Onlookers

"An Angel attack? One after another?! Aren't the Angels supposed to be enemies?"

Ritsuko Akagi looked shocked. She had never expected the Angels to come so quickly or so frequently!

Every Angel's goal was to cause an Impact, return to its source, and control the course of evolution.

That meant all the Angels—and humanity, the Eighteenth Angel—were enemies. They were locked in a fight to the death!

For that very reason, they had assumed there would be a pause between Angel attacks. Otherwise, the Angels might end up fighting one another.

They should have had a window of time after repelling the Water Angel just moments ago.

So why were the attacks coming so frequently?

But there was no time to dwell on that now. An Angel had suddenly appeared, and they had to switch pilots immediately.

"Shinji, get ready to come out. Minato's taking over."

Everyone knew the difference between Shinji, who still tripped over flat ground, and Minato, who had effortlessly handled the last battle.

But Tao Yu spoke up.

"Hasn't Unit-00 been repaired? I'll try it. If Shinji has to come out in his current state and then we switch pilots, it'll probably take even longer. There's no need. This is a good chance for him to see a real battle, too."

Ritsuko and Misato both stared at him in surprise.

"Although you've tested Unit-00, it's still an experimental model. It's different from Unit-01..."

Ritsuko hesitated.

One was a copy, the other the original. There might not be much difference in ordinary operation, but Minato had demonstrated what an EVA could really do...

"It's all right. Even if I'm not as good at piloting an EVA, how much worse could I be?"

Tao Yu's gentle smile left everyone momentarily stunned. Then Ritsuko made her decision.

"Fine. Prepare