Chapter 130 162: Mother and Son Reunited

I intend to slay gods, and "God" wishes to use me, the only psyker, to utter its first cry of birth?

Shinji looked at the version of himself sitting opposite him. The latter was no illusion; it lacked any subjective consciousness, sitting there like a doll, motionless.

He tightened his grip on his power sword, then immediately relaxed his hand. It was just a shadow, not worth the effort of an attack. But before long, that shadow would manifest as an entity within the Negative Universe.

There was no solution.

Shinji thought for a moment but couldn't find a way out—even self-decapitation with his sword would be useless. Even if he were to die and let the projection vanish entirely, the worst-case scenario would be for fate to return to its original path. Without him, could humanity really find a better way?

It was quite a thorny problem.

His brows were tightly furrowed, his mind racing, but he was not lost. A difficult problem was still better than not knowing where the problem lay; a visible enemy was better than an invisible one, even if this was one he couldn't solve.

How do you resolve a Negative Universe entity within the Negative Universe? How do you purge it completely, leaving no future threat?

These questions were beyond his capability, but how to put it? The greatest gain from this experiment was confirming the Emperor's existence.

The Emperor is watching me. Whatever problems I cannot solve, I simply need to trust in the Emperor's might.

That golden sun brought him infinite confidence. This had nothing to do with emotions like optimism; any Astartes would feel this way if they received the Emperor's attention. It was an instinct carved into his genes.

"Begone. Without a physical form, I cannot slay you."

Golden flames engulfed the boy, and in the blink of an eye, he was gone. Shinji withdrew his gaze, feeling his heartbeat suddenly accelerate, as if he had realized something.

Finally, it was time to handle some private matters.

He turned his head. Within this magical mental space, he didn't know when a woman had come to sit beside him.

The woman looked 90% like Rei Ayanami, but she was clearly older, possessing a mature grace. Her eyes were not as cold as Rei's, but filled with tenderness.

The two just stared at each other for several minutes, until—

"Mother."

Shinji spoke with some awkwardness.

That's right, sitting beside him was Yui Ikari, the soul of Unit-01. Unlike when he faced Gendo Ikari, with this, his biological mother, Shinji could feel a sense of joy and longing from the deepest parts of his heart.

To be precise, Yui had been watching from the side the whole time. If Shinji had been in danger, she would not have hesitated to jump out and tear the Angel to pieces.

The woman didn't speak, just watching Shinji with those gentle eyes. She had no physical body; her image was manifested through psychic power. But how to describe it? When their gazes met, that resonance of their souls fed back a feeling of ultimate warmth.

Mother and son should not have been able to meet, but psychic power provided the bridge.

The Emperor above, what great mercy, what great grace.

"Shinji, you've grown so big."

Yui's voice was very soft. She looked at her son, who was enormous, and made some cute, bewildered gestures. Having used the Twelfth Angel to help her look, she had seen the scenery inside the Wall of Sighs, and her eyes dimmed.

"Shinji, you've worked hard."

There was no extra emotion, just a mother's heartbreak. Every qualified mother hopes for her children to grow strong, yet she is often saddened by that very growth.

Because the price of growth is pain. A mother wishes she could turn into a fortress, shielding her son from all wind and rain. Thus, she was comforted by Shinji's growth, yet saddened by the cost of it.

Shinji had become strong—stronger than she could have imagined—but to reach this point, he had endured pain beyond human comprehension.

"I'm sorry, I couldn't protect you."

"This is my honor, Mother."

Shinji puffed out his chest. Perhaps it was the arrangement of fate; Yui was the only person in the world who could truly understand his values.

"Actually, you could try to lean on me. This makes me a very unqualified mother."

Yui looked conflicted, proud and helpless all at once.

"You said earlier that I've grown up. It should be me protecting you. After enduring so much tempering, if I still hid behind your back, it would make me look very incompetent."

"You really are stubborn."

Yui looked at her son, who resembled a bear, seeing the hard armor and the ornate medals, and suddenly smiled.

