Shinji Ikari, returned from Warhammer

Only then did Mari realize that before she could sever the umbilical cord, it had already been cut in two by Unit-00, along with the very earth beneath her feet that had previously connected her to the Angel. No one had expected that Shinji Ikari, in order to sever the connection between the Angel and Unit-02, would actually cleave the seabed in two.

A massive gash opened in the rock strata beneath the seabed, and golden blood flowed from the depths of the wound, which stretched for thousands of meters. The people in the monitoring room were filled with muffled explosions. The suddenly exposed river of lava was like a giant sword being quenched in the seawater, yet it did not boil over.

"I think I heard some cannon fire?" Misato Katsuragi said. "What happened?!"

“That’s the sound of seawater vaporizing.” Although she couldn’t see the scene, Ritsuko Akagi was able to tell from her knowledge that “the seabed on the left side of Cape Shio at the southern end belongs to the Eurasian Plate and the right side belongs to the Pacific Plate. They are right above the trench. More than 300 years ago, this place cracked, and now lava occasionally flows out from the depths. It’s very fragile!”

As Mari regained her senses and took control of Unit-02 again, the monitoring room saw the scene before them once more. The earth's crust had broken apart, and layers of reddish-brown rock were churning out. Magma erupted intermittently, creating a bizarre spectacle of seawater and magma mingling together, while faint cannon fire echoed below.

At this moment, the purple Unit-00 floated fifty meters above Unit-2 and the Angel, its dazzling purple eyes shining in the seawater. The Angel's body instinctively felt fear, and it struggled to release its angelic spiritual pressure to resist it.

But Unit-00 was unfazed. It was the superior gaze of a predator at the top of the food chain, like seeing a hamster baring its teeth at you on the ground—would you be afraid? A forty-meter-long, high-temperature blade rapidly materialized in its palm. In this ultra-high-pressure abyss, the boiling point of seawater exceeded five hundred degrees Celsius. When the high-temperature blade came into contact with the seawater, the seawater vaporized, but the water vapor was reduced back to liquid under high pressure after cooling slightly; the bubbles didn't even have time to leave this deep sea.

This is an alternate form of the Light Whip of the Daytime Angel; Shinji Ikari just used it to cut through mountains and seas.

"Shinji, don't do anything rash! This place is very fragile, be careful not to trigger a super earthquake!" Misato Katsuragi's anxious voice rang out in the cockpit.

"If an earthquake could be triggered so easily, then it means Japan is doomed," Shinji Ikari replied calmly.

As Shinji Ikari finished speaking, a magnificent platinum-gold diamond-shaped force field appeared beneath his feet. In the blink of an eye, the field rapidly expanded. Below, the skin of the Uterus Angel oozed bright red blood. His body had long been perfectly adapted to the high pressure of the deep sea, but now, under the pressure of Unit-00's force field, his skin began to crack.

But the blood seeping from the cracked skin slowly gathered behind the angel of the womb, where a pair of pure white wings grew.

Seeing this, Misato Katsuragi breathed a sigh of relief. The fact that he hadn't used the high-heat light sword or released the light spear indicated that he still had some reservations.

“Shinji Ikari is all bark and no bite. He knows his limits and won’t do anything reckless.” Ritsuko Akagi’s voice rang out beside Misato Katsuragi.

The immense, almost ocean-like absolute domain pressed down on the angel of the womb, extinguishing her fear. In this life-or-death moment, He launched another attack, a white-pink halo rising to resist the slowly sinking massive domain, with electric-like dissipating energy swirling between the colliding forces.

Defense alone was not enough, and the slender pink whip stabbed towards Unit-00 again.

Shinji Ikari, expressionless, controlled Unit-00, opening his right hand to grasp the incoming whip. This time, he intended to use the Light Spike to utterly destroy it. The light whip suddenly became extremely hot, and Shinji, seeing the veins bulging on the back of his hand, instantly released his grip.

"You actually managed to break through my domain?" Shinji Ikari raised his eyebrows in surprise.

This is something neither the Archangels nor the Archangels of Power could achieve. But more specifically, it shouldn't be called a breakthrough; rather, it's that one's own domain doesn't exert much repulsive force on the object before them. It's somewhat similar to the Spear of Longylus, but essentially closer to having no repulsion at all.

But then something even more unexpected happened to Shinji Ikari. Perhaps to protect what was inside him, his bulging belly quickly slid down to his knees, and what should have been his legs turned out to be... a pair of nipples.

