Lonely Creatures

The boy's voice was like that of a savior from myth. It was humanity's salvation!

Ramiel seemed to sense something as well. The energy within its body suddenly flowed faster, and its already dazzling golden light grew even more intense!

A golden energy blast shot forth at once, warping the air with its searing heat and melting several small hills in an instant.

The purple savior leaped out from among the mountains, its long blade gleaming coldly beneath the emergency searchlights. This time, however, it also carried a shield.

Unit-01 landed in front of Unit-00 and raised the shield with one hand. Ramiel's most terrifying energy blast since its invasion struck the shield, yet only sent rainbow ripples across it without breaking through.

NERV's technical division had once proposed an F-type equipment development project. The original concept was to dramatically enhance the EVAs' firepower and armor.

But the higher-ups had ultimately banned the project on the grounds that it was too dangerous, leaving it on hold to this day.

The long blade and shield Shinji Ikari was using were essentially stripped-down versions of that project.

Both pieces of equipment were built around a special metal capable of activating an A.T. Field. Its most direct effect was to improve the efficiency with which the A.T. Field was used.

Just as Shinji was demonstrating now, even Ramiel's strongest attack could not break through Unit-01's current defenses.

The scattered particle energy could even melt the surrounding mountains, yet the firing position behind him remained unharmed until the golden light faded completely.

"Ikari!"

"Shinji!"

Rei Ayanami's and Misato Katsuragi's voices reached Shinji Ikari's ears at the same time.

Shinji could hear how excited they both were, though the difference was clear. Rei's voice did not rise and fall nearly as much as Misato's.

Shinji asked, "If I remember right, you can fire a second shot in thirty seconds at the earliest, right?"

"Yes." Rei nodded.

The instant Ramiel spotted Unit-01, its body gave a slight shudder and contracted into its original form, falling still for a moment.

Fear? What a joke. How could an incomplete life-form like that possibly frighten me? Back in its original form, Ramiel let out a piercing shriek. It was actually angry.

Strangely, even through the screens, everyone in the command room could sense fear and anger emanating from that crystalline body, which scarcely seemed alive.

The next instant, Unit-01 broke into a run in front of the firing position, shattering the sound barrier.

The Sixth Angel unfolded into its third form, resembling a Ferris wheel lying on its side, and fired a sweeping laser from its center.

Trailing a white streak, the purple machine charged toward Ramiel like a hunter. It was nothing less than a fiend that had crawled out of hell, craving the taste of souls.

The laser was extremely fast, but Shinji was not foolish enough to move in a straight line. It was not that the energy cannon could not hit Unit-01; Ramiel simply could not react quickly enough to predict its movements.

The sweeping beam could not catch Unit-01. It only carved a long, winding scar across the mountains, burning the forests and slopes into trenches and charcoal.

An exceedingly sharp, pure, panicked sound came from Ramiel's body, like a high-voltage discharge, the resonant distortion of a massive metal structure, or glass and crystal scraping at high frequency.

It had none of the texture of vocal cords, stripped entirely of any trace of a living creature. Humans could not understand it, and neither could Shinji. He simply kept piloting Unit-01 forward.

The hydraulics in Unit-01's legs screamed, and the massive machine launched itself off the mountainside. It did not fly so much as hurtle like a boulder flung from a catapult, tracing an unyielding arc straight toward nearby Tokyo-3.

Tokyo-3's steel defensive layer was sturdy. The impact toppled only a few buildings aboveground and shattered a few streets.

Ramiel instinctively tried to "escape." A devastating high-energy particle blast powerful enough to melt through the earth's crust fired immediately, halting its pursuer.

"Close-quarters combat" did not even exist as an option in its combat logic. That split-second opening was the distance between life and death.

Unit-01's charge was checked for the moment. It pivoted and slid across the ground, dodging the straight-line blast.

As it dropped into a half crouch, Unit-01 lowered its center of gravity and broke into a run, swinging the long blade in its right hand.

The blade ran parallel to the ground, an AT Field clinging to it. Now it was the sharpest slashing weapon imaginable.

The extended edge of warm yellow light swept through the Sixth Angel's prismatic body, leaving only a ripple in the air.

Scarlet blood erupted again. Even Ramiel's most defensive form had failed to stop that slash.

The rainbow curtain of light over the prism split into upper and lower halves, and its body was cut in two along with it.

Then Ramiel's severed body closed back together. The blade had missed its true core.

Its page-shaped cannon muzzle aimed at Unit-01. The particle cannon shone like the sun, bathing Unit-01's purple armor in bright yellow as a powerful blast fired at point-blank range.

Shinji's synchronization rate, which had long remained above three hundred percent, allowed him to react at tremendous speed. Unit-01 immediately raised its shield to block.

Rainbow halos surged beneath the impact of the golden beam. Even Ramiel's strongest attack had failed to pierce Unit-01's AT Field shield, and this blast naturally fared no better.

The force of the impact, however, had not disappeared. The energy cannon continued to bombard them, pushing Shinji and Unit-01 hundreds of meters back amid the light.

Ramiel also used the attack to fly higher. It applied its AT Field to its entire body and ascended rapidly, putting distance between itself and that savage fiend.

This mobile artillery platform had already pushed its abilities to their limits.

Whether it was the energy projected by its core, its countless bizarre forms, or the constantly shifting AT Field surrounding its body, it had used everything to the utmost.

It had done everything possible to counter a ferocious assault that would have meant certain death for an ordinary Angel, clawing back what little ground it could.

Ramiel was now in a difficult position.

If it maintained a single form, its AT Field would be easily neutralized, then shatter at the slightest contact with Unit-01's attacks.

But if it kept changing forms, the unknown attack from afar would exploit its vulnerable core.

All it could do now was try to strike a balance between changing forms and maintaining them.

Ramiel's next tactic was suppressive fire. It transformed, resumed its bombardment, and its core began to glow.

But the Sixth Angel still did not understand Shinji Ikari well enough, nor did it understand Unit-01.

The instant Unit-01 moved its shield aside, its eyes lit up, and two familiar purple-white rays shot from its eye sockets!

Angels were the loneliest creatures. They had no desire to communicate, nor anyone to communicate with, leaving Ramiel without even a clear understanding of its opponent's capabilities.

Outside its prismatic form, its AT Field was already weaker. It shattered instantly, and the purple-white rays pierced straight through its newly glowing core!

Blood sprayed out, and Ramiel reconstructed its form once again.

Unit-01 did not move to intercept it. It merely stood upright and looked up at the red-glowing core as a streak of electric light shot in from the northeast, piercing Ramiel's body.