Special Unit

Biodata

Power Progression

The Special Unit’s documented development consists of transformations, equipment upgrades, and system rewards rather than numbered cultivation realms.

Background / History

Construction and intended purpose

The original Special Unit was built after Unit-01 as a replacement. Once Unit-01’s testing succeeded, it was shipped to NERV’s China Branch, where Huang Zhetian trained at the Beijing facility 1.

Its structure closely resembles Unit-01’s, making it suitable as a backup for SEELE’s plans. However, differences in their souls and minds make the Special Unit a last-resort replacement for the Instrumentality ritual. If sufficiently intact, it can instead accelerate the ritual 13 95.

SEELE tolerates its berserk and pseudo-god modes, treating the latter as an accident arising from berserk-mode experimentation. Its Chinese ownership also complicates SEELE’s control: China supplies resources but refuses to take orders from the organization 13 95.

Resident soul

The biological unit contains Huang Zhetian’s original self. An author’s note describes that original as more despairing, tormented, and withdrawn than Shinji, and identifies compatibility as central to the pilot–unit partnership 55.

Within Unit-01’s mindscape, the original retains fragments of personal identity but has almost completely merged with the Special Unit’s innate nature. Huang identifies him as the product of a failed experiment by the committee and Headquarters. The fused personality becomes hostile, insisting that he is the real Huang Zhetian and attempting to consume the visiting Huang 97.

Construction in the restarted storyline

The later biological Special Unit has a different development history: half of its construction took place at Bethany Base in Europe. Its eyes were installed to imitate Angel attacks, but the technology remained experimental. A sealing visor was fitted before the unit was transported to the Shanghai branch 165.

Separately, SEELE funds construction of a new Special Unit intended to provide Kaworu with a controllable unit. The Chinese branch disputes SEELE’s claim to its pilot while continuing the already-funded production 116.

Appearance

Abilities & Skills

A.T. Field

The Special Unit’s A.T. Field provides both protection and offensive support. The author explicitly distinguishes its powerful field from Huang’s comparatively weak personal Wall of the Heart 55.

• Forms an enormous orange octagonal shield against Unit-01 and a blue shield against the Power Angel 72 77.
• Works with Unit-01 and Unit-02 to neutralize an Angel’s field for an N² Missile attack 25.
• Shields Unit-01 from Ramiel’s beam, although maintaining the defense requires intense effort from Huang 160.
• Can be overcome: Unit-01’s charged punch causes cracks to spread through its shield 72.

Pilot-Channelled Sword Techniques

Huang channels his sword skills through the Eva rather than relying solely on conventional weapon strength 76 78.

• Greatsword swings release orange sword energy capable of breaking one of the Power Angel’s A.T. Fields 76.
• Ten Thousand Swords Become One creates circling sword afterimages that converge on the Greatsword 78.
• The finishing strike incorporates A.T. Field energy and releases a blade of energy taller than the Special Unit, carving a deep chasm through the ground 78.
• Despite severely damaging the Power Angel, the attack fails to destroy its protected S² Core 78.

Berserk and Pseudo-Deification

The original unit’s enhanced state combines restraint-breaking physical changes with a glowing halo 77.

• Moves on all fours, dodges the Power Angel’s ribbons at high speed, and leaps into close combat while carrying its Greatsword 77.
• Extreme exertion damages its own body, causing blood to burst from its calves during a jump 77.
• Lacks an installed S² Engine during this battle; the halo and enhanced state do not prevent eventual power exhaustion 78.

Divine Mode

Mari activates the biological Special Unit’s first deification form during the later Power Angel battle 177 178.

• Levitates and launches balls of light from its halo 177.
• Combines a red, cross-shaped forehead beam with a concentrated attack from its hands, breaking successive layers of the Angel’s A.T. Field 178.
• Uses its final energy to tear open the Angel’s field for Unit-00’s N² Missile attack 178.
• The incomplete core cannot sustain repeated attacks, and a power cable cannot supply the same circuit. Mari estimates only ninety seconds of remaining operation 177.
• Overloaded output causes irreversible damage to the unit’s head 180.

