Chapter 50: A Wolf’s Wisdom

Chapter 50:
A Wolf’s Wisdom

 

YOMOTSU HIRASAKA ISLAND.

The U.S. Eva, Wolfpack, charged in a straight line. Its destination, the Ark, lay in the shade of a mighty rock. Wolfpack cut through the tentacle of an Angel Carrier that carried Shamshel, and it easily avoided the Torwächters projectiles.

The Ark.

The key to repeating the world.

The congregation of all terrestrial life-forms.

The data of all organisms on Earth.

Both the Earth and moon possessed an Ark of their own. The two had originally been one, but they’d been severed from each other, suddenly invincible and incorporeal. Without a physical existence, they could only deteriorate for all eternity.

But something had affected them.

When Asuka and Eva-02 had come into contact with the Ark on the moon, they’d not only lost their egos but their physical shape as well, from the amount of life-form data that had flowed into them. When they failed to shed this excess data, the Asuka/Eva synthesis was formed.

But for Mari, becoming an amalgamated mass of genetic material was her ideal. She’d once referred to the incomplete life-forms of the Ark as a pitiful pack. They’d been sealed away for eternity, their only task to accelerate the regeneration of the world.

She felt sorry for them.

Mari’s Wolfpack advanced to the Ark, intent on setting the countless life-forms free. She didn’t know whether she’d be able to. But she was no longer human enough to form a plan.

The girl now operated on the level of a beast.

 

“Go! Destroy that damn mirror box!”

The North American Alliance urged Wolfpack on.

Torwächter Kodama and Torwächter Toji had acted separately so far, but they changed their tactics when Wolfpack crossed the final hill to the Ark. They lined up perfectly, surrounding it, and touched their back plates, which had become elastic slings hanging from the sky roots. They separated, producing an oblong window to another dimension.

“Focus fire on the two black units!” Warrant Officer Endo shouted.

He trusted his gut, but it was too late.

The two Torwächters spread their window like finish-line tape and dashed right into Wolfpack’s giant body. The beast’s front paws were lopped off with little resistance, the connective tissue limbs transported by the window.

Wolfpack fell forward, shaking the ground hard enough to flip tanks. It took ages for the tremors to subside.

Mari’s charge had been halted with the Ark in her sights.

<<Gaaah… Aaaagh!>>

The fallen behemoth clawed at the trees with its hind legs, growling in Mari’s voice.

Torwächter Kodama and Torwächter Toji descended, their window still open. They would finish the job.

The North American Alliance and the Akashima were still firing at the Angel Carriers, too busy to help Mari.

“Stop it, Toji!”

Shinji’s Final Model appeared, knife in hand, half of his body glowing.