Chapter 46: Armaros Hakone Assault

Chapter 46:
Armaros Hakone Assault

 

Alarms blared over Tokyo-3.

Armaros was coming.

Kaji Ryoji, current vessel of Seele, had revealed that much.

Aoba was in the eye of the storm, processing inquiries from government agencies.

The images on the screen showed people walking toward the shelters, some in the sun and some in the shade, as the city was slowly converted into a combat zone.

As Misato watched the hustle and bustle of the lower decks of the command center, she began to wonder if she’d jumped the gun. They were going on Seele’s word alone.

“It would be better for you if I stayed here,” the Kaji-vessel said with annoyance, as he was forced out of the command center.

Kaji had been a man with a constant smile on his face, but that smile had taken on a different meaning ever since Seele possessed him. Now it was the smile of a man who knew the inner workings of the world, a smile that looked down on humanity for their ignorance. Something must have been very wrong for that smile to be wiped from his face.

Seele was afraid of the black giant who was coming for the replica of the Lance of Longinus.

<<This is Hakone command to Trois. You are to maintain your position. We are sending you armaments via the Togendai lift. Also, Dr. Ibuki is headed your way. Don’t step on her.>>

“This is Trois. Copy that.”

 

Trois’ rebellion had been swept under the rug now that Armaros was approaching. She’d been ordered to stay within the Glass Egg, though no one had asked how she felt about it.

As far as she could see, the city was locking itself down. The armed vehicles barricading the bridge into the Glass Egg had opened up to make way for a single EV scooter. Trois peered through her gunsights to see who it was and then called out through her external speakers.

<<Dr. Ibuki!>>

“Trois, is the egg still resonating?!”

The scooter braked and slid smoothly on the steel plates set up for heavy equipment. The only sounds were the hum of Eva-0.0’s external S2 engine and the distant alarm coming from the entrance.

But then, another echo…

<<Is that you, Maya?>>

Ibuki would never forget that voice.

She staggered to her feet.

“Senpai!”

Akagi Ritsuko. Her predecessor, whom she respected as a scientist and despised as a person.

“Senpai, senpai! Akagi-senpai!”

Why had she devoted her life to researching Eva technology?

Why had she continued developing said technology?

Because something had happened three years ago that forced Maya to reconsider her life.

All because you disappeared…

<<I can hear you…Maya. Three years outside…inside…time goes on…Unit One…us that much.>>

The walls of the Glass Egg reverberated to transmit the voice of a person who wasn’t there. It seemed that time was moving again within the Chronostatic Sphere.

<<Now, tell me your findings, Dr. Ibuki.>>

Right. I have three years’ worth of research to catch her up on.

 

“Alert! Disturbance detected in the aerial roots!”

“Anomalous waves are going through international provisional root numbers 210 to 3166!”

A root of the World Tree over Hakone rippled faintly. The distortion ran across the sky toward Hakone. A similar phenomenon had been witnessed when the original Longinus, then 130,000 kilometers long, passed through the roots in the sky.

An alarm sounded.

“Quantum flow inclinometers are picking something up! Alpha decay observed. Probability of existence rapidly increasing!”

“The black giant is coming!” Seele/Kaji whispered as the guards escorted him out of the command center.

Fuyutsuki heard him and blurted out, “No! It’s too soon!”

The distortion traveling the roots became more humanoid in shape as it approached.

“We got a matching signature in the Magi! One hit…it’s Armaros!”

“It’s over the mountains! Within reach of the caldera!”

The black giant had taken the roots’ tunnel network and was now in the skies over Hakone.

Misato watched the board, as the city had yet to complete its armament protocols. She made the order. “Open fire!”

The battle-ready Tokyo-3 pointed in the direction of the black shadow and fired. But the focused artillery did nothing. Armaros merely dangled from the roots like a spider from its thread.

A ray of bright light struck the giant next. A shot from Little Rei Six. Eva-0.0 Type-F’s Angel’s Backbone.

<<Misato! There’s something weird going on with her field!>>

The Field Piercer was supposed to be the most effective weapon against A.T. Fields, and yet it couldn’t penetrate Armaros.

“Sensei?” Misato asked the scientist.

