At dawn, Tokyo-3 woke up.
The civilian buildings gradually rose to the surface. The people who had survived the disaster stared at the chaotic streets before them, feeling as though a lifetime had passed.
Fortunately, Zero had bought precious time for the buildings to descend, and even while fighting, he had used Ultra Psychokinesis to shield the civilians who had not evacuated in time.
The casualties from this battle had been kept to a very low number.
Many civilians had also seen the Ultra Warrior holding up the Spark Blade to block the fusion beast, and most of them now understood that Ultraman was protecting them.
At Yui Ikari's urging, the broadcasts had also subtly spread the message that Ultraman had reduced the damage, so Zero had once again risen considerably in the public's estimation.
Gendo Ikari, however, was having a thoroughly unpleasant time at the SEELE meeting.
Green slapped the table impatiently. "Gendo Ikari, where were your son and Unit-01 during this battle?!"
Yellow joined in the tirade. "We didn't give you all that funding so you could keep a useless brat around!"
Blue said, "And the Evas were utterly helpless against the monsters. Don't you think your NERV and Evas are becoming more useless by the day?! You might as well hand your position as commander over to that giant!"
Gendo Ikari pushed up his glasses and answered coldly.
"Unit-01 failed to arrive in time because its pilot became separated from NERV personnel during the evacuation. After we found him, Unit-01 suffered a malfunction. By the time we finished making adjustments, Ultraman had already dealt with the monsters." With that, Gendo Ikari produced his falsified report.
"As for the Evas failing to contribute, this was our first encounter with monsters of this unknown type. We were fortunate to