At the eastern end of the Mediterranean, war had crushed the tranquility of Cyprus.
The conflict between the northern and southern factions had never ceased, and the United Nations ceasefire line kept shifting across the map.
Villages that had still been inhabited a few days earlier were now nothing but ruined walls.
Only in the church basement did piles of rusting ammunition give off the mingled scent of rust and gunpowder in the darkness.
One of the factions had once used this place as an ammunition depot. Now it had become a target for NERV ANIMA's intelligence department.
Ryoji Kaji, Kensuke Aida, and members of the intelligence team stepped over scattered shell casings as they entered the basement.
They had come in search of traces of SEELE.
For the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Angel Vessel, and for Almaloz's incomprehensible words.
The clues they had followed came from scraps of information left behind by the old men.
And from the intelligence Kensuke Aida had brought back from the European Union before the war began.
"There's something behind the wall. It should be a hidden room."
Kensuke Aida crouched behind the ammunition pile, irregular shadows flickering on the screen of the Ultrasonic Scanner in his hand.
Ryoji Kaji patted his shoulder.
"Keep your distance. Be careful not to set off any unexploded ordnance."
As a veteran intelligence officer with nearly ten years in the field, he admired Kensuke Aida's boundless curiosity, but the boy's recklessness always worried him.
Kensuke Aida smiled confidently. "Mr. Kaji, what we're looking for might be behind here."
A concealed door lay behind the section of wall pinpointed by the scanner. Together, they pried open the heavy stone slab, revealing a cramped secret chamber.
On the stone table in the center of the room sat a small