EVA: Shinji Ikari Returns from the Dragon Clan

Chapter 205. Unit-203's Awakening Appetite
Asuka stared at the Apostle.

When they were really face to face, she felt the pressure brought by this apostle. The pressure was enough to make the air stagnate and the whistling wind still. But even so, she had to fight.

Besides...she has become so much stronger.

The sunlight in the sky was so hot that it made people feel heavy even to breathe. The particle knife slashed quickly from the apostle's neck to the lower right side of his waist. Such a terrible angle was enough to split the red core in half and create a horrifying wound.

If the same proportion were applied to a human, it would be a blow that would rip open the stomach.

Unit 2 was moving so fast that only an afterimage remained.

However, the apostle waited there...

At the moment when the fiery red machine got close, the apostle, like a lion aiming at the throat of its prey, suddenly launched a counterattack called death.

The long strips of paper extending from its arms were like stretchable toilet paper. In a flash, they stretched out to dozens of meters in length, and attacked the chest of Unit 2 with a swish, making a sharp sound of breaking through the air.

This is a terrifying speed.

If it was hit, the entire machine would probably be pierced through, and you could even see the ruins of the city behind it from the front of the machine's chest.

This should be its means of attack.

Asuka sensed a needle-like danger.

It was terrifyingly strong, but she didn't want to trade her life for his! So Unit 2 immediately made a lateral maneuver, retreating dozens of meters as if it had teleported. The afterimage left behind was like a mirage in the desert, unreal and illusory.

"boom!"

Unit 2 dodged, but the unlucky one was the building. In an instant, the specially built armed building behind it was cut in half by the apostle's attack, and the collapsed concrete raised a cloud of dust.

"The Apostle's attack method is quite simple."

From a distance, Shinji Ikari observed the Fourteenth Angel's attack methods.

He made sharp comments in his mind.

Asuka only retreated a few dozen meters but it was not enough. The right arm of the apostle - let's call this paper thing an arm - bit the back of the No. 2 machine like a mad dog.

Look from afar.

It was as if Unit 2 was running while pulling its arm, with a fluttering ribbon following behind its tail.

Naturally, Unit-01 and Unit-00 would not just sit there and watch.

Although Shinji Ikari had used his full AT field to neutralize the Angel and did not have much chance to attack, he still took advantage of the gap to fire bullets at the Angel with his assault rifle.

It's a pity that all the bullets were blocked by its left arm, without even a flesh wound. But the two of them were far away, so being able to restrain one arm was enough.

And looking at the right arm of the apostle chasing after him.

Asuka took her time.

If she maintained this speed, the apostle's arm would not be able to catch up with her and could only follow behind Unit 2. After she turned back, she could use the particle knife to pierce the apostle before it could retract its arm.

But the apostle seemed to have discovered something like this.

Its right arm followed behind for a long time, until the driver thought that this speed was its limit, and then the long paper arm suddenly accelerated and stretched out.

fast!
So fast! !
Asuka had this thought.

It's a speed that is completely beyond the ability of human nerves to react.

The sharp edge made her hair stand on end and her body trembled slightly. Asuka was frightened to the point of breaking out in a cold sweat. Unit 2 subconsciously moved a step to the right. With just a tiny difference, the fiery red machine was about to miss the attack.

But in the next moment, the apostle's arm suddenly stretched several meters. It seemed that it was a deliberately hidden means, just for the purpose of killing on first sight, which was insidious enough.

The sharp arm rushed towards Unit 2's neck.

The sunlight was refracting, blinding people. Asuka's speed was unstoppable, as if the machine itself was rushing over to die.

Time slows down at this moment.

It was less than a second, but she felt like a long time had passed and even blinking her eyelashes was difficult.

The blade was approaching the life and death line of Unit 2 little by little.

"... "

She was about to shout subconsciously.

Suddenly, two bullets flew over from a distance and struck the apostle's long arm like lightning.

It's Shinji!
Asuka breathed a sigh of relief.

This bullet was supposed to be fired at the Angel's main body to contain it, but Shinji Ikari fired it at Unit 2 which was being chased, without considering the possibility of accidentally injuring his teammates.

——And it was these two bullets that saved Unit 2.

The bullet hit the apostle's right arm. Although it did not cause much damage, it caused the blade to deflect slightly.