Is this okay? Is it really okay? Even if we drank nuclear wastewater, it shouldn't be this outrageous!

Immediately afterward, a torrent of milk gushed from beneath her legs, and the apostle before her slid into the deeper earth like a shooting octopus. The earth's crust broke there, and Mari, who was flanking nearby, wanted to give chase, but saw only gushing lava.

"Is this really okay?" Mari's voice rang out in the channel. Even without seeing her face, one could imagine her frantic state. "Her legs have breasts, and she's gushing out fluid... Even if she's an Angelic evolution, she can't be this unreasonable!"

Shinji Ikari remained silent, because he also found it absurd. If the Angels were designed by some higher-dimensional life form, then the designer of the Womb Angel must have been out of his mind.

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"Huh? Can you survive hiding inside lava?"

In the dark projection room of the new command post, Misato Katsuragi held a steaming latte, frowning as she watched the battle footage being replayed on the screen.

Wearing a navy blue coat, Mari Makinami also held a steaming latte, but she was unusually silent; Shinji Ikari was also silent, but he was very quiet and no one could sense any emotional fluctuation in him.

"At 11:07:15 yesterday evening, the target controlled Unit 2 for 3 seconds by clinging to the fleshy moss on the seabed, and then the target was attacked by Unit 0... Control was interrupted, and at 09:20, the target voluntarily withdrew."

The interpreter, Ritsuko Akagi, gently paused the video, as did the video of the sixteenth apostle, the angel of the womb, Amishar, who had finally escaped into a crack in the earth's crust.

"The uterine angel that first appeared in New Odawara Port was a ring-shaped area about one kilometer in diameter. When it was discovered by the American submarine on August 26, it was shaped like a uterus. As of last night, it resembled a woman's lower body, with a protruding abdomen that slid down to the knees and wings growing from its back. From this, we can conclude that the target Angel's appearance can change at will." Misato Katsuragi summarized, then looked in Shinji Ikari's direction and nodded slightly.

"Thank you for your hard work this time, Colonel Ikari." Shinji Ikari nodded slightly, neither agreeing nor disagreeing.

Everyone thought he was frustrated because he hadn't achieved his goal, but in reality, the Japanese government and everyone at headquarters were terrified during this operation, fearing that this ancestor might overdo it and bring Japan to its doom.

Fortunately, he was piloting Unit-00, whose power output and combat time were far lower than the already awakened Unit-01. Everyone assumed he had given up the pursuit because time was running out.

"At this point, it's not certain that the Angel of the Womb, Amishal, possesses the ability to reproduce new Angels, but the wisdom she displayed during the battle surpassed that of all previous Angels." Misato Katsuragi looked at Shinji Ikari, "Shinji, what was it like when you finally fought her?"

“If we disregard His umbilical cord, from an offensive standpoint alone, His threat level is even lower than that of the Water Angel and the Day Angel,” Shinji Ikari said. “However, in terms of the strength of His domain, he is second only to the Archangel Serul.”

Misato Katsuragi's expression was stern. "Second only to the Angel of Power, the strength of this domain is quite exaggerated. Could it be related to her image as a mother?"

“Is it the stronger domain force field generated to protect the fetus in the womb? That possibility cannot be ruled out.” Ritsuko Akagi nodded slightly. “Secondly, in the second form, the fleshy membrane that clings to the seabed, similar to moss, also has the effect of eroding the body. The eroded parts of the body will assimilate with the other party until the erosion is removed.”

"So, it might have the ability to parasitize the body like the Seraphim?" Misato Katsuragi frowned. "That sounds troublesome. Will we have to deploy both machines together in future battles?"

"The most troublesome thing is His pinkish-white light whip, which is suspected to have the effect of ignoring the absolute domain."

While it might not be enough to confirm this conjecture that it merely pierced the field of Unit-02 piloted by Mari Makinami, it also penetrated Unit-00 piloted by Shinji Ikari in a short time. Even if Shinji Ikari was weaker than Unit-01 when piloting Unit-00, it was still a defense that a normal Angel could not break through.

"Erosion, assimilation, deformation, mental attacks, extremely high domain strength, ignoring EVA's domain defense... It's a new Angel with both outstanding weaknesses and strengths," Misato Katsuragi sighed softly.

This is a seminar held after the war, a meeting specifically for research, discussion, and exchange regarding the Apostles. It plays a significant role in formulating policies, developing strategies, and outlining methods and measures.

The final result of the discussion was to formulate a new battle plan based on the significant strengths and weaknesses shown by the Womb Angel, while still sparing no effort to search for His whereabouts, striving to annihilate Him in one fell swoop when He appears next.

