They traveled through time at the same time, but the villainous scientist

Chapter 178-Awakening
In the center of the screen, above the Third New Tokyo City, floats a huge, eerie sphere. Its surface is interwoven with zebra-like stripes, and it rotates silently, like the cold, indifferent eye of a god gazing down upon the ants of the mortal world.

"This design..."

A young technician adjusted his glasses, his voice trembling slightly with nervousness.
"The readings are very strange. The sensors show that its actual location is not in mid-air, but on the ground!"

"On the ground?"

Misato Katsuragi frowned, her mind racing.
"Projection?"

"Uncertain, sir! But the energy source is definitely on the ground!"

"Whatever it is, whatever it is!"

Misato Katsuragi's eyes sharpened, and she decisively gave the order.

"Probe with conventional firepower first! All electromagnetic turrets in the city, lock onto the Apostles, open fire!"

With her cold command, the group of gun emplacements disguised as high-rise buildings in the city began to deform, the heavy armor plates sliding off to reveal the menacing muzzles.

The cannon rotated, precisely locking onto the strange black and white sphere in the sky.

"boom--!!"

Several dazzling blue arcs of electricity converged at the muzzle. The next second, the solid armor-piercing projectile was propelled by the enormous electromagnetic force, transforming into a streak of light that was almost invisible to the naked eye, tearing through the air and shooting straight away!

However, a jaw-dropping scene happened.

Those projectiles, powerful enough to pierce even the thickest armor, seemed to vanish into thin air the moment they made contact with the sphere, passing through it without any obstruction and shooting straight into the distant sky.

The sphere was completely undamaged.

"Attack ineffective?!"

An uproar erupted in the control room.

Before they could recover from their shock, the giant sphere in the sky suddenly disappeared.

No, not disappear!

It appeared instantly above one of the electromagnetic turrets in a way that defied the laws of physics.

At the same time, a perfectly black circular shadow, exactly the same size as the sphere, suddenly appeared on the ground and began to expand at a visible speed.

The massive fortress, as if plunged into a bottomless swamp, began to slowly sink, mercilessly swallowed by the pure darkness.

The metal structure groaned under the weight of the sinking structure, but to no avail.

"That's just a shadow on the ground! That's the real thing!"

Misato Katsuragi reacted instantly, a ruthless glint flashing in her eyes.
"Detonate the self-destruct mechanism of that gun emplacement! Now!"

The command was executed immediately.

However, an even stranger sight appeared.

Inside the shadowy turret, a blinding flash of light erupted—a violent explosion powerful enough to level several blocks around it.

However, there was no sound, no shockwave, and not even a wisp of smoke escaped.

That destructive flame, like paint splashed into an inkwell, was silently swallowed and digested by that deep shadow, without even a ripple.

There was dead silence in the control room.

Only the monotonous beeping of the instruments accentuated the increasingly heavy heartbeats of the crowd.

"Analyze based on data samples,"

Ritsuko Akagi pushed up her glasses, the lenses reflecting the cold stream of data on the screen.

"The area beneath the apostles is not the 'shadow' as we understand it."

That is an imaginary space supported by an extremely high-intensity AT field, also known as the 'Dirac Sea'.

What we see, the sphere above, is merely a projection of the apostles into this three-dimensional world.

"Projection? Like a mirage?"

Misato Katsuragi was taken aback, but immediately grasped the key point.

"That's right,"

Ritsuko Akagi nodded, her expression solemn.
"Therefore, any physical attack from the outside is meaningless to it. There is only one way to destroy it."

"Attack from within."

Misato Katsuragi picked up the conversation, her expression growing increasingly grim.

If that's the case, EVA's conventional weaponry probably won't be of much use.

"exactly."

Ritsuko Akagi's fingers flew across the keyboard, and a completely new battle plan took shape on the screen.

"My suggestion is to deploy all the N2 mines in the base's inventory into the center of that shadow using unmanned vehicles."

Then, Unit-01, Unit-00, and Unit-02 simultaneously deployed AT fields around the shadow to forcibly interfere with the Angel's force field.

In this way, perhaps the explosive energy of the N2 landmine can be completely contained within the imaginary space, annihilating it along with the Apostle's physical form!

……

Operational orders were issued swiftly.