Special Unit X: Beam and Weather Attacks

Special Unit X carries multiple mechanical energy weapons 151.

• X-Ray Beam: Fired from the arm in a crossed-arm stance; described as somewhat stronger than Ramiel’s laser 151.
• Transforming hand cannon: Produces a blue energy column capable of shattering the Power Angel’s layered barriers 179.
• Eye lasers: Pierce the Power Angel’s head before it can restore its defensive field 179.
• Weather Weapon: Unfurls the back wheel to call down lightning against Artificial Angel 4C’s outer membrane 195.
• Reactor-fed beam: Draws blue energy from the chest into the arms and pierces Artificial Angel 4C fields and cores 210.

Mobility and Durability

• The completed mechanical upgrade links shoulder turbines with the back ring to provide high thrust and partial gliding movement 134.
• Special Unit X’s leg and foot engines support prolonged flight and directional adjustment; elbow thrusters increase punching speed and force 151.
• X’s armor withstands the Power Angel’s cutting ribbons without visible damage 179.
• X participates in the orbital operation to recover Unit-01 208.
• Its defenses are not absolute: Unit-13 pins it through the waist with the Spear of Longinus, and a sealing barrier traps it 217.

Equipment / Weapons / Items

Biological Special Unit

• Tang Dao — Carried on its back; Unit-01 accidentally pulls it free while attempting to remove the power cable 72.
• Greatsword — Used for sword-energy attacks against the Power Angel 76 78.
• Sniper rifle — Can brace against a detachable shoulder mechanism; Mari later uses one to destroy a Mass Production Unit-07’s head 75 189.
• Dedicated dagger and Iron Chain — Used during the descent into Central Dogma 127.
• Later standard arsenal — Giant assault rifle, pistol, Gatling gun, Tang Dao, Samurai Scimitar, shoulder-mounted vibrating particle blades, and spear 144.
• Staff — Requested by Huang as a spear without its head; subsequently broken by the Fifth Angel 144 155.
• High-Vibration Particle Spike — Used by Mari against the Power Angel’s layered defenses 177.
• Sigma Unit — Removable chest core extracted when the Eva is frozen under the Vatican Treaty 172.
• Battery pack / jetpack — Supports roughly three minutes of airborne operation during the Paris battle 220.

Special Unit X and Mechanical Upgrades

• Special Unit X Summoner — Produces the mech around Huang through digital cubes and light; its energy availability governs when he can transform again 178 180.
• Transforming arms — Switch between sword blades and hand cannons 151 179.
• Battle skirt — Stores fourteen small missiles and daggers, separated by weapon type 151.
• Returning Head Blades / boomerang — Returns automatically after a roughly hundred-meter throw; can curve around an opponent to strike from behind 151 179.
• Thunder Wheel — Back-mounted area-lightning weapon 151.
• Core Reactor — Power source and large energy-column weapon 151.
• Single-Edged Straight Sword — Cuts through Artificial Angel 4C cores 210.
• Upgrade blueprints — Specify an attribute-enhancing outer shell as Mode A, or a standalone, nonorganic nuclear-powered mecha as Mode B 111.
• Jet Alone components — Recovered mechanical body with wings and a multifunctional shield, intended for fusion with the Special Unit 221.