Half an hour later, Shinji Ikari walked out of the screening room. After gently washing his face with water in the restroom, he looked up and met the gaze of Misato Katsuragi, who was standing behind him, through the mirror.

Misato Katsuragi followed him all the way from the screening room, clearly because she had something she wanted to say to Shinji Ikari, but it was inconvenient to reveal it in public.

"If it were you, even if you were only piloting Unit-00, you should have been able to stop it in the end." Misato Katsuragi crossed her arms, looked down and stared into Shinji Ikari's eyes through the mirror, "Why did you let it go? Was it just because its form moved you to pity?"

"It's pointless." Shinji Ikari calmly pulled out a tissue and dried his hands.

"No fun?" Misato Katsuragi was somewhat surprised that Shinji Ikari would give such an answer.

210: A thicket of thorns and brambles is not a place for phoenixes to roost.

Misato Katsuragi looked at the boy standing in front of the washbasin in the mirror, his gaze sweeping over her face. Although he spoke in a lazy voice, a hint of impatience could be seen in his expression.

"So what if we take a step back and let Him evolve to the peak?"

“Those are Apostles, each of whom has the potential to destroy the world and end the progress of human civilization. If we let the Apostles run rampant, it will only allow that potential to grow without limit. We are NERV, and our duty is to end all the Apostles.”

“An apostle is just an apostle; whether or not they have reached the end of their evolution is not a difference.”

Shinji Ikari knows Misato Katsuragi's past and her obsession with eliminating the Angels, but despite the sadness and anger intertwined in Misato's words, Shinji doesn't seem to feel anything particularly moved by it.

"A person who lives between heaven and earth without beginning and end is not a gentleman. I came into this world with understanding, and I must not be without understanding when I leave."

Although Shinji Ikari didn't explain it clearly, Misato Katsuragi, having spent so much time with him, understood the hidden meaning in his words.

If you're simply too cowardly to act out of fear of His power and want to kill Him beforehand, that's fine. It's your decision; you can make plans based on that idea, but you shouldn't involve him.

If the goal was to rely on his power to eliminate the Angels, there was no need to devise such a petty battle plan. Even if the Angels evolved to their peak, Shinji Ikari was confident he could suppress them all.

Misato Katsuragi's expression instantly thawed.

The seminar had just ended, and the morning light streamed in through the window. Misato Katsuragi stood there, gazing sideways at the undulating Hakone Mountains in the distance. Now, recalling that morning when she went to pick up this little guy in Tokyo-Dai-Nyokai, she only had one photograph of him. When she first saw him, he was pale and thin, wearing a white school uniform, and looked almost like a girl.

Only the hand that emerged from the swirling dust was long and slender with clearly visible veins, clenched tightly, exuding a hint of "power"... Before that, she had never imagined that the whole world would depend on his power, nor had she ever thought that she would need him to complete her revenge... Misato Katsuragi lifted her bangs and lowered her eyes.

What am I doing right now?

At that moment, Misato Katsuragi suddenly felt as if she were still the child who had just arrived in the Arctic and met her father.

So much time has passed. I've gone to university, started working, met some of the world's top scholars, and survived several brushes with death... yet I still feel like a stubborn child, defiantly ignoring my father's good intentions, stubbornly following his shadow, until I saw him push me into the cockpit before the apocalypse, only then vaguely understanding my father's love. I only reconciled with him after his death... but when will I reconcile with myself?

Sometimes I really hate myself for living my whole life for the past. Misato Katsuragi suddenly realized that she didn't want Shinji Ikari to be like that.

Perhaps he did not stop the Uterus Angel from escaping into the lava out of pity, or perhaps he simply gave up the pursuit because Unit-00's battery was running low, but that no longer mattered... Misato Katsuragi reached out and gently pulled him into her arms.

"I'm sorry, I neglected your feelings." Misato Katsuragi apologized sincerely, her faint, warm fragrance enveloping Shinji Ikari.

Shinji Ikari was slightly taken aback by her sudden action, but he wasn't surprised. Women are very emotional creatures. They might lose all affection for their crush of several years over something trivial, or they might be overcome with maternal instincts and want to be held in your arms because of a profile view of you looking out the window with your chin resting on your hand.

"I shouldn't have dragged you into my past; I was a bit obsessed."

Shinji Ikari felt a slight stirring in his heart, but he did not press Misato Katsuragi about her inner thoughts.

