Chapter 58: Longinus Ring

Chapter 58:
Longinus Ring

 

“Look! There’s a hole in the roots!”

A clear voice rang out, confirming the phenomenon.

In the command center, the main display switched to footage from the aerial surveillance cameras. It didn’t take long for everyone to spot the gap in the root-filled sky.

“The wings—the fire of Final Impact—burned right through them.” Fuyutsuki said.

Soon, they began receiving reports that people were once again being turned into pillars of salt.

“That seems about par for the course, considering we’re living out a legend.”

“Don’t let the press hear that.”

Misato gave Fuyutsuki a tired smile. The electromagnetic pulse generated by the Impact was causing tremendous damage throughout the city.

“Cut the power to commercial and residential areas,” Misato ordered.

<<Shelter 5 of Tokyo-3 has flooded! Signs of life…zero.>>

Shelter 5 contained the most evacuees.

“What?!”

Things were probably even worse outside of Hakone.

The Third Impact, the debt that humanity owed, had been halted when it was unexpectedly quartered and shot into the sky. They’d avoided paying the full price until now. This number of casualties was expected.

And yet—

<<Those people are safe now. I moved all of them to the school.>> Six’s communication window flashed to interrupt their conversation.

“Hakone command to Six. Say again?” Hyuga said, unsure what she was talking about.

<<I said I moved the people in the southern shelter out! It’s empty now!>>

“Six, you… You did what?!”

<<The school is in one piece. Not a bit of it is broken. Shinji’s still dreaming!>>

Despite young Six’s lack of vocabulary, her words gave everyone in the command center hope. The Eva’s dream was a place layered upon reality. Nothing could enter it if the dreamer didn’t will it. The children had taken advantage of this reality and evacuated everyone there. But most of all—

“Shinji-kun…”

Six had revealed the existence of Shinji’s will. He was alive enough to affect reality.

 

“Announcement from the ESO observatory in La Paz!” Aoba shouted. “The Longinus has returned to its original altitude of twenty thousand kilometers and is observed to be 157,000 kilometers long!”

“It kept growing inside the roots!”

“Its shape is now elliptical and will soon reach full circle!”

The ray of light that was the Lance of Longinus spread across the sky like a white thread.

<<Hakone command! It’s Armaros!>>

Having trampled the western ridge of the caldera, the black giant jumped to Yomotsu Hirasaka Island, which was riding up the southwest side. The wing of a large aircraft was caught in the black giant’s leap and torn to pieces.

“Who was that?! What kind of idiot do you have to be to fly under these conditions?!”

“We can’t afford to send out rescue right now.”

<<I’ll take care of it. I think it’s the doctors of the U.S. Eva. They’re still looking for Mari.>>

The graviton floaters of Rei Six’s Eva-0.0 Type-F whirred awake, and she flew toward the plane, heavily damaged and tilting.

“We’re not done here, Six! We’ll talk about you evacuating the civilians later!” Misato caught herself. “Later”? She still thought there was a later for them, despite everything that was going on.

A loud shock wave brought her back to her senses.

<<Get back here, stupid Shinji!>> This came from Shinji’s entry plug. The voice belonged to Asuka. <<Shinji!>>

Shinji’s figure was a shade conjured up by the dream, and it was currently inside an entry plug, transported all the way to the classroom. Six had left the hatch open after confirming that Shinji wasn’t inside. Now, Asuka was banging on the outside of the plug with a broom, and her voice was being picked up by its internal microphone.

“Wait, I thought Asuka is synthesized right now.”

“I guess her ego made it to the classroom.”

Kaji nodded. “So the kids have made a little command center for themselves there.”

“They what?!”

Misato was irked, despite knowing she had the school to thank for the safety of the civilians.

“Oh, don’t be mad,” Kaji said. “I’m sure they weren’t being insubordinate just for the sake of it.”

“The Longinus…” The orbiting trail of light was about to meet its own tail. A clear, bell-like ringing echoed across the entire planet. The Earth shook again. There were no more gaps in the root covered sky.

“It’s a ring…a perfect circle.”

A rumbling came from the depths of the Earth, and seismic stations around the world observed earthquakes that shared the same waveform. They sounded like countless bells being struck in rapid succession.

Everyone heard it, but no one wanted to say what it was.

“Anomaly over the Pacific Ocean!”

Yomotsu Hirasaka was being dragged across the ocean floor, shaking and crushing the planet as it went. The wounds of the sea let loose flames, culminating in the eruption of the cracked Mount Fuji.

