"Even I'm a threat?" Maki asked incredulously. "When did I give myself away?"
Granted, she was firmly in the "Yui faction," had helped blow up Bethany Base and Unit-05, and often only pretended to follow orders while working for IPEA.
But she considered herself a good employee. Without her as a backup pilot, the Power Angel would probably have reached Lilith long ago.
"Wait, did these guys deliberately wait until Unit-02 couldn't fight anymore before coming out?"
Maki's eyes widened, and she silently cursed the devious old bastards at SEELE.
If they intended to remove obstacles, then Unit-02, with the formidable combat power of beast mode, was strong enough to become an obstacle too.
And Unit-02 was controlled not by a dummy Entry Plug, but by a human.
Humans had always been the least reliable of all. Gendo Ikari was their cautionary example.
The Power Angel's core was protected by closed white biological valves. One Mass-Production Evangelion held the last Pseudo-Spear of Longinus, struggling to pierce it.
The other eight Mass-Production Evangelions seemed to have nothing better to do. They turned toward Unit-02, licking their enormous mouths with gray tongues, drool still dripping.
Maki was wondering whether she should lie down and play dead. Those eyeless faces made her skin crawl, as though she had become a feast that could be devoured at any moment.
Then a piercing, drawn-out shriek reached her ears, like steam being forced through a valve.
The purplish-red giant's armor screamed. It stood suspended in midair, two internally tangent halos hanging behind it, drawing every gaze the moment it appeared.
That was Unit-01! It had become the greatest threat on the battlefield! Maki suddenly understood.
Even the Mass-Production Evangelion struggling to break through the Power Angel's core stopped. Every Mass-Production Evangelion turned toward Unit-01.
Clearly, this