Even so, the blade of the Angel still left an exaggerated mark on the right arm of Unit 2 like an axe, piercing through all the armor with unstoppable force until it hit the specially made road on the ground. The surrounding buildings, which were already in a precarious situation, were directly shattered into scattered fragments under this attack, and then retracted like a spring that had run out of energy.

The flesh and blood of Unit 2 gushed out red liquid from the cracks.

"Haha..."

Asuka frowned slightly in pain.

so close.

He was almost killed in one encounter.

The attack by the Angel was originally aimed at the neck of Unit 2, but it ended up only injuring the right arm of the unit.

The bullet fired by Shinji played a key role. Is he such a good shooter? When Unit 03 was parasitized by the Angel before, she was also "decapitated", but she was unconscious in the cockpit at that time. If she was awake and suffered this blow now... Asuka couldn't imagine how much pain she would feel.

"…Shinji, thank you."

After regaining some spirit, Asuka expressed her thanks frankly, which was rare.

She thought she was strong just one moment, but the next moment she needed Shinji's help. Really, although she was used to Shinji coming to save her every time, she also had to save face! Asuka's face showed shame, and Unit 2 seemed to sense her thoughts, and its speed increased again, like a ghost. Now the human eye could no longer keep up with the speed of this unit.

"Shinji, I'm going to continue."

"Be careful."

"Ah."

Come again!

The right arm had only a minor puncture wound.

After understanding the apostle's insidious moves, this method of killing at first sight was no longer effective. Asuka didn't care about the pain in her right arm at all.

Unit 2 had already begun to turn back the next instant. The red butterfly was still in the same place one second ago, but had advanced dozens of meters the next second. It was even constantly making various tactical evasive feints, using the refraction of sunlight to scatter different afterimages so that the apostles could not distinguish its movements.

"It's a different combat style from Unit-01."

"I didn't expect Asuka to be so amazing."

People in the command room sighed as they watched the surveillance footage.

When Unit-01 fights the Angel, they usually just charge straight ahead and that's it. Shinji Ikari's fighting style is open and closed, just to destroy the Angel's core, everything else is unnecessary. Although he occasionally makes fake moves, he is not as skilled as Asuka.

At this moment, the fiery red Unit 2 has become the center of the battlefield.

The dazzling fake moves made it impossible for the apostle to distinguish them. Not to mention that there were two other machines in the distance, and it would be very uncomfortable if they suddenly fired a bullet at it. The apostle's arms cut again and again, and the buildings in this area collapsed from time to time, and the dust went straight into the sky, but Unit 2 was able to avoid it every time, as if dancing on a sharp blade, dangerous and exciting.

Asuka quickly mastered the rhythm of the battle, and in a blink of an eye, she was only a dozen meters away from the apostle.

In the blink of an eye.

She finally found a loophole in its arm defense, and Unit 2 immediately rushed forward.

The chances are not perfect.

——But it was this knife!

The particle knife can definitely cut into the core it has been protecting.

But, it's too close.

After chopping, you must retreat immediately.

Asuka stared at the red core, not even daring to breathe. Her chest felt heavy, and she only focused on slashing. Time seemed to have stopped at this moment. For a long time, Asuka had the idea of ​​retreating after slashing, but the next moment she felt that it didn't make much sense. As long as the red core was destroyed, the apostle would be annihilated, and it didn't matter whether she retreated or not.

Having said that, in order to prevent such clichéd tactics as a fatal blow and mutual destruction, Asuka still made preparations for retreat in advance.

clang--

At this moment, the particle knife chopped fiercely on the core. The power of the 80-meter-long machine was fully opened, and even the weight of the machine was pressed on it. It seemed that the broken core would be seen in the next moment.

Won?

Definitely a win, right?
Without the AT stance, the apostle would be unable to resist at all, and along with the bodies around him, he might even be cut in two by this sword.

But things often don't go as we wish.

——The particle knife was bounced back, as if the blade touched harder metal, and the particle knife's wailing could be faintly heard.

She took a closer look.

...The core was not damaged at all.

Wait, what... is going on? Asuka was stunned for a moment, wondering if there was something wrong with her eyes, or if she was hallucinating - because the particle knife in her hand had no reaction when it chopped on the core, not even a shallow scratch. If it weren't for the clear chopping sound, she would have thought that her knife had chopped on something invisible.

