Deafening gunfire thundered through the skies, while the surging waves roared like a pack of ferocious beasts, furiously battering the ships.
Amid the towering waves and chaos, battleships and destroyers were sunk one after another by the mysterious giant creature beneath the water.
A violent shock wave swept across the sea. Caught off guard, Asuka staggered and nearly went flying over the side of the ship!
Standing beside her, Shinji Ikari reached out in front of her, catching Asuka with just one arm and pulling her back before she could be thrown overboard.
Once Asuka had a firm grip on the railing, she looked at Shinji Ikari, still shaken, as though she wanted to say something. Then she seemed to pause for a moment. "...Is that a real Angel?"
"The Pacific Fleet can't fight back at all," Shinji Ikari said. "It should be. It's an Angel. My AT Field has started stirring, too."
"AT Fields can do that? And what do you mean, your AT Field?" Asuka gave him a startled look. Once again, he was saying things she couldn't understand.
In the command room, the Major General watched the churning waves and exploding ships through his binoculars, unable to keep himself from asking the same question. "That's an Angel?"
His aide stood beside him, issuing combat orders over a radio. "All ships, maintain your distance from one another and report your status."
"The Cymbeline has sunk."
"The Titus Andronicus has sunk."
"The Newgate is under attack. Unable to identify the target!"
The unbroken stream of bad news left the Major General both shocked and furious. "Damn it, what the hell is happening?"
Misato Katsuragi appeared in the doorway at just the right moment. "Good afternoon, Major General. I'm Second Lieutenant Katsuragi of NERV. I believe this now qualifies as an emergency?"
"Not even close. Our counterattack hasn't begun yet. We don't need NERV interfering!" the Major General insisted without turning around. "Guards, have you forgotten that visitors are prohibited from entering?"
"An Angel isn't something aircraft carriers and battleships can handle!" Misato Katsuragi shouted indignantly as the guards hauled her out. What did this old man think human lives were worth?
The only response she received was an even more stubborn order from the Major General. "All ships, commence attack."
"They're just wasting their effort. A bunch of stubborn fools." Misato Katsuragi's expression darkened. No matter how she put it, the Major General wouldn't listen. He was an utterly obstinate old man.
Fighter jets, torpedoes, and antisubmarine missiles attacked together, but all they managed was a few splashes.
In the end, the Angel beneath the water sank yet another Aegis ship, the blaze of its explosion lighting up the Major General's binoculars.
After one failed attack after another, no one cared whether Misato Katsuragi had entered the command room anymore, and she finally got a clear view of the battle.
"Strange. It seems to be looking for something. Could it be Unit-02?"
Misato Katsuragi was puzzled, but there was no time to dwell on it. "Conventional weapons won't work against an AT Field. Just listen to me and deploy Unit-02!"
Aboard the transport ship carrying Unit-02, Shinji Ikari sat on the stairs in a deserted corridor.
"You seem excited." Shinji Ikari watched Asuka take off her jacket.
"This is my chance. All you have to do is watch. I'll prove it to you!" Asuka took two red Plugsuits out of her red handbag.
Just as she had said, she needed to have value. Piloting an EVA and defeating Angels-that was her value.
That was the value IPEA and the Marduk Institute had given her. She had to be the best. That was why she hadn't disappeared like her other "sisters."
Just when she needed a victory to prove herself to them and to the boy beside her, an Angel had appeared. It was practically fate.
"So what are you trying to prove?" Shinji Ikari asked with a smile.
"Who the ace pilot is, of course. Put this on." Asuka tossed one of the Plugsuits to Shinji Ikari.
Plugsuit
"I don't think I need it," Shinji Ikari said. Both Plugsuits were women's models made specifically for Asuka.
"Now you're turning your nose up at my things? I'm lending it to you! If it weren't for Misato, I wouldn't give you one at all!" Asuka said through gritted teeth.
"I'll pass. It doesn't suit me, and I don't really need a Plugsuit." Shinji Ikari casually tossed the Plugsuit back into the handbag.
"Then don't get in my way later..." Asuka didn't know what else to say. Even her soaring fighting spirit was gradually beginning to fade.
If I remember right, this guy's synchronization rate has always been over three hundred percent, and he's taken less than four minutes to kill every Angel. He really is infuriating.
"By the way, do you not speak any German at all?"
"Sí..."
"Forget it. Don't say anything else. I'll switch the thought system to Japanese."
Aboard the aircraft carrier Beyond the Rainbow, where the combat command room was located.
When Bethany Base had been destroyed, someone besides the pilot of Provisional Unit-05 had survived, but the Commander-in-Chief had classified his information as top secret.
That survivor was the man with a ponytail who was now lounging in a cabin.
This member of the Inspection Department, who had once inspected the Bethany Branch, sat by the window with his legs crossed, leisurely watching the fierce battle between the Pacific Fleet and the Angel.
"You never told me we'd run into an Angel attack out here."
He watched the battle through binoculars held in one hand, with an Encrypted Satellite Phone wedged against his shoulder, apparently talking to someone.
"That's why I had you return to headquarters with Unit-02. There's a backup pilot as well. If things really go wrong, get yourself out first."
A middle-aged man's cold voice came from the other end of the line. Had Shinji Ikari been there, he would have found it very familiar.
"Understood. But isn't your son here too? I remember everyone calling him the invincible Child of God. I'd love to see what he can do. Maybe I won't have to make a disgraceful escape this time," the young man with the ponytail said.
"The Child of God...?" The voice on the other end paused thoughtfully. "Nothing more than a child's make-believe."
"But children's dreams are the future of the world. Adults ought to support them." The young man with the ponytail chuckled.
"That isn't your concern. Your mission is to bring the item to me." The voice on the other end remained cold.
As the call ended, the young man with the ponytail sighed. "Honestly, why so serious? No wonder his kid doesn't like him. Oh, here it comes!"
The young man with the ponytail sprang to his feet with an exclamation. Through his binoculars, he saw a huge yellow sheet billow up from the transport ship protected by the carrier formation.
Then an eighty-meter-tall giant rose from the ship. Its entire body was encased in red armor, and its four eyes surveyed the equally crimson sea.
In the command room at the top of the carrier's island, a report came through the radio. "Message from the Othello. EVA Unit-02 is activating."
"What?"
"Way to go, Asuka!" Misato Katsuragi pressed her face against the glass in excitement, gazing at the red EVA standing aboard the transport ship in the middle of the fleet.
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