Chapter 151 183: The Great Cataclysm.

This was truly... Machine Spirit euphoria.

Shinji sat in the cockpit, gently stroking the control levers. His communication with the Machine Spirit required no words; it was more like a sensation that could not be described with text.

Closing his eyes, the woman who looked ninety percent like the short-haired Rei Ayanami sat before him, wearing a slightly playful smile and gazing at him with eyes of extreme tenderness.

"Mother, could you please be a bit more reserved? As a non-psyker, even I can clearly feel your will."

"But I am truly satisfied—whether it's Rei or Asuka."

Yui Ikari's voice carried a certain free-spiritedness of a wish fulfilled. She did not consider Rei Ayanami to be a mere copy of herself.

"Rei is completely different from me. Such a pure child; that long hair is wonderful—she would surely look beautiful in a wedding dress. Asuka is a good child too, so full of life; living with her must be very interesting."

Shinji felt an inexplicable surge of pressure, even regretting his decision slightly. To put it simply, he was trying to help Asuka resolve her mental knot, but in the end, he had dug a massive pit for himself.

Yui Ikari only lamented that Rei and Asuka were not psykers and could not communicate with them directly; otherwise, this experiment might not have ended even after three days and nights.

"Shinji, which one are you going to choose? Or just choose both. You don't care anyway, and your body is strong enough."

"Shinji, when do you plan to mint coins for that Emperor?"

"Shinji, you need to learn more about how to deal with girls. Don't be hard as steel all day long; sometimes you need to be a bit softer."

"Shinji..."

The boy closed his eyes. This was the so-called "troubles of happiness," but how should he put it? His soul and mind felt not a shred of irritability. Every time he communicated with his mother, every nerve would relax. The cockpit of Unit-01 was like a womb—the safest and warmest place on Earth.

"Mother, we are currently in the middle of an operation. Can we talk about this another time?"

"No. You rarely come to Unit-01; you must give me an explanation."

No one could order an Astartes, but a mother could order a son.

Shinji rubbed his brow, hesitating as he said, "I will put this on the agenda and create a perfect plan."

"This isn't a combat operation; what do you need a 'perfect plan' for? Regardless, you aren't allowed to lie to them, nor are you allowed to hurt them."

"Under any circumstances, my gun will never be pointed at them."

"Who's talking to you about that! Sigh, you learned everything, but this area is a total blank. That galactic dimension is just too dark."

Yui Ikari carried a trace of her unique playfulness, then suddenly became serious:

"I forgot to tell you: self-complementation and passionately embracing emotions—this is beneficial to that Emperor."

'Hmm? The Emperor is involved in this too?'

Shinji became instantly loyal. He knew his mother was like a mirror, able to see things he could not.

"Why?"

"I can't explain it either. That Emperor is a higher-dimensional existence; consider it an intuition."

Shinji nodded. His mother was someone he could trust completely.

Her protective maternal instinct was impossible to hide; even if he were a complete failure, Unit-01 would proactively crush all enemies and do everything in its power to protect him.

'Perhaps it's related to that sun I saw. After all, the Emperor's gaze has always been on me. But the Emperor is omnipotent; what benefit could my personality complementation and embrace of human emotions possibly have for Him?'

[The Angel is approaching. The Third Front has begun its interception.]

A voice from the real world interrupted the exchange. Shinji instinctively looked up and saw a massive figure on the pop-up screen.

Slightly larger than an EVA, with a black-and-white color scheme, its legs consisted only of the portion above the knees, and it was floating in the air. NERV had already completed its naming.

The 13th Angel, Zeruel (The Angel of Might).

After several unconventional Angels, things had finally returned to normal.

Shinji narrowed his eyes, feeling a slight concern in his heart because this was the first time he would fight an Angel after coming face-to-face with God. No one knew exactly what butterfly effects would be caused.

"Worried?"

"Yes. The 12th Angel was of profound significance. My physical body was dragged into the Negative Universe; it will surely bring certain consequences because 'God' finally saw my true self, rather than a projection."

"You mean there will be changes?"

"Definitely. It likely hasn't broken through the base code yet."

Shinji was certain that "God" had not been born, saying in an uncertain tone: "But the conditioned reflex will definitely be stronger. My return has already triggered a reflex once."

Shinji now understood why the Angels had become smarter. The projection of an Astartes psyker could transmit a lot of information. So-called tactical thinking was merely the most insignificant aspect of it.

"Fortunately, the 12th Angel was also of profound significance to me. My combat power has taken a leap forward, so my sense of anticipation outweighs my tension."

Shinji's heartbeat remained steady. This wasn't just a leap in psychic power; he had also achieved a reunion with his mother, and Unit-01 had awakened. Generally speaking, it was neither a gain nor a loss.

"That's more like it."

Yui Ikari was very happy. In the past, she could only watch Shinji fight, unable to help. Of course, as a mother, whether Shinji was cowardly or strong, she would give her all.

The only difference was whether it was necessary for her to forcibly take control. But now, it was different.

"Mother and son working together—we will surely crush all the Angels."

"We must not be careless. Arrogance is a sin. Also, I will be the one controlling Unit-01."

