Shinji Ikari returns from Warhammer

"It seems that the ceremony still lacks key sacrifices, but unfortunately the agreed time has arrived. But it doesn't matter, I look forward to meeting you again."

After the words fell, the vortex of contradictions formed by the gathering of all things spread, and the sacred body stood on the earth again.But this time, it lacks the driving force of the soul and is just the most ordinary body.

But facing Unit [-], who was sitting quietly cross-legged on the ground, no one had the courage to approach.Until Makiha opened the gate with her hands and took out the pop-up insertion plug, all she saw was orange-yellow LCL liquid.

"He's gone." Makiha turned to look at Katsuragi Misato.

Misato Katsuragi didn't speak, she just stared quietly at the liquid leaking from the insertion plug. This time, she didn't even leave any clothes behind.

"But it may be that Puppy-kun left in a hurry, but he seems to have pulled something down." Makiha fished out a necklace-like thing from the orange liquid.

"What is this? A rose rosary?" Makiha shook the rosary in front of her eyes and squinted at the sun to read the words on the rosary carefully. "Did Little Dog-kun turn out to be a religious person in the past 14 years? Hmm? Emperor?"

Praise the Emperor.

One Three Five: Distant Mental Scenery

A red warning light flashed past the car window, and the swaying train continued to move forward until a melodious bell rang as if the train had arrived at the station.

Shinji Ikari looked out from the floor-to-ceiling windows in the carriage. Tokyo outside the window seemed to be shrouded in a world that was about to be destroyed. The world was blurred. The elevated railway shed bright sparks when the train passed by. Everyone was in a hurry. The warning red light flashed repeatedly.

This carriage appeared repeatedly in his dreams, and Shinji Ikari didn't know what it represented.He wrapped himself in the thin summer school uniform and curled up on the wooden bench.His consciousness gradually became faint, but he suddenly raised his head and looked forward.

"Who?"

"who are you?"

"Who's where?"

"Shinji Ikari." Someone answered from the other side of the carriage.

Before Shinji Ikari could see the other person's face clearly, the train had already entered the dark tunnel, and only the sound of the train's wheels passing on the track echoed in the huge carriage.

It was obviously in the lightless darkness, but Shinji Ikari was not afraid at all, as if he was inside Unit-[-].Oh, no, it feels even more reassuring than being inside Unit [-].

"I am me, I am you." Another voice sounded from the left.

"People always have different selves in their hearts, and they are made up of two selves."

"Two people?" Another one on his right, Shinji Ikari, made a confused voice.

"The self who is being looked at in reality, and the other self who is looking at me." Shinji Ikari from before spoke.

"There are many characters like Shinji Ikari." The fourth Shinji Ikari spoke.

"Shinji Ikari in your heart, Shinji Ikari in Misato Katsuragi's heart, Shinji Ikari in Asuka Shikinami's heart, Shinji Ikari in Logistics Asuka's heart, Shinji Ikari in Rei Ayanami's heart, Shinji Ikari in Gendo Ikari's heart."

"Although everyone has different Shinji Ikari. However, everyone is Shinji Ikari."

"You are just afraid of the Shinji Ikari in other people's hearts."

"What about you? What kind of Ikari Shinji are you?"

"I am Shinji Ikari who hopes to be recognized by his father."

"I'm afraid of being disliked."

"Actually, you are just afraid that you will get hurt. If you just rely on others and avoid your own responsibilities, you will never grow." Another Shinji Ikari who likes to expose people's scars said.

"Whose fault is that?" Shinji Ikari held his head.At this time, the train just passed through the tunnel, and the orange light of the setting sun shone inside the carriage.

"The wrong person is my father." Shinji Ikari said firmly, "The father who abandoned me."

"The person who is wrong is myself. I always care too much about other people's opinions and cannot truly stand up and be myself."

Countless memories flashed through Shinji Ikari's mind.

That was Asuka, who was in the living room, looking down at her with contempt, "You admit your mistake right away, and that's what you deserve. You deserve it, Baga."

"That's because you think you can't achieve anything." Misato Katsuragi stared at herself in the elevator with her eyes averted and her head lowered.

Accompanied by crisp slaps, Ayanami Rei's expressionless face appeared in front of her eyes, "Don't you believe your own father?"

"Are you going to run away again? Shinji Ikari. Then get out." Sitting on the desk in the office, with his hands crossed and wearing sunglasses, Gendo Ikari looked at his back coldly.

"It's not dad's fault! He praised me, he said I did a good job, he pronounced my name, and I was praised by dad!"

"Are you just chewing the happiness brought by these words over and over again, and then continue to live like this?" Another Shinji Ikari said sarcastically.

Shinji Ikari, who was ridiculed, slowly raised his head and looked at the convex mirror outside the carriage. What was revealed there was a funny blank face.

"As long as I believe in this sentence, I will be able to live strong. I am Shinji Ikari who lives to gain the approval of his father." Shinji Ikari raised his head happily as if he had found his backbone, and looked at Shinji Ikari in front of him, hoping to get him "Everyone is like this, are you right? They all deceive themselves and others to survive!"

