Shinji Ikari, returned from Warhammer

213: Annihilation complete, the final apostle

Each apostle is born with two missions.

The first is to contact Lilith (Adam) to correct the world's future back to its predetermined fate; the second is to seek self-completion and evolution.

Life, including Li Lin's, is flawed. Kaworu once said that mass extinctions of life on this planet are not uncommon, and it is more likely to promote the evolution of life. Life is supposed to change itself by constantly adapting to the environment, and all of this is an extinction program that was set up from the beginning of time.

It wasn't just Li Lin who sought perfection; all the apostles did. It's just that their fellow apostles, who didn't possess the Fruit of Wisdom, could only act on their biological instincts.

The water angels will continuously adapt and evolve from Li Lin's attacks on them, the hare angels will parasitize EVA to obtain physical completion, the bird angels will find wisdom from Li Lin's spirit, and the womb angels' completion objects have never been the remains of the apostles.

Amishar, who already carries fragments of all the apostles from the third to the fifteenth, has no need for any extra steps. He is the most special individual, and from beginning to end, his true goal is to be a warrior for humanity.

The fusion of the apostle and the Evangelist will complete the final piece of His puzzle.

Among them, the first Child piloting Unit-00 was the most special. The moment the angel of the womb saw Unit-00, he couldn't wait to merge with it.

The experience of contact with Unit-01 and Unit-02 was completely different. The erosion and assimilation occurred the instant of contact, quickly surpassing the five-percent critical point. The feeling of complete unity was as if it wasn't itself assimilating this body, but rather that the body itself was defenseless, propelling it to evolve once more. It even doubted whether its body could contain this astonishing power, yet even in its shattering, it felt complete. It was certain that this divine status surpassed all the other Angels.

But a new figure emerged from the reflection in the water, and just hearing his voice gave one a sharp feeling as if a blade were piercing the skin.

"Since you're here, you might as well stay." Shinji Ikari's undisguisedly malicious voice reached His ears from behind.

This is the world of mental images! The apostle with the appearance of Rei Ayanami suddenly woke up. The man in front of him was a regular guest staying here, or even the master.

She suddenly raised her hand and reached out to grab the man who was rising from the water. His corrosive and assimilative power not only affected the body but also the mind.

A miraculous thing happened: the human before him was completely unguarded, and his hand easily pierced through his skin, moving freely within his body. This meant that he could easily take over his mind and complete assimilation.

“The last apostle bird angel to do this was Alar, and before that, the terror angel Ilor. Guess what their fate was,” Shinji Ikari stared at Rei Ayanami with his scarlet eyes, then revealed a cruel smile, “Amishal.”

The invasion was mutual; in the instant the two souls met, Shinji Ikari also learned everything about Him, including the memories, authority, and desires of the angel in the womb.

Fear exploded within her. The Angel Rei Ayanami instinctively wanted to retreat, but in the instant she pulled away, she saw her own severed arm. Her original hand had been left inside Shinji Ikari's body and disappeared in an instant.

The unbearable pain manifested in the apostle's spirit; He looked at His severed arm, wanting to heal but unable to. This was a defect formed at its root, and even its manifestation in the real world was the womb angel's right arm turning into blood, as He detached the concept of the right hand from His body.

"Rei, come here." Shinji Ikari beckoned to Rei Ayanami.

Rei Ayanami waded towards Shinji Ikari, and at that moment, the anguish of the womb angel Amishal was reflected in the spiritual world that He and Rei had jointly created. The black water rippled, instantly turning into a blood-red sea. The boundless sea, with waves rising from all directions, glowed crimson like the sky burning.

"If He were to corrupt me, He would leave me entirely here. But now, with Unit-01 and Unit-00 separating us, I don't have much time left. All I can do is—"

Shinji Ikari's voice not only rang in Rei Ayanami's ears, but also echoed in the ears of the Angels. As Shinji Ikari's voice faded, time stood still.

With a soft thud, Amishar felt something touch his chest, and he couldn't help but lower his head.

—What's going on?