"Shinji, are you addicted to lecturing?"

The pressure from his mother made Shinji shut his mouth. Fortunately, Zeruel didn't make him wait long. In an instant, the screen went pure white; nothing could be seen.

[The Angel has launched an attack.]

[The Third Air Wing... to-totally annihilated!]

Following the urgent report, a wider image unfolded. A massive cross had appeared in the sky.

The sky was torn apart. Dozens of fighter jets were directly reduced to particles, leaving behind a soul-shaking cross of light.

"Wh-What on earth is that thing?"

Asuka was instantly dazed. Dense data popped up; with just a glance, she screamed: "Attack intensity, range, and accuracy are ten times that of the Third Angel?"

She was still immersed in the kindness of Unit-01's Machine Spirit when she was slapped awake by Zeruel—as if it were telling the world: Give us Angels some respect; we are the main plot of this world.

Shoom, shoom, shoom.

Three consecutive crosses of light rose, crushing mountain peaks, leveling fortresses, and stirring up giant waves in the sea. The UN forces hadn't even begun their attack, yet Zeruel had already struck first.

In just moments, battleships, tanks, and planes were all erased from the world. The large screen in the command center looked as if it were malfunctioning; a massive number of friendly markers vanished without a trace.

[Second Tank Battalion annihilated.]

[Fifth Escort Fleet sunk.]

[Where is the Fourth Air Wing? What? All contact lost!]

'I knew it.'

Ritsuko Akagi's forehead was covered in sweat. She had guessed that the 12th Angel was a critical threshold, where both Shinji and God had benefited greatly, but she didn't expect the counterattack to be this violent.

At the end of the day, the Angels were just giant biological entities inheriting the Fruit of Power. They were linked to the Negative Universe. Whether they were stupid or clever, weak or strong, plain or possessed bizarre abilities—all of it originated from the consciousness of the Negative Universe. The more intense and proactive this consciousness became, the greater the variables.

Thus, Shinji-kun's worry was correct. If a true proactive consciousness was born, the Dead Sea Scrolls would be nothing more than a roll of waste paper. "He" could tear down the entire program and start over.

She turned her head, glancing at Misato Katsuragi, who was sweating profusely while constantly issuing orders. She suddenly thought of a phrase:

'When gods fight, mortals suffer.'

The UN forces' "iron wall" of defense had collapsed entirely before even opening fire. But what happened next was beyond everyone's expectations.

[The Angel is moving. Turning to 017, distance 900.]

"Turning to 017? He isn't coming toward Tokyo-3?"

Misato was stunned. She held the phone in her left hand, urging the recently built defense facilities to enter combat status.

017 meant it was heading southwest along the coastline, not landing directly. While she was dazed, Zeruel collided head-on with the Pacific Fleet coming to support.

There was nothing to say. Crosses of light unfolded continuously, covering the sky and the sea. Steel giants melted like ice and snow. After the intense light radiated, only a patch of twisted scrap metal floated on the sea surface.

Misato no longer cared about the losses. She stared fixedly at the Angel marker on the big screen, looking at the positional data, her face losing color.

"Turning to 022? He's still sweeping along the coastline?"

"The Angel is eliminating human resistance forces? Where is the final destination?"

Gendo Ikari could no longer sit still. This had already exceeded the records of the Dead Sea Scrolls. The Angel was actually suppressing its instinct to merge with Adam, engaging in combat in a more rational and efficient manner.

"It's Tokyo-2. The UN forces have already issued an evacuation report. Wait, a call is coming in from the Japanese government on Line 3. Commander Ikari, what do we do?"

No need to ask; they were certainly calling for help. Humanity had spent an enormous cost to build Tokyo-3 specifically so NERV could draw aggro and keep other cities safe. But if the Angel didn't come to Tokyo-3, wasn't the construction in vain?

"Gendo, I'm understanding this script less and less."

Fuyutsuki Kozo was also wearing a look of shock, completely unaware of where things had gone wrong.

"The Angel is breaking through the framework of the Dead Sea Scrolls step by step. What exactly happened?"

Gendo Ikari was also a bit confused. He saw the result but did not know the cause.

The foundation of humanity's fight against the Angels was the Dead Sea Scrolls. It was like being given a spoiler of the outline in advance, explaining what the Angels were, how many there were, and how they would act. Only with a script can there be a performance. Even if things had been slightly different from the script since the Third Angel, it was generally controllable.

But now, the Angel wasn't playing by the rules. How was this grand play supposed to continue?

Gendo was somewhat lost. The classified line also signaled an incoming communication. No need to ask—SEELE had discovered something was wrong and was looking for him. Inside the entire command center, bells rang incessantly; every line had a communication request.

Was it a tactical instinct to lure the tiger away from the mountain? Was the news of Lilith leaked? Or was the Adam embryo in Tokyo-2, and Zeruel had caught the true target like Gaghiel?

A massive amount of information flashed through his mind. He instinctively looked toward the big screen, at that steel giant painted in an exceptionally "loyal" color scheme.

'Wait. It couldn't possibly be your doing again, could it, kid?'

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