Chapter 32: Cloud of Witnesses

Chapter 32:
Cloud of Witnesses

 

THE ANOMALY HADN’T ESCAPED the notice of Nerv Japan at Hakone. The command center had already been buzzing with activity because of Yomotsu Hirasaka’s sudden acceleration. Its arrival had been hastened by several days. Eva-0.0 and Trois were still unresponsive, but Hyuga kept contacting her just in case.

“Anomaly detected in the space between Earth and Yomotsu Hirasaka.”

Although Trois’ unit wasn’t responding, it was still transmitting data to the command center. There were distortions in the image. An operator from the observation team called out her verdict.

“Displaying external cameras. Something is wrong with the sky!”

The vague statement failed to satisfy Aoba so he pulled up a feed from one of the cameras on the main tower. He soon understood why the woman was at a loss for words.

Clouds were rolling up from the dark blue sky and then disappearing, allowing the sun to shine its ultraviolet rays unimpeded. The moon, now a mere hundred thousand kilometers away, reflected this light, making the night side of the Earth as bright as day. At first, they were unable to distinguish where one celestial anomaly began and another ended, but then they noticed something else.

“Are those waves…in the sky?”

Ripples formed from the center of the giant moon, which moved outward.

“Did anyone see what was in those waves?”

The image was fuzzy, but eventually the spatial ripples stopped, and they were able to get a good look at what was happening. The image was upside down as if viewed through a giant lens, but it soon focused.

“Whoa!”

The black messenger was spinning his spear. Blood splattered all around him as he stood in the center of a massacre.

“Torwächter B!”

The black messenger was burning with the energy from his heart. His whole body looked like it was being consumed in flames.

“Is this footage from the bright side of Yomotsu Hirasaka?”

“We suspect the lens is actually the Longinus Ring!”

“And it’s floating between the Earth and Yomotsu Hirasaka!”

“It’s a lens?! But, optically speaking, it should be too large to filter any light…”

Hyuga stammered out an explanation for Fuyutsuki. His rationale was solid, but it didn’t explain the image.

“Could it be an optical illusion?”

“Their positions match with the data we received from Six!”

“Which means the unit engaging the black messenger is the U.S. Eva. It sure looks different from the one I saw in Mount Daikan Airport, though.”

Misato scratched her head in frustration. “Maya’s never here when I need her! Any news from the underground experiment team?”

“It’s been two hours since they cut comms.”

“What do you think, Fuyutsuki-sensei?” Commander Misato turned to Assistant Acting Deputy Commander Fuyutsuki for help.

The lens showed Torwächter B wielding the Lance of Longinus like a naginata. There was a large crack in his armor, which ran from his chest to his shoulder, but he looked…fuller than before.

“Is that a technical question?”

“No. What do you think of the lens? Who is it showing this footage to?” Misato examined the image. She looked at the cracks in B’s armor and gasped. “Wait…how is this possible?!”

“Enhance!” Fuyutsuki noticed it, too.

Torwächter B spun the spear around his waist and slammed his foot into the ground. It ran through the field beasts charging him from the side, killing them instantly.

The shock wave created new cracks in his armor as it ran up through his feet. His waist was expanding now, and the armor split open.

“Those are Vertex wings…!”

The black armor fell away like broken links in a chain. The final piece to fall was his helmet, split in two all the way to its horns. A singular horn took its place, and his left eye gleamed under his visor.

“Super Eva!”

Everyone got to their feet. The last time Hakone had seen Super Eva, he’d fired Azumaterasu and turned into a pillar of salt. Now he’d reappeared thousands of kilometers away on a piece of moon rock that just might lay waste to the Earth.

“Shinji-kun!” Misato gasped.

“Is that what happened when his heart called for him? What’s his status?!”

“Telemeters not responding!” Hyuga said, looking from the main screen to the screen in front of him. Misato gave the order.

“Call him!”

Fuyutsuki lowered his voice in the buzzing command center. “That is more difficult than you think.”

Flames erupting all over the Eva, coming from the Center Trigonus in his chest.

“I know,” Misato said. She was startled but adamant. She’d seen this happen before, when Shinji found out that he’d failed to save Asuka. His sadness and fury had manifested in the form of flames enveloping Super Eva. Something similar was happening now. She doubted he had a battle plan. He was probably going to swing the lance until he or everything around him died, whichever came first.

“Contact Nerv U.S. under my name! Tell them to stop attacking Super Eva!”

“Are you sure about this? There’s a chance that thing is still Torwächter B.”

“I’m sure.”

“Nerv U.S. just contacted us and they’re asking pretty much the same thing,” Aoba chimed in from the middle deck.

Fair enough.

“Have we recovered communications with the eastern hemisphere?”