Sitting opposite him was a young Shinji Ikari wearing a striped plaid shirt, his face hidden in the shadows, "You have to convince yourself, otherwise you won't be able to live. Because there are too many painful things in this world, so don't You just pretend to turn a blind eye to things you like, you've always been like this."

"Shut up!" Shinji Ikari rushed to the young Shinji Ikari and pushed him down on the bench. "You don't understand anything at all. You understand everything!"

"No! I don't want to listen!"

"What's wrong with just doing things that make you happy! Just doing things that make you happy! Just doing things that make you happy!"

"Aren't you talking? Everyone is chatting." At this time, Shinji Ikari, who looked like a 17-year-old man, looked sideways at Shinji Ikari, who was sitting in the carriage with his eyes closed.

"You guys are too noisy, it just makes me upset." Finally, Shinji Ikari took off the book on his face and glanced at Shinji Ikari in the carriage.

He didn't mean to be sarcastic, what about love, being needed, a reason to live? He had also gone through this period before, but now, Shinji Ikari, who had returned from Warhammer, only felt that they were noisy.

He didn't really want to blend in with this group. He always felt that it was too pretentious. He was still anxious to go back and fight aliens.But all Ikari Shinji looked at him, as if they couldn't leave without saying a few words.

At the end, Shinji Ikari pretended to cough twice, "Do you want to believe in the Emperor?"

The result was that no one paid attention to him.

Shinji Ikari, who was avoiding responsibility, and the young Shinji Ikari were huddled together on the bench. Shinji Ikari, who believed that his father's approval was the reason for living, was looking for other Shinji Ikari to recognize his ideas. The 17-year-old Shinji Ikari at the end of the carriage Shinji was wearing headphones from his Walkman.

The entire swaying carriage was shrouded in the orange sunset, and the shadow of Third New Tokyo outside the window was cast on the back of the bench.Shinji Ikari watched the farce in silence until the bell rang in his ears again.

The train has arrived.

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Third New Tokyo City, above Hakone.

A helicopter hovered on the left side of the black and white sphere, only five meters away, but there was no fear.Because the information they received at this time made it clear to them that the spherical object in front of them that looked like an apostle was actually the shadow of the real apostle.

"Major Katsuragi must be in a lot of pain. The qualified person and her subordinates are all trapped in it." A recorder suddenly said.

"Fortunately, the No. [-] aircraft has been temporarily mothballed and we still have a pilot."

"The Self-Defense Forces are being notified that the second tank team has been deployed and is on standby."

"The laser circuit is opening, waiting for intelligence transmission."

At this time in the combat conference room, Misato Katsuragi's expression was grim. It was not that she was not sad, but she had lost too many important people in a short period of time, and her body's instinct prevented her from feeling sadness.

"So, is that shadow the apostle's true form?" Misato Katsuragi asked.

"Yes, the black spherical object above is the projection of the apostle, and the dark shadow swallowing the object is the real apostle." Ritsuko Akagi answered while standing in front of the blackboard, "The target diameter has now expanded to 680 meters, and the thickness About three nanometers, this extremely thin space is composed of AT force fields. Inside is an imaginary number space called the Dirac Sea. It is probably connected to another universe."

Dirac's Sea is a sea of ​​negative energy particles composed of the zero-point energy of the quantum vacuum.Although these particles are unobservable, they are by no means illusory and can be formed with enough energy. Wherever there is matter, there is a Dirac Sea. Imagine the observed universe as if it were floating on its surface.

In fact, Ritsuko Akagi was also very sad, because her most important man and most trusted assistant also fell into it.She should be in charge today, but she escaped because she had to check Ayanami Rei's physical condition.

"Where is the sphere?" Misato Katsuragi continued to ask.

"As long as the imaginary number circuit of the main body is closed, it will disappear." Ritsuko Akagi replied, "So the United Nations army formulated a rescue plan, which is to use the 92 N2 bombs in the United Nations stockpile to bombard the absolute domain that maintains the Dirac Sea on the outside. , and with the timing, let Asuka on standby drive the latest Unit [-] to launch the absolute field to interfere with the imaginary number circuit for a thousandth of a second. At that moment, the explosive energy is concentrated to destroy the Dirac Sea formed by the apostles. "

"But if you do this, Unit Zero and all the people inside will disappear!" Misato Katsuragi shouted.

"There is no way, Minister Katsuragi, this is the best solution." Ritsuko Akagi said, "As for the people inside, do you think normal humans can survive in the imaginary number space? Even the third qualified person, he... maybe. But This is the optimal solution.”

Ritsuko Akagi repeated the optimal solution, maybe she was also convincing herself.

Misato Katsuragi said categorically, "Akagi, I am the person in charge! This is not a rescue operation at all, this is a disregard for human life! Forgive me for refusing!"

"The goal of the battle is to defeat the apostles. Everyone is a unit that can be sacrificed..." Ritsuko Akagi said, but she was hit by an oncoming slap on the left cheek, and her glasses fell to the ground.

However, Ritsuko Akagi didn't have any angry emotions, and even Misato Katsuragi's slap made her determined.She bent down to pick up the glasses on the ground and wiped the dust on them, "I know it's hard for you to accept, but this is the best solution. And Minister Katsuragi, you are no longer the person in charge. Seele has transferred the wartime command to Hand over the power to me.”