“Armaros is covered with Q.R. Signums. They might be functioning as a physical defense grid!”

Which meant ranged attacks were out of the question.

“Six, move into melee range!”

<<Copy tha—Whoa!>> Six yelped.

Armaros had fired something as she slid down the roots. Eva-0.0 Type-F activated its graviton floaters, turned around, and crushed the crystalline projectiles with the barrel of the Angel’s Backbone.

They disintegrated into red dust.

“Q.R. Signums! Don’t get caught by them!”

<<I know that!>>

Eva-0.0 Type-F kicked the ground with its four legs and bounded down the hill.

 

A transmission from Trois’ Eva-0.0 flashed on the main display.

<<I’ll retaliate with the Longinus.>>

Eva-0.0 switched out its gamma-ray laser cannon for the replica Longinus. The Eva held it with both hands over Maya’s head.

It was then that the anomaly occurred. The helix of the replica bulged, and its twin points began to glow.

 

Trois’ transmission window closed itself on the display of the command center, making it seem like the Ayanami had gone rogue yet again.

Kaji was being dragged to the elevator, but he fought back when he heard Trois’ plan.

“No! You’re playing right into her hands!” he shouted.

“Let him stay a little longer,” Misato said, withdrawing her order. “Trois, remain within the shell! The black giant is after the spear!”

Everyone inside the command center—every person on the planet, really—was far too focused on Armaros’ descent to notice what was going on within the Glass Egg.

And how could they not, when Armaros was so close to touching down on Hakone?

 

Six suddenly felt a sudden, sickening chill that made her want to throw up. It was as if a mass of negativity was pointing at her, staring at her. She leaped away.

BOOM!

The explosion grazed Eva-0.0 Type-F and blew away Nagao Pass, where it had just been standing.

“What was that?!”

The command center watched as the northwestern rim of Tokyo-3 was blown to pieces.

“The enemy’s Field Piercer!”

“You mean the Devil’s Backbone that Euro Eva had before it turned into Armaros?!”

Part of the mountainside was engulfed by the implosion, while the surrounding area was blown away by the shock waves generated from the impact. A giant mushroom cloud rose into the sky as dust rained down on Tokyo-3.

The Angel’s Backbone was the ultimate firearm. It could pierce any A.T. Field. The right arm and leg of Six’s Eva-0.0 Type-F had been fused into the barrel in order to stabilize the shot.

Heurtebise, however, was equipped with the Devil’s Backbone, a Field Piercer crafted out of an Eva’s spine and powered by a Q.R. Signum. The mind of the core was severely twisted, but in exchange, the weapon was hideously strong, as strong as the experimental Neyarl.

“Line 736 and its tunnel have burned down!”

“Be careful!”

<<I can still do this!>>

Six pressed on, flying over the mountain ridge to avoid firing at the city.

<<I just need to get a clean shot!>>

But the two plates on Armaros’ back had already descended, and they lodged themselves into the ground of Hakone caldera.

 

<<Not…there…>>

“That voice!”

<<Stay away…from my home.>>

The voice came from the roots in the sky, and it could only belong to one person.

“Asuka?!” Misato watched as Zeruel’s arms extended from the roots and chased after Armaros.

“What?!”

The Asuka/Eva synthesis, Crimson A1, had gained Zeruel’s razor-sharp feelers as it consumed the life-form data of the Ark. They wrapped themselves around Armaros’ right arm and yanked it up, dragging the black giant away, even though she was twice Crimson A1’s size. This was the power of the roots’ quantum flow. Even Armaros was helpless to resist, and she disappeared into the thick primary root.

Armaros and Asuka/Eva synthesis dipped and bobbed, in and out of the roots, shooting and slashing at each other.

“Asuka?!” Rei Six called out to her.

Crimson A1 responded in a monotone voice. <<Tell Shinji…to do something…about that idiot Suzuhara…>>

“But I thought Toji turned into a Torwächter on Yomotsu Hirasaka!”

<<He did… Just look outside for a second…>>

And with that, the two giants were carried away by the roots’ current, away from Hakone.

“Asuka bought us some time.”

“Not much,” Kaji said. “One wrong move, and she’ll be back.”

