut, unable to detach from the image of that god-like descent, so she naturally didn't find anything amiss.
After all, this kind of post-battle summary was the primary duty of a field Commander like her.
Only Gendo Ikari knew that his hands, clasped beneath the desk, had long since had their nails pierce his skin, digging deep into his palms and bringing waves of sharp, piercing pain.
Only pain could allow him to maintain that ridiculous calm on the surface.
Frustration.
An indescribable sense of frustration and powerlessness submerged him like freezing seawater.
The command authority that had been snatched away, and... in the mysterious depths, eva unit-01, which contained his wife's soul, seemed to have completely slipped out of his control.
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On the other side, in the isolation observation room of the medical department.
Asuka sat on the edge of the bed without a word, her hands tightly gripping the plug suit on her knees.
In her mind, she was replaying the scene of eva unit-01's overwhelming battle over and over again, as if cursed.
That wasn't a battle at all.
It was a one-sided... massacre.
Why...
Why could that Idiot Shinji, who looked so useless, unleash such heaven-destroying and earth-shattering power?
"Damn it... Damn it! Damn it!!"
She could no longer suppress the surge of emotions within her. She clenched her fist and pounded it hard against the soft mattress, venting the unwillingness that was almost tearing her apart.
Her proud self-esteem had been crushed into powder.
She had always believed that as long as she mastered the techniques and relied on her ace talent, she would sooner or later surpass everyone.
But reality gave her a resounding slap in the face.
In the face of absolute power, everything she prided herself on seemed so ridiculous.
"I... will never lose!"
The girl suddenly raised her head. In those azure eyes, the arrogance and haughtiness of the past had faded, replaced by a touch of almost paranoid determination.
Her gaze pierced through the window of the isolation room, looking at the huge, cold moon hanging in the night sky outside.
She had to become stronger.
Become stronger at any cost!
And the key to becoming strong, the key to everything, lay with that man!
In the room next door, Shinji Ikari lay on the hospital bed, staring hollowly at the ceiling.
The doctor's examination results showed everything was normal, just excessive mental exhaustion.
But he knew that something was different.
In the final moment before losing consciousness, he felt himself wrapped in an incomparably warm embrace.
That was a memory engraved in the deepest part of his soul.
But immediately after, a more domineering and magnificent will descended.
In the face of that will, eva unit-01 did not resist in the slightest, instantly choosing to submit.
It was as if a subject was welcoming a long-awaited king.
He didn't know what that represented, but in the mysterious depths, he seemed to know everything.
"Teacher..." Shinji muttered to himself.
The admiration and trust in his heart had now fermented into a fanatical emotion bordering on faith.
At the end of the corridor, in front of a huge circular porthole, Rei Ayanami stood quietly alone, like a perfect work of art carved from moonlight.
Her fingers, pale to the point of transparency, were gently stroking the cold glass.
In her eyes, which were like rubies, the brilliant yet dead night sky outside was clearly reflected.
She could also feel it. The moment eva unit-01 went Berserk again, something inside her resonated with it.
It was a connection originating from the depths of her soul, as if a part had found its home.
She reached out her hand, as if trying to grab something. There, something was quietly changing.
The silent universe. On the surface of the moon, eternal silence was the only theme here.
Gray moon dust covered everything, reflecting light without warmth under the cold starlight.
In this land of death known as the "Sea of Tranquility," coffins of uniform style were lined up quietly.
And on one side of these coffins arranged in a circle, there was a large-scale lunar base.
A white giant wearing a seven-eyed rune mask lay on its back in a deep pit filled with a large amount of equipment.
Countless construction machines were working silently in the vacuum environment, seemingly building something with this white giant as the core.
Suddenly. Beside several already opened coffins, the surface of one coffin began to tremble slightly.
Accompanied by a few friction sounds, the heavy coffin lid slowly slid to one side.
In the deep darkness at the bottom of the coffin, a pair of blood-red eyes quietly opened.
The next second. A naked youth woke up as if from a long dream, stretched, and sat up from the coffin with an elegant posture.
He had short, light silver hair, and every strand seemed to be flowing with moonlight.
His skin was pale to the point of transparency, and his features were so exquisite they didn't look human, carrying a beauty that transcended gender.
Around him was the busy NERV base complex, filled with the cold atmosphere of steel and machinery, but there were no life support devices in the area where he was.
Ordinary humans could not survive in the vacuum environment of space at all. Yet he showed no discomfort, instead raising his head with great interest, looking at that magnificent blue and white planet floating against the endless dark background.
"Has the youth over there already had an Awakening? It's the Third Child again, you still haven't changed... Huh?"
The youth's handsome brows furrowed slightly.
According to the established script, at the moment of his Awakening, the black monoliths of SEELE should have been waiting here like loyal servants.
But at this moment, there was nothing around. This made him, who had long been accustomed to the cycles, feel a trace of long-lost surprise.
"The script... has been altered."
The First Angel, the Fifth Child who had signed a contract with SEELE, Nagisa Kaworu, whispered in a voice so ethereal it seemed to pierce the vacuum.
"How interesting..." Nagisa Kaworu shook his head with a laugh, a smile that could make the stars lose their luster.
Immediately after, his smile faded, and a thoughtful light flickered in his blood-colored eyes.
"Within the established cycle of fate, an uninvited guest has actually appeared."
"Well, shall we consider this a brand new journey?"
He reached out his hand, as if wanting to span the 380,000-kilometer distance to touch that distant blue planet.
The corners of his mouth lifted into a dazzling smile again.
"I really want to see you soon, Shinji-kun."
"After all, the only one who can bring you happiness, from beginning to end, is me."
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