Chapter 53: Black Giant
Chapter 53:
Black Giant
“It’s heading to Hakone? You’re kidding, Misato-san.”
<<If only I were.>>
“This is crazy. You can’t just pull something against the Earth’s rotation. Even before it shrank, the Earth could rotate forty thousand kilometers in twenty-four hours, which comes down to… Uhh…”
<<1670 kilometers per hour, give or take a few. It’s faster now, with our decreased diameter.>>
“They’d have to break the sound barrier to do that!”
Shinji didn’t feel its effects. He didn’t fall after accelerating. The winds were a little stronger, but even then…
He swallowed hard when he saw the island’s peak. It was indeed being pulled away by a gigantic, spindle-shaped cloud.
The two Platypus-2 observer jets, Shrikes One and Two, flew high above the ocean, where they were in no danger of colliding with the vertical roots. Their observation booms and rotary guns were tucked tightly into the fuselage, and they watched the scene unfold while flying at high speed.
<<Either way, it’s the truth. At this rate, it’s going to ram into Izu Peninsula in about an hour.>>
Shinji couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “And the moon?”
Professor Mizusato answered his question in a hoarse voice. <<With the disappearance of the Longinus Ring, the Earth is on a crash course. Taking the Roche limit into account, both bodies will clash, affecting a third of the area on each. It’ll be like chafing pants on a hot summer’s day.>>
“Chafing… What?”
Shinji didn’t understand, but he knew it would be catastrophic.
<<It just means the countdown party’s happening sooner rather than later. Shinji, you’ll have to—>>
Another earthquake shook Hakone, and Misato’s window flickered before being cut off. Her courage wasn’t just for show. Shinji knew she had to be brave for everyone else.
It hurt to watch her.
Misato didn’t blame him. Not that Shinji was at fault. But he was the one who’d manifested the tunnel network, the roots of the World Tree, into this dimension. The roots were supposed to be invisible, but they’d swallowed the Lance of Longinus when they appeared, and now the moon was falling on their heads. The roots had become part of Armaros, and she was currently dragging Yomotsu Hirasaka all the way to Hakone.
There was only one thing left to do.
And he had to do it while he was still human.
“If I’m doing this at all…now’s the time.”
He’d known that much the moment he saw the giant’s black arm.
Resistance was—
The battleship Yamato had landed on the west side of the moving island. The ship provided support at medium range as well as supplies from Nerv Japan. At the ship’s rear deck, Shinji’s Final Model unlatched the Battle Axe SRM-50.