He saw a red object extend to his chest, then realized that it had grasped another red object, and then noticed that the object was his own heart—

Amishar was unable to raise his bowed head; his entire body disintegrated into a pool of blood in this red ocean.

In the real world, a scorching wind rushed in from the end of another tunnel, and a crimson storm burst forth at a speed too fast for the naked eye to perceive.

"Hey, it's me, Third Uncle!"

The girl made her triumphant entrance declaration.

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"As expected, it's still unrealistic to try to separate the Fruit of Life from the soul."

On the return transport plane, the third boy opened his eyes. He didn't know if his actions had worked.

Misato Katsuragi frowned as she looked at Shinji Ikari beside her, her heart filled with anxiety, completely unable to understand how he could remain so calm. Outside the porthole, the crimson sea surged and roared. She glanced at her watch; the return journey would be slightly delayed, taking about twenty minutes to reach headquarters. They were still above Tateyama, and even to New Odawara Port, they were still over eighty kilometers away.

"No need to rush. If nothing unexpected happens, we can get back..."

“…If you keep doing this, we’ll only be able to collect their corpses,” Misato Katsuragi said coldly.

"Don't worry, nothing will happen," Shinji Ikari said.

"Why are you so sure? This new Angel has the corrosive ability similar to the Seraphim and the mental invasion of the Bird Angel. I just hope that when I go back, I won't see the Angelized Unit-02 or Unit-00..." Misato Katsuragi kept rambling on, and Shinji Ikari helplessly put on his eye patch.

At this moment, in the Tiamat area of ​​the second district, the enormous, deformed life form crashed heavily onto the platform, along with the imposing Unit 2.

After shooting down the Uterus Angel, Mari, piloting Unit-02, didn't rush towards the Angel as she had done before. Instead, she fired a barrage of bullets from two electromagnetic rifles, the dense trajectories striking the Uterus Angel's deformed body precisely, slamming it onto the platform. Blood splattered from the Uterus Angel's flesh, bullets slicing through its body like blades, sparks and blood exploding in the darkness.

"Ora Ora Ora Ora Ora Ora!!!!"

The entire channel was filled with Mari's cheers. The ground was covered with a layer of yellow, degraded uranium bullets, and the bloodstains at the feet of the Uterus Angel grew larger and larger. The electromagnetic rifle finally stopped. The corridor was filled with the acrid smell of gunpowder. For more than ten seconds, all the firepower had been poured onto the Uterus Angel. Mari was somewhat surprised to see Him fall helplessly to the ground.

Based on the intelligence gathered from the previous underwater battle, the Angel of the Womb's domain was exceptionally powerful, yet it failed to deploy its defenses for a considerable time after being ambushed. Mari didn't consider what might have happened to her opponent; instead, she immediately drew her high-vibration particle sword from her waist, and Unit-02 charged towards the Angel at a ghostly speed.

Just as the blade was about to pierce the Angel's abdomen, a dazzling, seven-colored, diamond-shaped absolute force field unfolded outward from the Angel's body. From the Angel's severed right arm, a thick, fleshy arm pierced through the field and through Unit-02's chest, slamming the entire machine heavily against the wall.

Meanwhile, in the cockpit, Mari felt a sharp pain, as if someone had struck her in the chest. But she didn't seem to care; through gritted teeth, she revealed a pleased smile.

"It seems your body... really is having problems..." Mari managed to utter the words with difficulty. Because previously, assimilation would begin instantly upon contact between the mecha and the other party, but now it was just a normal physical impact.

As Unit-00 descended from the sky and severed the thick arm with a single stroke, Mari Makinami's Unit-02 regained its freedom.

Rei Ayanami, who recovered at almost the same time, also joined the battle.

"Do you have a plan?" Mari's voice rang out in the channel.

"Watch out for His umbilical cord. Don't attack His abdomen rashly. Also, remember to break it when your companions are being corrupted by the apostles. The rest is up to you to adapt to the situation." Ritsuko Akagi's voice rang out in the cockpit.

"Improvisational, huh? First Girl, the attack is yours!" Mari Makinami piloted Unit-02 and ejected the last weapon she carried.