Yet, oddly enough, the eruptions never came back down. They were all sucked up by the giant moon, which was now only forty thousand kilometers overhead. The moon was eating the Earth’s entrails.

“It’s taking up more material—and at a faster rate—than when the spatial lens was still around. We don’t have much time!” Maya was close to shrieking in the sub-booth.

“This is…the end.!” Misato muttered. Her fists were clenched so hard that her knuckles turned white.

Meanwhile, Ritsuko was looking at the data in the booth next to Maya. “Oh, you called in Mizusato-sensei as well, I see.”

Engrossed in his calculations, Aoba’s lecturer didn’t bother to look up. “It’s been a long time. Ever wondered how your pretty friend over there managed to make blades that cut right through the giant of light’s wings?”

Ritsuko peeked at the display. “Such power… And the ring’s field strength is continuously fluctuating, like something is squeezing it. No wonder it sounds like bells.”

<<This is the JSSDF Akashima—Kzzt—Nerv Japan…T minus sixty… Utilizing Iphiclus-grade N2 warheads.>>

Following this noise-riddled transmission, a flash as bright as a falling star descended upon Yomotsu Hirasaka. The North American Alliance and the South American Coalition had used their precious N2 charges to try and destroy the Ark.

“I thought we made it clear in the reports that the Ark is impervious to physical damage!”

“They just have to see for themselves.”

By the time the noise from the N2 charges faded, the rocky mountains surrounding the Ark had been leveled. UAVs sent to assess the effects of the explosion captured an image of the cube standing unharmed in the newly made crater.

We might be freed from the Human Instrumentality Project if that thing were destroyed. But as far as we know from the data, Armaros is the only one who can actually interact with it.

Misato didn’t know what to do.

Meanwhile, Asuka’s ego continued calling out to Shinji.

That was when Misato saw it. Every time Asuka banged on the empty plug, Final Model’s supposedly non-reactive status board reacted. Shinji’s vitals were all still at zero. But there was a faint pulse every time she struck the plug.

Kaji noticed it, too. “Are you calling Shinji, Asuka?”

<<Ryoji? Or are you Seele?>> Asuka stopped when she heard the voice over the transmission.

“Seele was recently fired. Anyway, don’t you think it’s better for Shinji this way?”

<<Huh?>>

“He’s finally been relieved of all his baggage. Do you really want to call him back to face an apocalypse?”

“All hands!” Misato suddenly shouted. “All hands! Start clapping!”

The crew of the command center was understandably confused at this strange order from their commander. Fuyutsuki was the only one who actually clapped.

<<That idiot wasn’t relieved of anything. He left his baggage for us to take care of! He’ll pay for that!>>

“Every time you hit that plug, Shinji’s vital readings pick up his pulse.”

The crew gasped, listening in on the conversation now. They joined Fuyutsuki in his clapping.

<<Seriously?!>>

“Can’t tell you why, though. For all we know, Shinji probably thinks he’s dead. I mean, he really is dead. But we might as well take full advantage of the fact that we’re living out a legend.”

<<What should I do?>>

“It’s time for the romantic portion of our story. First, think of the one you love. You must give him a vessel.”

<<What the hell are you talking about?>> Asuka demanded.

She’d brought the broom to a halt, and yet the sound went on. Was it coming from the grounds?

The mass of worried civilians was looking at the sky. Prompted by Asuka’s rhythm, they’d begun clapping and making noise with anything they could find.

Tokyo-3, their home, had been destroyed. The strange school was peaceful, but everything outside of the invisible wall was in shambles. Gravity had lost its hold, and some objects were being sucked into the sky.

The people couldn’t help themselves. They would’ve started screaming if it weren’t for Asuka’s racket. They heard a rhythm, and their bodies followed.

The internal pressure increased until—

THRUM!

Asuka heard another heartbeat inside of her.

She disappeared from the classroom. She’d been synthesized with the Eva and life-form data for too long, and her ego melted away.

 

Armaros was barraged by artillery.

The waterline of Lake Ashi had almost reached the Yamato’s deck. Its main guns roared as it fired into the black giant, now standing on the edge of the plateau-like island.

Armaros whispered with Hikari’s voice again. <<Help me, Toji…Kodama.>>

And that’s when it happened.

“Torwächters coming out of the severed roots!”

The two giants came toward the Yamato, but their movements weren’t in sync. One of them turned to pursue Armaros.

<<Hakone command! Do not shoot! You’ll hit Suzuhara!>> Rei Trois said.

One of the Torwächters was on Armaros’ back, plunging his blade arm into the cracks of her armor.

