"Zero, my power has now reached heights beyond anything before, enough to reduce you to ashes! This armor is nothing but a cage imprisoning my final evolved form!"
Darklops Mecha Zero abruptly clenched his right fist. Dark purple energy pulsed across his knuckles like blood vessels, and the space around him began to warp and scream.
"Could it be... no way..." Zero, propping himself up and panting heavily, remembered how Darklops Zero had burst out of his armor.
"Now, it is time for you to witness... the ultimate result of my plan, and the... final form I gained through it!"
Before he finished speaking, his right fist, brimming with destructive power, struck not at Zero but slammed into his own chest, just below the Purple Core!
Bang-BOOM!!!
Bzzzt...
In an instant, enormous cracks spread across the white outer armor. At the same time, dazzling purple light blazed forth, filling every fissure in the armor.
"What's happening? What's going on?" A deep sense of unease welled up within Gendo Ikari as he watched.
Ritsuko frantically analyzed the data. "The energy surging inside this EVA armor isn't just D4 energy. There are also numerous energy readings we can't analyze. Wait, what's this?"
Misato squeezed in front of the screen. "Just tell us what it is! I can't make sense of this."
"Mass Production Models. We're detecting energy signatures from EVA Mass Production Models. Twelve of them!"
"What are Mass Production Models?" Asuka, who had only just arrived, was utterly bewildered. All she knew was that Shinji was fighting this Zero impostor. She knew nothing about the Mass Production Models or what had been happening behind the scenes.
"They're... the key to SEELE's insane plan. But now, they'll be used to destroy the LiLin themselves..." Kaworu Nagisa's brows knitted tightly together. Knowing as