Ryota's face remained calm. He knew very well that Unit-03 was not what it seemed—that was why he didn't flinch.
"How is it? Confident?"
At that moment, Ryoji Kaji stepped up beside Kitazawa Ryota and asked in a low voice.
"Of course." Ryota nodded, answering with absolute certainty.
"Good." Kaji gave a short nod in return.
Back in Moscow, the two had forged a deep camaraderie on the battlefield—an unshakable trust in one another. And it was precisely because of that trust in Ryota's judgment that they had gone so far as to steal Unit-10 from Beijing and bring it to Japan. By any measure, that was an act carrying an unimaginably heavy crime.
And yet, they had done it. All because they believed in Kitazawa Ryota.
"Please run power through Unit-03 again. Recheck the systems."
Ryota spoke calmly to the nearby technicians.
"Uh—yes, sir."
The staffer clearly didn't understand Ryota's request. But since Misato had already backed him, there was nothing left to argue.
EVA units could be started manually or by remote. Under Ryota's instruction, the technicians began running power through Unit-03 once more.
As the current surged into the dormant giant, energy began to gather around its hulking frame.
Unit-03's pitch-black armor gleamed coldly beneath the sunlight—imposing, unfeeling.
Then, the unthinkable happened.
Without warning, Unit-03… shuddered.
Yes. It shook—as if the earth itself had trembled, or as if the entire room had fallen under some illusion. The Eva had… moved. On its own.
Alarms flared across every console. Readouts went wild, data leaping and spiking chaotically across every monitor.
"What's happening? What's going on?"
NERV's technicians froze, staring wide-eyed at the screens, unable to comprehend what they were seeing.
Then—
A deafening roar tore through the test site.
Unit-03, which until a moment ago had been standing motionless in the center of the arena, suddenly bellowed. And then… it moved again.
Yes. It was moving.
And there was no pilot inside.
With a thunderous crash, the giant's steps shook the entire Matsushiro facility, as if an earthquake had struck.
"What's going on?! What happened to it?!" Misato's eyes widened in horror as she cried out in shock.
"Misato, can't you see? That isn't Unit-03 at all—it's the Ninth Angel!" Kaji's voice cut sharply across the chaos.
"What?!" Misato screamed back, unable to process the words.
Asuka, too, was frozen in disbelief. Her eyes locked on the monstrous Unit-03, her mind unable to reconcile it. An Eva—turning into an Angel? How could that be?
She wasn't alone. Every staff member present wore the same expression of bewilderment.
Unit-03… had become an Angel?
But before anyone could collect their thoughts, the next shock struck:
Unit-10 suddenly roared to life. The stolen Eva sprang into action, charging across the ground in massive strides—straight toward Unit-03.
No—not Unit-03. The Ninth Angel.
"ROOOOAR!!"
The Angel bellowed, rushing forward to meet Unit-10 head-on.
"Run!"
"Help!!"
Panic erupted. Nearly two hundred staff members screamed in terror as the test facility transformed into a battlefield. Any stray blow could obliterate them in an instant.
The Matsushiro site descended into utter chaos within moments.
"Evacuate! Everyone, evacuate immediately! Report this to Headquarters at once!" Misato shouted frantically, barking orders as she ushered people toward safety.
But Ryota and Kaji didn't move. They stood their ground, staring coldly at the Ninth Angel.
"Hah! Finally! Come on, little bastard—let your big sister show you some fun! My hands have been itching for this!"
A wild, eager voice rang from Unit-10's entry plug. Mari Makinami Illustrious showed not a hint of hesitation as she brandished a particle knife at the advancing Angel.
The Ninth Angel responded in kind, manifesting its own blade of energy, and charged to meet her.
Unit-10's state-of-the-art drive system gave it a massive edge; compared to it, Unit-03's base specs were antiquated. And yet—the battle raged evenly, neither side yielding.
This was combat at its purest—an Eva at its most terrifying potential.
But the question gnawed at everyone's mind: Why? Why had Unit-03 suddenly transformed into an Angel?
While evacuation continued, the clash only escalated.
"Mari—keep the fighting away from the personnel as much as you can," Kaji ordered grimly.
"Yeah, yeah, I got it!" Mari's voice rang back, casual yet electric with excitement.
In the next instant, Unit-10 seized the Angel's arm, swung with brutal force, and hurled it overhead in a thunderous over-the-shoulder throw.
The Angel slammed into the earth with a quake so violent it felt like an earthquake, shaking the ground as if an eight-magnitude tremor had struck.
After all, when something as massive as an Eva hit the ground, seismic shock was inevitable.
Unit-10 pressed its advantage, surging forward and driving its blade straight into the Angel's chest.
The particle knife sparked and crackled as it lodged deep, electricity hissing along its edge. But still—the Ninth Angel rose again. It didn't even falter.
Another crash.
The two titans clashed once more, their struggle kicking up gales of dust and sand across the proving grounds. Each strike shook the earth. Each counter was ferocious, unrelenting.
And yet—this was no ordinary Angel fight. It was Eva against Eva.
By now, evacuation was nearly complete. The NERV staff had boarded transport vehicles and were speeding away from Matsushiro. The scientific equipment was abandoned entirely; the retreat had been far too hasty to salvage anything.
Even Asuka had been forcibly pulled out. She had no Eva here—and as Headquarters' prized pilot, any harm to her would be an unacceptable loss.
Only Misato refused to leave. As she declared herself, she was the Operations Director of NERV. With the Ninth Angel now before her—how could she possibly run away?
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