—The second prototype of a high-output self-propelled 460mm positron cannon.

The high-output positron self-propelled gun was secretly developed by the Technical Research and Development Institute of the Strategic Self-Defense Force. Originally developed as a positron cannon, its incomplete development prevented precision firing. However, positrons cannot travel in a straight line due to the Earth's rotation, magnetic field, and gravity, necessitating constant error correction during firing. Reloading requires replacing the fuse and cooling the cannon, thus limiting its power to only one shot.

Rei Ayanami did not hesitate in response to the order. Unit-00 took the positron cannon and pulled the trigger. Flames, storm and beam of light burst out of the barrel together. The beam of light rushed toward the target with a brilliance that seemed to burn the vision, and bombarded the surface of the uterine angel.

The light was dazzling, but it failed to break through the domain of the uterine angel.

Until Unit 2 swiftly advanced to the Angel of the Womb, raised its hand and unleashed a domain on the surface of the colorful Absolute Territory, the light finally broke through the defense and pierced the apostle's chest under the neutralization of the two domains.

"The time for blood to be repaid has come!" Mari took off her glasses. She had never forgotten that the other party had impersonated Yui Ikari.

As Mari removed her glasses in the cockpit, Unit-02's red visor simultaneously rose, revealing four terrifying green pupils that shimmered within. Time seemed to rewind, and Unit-02 appeared to have transformed back into the ferocious beast it had been when battling the Angel of Power. Unit-02 picked up the simple Longinus weapon that had fallen to the ground, and the red barrel of the gun began to spin once more.

The intense heat emanating from the gun barrel began to erode everything in the surrounding space. The fragile area that the Womb Angel had just manifested was torn apart once again, and the cylindrical, simplified Spear of Longinus in the hands of Unit 2 seemed to echo her, beginning to rotate like a rock-cutting machine and enveloped by the sound of gunfire.

The energy radiates outward from the rotating bearings, generating even greater kinetic energy—all of which converges and is compressed at the tip of the spear until it completely pierces the abdomen of the angel of the womb.

She stared at the womb angel emitting incomprehensible howls before her. She saw that the angel's head, which had been shattered by Unit-00, had been restored, and a pair of eerie red eyes, shrank deep into the dark eye sockets, staring at her with a hatred that no apostle could ever possess.

Mari smiled, "Then remember my face, and remember to come find me in your next life." The simplified Spear of Longinus, which transcended the limits of the Absolute Territory and continued to increase its density, finally pierced through the Fruit of Life hidden in her abdomen.

The crimson core was pierced, but the apostolic cross did not rise first.

The angel's abdomen was completely exposed, and the contents inside rose rapidly like steam, resembling a pillar of rapidly growing flesh and blood. The surface of this enormous pillar of flesh and blood revealed the complete outlines of the Third to the Fifteenth Apostles—

"I'm not reconciled, I don't want to... I... I want to... I want to be with Ikari..."

The angel of the womb seemed to want to say something, but looking at its shattered body, it ultimately just turned into a beam of light shooting into the sky.

The blood-red cross, symbolizing the death of the apostles, rang out along with a deafening explosion. The blinding light even pierced through the elevator shaft, extending along the crack to the surface of Third Tokyo City.

Amidst the blood-red rain that seemed to weep from the sky, a MiG transport plane carrying Unit-01 flew through the rain.

"You actually guessed right? Looks like Akagi and the others are quite capable!" Katsuragi Misato rushed to the cabin door, staring at the blood-red cross so close to her. Her previous gloomy expression vanished, replaced by an open and talkative demeanor.

"Come and take a look, Shinji! It's not uncommon to annihilate the Angels on your own without relying on you and Unit-01... No, this is the Womb Angel, which possesses multiple abilities such as erosion, assimilation, and mental invasion. It's not like an ordinary Angel... I want to see the battle replay later to see what really happened!"

The crimson light of the Apostles' Cross also illuminated Shinji Ikari's cold face. He looked down at the cross rising in the center of Tokyo-3, his eyes revealing a regretful expression.

