Absolute Terror Field

Tokyo-3's assault on the Angel continued.

Shells from every direction slammed into the Angel's crimson body, but its enormous red form did not retreat an inch. All they left behind was thick smoke.

Although headquarters' automated defense system had inflicted no damage, the Day Angel clearly had no intention of letting the attacks slide. It lashed out at the surrounding automated guns and missile batteries with the whips of light on either side of its body.

A string of deafening explosions rang out, only this time it was the defensive emplacements being torn up by their roots. The steel defensive line was as fragile as building blocks a child had grown bored with and tossed aside.

Amid one thunderous crash after another, massive, heavy defense modules toppled to the ground in succession. Those useless gun barrels and missile silos could finally stop wasting taxpayers' money.

Misato Katsuragi was not remotely surprised to see the defensive system crushed so easily. After all, even an N2 Mine had been powerless against an Angel, let alone these conventional weapons.

After the battle against Shamshel, both NERV's staff and the governments supplying these weapons and equipment had come to recognize a brutal reality-

Conventional weapons could not fight the Angels.

Everyone knew that perfectly well, but these expensive weapons still had to be deployed at the insistence of certain high-ranking officials.

They still had to be wasted, and neither the chief technician nor the operations commander could solve the funding problems that had been troubling them.

"This is bad. They aren't doing anything." Kensuke Aida frowned as he recorded everything with his video camera, as though he could already see the city's destruction.

Then a steel elevator pod shot up out of the ground!

"Whoa, it's finally here!" The instant Kensuke Aida saw the giant transport mechanism, excitement surged through him, sweeping away all his earlier anxiety.

He gripped his camera tightly, afraid to miss a single spectacular shot, his gaze fixed on the enormous hatch nearly a hundred meters tall.

Boom! Boom!! Boom!!!

With one tremendous crash after another, heavy footsteps suddenly thundered behind Shamshel.

The Day Angel's supple, whiplike tentacles kept swaying, as though it had sensed something and was growing restless.

The instant the fully enclosed transport pod opened, it felt the crushing pressure of an AT Field.

A.T. Field stood for "Absolute Terror Field," the literal meaning of the term, also referred to as an AT Field or an absolute field.

An absolute field was essentially a phase-shifted space composed of soul matter, but at this moment, the Fifth Angel truly felt terror, simply because the other being's AT Field existed.

Humanity's counterattack was nothing like the script it had envisioned. These antlike creatures should have been crushed.

Yet now, this unseen opponent made it feel as though it were looking at an existence equal to itself-or even greater.

With heavy footsteps, the purple figure emerged from behind the giant metal partition. It had no need for cover, displaying the effortless arrogance of the strong confronting the weak.

Red light flared in its orange-yellow eyes. Unit-01 grabbed a long blade from the weapons rack and casually slashed aside an incoming whip of light.

Unit-01 charged with its blade raised, vanishing from its original position in the blink of an eye as it unleashed a ferocious slash.

Unit-01

The Angel felt unprecedented pressure, but it did not retreat. It deployed its absolute field at full strength.

In the next instant, the Day Angel's absolute field shook violently, and the previously invisible, colorless barrier suddenly revealed a clearly visible outline.

With that first clash, the Fifth Angel had already tasted the same helpless despair Shamshel had once experienced.

"Is... is that really... the transfer student!?" Toji Suzuhara stared wide-eyed at the purple figure, the words escaping him.

The absolute field that could withstand countless shells and missiles was torn apart in an instant, and the street serving as the battlefield for the two giants shattered under their collision.

Every movement of these two colossal beings caused destruction on a catastrophic scale!

The Fifth Angel's enormous body was smashed straight into the ground. In the end, the AT Fields that embodied their divine power had still saved the Day Angel's life.

The moment its absolute field shattered, it layered its AT Field in front of itself to provide a cushion, sparing it from being dismembered by a single slash and leaving it merely knocked away.

But even though it had escaped disaster for the moment, the shadow of death still clung to it. The instant the Fifth Angel lifted its head, a beastlike roar echoed all around.

Unit-01 actually opened its mouth, and the sound it released battered the soul. Even the warm yellow curtain of light in front of the Fifth Angel began to tremble faintly.

Sensing danger, the Fifth Angel lifted its massive body with its AT Field and flew straight up.

Amid a thunderous roar, people could only make out Unit-01 becoming a blurred afterimage, the long blade in its hand tracing an elegant yet deadly arc through the air.

Acting on instinct, the Day Angel hurtled skyward with all its strength.

But its absolute field was ultimately not fast enough. As a fleeting cold gleam flashed past, the long blade severed its lower body at the waist.

As its body split apart, a torrent of hot, thick crimson liquid gushed out, pouring down like a rain of blood. An Angel's blood was high-energy life fluid.

Deep underground in the central command room, everyone watched the somewhat bloody scene on the screen with tense expressions, then exchanged glances.

"Wasn't it equipped with any long-range heavy weapons? Hmm, I remember teaching him how to shoot during simulation training, didn't I? This seems a little too... wild." Misato Katsuragi had originally wanted to say savage.

"It was, but there isn't much point. They're just dead weight to him." Ritsuko Akagi sounded somewhat helpless as well. "We discussed it, and we're considering further improvements to Unit-01's armor. This is just a trial run to collect some data along the way."

Unit-01 with different equipment

The technical department's original design equipped the EVAs with conventional ranged weapons because an EVA could use its AT Field to neutralize an Angel's AT Field.

Those weapons themselves could not inflict any meaningful damage on an Angel with its A.T. Field deployed. Simulation training was meant to help Shinji Ikari master that ability.

When he encountered powerful enemies whose A.T. Fields could not easily be torn apart through sheer brute force, the field-neutralization techniques learned in simulation training would prove useful.

And Shinji Ikari's "God's Eye" surpassed almost all conventional weapons. Still, although he had no shortage of destructive power, they needed to improve the unit's performance as much as possible by building on its existing advantages.

They could hardly do nothing. That would make their technical department look useless.

Watching Shinji Ikari push Unit-01's combat performance to its limits, Ritsuko Akagi could not help smiling. She had even begun devising the next round of improvements.