“Suzuhara is in control of the Torwächter? But how?!”

“Torwächter Pattern Blue!” Hyuga shouted.

“Those hyphae! They’re infecting Armaros!”

“Bardiel! It’s awake?!” Misato gasped. “What happened to Suzuhara’s leg sample?!”

“Specimen storage was affected when Rei Quatre’s mutant Eva raided the base.”

Kaji laughed through clenched teeth. Misato could no longer think this was mere coincidence.

“You brats really did a number on us!”

Armaros turned to the Torwächter and smashed his chest in with her left hand, revealing the crushed nose of the Platypus-2 jet within. The canopy went flying, dragging hyphal filaments with it.

“Stay down, you little brat!” Toji shouted.

CRACK!

Bardiel’s mycelial growth had gained enough mass that it cracked Armaros’ armor from the inside. The white Eva-02, Heurtebise, slid out of the gash in the supergiant’s spine. But Bardiel couldn’t be allowed to have free reign. Soon, its hyphae would take over Heurtebise and Hikari.

But as the plug released, the mycelial infection stopped. The hatch opened.

“Ack! Gah! You’re late, Toji!”

Toji was too preoccupied to be shocked. “I got lost in the roots! Wouldn’t have made it out if she didn’t call me! Uh…what’s with the dirty rags, Kensuke?”

Kensuke held Hikari in his arms, and they were both wrapped in aged cloth.

“Excuse you! These dirty rags happen to be the Shroud of Turin. We’ve been hiding under it this whole time.”

Armaros flailed, struggling to free herself from the Torwächter. Toji’s left arm, tied with a tight harness at the joint, would do its final duty. It would be cut off right after the Angel was put to sleep. But for now, it threw a small ampoule.

“Look, Hikari! Your real sister isn’t a monster!”

Hikari’s blank eyes followed the ampoule. It contained the remains of the saltified Kodama, Hikari’s sister.

“Kodama…Toji!”

Her dazed eyes filled with tears as her emotions came flooding back.

Meanwhile, the other Torwächter, the substitute Kodama, had begun acting strangely. It was hit with a volley of artillery fire, courtesy of the battleship Yamato, and promptly crumbled.

Toji had accomplished half of his mission.

“What now?!”

But he couldn’t control Bardiel’s power for long. He felt the Angel’s strong resistance. It was probably going to take over and turn him into the next Armaros.

But there was one limb it couldn’t possess—the giant’s left arm.

It’s not the left arm…it’s the thing coiled around it like a snake.

“That’s the Devil’s Backbone!”

The weapon that could fire an A.T. Field-eroding graviton shot had originally been an Eva—an experiment driven mad by a Q.R. Signum. The serpentine coil moved the left hand around Armaros’ back and peeled Toji’s Torwächter off of it.

“The Devil’s Backbone is taking over Armaros’ body?!”

The Suzuhara Torwächter was still holding on to Heurtebise’s plug unit with Kensuke and Hikari inside it. Please make a protective field like an Eva!

Having lost its host, Heurtebise slipped out of Armaros’ back and fell to the ground. As the Suzuhara Torwächter tumbled through the air, Eva-0.0 and the Asuka/Eva synthesis approached.

“Suzuhara-kun!” Trois’ voice came out of Eva-0.0.

“Can’t hold on… You gotta hurry!”

The Asuka/Eva synthesis went after Armaros, now freed from Toji.

“What’s Soryu planning?”

<<She’s…lost herself. She’s alive but won’t respond.>>

Lost to the synthesis.

The Platypus-2’s crushed cockpit peeked out of Suzuhara’s damaged chest. Eva-0.0 slowly lowered her prog knife. It let out an ear piercing whine. Toji painfully stretched out his left arm as Bardiel’s hyphae continued to spread. He squeezed the edge of the cockpit so Trois could see it.

“Dammit! I can’t be Armaros now…not after we finally made a dent in the Ark!”

<<We did?>>

Someone responded to Toji’s private musings.

“That voice… Mari? Are you in the U.S. Eva?”

“Toji!”

Kensuke crawled out from the Torwächter’s hand with Hikari in his arms, but Trois stopped them from approaching Eva-0.0.

<<Not yet, Aida-san. Don’t let Horaki near.>>

She’d cut off Toji’s arm if he did.

“Just hang in there, Hikari… It’ll all be over soon…”

“To…ji…”

Armaros continued toward the Ark, but its body had begun shrinking. It was returning to its normal size, which meant it would still be twice the size of an Eva.