“Anomaly detected… Inside the Glass Egg!”

All attention shifted to the small image of the 666-meter egg.

“Why is it so dark?”

The inside of the Glass Egg had turned pitch-black. While its frosted-glass shell prevented whatever was inside from being clearly visible, the multi-layered floors and scaffolding built within the egg could still be seen after the egg had been dredged up from the bottom of the lake.

What had happened in that moment when everyone’s attention was diverted by the coming of Armaros?

Moreover, what had happened to Rei Trois and Maya inside?

Misato panicked. “Trois, status report!”

<<……>>

“When did it start?!” Aoba shouted from the middle deck at one of the lower deck operators, who scrambled to play back the recording.

“The egg turned black about twenty seconds ago!”

Trois’ transmission window flickered to life on the main display. She’d returned.

<<Eva-0.0…Trois to…command…come in…>>

“This is Hakone command. What happened, Trois?”

<<The terrain outside the egg changed for 18.7 seconds. Orange light all around…>>

<<This is Ibuki. Can you hear me, command?>> Maya, also inside the Glass Egg, contacted them using her own transmitter. <<Infrared thermometer readings showed the walls of the egg to be between nine and twelve hundred degrees Celsius. The entrance also disappeared for a while.>>

“The egg was pitch-black from the outside, too.”

<<The images on the eggshell must come from somewhere.>>

“Which means,” Misato said, “you might have been carried off to god-knows-where.”

Everyone turned to look at her on the top deck.

“Look,” Misato pointed.

The bridge connecting the Glass Egg to Lake Ashi’s shores had been disconnected. Concentric waves rippled out over the surface of the lake.

“The Glass Egg is moving up and down.”

Fuyutsuki squinted his eyes and then widened them. “Could it be…that the matter inside the egg was transported and then returned?”

“Any comments, Mr. Seele?”

“The egg underneath the island is Lilith’s egg, the one you call the Chronostatic Sphere. You figured out that much, I’m sure.” Kaji pursed his lips. “It’s resonating with the old egg’s shell in Hakone. Perhaps it’s a replacement of sorts. Either way, it’s allowed you to speak with Gendo and the others. Speak and nothing more.”

“What?”

Reports of the battle came in from middle deck. “We just got word from the U.N. Relief Army, East Asian Division. Armaros and Crimson A1 have made contact over the Sea of Japan and are moving toward the continent.”

“Keep tracking them!” Misato turned her chair to look at Kaji. “Are you saying that the inside of the egg switched places when it went dark?”

“Most likely. Your chief of science did see the magma underneath the new island.”

“This is ridiculous…” was all Fuyutsuki could say.

“Wait, hang on.” Misato shook her head. “Is it possible to make the switch permanent?”

“No. They’re only resonances in the end,” Kaji said. “Granted, they caused a temporary space displacement. But this phenomenon is unprecedented in the history of Seele. This was probably the height of it. Any further interference and the law of cause and effect would—”

He stopped before he could finish his elaboration.

Misato noticed Kaji’s shoulders quivering. Was he laughing?

“The replica Longinus… Very well!” The Kaji-vessel raised his face. The smug grin had returned. “Katsuragi Misato, Commander of Nerv Japan. Let us come to a mutually satisfactory agreement.”

A new alarm sounded, followed by the heavily armored headquarters grinding to a halt on its circular rails. The lights switched to emergency power.

“Rei Quatre’s mutant Eva has infiltrated the lower levels! She’s damaged the hull of the command car!”

“No! Where did she come from?! Why didn’t we see her?!”

Fuyutsuki clung to the backrest of a chair for support. “You let her warp away so she could hide right under our noses!”

Kaji grinned. A loud rumbling came from the elevator shaft before its walls were blown away. Blocks of hard concrete tektite were strewn about the command center. The security guards who still had their wits about them opened fire on Kaji, but a giant hand blocked their bullets.

“It’s the mutant Eva!”

Quatre’s Eva-0.0, that hideous chimera of weaponry, had now gained the wings of an Angel Carrier.

Kaji—Seele, rather—hopped on to the palm and announced, “You may keep your castle. We shall take the replica Longinus and make our journey to the new world.”