Ritsuko Akagi put on her glasses again, "Katsuragi, I am the person in charge now!"

"Even if it means sacrificing Ikari Gendo?" Misato Katsuragi asked coldly from behind.

Ritsuko Akagi didn't answer, just turned and left calmly.Even out of the corner of his eye, he couldn't help but look in the direction of the first test site.

Maybe, she was also looking forward to that invincible purple machine being like the one when the Rain Apostles invaded.With a violent attitude, he tore apart all obstacles and came to his side.

But no, what Ritsuko Akagi didn’t know was——

At this time, another machine responded to Ikari Shinji.

Within that living shadow, or the real Night Apostle Leril, in this shaky mental landscape, there is still one person who can stand on the ground.

"What a joke! This man is suspected of killing his wife!"

"Yes, we have investigated! He only approached Ikari Wei to get in touch with the Institute of Human Evolution. He had bad intentions from the beginning!"

"Do you really want to use this tainted man?"

"I propose that Professor Fuyutsuki Komasu be appointed as the director! At least we cannot let such a guy be the director!"

"No, mom, she's smiling!" the young Shinji Ikari shouted.

In the domain shelter launched by Unit Zero, all the staff involved in the domain of the Night Apostle have fallen.Ikari Yuantang stood in the center of the AT force field, and various memories came to my mind.The corners of his mouth twitched slightly, but he just pushed up his glasses.

The bell echoed, as if coming from a far away station. Ikari Yuantang closed his eyes and thought wildly, thinking of the party under the moon and the banyan tree by the river, of the swaying light and shadow under the shade of the tree, and of the day he first met Ikari Yui, the firelight could not illuminate it. Her face, her face was hidden in the shadows, as if it had been blurred.

Questions, insults, insults, and ridicules came one after another.But Ikari Yuantang showed a satisfied smile.

Because of myself, I saw her figure again.

Even if Ritsuko Akagi witnessed all this, she would only think it was an illusion, because she had never seen Ikari Gendo show such a smile, even if it was a happy thing, even when she was with her and her mother, she had never seen such a smile. Pass.

And even though the figure he dreamed of was right in front of him, Ikari Yuantang didn't take even half a step forward.Because he knew that this was just an illusion, the pain in his heart, but the illusion was already satisfied.

"Ikari..." Ikari Yuantang spoke softly and hoarsely.

The sound coming from his throat was extremely empty, like the wind blowing through the empty space, without sadness or anger.Of course, Ikari Yuantang's heart was already empty.He gave up all the figures he had been pursuing all his life, but he didn't dare to get even remotely close.

But he himself has always doubted whether he really has the value of saving the other party and the value of being saved.

As the bells echoed in my ears, the scenery changed again.

──The mental fantasy that deeply invades the soul seems to end in just an instant.

But standing in front of him was a young man walking slowly from a distance.

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PS: There are actually many settings about the home world where Shinji Ikari, who came from Warhammer, lives.

The world setting of the new theatrical version is used, but the apostle setting of the old TV version is used, as well as the AKASIMA of the world where the soul is and the life monitor system of the earth circle, as well as the characters of Iron Girl.It's like a pot of Northeastern stew.

For example, for the protagonist Shinji Ikari, what I originally thought of was to use the setting of Asuka’s final conceptual aggregation of the Shikinami system.It's just that we haven't reached that point yet.

So don't worry about other Ikari Shinji disappearing.The protagonist is Ikari Shinji from beginning to end, and there has never been anything like a time traveler.

To say any more would be a spoiler, it will be revealed later.

[-]: In the still darkness

After passing through the phantom-like station, the rationality belonging to Shinji Ikari returns.At the same time, he returned to this Dirac sea.

This is the body of the real Night Apostle Leril, and it is the Dirac Sea that belongs to him. Human beings cannot survive normally in this negative universe.

But what surprised Shinji Ikari a little was that his watch was still running, showing that only three seconds had passed.

The universe is based on the concept of time.Originally, time had no past and no future.It is humans who rely on this axis. As long as time itself is stacked, there will be no problem even if the time is disrupted.It's just that in imaginary space, time does not stack.

As long as humans are still in the imaginary space, they will not age as time passes, but once they return to the ordinary space outside, they don't know what will happen.It could be that not even a second has passed, or it could have been hundreds of years.Just like Taro Urashima in the fairy tale.Even if the same phenomenon happened with that jade box, it would not be surprising.

Shinji Ikari gathered his thoughts, and in this area protected by the force field deployed by Unit Zero, he saw Ikari Gendo.

At the same time, Ikari Yuantang woke up and saw him.

Even if he is in the negative universe developed by the apostle, Shinji Ikari's majesty is enough to drive away the surrounding chaos boundary.It can display its sacred body like a statue without the protection of Unit Zero.In this gray world, Shinji Ikari's eyes seemed to have a scarlet color similar to Ayanami Rei's.

In terms of soul toughness, the quality displayed by Ikari Gendo made Shinji Ikari look a little sideways.But he doesn't praise the other person.