So hard?
What's up with this abnormal defensive power?

She had performed so many excellent moves before, just for this one strike, but it didn't work at all. At this time, the apostle was already counterattacking, and Asuka felt the hair on her neck tingling, reminding her of the dangerous situation, but she still slashed again unwillingly.

There was another clang.

But the result was the same - the core was intact.

Instead, the apostle seized the opportunity when she had no time to retreat, and raised his arm. The strip-shaped blade immediately cut towards the torso of Unit 2. In an instant, the cold light of several blades entered the human eye, and the eyeball could even feel the sharpness, so sour that it wanted to cry. Its attack was focusing on the back of Unit 2's neck.

That's where the cockpit is.

Unit 2 no longer hesitated and retreated immediately.

But the delay was not so easy to make up for, as the apostles' attacks had already surrounded the entire area.

Asuka felt as if she were being pricked by needles all over her body. She bit her lip, and her delicate face was full of determination. It was too late to retreat now. When she realized that she might not be able to escape unscathed, she immediately made a choice - as long as most of the torso of Unit 2 was still there, it would be fine.

puff-

A column of blood spurted out.

The distance between them and the Angel was too close, so even the bullets could not interfere with them. Unit 2's left hand flew into the sky, and the nearby armed building was cut in half.

Red blood gushed out.

"Sever the nerve connection to Unit 2's left hand immediately!"

Misato Katsuragi shouted in the command room.

Hiss—Asuka gritted her teeth. She didn't expect it to hurt so much. It had never hurt so much before. There was a bloody taste in her mouth. It wasn't the LCL liquid, but the pain from biting her lip. She thought she could bear this little pain, but she couldn't help but scream.

There is always a trade-off. High synchronization rate brings high pain. She should have thought of this earlier.

The left hand is gone.

It's okay, we can still continue fighting.

Asuka was in pain in the cockpit, her face was pale, the LCL liquid around her seemed to have become colder, and the sweat on her cheeks could not stop flowing, but she was still thinking about fighting.

just.

Even though he is so strong now, several times stronger than before, he still finds it difficult to defeat the apostles.

How about letting Shinji come?

He definitely can.

For some reason, Asuka firmly believed this fact, even though this time it had nothing to do with combat skills, but was a matter of the pure particle sword being unable to break through defense.

Maybe if Shinji came, he wouldn't be much better than her. But even so, Asuka still thought of Ikari Shinji.

She was in Unit 2, enduring the pain and asking:

"Can't cut it? Is it a problem with the AT force field?"

The scene just now happened in just a few seconds, and only then did a slow voice come from the command room.

"It has nothing to do with the AT field. I'm afraid it's just simply too hard. If even the particle knife can't cut it..."

Akagi Ritsuko said worriedly.

However, seeing that Unit-02 was forced to retreat and Unit-01 and Unit-00 in the distance could only provide long-range firepower, the Fourteenth Angel had no intention of pursuing them.

The opposite of.

It only left one arm to defend against the long-range attacks of the machines, and had no interest in even looking at the machines, as if to say that this was enough, and then the other arm began to dig a hole in the ground.

"What is the apostle doing...?" someone asked in confusion.

——It wants to enter the underground city!

The apostles didn't come here to fight. They just wanted to go to the center of the underground city, the place called the Central Dogma District, to meet the first apostle Adam. But their three EVA machines were clinging to them and wouldn't let them go.

Need to break the red core...

Shinji Ikari stared closely at the Angel's S2 mechanism.

The eyes of Unit-01 were looking there, ready to attack at any time.

As he watched, he seemed to hear someone swallowing saliva, right next to his ear, as if someone was standing next to him, looking greedily at the core in the distance. A sticky, wet and cold feeling slowly climbed up his spine. Ikari Shinji held his breath, and he felt as if something had woken up.

It's Unit-01.

Long before, Unit-01 woke up once in response to his call.

Shinji Ikari felt as if he had opened Pandora's box and released some terrible beast. Although the beast had no intention of harming him, when humans stand at the foot of a mountain and look up at the towering peaks, their bodies will instinctively feel fear.

Unit-01 sent him a message.

—It wants...

—Eat that core.

(End of this chapter)