"Were they successfully annihilated? What a pity, if only..."

Shinji Ikari didn't say anything more. Since the Angels had already been annihilated, saying anything more would be hindsight.

Asuka (maybe not).jpg

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PS: The Uterus Angel is quite special. The TV version only shows it in one shot. In the manga, it is shown as the surface of the fleshy column that grows from the spine of Unit-00, with many large bumps. All the Angels from the Third to the Fifteenth Angel, who have already been destroyed, are inside it.

The story ends with mutual destruction. If they hadn't died, perhaps the destroyed apostles could have been reborn.

214: Who brought the call from ancient times?

The apostle of the end, on the other side of the heart, has a beautiful phantom of the soul.

Before the transport plane even landed, Shinji Ikari jumped down from the height, the whistling wind carrying Misato Katsuragi's shouts echoing behind him.

Shinji Ikari waved his hand, indicating that they should send Unit-01 back first and not worry about it.

He walked along the path once trodden by the angel of the womb towards the depths of Hakone. The wide crevice was filled with a viscous liquid, which, surprisingly, did not smell bad; it even carried a deep, rich aroma of savory flowers.

Although in human form, Shinji Ikari's speed was not slow. Like a dark elf leaping through a deep, dark underground world, he quickly disappeared around the corner.

Following the apostle's path, he passed through the rift, stepped into the Wailing Wall, and continued forward through the tunnel until the towering pillar of flesh and blood came into view.

The Tiamat area in the second district was brightly lit, with all the lights on all four sides. Researchers in white protective suits walked in quickly and orderly, their faces obscured by white masks. They used electrically charged tools to poke the Apostle's skin, confirming its death with a more rigorous method, before proceeding to work around the colossal object under orders, whispering amongst themselves in hushed tones.

The one in the lead was Ritsuko Akagi. She wasn't working; she was just gazing at the enormous thing in front of her, and then took out a white tablet and handed it to Hitomi Kaga next to her.

This column of flesh and blood, stretching over forty meters from the floor to the dome, is what the womb angel Amishar looks like after her death. Even with her core shattered, she retains an extremely vigorous life force after death; an unknown power is sustaining the vitality of her flesh and blood, as if she might awaken again.

Ritsuko Akagi carefully examined the pillar of flesh and blood. Reaching the side of the uterine angel, she saw fleshy, reddish tentacles protruding from the torn wound, resembling the gruesome growth of flesh from a severed arm. One of the researchers couldn't resist touching the bulging blood vessels. Suddenly, the surface of the vessels cracked, and thick, syrupy blood dripped from the fissures, the crimson streaks clinging to his protective suit. His companion quickly pulled him back, leading him to a makeshift room to change his protective gear.

"It feels like a living creature," Kaga Hitomi said softly.

“It’s still a bit inferior to the Angel Sandon, who is an apostle who retains the possibility of evolution even after death,” Ritsuko Akagi replied in a low voice. “It could have been the perfect vessel for the Marduk Project, but unfortunately, the Seraphim… there is no second one as precious as that.”

"After Unit-01 awakened, Project Marduk was no longer enough; the 'Womb Angel' was even more precious than Sandon. Perhaps it really is possible that the embryos of the other fourteen Angels are inside..."

"The Human Completion Committee is putting a lot of pressure on headquarters. If we could capture Him alive..."

“It’s too late. Just like the third unit parasitized by the Angel, the fusion of Evangelion and Angel will create unimaginable horror. If it reaches the depths of Hakone, the consequences will be unthinkable,” said Hitomi Kaga. “As can be seen from the existing experimental results, once the machine goes out of control, the operating system is no longer under our control, making capture too difficult. It’s better to end it quickly.”

A boy in a blue and white combat uniform emerged from the gap created by the collision between the Uterus Angel and Unit-00. When Kaga Hitomi saw him, she paused for a moment, then gave a respectful military salute. "Colonel Ikari, you're back so soon. Where's Chief Katsuragi?"

“She’s still behind us,” Shinji Ikari waved his hand, indicating that there was no need to discuss this topic. “What’s the situation with this Angel?”