"A god who discarded both the self and the other?"
Shinji Ikari's question immediately made SEELE realize that this attempt to negotiate the taming of divinity had fallen apart.
SEELE raised a hand, and a tremendous noise churned the air, echoing overhead.
The bodies strewn across the ground exploded into red light.
Dark red mist, like congealed scabs, blanketed the Valley of Human Bodies stretching for thousands of miles.
The ground was paved with the bones of over a hundred EVA wrecks, and desiccated nerve bundles hung from vaults propped up by ribs.
Every inch of soil pulsed, as though the entire valley were itself a sleeping, gigantic life-form.
Shinji Ikari floated at the heart of the valley, borne by an inexplicable buoyancy.
Silver-white stardust coated Unit-01's armor, while the core beneath seemed to flow with light as brilliant as the Milky Way.
Pale violet holy flames burned in his pupils, and wings of light condensed from an A.T. Field unfurled behind him.
Particles falling from the wingtips touched the ground, making the withered EVA wrecks bloom with fleeting fluorescence.
The white-glowing giant overlapped with an enormous, cross-shaped red light, continuing the process of pseudo-deification.
His consciousness merged with Unit-01's soul, once again making him a demigod walking the mortal world.
A distorted human figure rose from the heaps of bones, with countless silver tendrils entwined around SEELE.
SEELE had long since crushed this former spy's soul, leaving only the shell as a key for the assimilation ritual, not even capable of standing in the way.
"Shinji Ikari, God's Throne is right before you. Your divinity is the key. Push open the gates of the Garden of Eden and ascend to the divine throne!"
SEELE's voice seeped from every fiber of the valley, and over a hundred EVA wrecks resonated