Even as the sun went out and Earth fell into darkness, Saberuno still thought it was not enough.
"Fine. I'll spare you some of your suffering."
With that, the Final Angel began concentrating his power.
At that moment, the dark sky underwent a dramatic change. A massive hole opened in the black clouds that had shrouded the sky, directly above the Final Angel's head.
"Unknown energy detected emanating from within the Final Angel. Its composition is unknown, but it's clearly spreading outward!"
Ritsuko stared at the readings on the screen, dumbfounded.
Fuyutsuki, meanwhile, thought of the most dangerous possibility.
"Could he be trying to trigger..."
He thought of the terrifying Human Instrumentality Project and hoped his guess was wrong.
In an instant, an enormous mass of black mist surged skyward from around the Final Angel's body, spreading in every direction at incredible speed!
"What is this stuff?!"
"The black mist shows no measurable mass. Further analysis is underway!" The technician stared at the various incomprehensible figures on the screen, panic taking hold.
"We've detected... my God, that's impossible!"
At that moment, all the lights and electronic equipment in the NERV base shut down. Only a handful of emergency lights remained functional.
"Impossible. How could MAGI shut down at a time like this?" Ritsuko hammered at the keyboard in disbelief.
Fuyutsuki said, "Don't panic! Switch to the backup system!"
As the base's backup system took over, the black mist was rapidly spreading across the world.
In Second Tokyo City, the soldiers attacking the Puppet Mass Production Models watched in horror as the black mist swept toward them. Driven by fear, they drew their weapons and fired at it.
Yet neither their conventional firearms nor their more advanced laser weapons caused so much as a ripple on the surface of the black