Aoba pointed to a continuously scrolling window on his console. “Europe’s Heurtebise apparently set up communication satellites as it ascended into orbit. You can watch what’s happening on Yomotsu Hirasaka through that lens from anywhere on Earth now.”

“Hunh… A whole cloud of witnesses.”

Super Eva and Wolfpack continued their fight unabated. Super Eva blocked Wolfpack’s charge with the lance’s shaft. Sparks flew as he shoved the Eva to one side to kill more of the A.T. Field beasts it sent after him. No sooner did he slaughter one in a spray of blood than he twirled the spear to stab another.

“Such power… On both sides.”

“You shall have dominion over every living thing that moves upon the Earth. Genesis 1:30, I think. Or somewhere in that neighborhood.”

Super Eva had decimated twenty of the field beasts so far. Shinji perceived himself to be in the Eva’s entry plug. He looked at the virtual display to anticipate the enemy’s next movements and grabbed his control stick. He had no time to appreciate the fact that his body had been regenerated along with the Eva’s internal systems.

<<Such a scary face,>> Kaworu teased.

“I know.”

What am I supposed to do now?

He certainly wasn’t going to think himself out of this situation. He needed to ensure Asuka’s safety before the heart self-destructed, but that meant killing Mari and her. Shinji groaned.

How did this happen?

<<Do you remember the black giant’s words? This form must not be given to animals.>>

Kaworu spoke into his ear again. Shinji realized that the execution the black messenger had failed to carry out on Novaya Zemlya had merely been delayed. As much as it pained him to admit, he was now Mari’s executioner.

Seven more field beasts broke out from Mari. Even the Lance of Longinus was not above being overwhelmed by sheer numbers.

Shinji thought his heart’s meltdown was inevitable, he also remembered that this wasn’t Hakone.

In that case…

“Let the power flow to my hands and feet!”

Super Eva’s limbs received an immense flow of energy from Shinji’s heart.

“Urgh… Hngh!”

Intense pain ran through him as his fists and feet burned. The energy injection worked, however. Super Eva broke into a dash, outrunning the fastest of the field beasts. He left a trail of burning footprints in his wake. He stabbed one of the beasts in the face, converting its ethereal body into a fountain of blood.

<<She has been given the form of a human, a vessel that you can communicate with. Now she has taken her gifts and squandered it on animals who can do nothing but obey their life cycles.>>

Kaworu was talking about the field beasts that were Mari’s family.

They’re just distortions in the A.T. Field! Shinji told himself.

But the distortions seemed real—real enough to bleed, at least. In the moment of death, he felt their body heat and smelled the iron in their blood, though these were fleeting sensations. Seele’s Lance of Longinus might be a replica, but it was a replica that could take life as easily as the original.

“Stay away!”

But the swarm was intent on fighting to their last breath.

<<This is why we tasked humans with the business of the apocalypse, you know.>>

“Humans have lives, too!”

<<I never said they didn’t. This is about the purpose of humanity.>>

Shinji looked around and saw that he’d killed the last of the field beasts. Blood floated around Super Eva’s body like a red mist.

“That’s enough, Mari!”

But the half-machine, half-beast continued its charge. It pawed the ground without an ounce of hesitation.

Asuka had acted the same way when she was drowned in the flood of all life forms. There was no way of knowing whether Mari was acting of her own will.

Wolfpack’s ring of light fired a powerful blast of particle energy. Super Eva blocked the bluish-white light with a multi-layered A.T. Field on his palm.

A beast…cannot sing…

Shinji’s painful sob was audible to anyone watching the mythological drama playing out on the lens.

“Shinji, noooo!”

Little Rei Six yelled from her hiding place with reckless abandon. Eva-00 Type-F Allegorica initiated its graviton floaters and made a beeline for the other side of Yomotsu Hirasaka.

She saw a flaming giant once she passed over the ridge. Super Eva was burning with golden fire while holding the duplicate Lance of Longinus. The tip of the red spear had already pierced the belly of Wolfpack. The beast could only flail its front paws in a pathetic attempt to break free.

 

“Bravo.”

The Kaji-vessel’s clapping echoed in the entry plug dried of its LCL. He watched the scene from on top of a hill in Quatre’s mutant Eva. Hieroglyphs of the tree of life began sprouting out of Wolfpack’s wound.

“Will this restart the Human Instrumentality Project?” Ayanami Rei Quatre, Nerv Japan’s turncoat, asked with a gloomy expression.

Kaji dismissed the notion. “I told you, the black giant and his messengers are mere parts of the system. As such, they cannot change the end of the world. That has already been decided. Really, it’s too late for even this disciplinary action.”

Quatre was still a bit concerned. “Ikari-kun is crying…”

“This is only the opening act. We still have to go through Act Two.”

What did the Kaji-vessel know?

“He has shown us this spectacle to build up how he will reclaim the spear and end it all. But he will come.”

Quatre stared at his face to try and figure him out.