Relationships

• Huang Zhetian — Primary pilot; treats the biological Special Unit as a comrade-in-arms and is distressed by its condition after the Power Angel battle 4 180.
• Huang Zhetian’s original self — Resident soul, almost completely merged with the unit’s innate nature 55 97.
• Mari — Later pilot who activates Divine Mode and compensates for the patched-up Eva’s synchronization delay by slowing her movements 177 189.
• Unit-01 — Structural counterpart and intended primary Instrumentality unit. The Special Unit protects it from Ramiel but is also catastrophically injured by its malfunctioning Dummy System 13 72 95 160.
• Unit-02 / Asuka — Frequent combat partner; cooperates in the N² Missile operation, Rain Angel battle, and later engagements under Mari’s piloting 25 165 177 189.
• SEELE — Regards the Special Unit as a backup and ritual accelerator, while accepting its unexplained transformations as experimental anomalies 13 80 95.
• Ritsuko Akagi — Oversees its technical condition, delayed repairs, and treaty-mandated freezing 149 172.

Story Role / Major Arcs

Original Timeline

• Holding off the divided Angel: Remains behind while Asuka evacuates the injured Shinji. After its power supply is destroyed, Huang withdraws ahead of China’s saturation bombardment; the unit then runs out of power 14.
• Volcano battle: Helps force an N² Missile into the Angel’s mouth. Huang cuts off the Eva’s trapped foot so Unit-01 and Unit-02 can drag it clear 25.
• Night Angel entrapment: Sinks into the Angel’s shadow after a falling building disrupts Asuka’s rescue attempt. Huang and Shinji are left with sixteen hours of life support 63.
• Dummy System malfunction: Rescues Unit-03’s Entry Plug and fights Unit-01 until the latter loses power. The Special Unit loses an arm and roughly a third of its flesh; most repairs are completed soon afterward 72 74.
• Power Angel battle: Reveals its berserk and pseudo-deified state, severely wounds the Angel, and collapses at zero power before Unit-01 takes over 77 78.
• Central Dogma confrontation: Carries Huang into the pursuit of Kaworu but runs out of power. Huang finishes the battle outside the Eva and later returns to its Entry Plug 127.
• Mass Production Unit assault and Instrumentality: Deploys with its completed mechanical upgrade, rescues Asuka, and fights the fused enemy. Huang intercepts the Spear of Longinus and prepares the Special Unit to manifest Stigmata and enter the ritual 133 134 135.
• World restart: Huang subsequently uses the Infinity Gauntlet to restart the world, beginning the later sequence of Special Unit deployments 137.

Restarted Timeline and WILLE Operations

• Early power-system failure: Arrives in Japan unable to charge continuously, restricting deployment to approximately three minutes. It kills Shamshel, but delayed repair parts prevent immediate further deployment 146 147 149.
• Fifth Angel and Ramiel: Suffers a broken staff, waist damage, and a severed cable against the Fifth Angel. Its A.T. Field beam later matches an ordinary Ramiel attack, but overheats its arm and the Entry Plug’s LCL 155 160.
• Rain Angel: Combines an aerial maneuver with Unit-02 and drives its spear through the Angel’s layered fields into its core 165.
• Freezing and Mari’s deployment: The Vatican Treaty requires its freezing before Unit-03 is accepted. Mari later takes it into battle against the Power Angel, activates Divine Mode, and survives severe head damage 172 176 177 178.
• Special Unit X’s intervention: Huang summons X as Apocalypse, overwhelms the Power Angel, and deliberately stalls rather than kills it so Shinji can sortie 178 179.
• Survivor rescue and naval combat: X restores a contaminated safe zone, escorts survivors, defeats Mass Production Unit-07s, and destroys Artificial Angel 4Cs threatening Kaji and the WILLE fleet 184 189 195 210.
• Paris recovery: The biological Special Unit fights alongside Unit-08 during Anti-L System restoration. The operation recovers components intended to give both it and Unit-02 new life 220 221.
• Final confrontation: The New Special Unit transforms with Huang into an Angel while carrying a Forced Shutdown Signal Plug toward Unit-13. Unit-13 captures Huang and draws him into its Entry Plug 234.
• Armor used by Unit-01: Shinji later fights in Unit-01 wearing the Special Unit’s outer armor. Gendo states that it cuts off Unit-01’s mutual connection with Unit-13, preventing him from predicting its attacks 237.