There are always some past events buried in people's hearts, things they don't want to dig up again, like graves, which can only be silently mourned by themselves. For Misato Katsuragi, the Arctic research institute was a grave, and for Shinji Ikari, the world of Knights, Wallins was also a grave.

Although the Empire, from high lords to commoners, seemed utterly corrupt and chaotic, there were always loyal and courageous individuals who held fast to humanity's hope. They were not born fearless, nor were they genetically enhanced demigods, but with the indomitable spirit and tenacity unique to mortals, they continued to compose a hymn of human courage in that despairing world. The Emperor chose to return the Empire to mortals, and mortals did not fail him.

The two people were thinking about different things, but in a sense they were connected.

Misato Katsuragi gently stroked Shinji Ikari's smooth black hair. She didn't know when she would reconcile with herself, but she would have the answer after all the Angels disappeared.

An hour later, after Shinji Ikari emerged from his new command post, the boy looked up and stared directly at the scorching sun. Unusually, he didn't know what to do.

Misato and the others were busy tracking down the whereabouts of the Uterus Angel. Rei Ayanami went to Dr. Akagi's research institute for her usual physical maintenance. Asuka was fine, but if he went there now, she would definitely make sarcastic remarks to him. Thinking of this, Shinji Ikari gave up the idea of ​​going back.

Shinji Ikari looked up and saw the image of Japan's Environment Minister, Yu Ishigami, on the billboard of the building in front of him.

Instead of reflecting on the discharge of contaminated water from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant into the sea, the Japanese government allocated an additional 700 billion yen to mitigate the negative impacts of the discharge.

The advertisement features Japan's current Environment Minister, Yu Ishigami, conducting a surfing workshop for minors in Minamisoma City, Fukushima Prefecture. He also demonstrates his surfing skills to prove the safety of the allegedly abandoned ocean.

In the video, he stands on a surfboard, giving the camera a stiff smile, before being knocked over by a wave.

Suddenly, the deep roar of an engine filled the air. Shinji Ikari caught a glimpse of purple out of the corner of his eye, and felt a sharp, hot breeze whipping against his cheek. A black sedan flashed past him, its brakes screeching, and screeched to a halt beside Shinji.

The car window rolled down, and that arrogant, domineering face appeared before him, flashing a bright smile at Shinji Ikari, "Hey handsome, wanna go for a ride?"

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Tokyo Imperial Theater, Tokyo 2nd New Tokyo City.

This photo, taken near Ginza in Tokyo, shows the Imperial Theatre, Japan's first Western-style theatre, built in the early 20th century. Designed by Tamisuke Yokogawa, it exudes Renaissance architectural style. The most popular slogan at the time was "Today's Imperial Theatre, tomorrow's Mitsukoshi," symbolizing the dawn of the consumer era.

Shinji Ikari and Mari Makinami were sitting in a private box on the second floor, somewhat surprised.

Mari Illustrious Makinami, one of the EVA pilots, was Shinji Ikari's impression of her as an optimistic, bespectacled girl with twin tails.

But today, she unusually let her pigtails down, instead draping her dazzling purple hair in a high bun, resembling a noblewoman at a blue evening banquet. The diamond pendant in her right ear dangled in the lights, and coupled with the Aston Martin Vantage that picked her up, her aura instantly transformed from an optimistic and cute girl into a noble lady.

However, she was originally from a noble family, and the surname Illustrious itself means outstanding and brilliant.

"Aren't you going to ask where we're going, little dog? What if I'm a double agent and kidnap you?" Mari sat down next to him with a delicate smile. She hadn't expected him to trust her so much after only their second meeting.

"Whatever, it would be interesting if he were a spy."

Then the lights dimmed, music started, and amidst applause, the curtain slowly rose, as if opening a mythological scroll.

The art form of musicals has been passed down from the old days to the present day, and most of them are mythological dramas.

Judaism is one of the oldest religions that believes in God and acknowledges only the Creator as the sole God in the universe. Most musicals follow the ancient polytheistic beliefs, where gods, like humans, experience joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness, leading to many melodramatic stories.

This novel, *The Pharaoh's Beloved Consort*, tells the story of the Israelites who fled Canaan to Egypt in the 18th century BC to escape famine, beginning a nearly four-hundred-year period of hardship and enslavement. In the 15th century BC, a remarkable Jewish figure emerged: Moses. Unable to endure the oppression of the Egyptian Pharaoh and his fellow Israelites, Moses and his people resolved to leave Egypt and return to Canaan, the home of their ancestors, to begin a new life of freedom.