"But this is the son I am proudest of. It must be very exhausting, though. I would rather you were like that fragile little child the Angel simulated."

That version of Shinji was evasive, cowardly, and emotionally unstable—but he had an invincible cheat: Mom!

If anyone else had cursed him like that, Shinji would have made sure they understood the meaning of "iron-clad loyalty," but because Yui said it, he chose to lower his head in silent admission.

He could understand a mother's selfishness; the price paid for this heart of steel was too tragic.

"Mother, this place is going to collapse. Is there anything else you want to say?"

"You could at least be a little gentler with your mother."

Yui glared at him, though she wasn't angry. She thought for a moment before saying:

"Eat well, sleep well, and enjoy life. That girl named Rei Ayanami is nice; the one named Asuka is fine too. Oh my, Misato is all grown up, and yet she's still so shameless... Which one will you choose? Just take them all!"

Shinji felt a powerful sense of pressure. Even though Yui had become a machine soul and he had become an Angel of the Emperor, and even though they were in the Negative Universe, a mother's nagging seemed eternal.

"I will try."

"That's the right attitude. I don't care if you are an Angel of the Emperor, or how many people you've killed or planets you've saved. Remember, you will always be Yui Ikari's son."

Yui revealed her gentlest smile and suddenly hugged Shinji, even though, with his two-meter-plus frame, she could only embrace his leg.

"Oh, and one more thing. Give a message to Gendo Ikari for me: tell him that Yui is waiting for an explanation."

Shinji froze, then laughed, wrapping his massive arms around Yui.

"Let's go back then, Mother."

"Mm. Remember what I said. I support all of your decisions."

"Thank you."

"What are you thanking me for? If you really want to thank me, get married quickly. Minting currency for that 'Emperor' person is also a form of loyalty, right?"

"Cough, cough. I'm only fourteen."

"You are clearly 134 years old. Ah, I really want to meet those girls."

"There will be an opportunity."

"Then I'll have to dress up nicely."

"Actually, I've already dressed you up."

"You are not allowed to install weird, strange decorations on your mother!"

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[Unit-01 signal appearing. The Angel's AT Field is trending towards an unstable state.]

[Sy... synchronization rate detection is responding. The data is... it's 320% !]

'What?'

Ritsuko Akagi had never imagined her detectors would actually work, and the result left her stunned on the spot.

300%???

"Look, it's coming out!"

Misato shouted in excitement, as she saw a pair of arms pierce through the black-and-white sphere. A massive amount of blood was spraying out.

Blood gushed like a waterfall. A blood-stained mecha crawled out from within; the restraint armor shattered, and Unit-01 let out a world-shaking roar.

ROAAAAR—

"Berserk? At a time like this??"

"No... wait. Why do I feel like this roar is filled with infinite joy?"

The roar triggered a resonance in the human soul. They could feel a warmth from it, just as Shinji often described.

The machine soul was ecstatic.

Blood flowed like a waterfall, and the roaring mecha tore the Angel apart from the inside. It should have been such a cruel scene, yet everyone felt it was heartwarming. It was just like the cry of a newborn baby; the bloody scene was veiled by "love."

Vision and soul reached completely contradictory judgments. Everyone just stared in a daze. Only Gendo Ikari, at the very top, suddenly felt a chill down his back and instinctively shrank his head.

"Ikari, Unit-01 has finally awakened."

Fuyutsuki also had a look of disbelief. The necessary steps in this script should have been fulfilled back during the Third Angel.

It should have been an exciting scene, but Gendo couldn't feel happy at all. He knew this awakening was completely different from what was planned, just as that roar made his spine go cold.

"Yes. But... I feel a sense of anger directed at me."

'Anger? Yui's anger?'

Fuyutsuki looked over and saw Gendo maintaining his original posture, his eyes filled with both longing and fear, just as if he were seeing his soul-haunting wife right before him.

He looked at Unit-01, which had landed on the ground amidst the roar—the earth cracking, its purple armor dyed crimson—and couldn't help but smile.

Well, that is truly... well deserved.

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