NERV invoked its highest privileges, requisitioning unmanned combat units from the United Nations forces to coordinate the operation. Three massive EVAs were launched to their designated combat positions amidst a tense atmosphere.

"The battle begins!"

At Misato Katsuragi's command, dozens of unmanned tanks and fighter jets charged toward the ominous darkness like moths to a flame.

The Night Angel seemed to be enraged by these ignorant "insects".

The shadows on the ground suddenly expanded, like a gaping maw, instantly swallowing up all the unmanned vehicles.

But this was exactly what NERV wanted.

"Now! EVA Force, AT Fields at full power, suppress the Angel Force Field!"

The three giants, arranged in a triangular formation, surrounded the dark area with a diameter of over 100 meters.

"learn!"

Golden hexagonal light walls appeared simultaneously in front of the three EVAs, connecting with each other to form a huge energy cage that pressed down hard on the darkness of the ground!
However, just as the force field was about to completely close, a sudden change occurred!

Suddenly, the center of the shadow on the ground churned violently, as if something was about to burst forth.

The next moment, a blazing, dark red pillar of fire, mixed with explosive energy, shot out from the darkness that should have devoured everything, like the wrath of hell, and accurately struck EVA, who was fully deploying her force field!

"what?!"

Inside the control room, Ritsuko Akagi gasped in shock.
"It...it actually utilized the explosive energy of an N2 landmine?!"

This was completely beyond her calculations! The apostle had actually detonated the N2 mine prematurely and then utilized the explosive energy.
"Get out of there quickly, Asuka!"

Just then, Misato Katsuragi's roar rang out through the communicator.

"Eh?"

Asuka was a moment too slow to react.

When she heard Misato Katsuragi's warning, she was horrified to discover that, without her noticing, the deadly darkness had silently spread to the feet of Unit 2 like a rising tide.

An incredibly powerful suction force came from beneath my feet.

"hateful!"

Asuka let out a roar, desperately maneuvering Unit-02, trying to break free from this eerie "swamp".

However, everything is in vain.

Unit 2's massive body seemed to sink into a bottomless quagmire, its legs firmly gripped, and it was being dragged little by little into that void of darkness.

"Asuka!"

At the critical moment, Shinji Ikari reacted quickly.

Unit-01 lunged forward, its enormous hand gripping the arm of Unit-02 that was about to be swallowed up.

Rei Ayanami reacted immediately, and Unit-00 grabbed Unit-02's other hand from the other side.

Both EVA units unleashed their maximum power simultaneously, attempting to pull their companion back from the brink of death.

The metal exoskeleton emitted a piercing scream under the traction, and the ground beneath Unit-01 and Unit-00 began to crack.

However, the sinking trend of Unit 2 only slowed down for a moment; the pulling force of that darkness was far stronger than imagined.

What's more troublesome is that it seems the Night Angel knows that the other party won't detonate the bomb after it captures the hostage.

The instant the flames from the explosion completely disappeared, the range of Night Angel's shadow expanded dramatically, instantly enveloping Unit-00 who had come to the rescue.

Unit-00's movements faltered, and it too fell into the predicament of being dragged along.

"Damn it! Get up!"

Shinji Ikari gripped the control stick with both hands, almost grinding his teeth to powder.

But it was all in vain; he could only watch helplessly as the darkness slowly devoured the bodies of his two companions.

"Abandon Unit-00 and Unit-02. Unit-01, retreat immediately!"

Just then, a cold, emotionless voice, like a pronouncement from hell, suddenly rang out on everyone's communication channels.

It is Gendo Ikari.

"But...Father..."

Shinji Ikari's mind went completely blank for a moment.

Give up? Give up on Ayanami and Asuka? How could that be possible!

"No buts."

Gendo Ikari's voice remained completely calm.
"If all three EVAs are lost here, humanity will lose its last line of defense. Then everything will be over. This is an order."

The cold words, like a sharp blade, pierced Shinji Ikari's heart.

He recalled Zhang Qisang's gentle smile, and the vow he had made with a clenched fist to protect this world...

Does protecting the world mean sacrificing our comrades?!
“No…I don’t want it!”

The next moment, accompanied by Shinji Ikari's will, a red light suddenly emanated from his chest.

That was the necklace Zhang Qi had given him...

(End of this chapter)