Atami, where Xiao Ran was, was not far from NERV Headquarters—only a few hundred kilometers away. The battle that had destroyed Tokyo-3 because of Mazinger ZERO could be clearly felt even in Atami. At Dawn's speed, it would only take a short time to arrive.
Xiao Ran hurriedly piloted Dawn out of the Burning Legion. It immediately burst forward at full speed, streaking through the sky in green-and-white light before swiftly vanishing from above Atami. It was unquestionably far faster than any aircraft, and with the performance of an A-class mecha, even fighter jets could not compare to Dawn's speed.
After departing from the Burning Legion, Xiao Ran had felt that he was already moving incredibly fast. Less than ten minutes had passed from his departure to his arrival above NERV's pyramid headquarters beneath the sun. Yet by then, the Apostles attacking NERV Headquarters were already sprawled across the ground, with red liquid of uncertain origin splattered everywhere.
What came into view were two EVAs that had not appeared before—Unit-00 and Unit 2—as well as the mecha piloted by Graham, Nalo, Saki, and Zechs. Although the two EVAs had not appeared previously, Xiao Ran could recognize them at a glance even without the information Gendo Ikari had provided. The pink one with compound eyes on its head was Unit 8, while the other had colors nearly identical to Unit-01's. Its form was only seventy percent similar, but it had an extra pair of arms and held two spiral spears. That was Unit-13, which required two pilots.
When Graham saw Xiao Ran's mecha descend, he gave a soft whistle and teased, "Looks like you came too late. No, you shouldn't have come at all. We barely had to do anything before Unit-13 took care of three Apostles."
"There really was no