Chapter 591: Clearing the Battlefield
The annihilation of the Ork Warlord instantly disintegrated the spiritual core sustaining the invading forces.
That WAAAGH! energy field, which originally bound countless greenskin individuals into a torrent of war, rapidly decayed. Like a pierced pustule, the frantic will contained within it swiftly dissipated.
The continuous war cries across the battlefield became sparse and chaotic. The fanatical, vicious glints on the faces of the Ork Boyz were replaced by confusion and bewilderment. They looked around, unable to comprehend why the boiling power within their bodies was ebbing away.
The collapse of order manifested immediately.
Some particularly massive and relatively well-equipped Ork Nobs—such as Mekboy leaders operating heavy machinery or the Warlord's personal bodyguards—attempted to fill the power vacuum.
They used savage roars and violent deterrence to gather nearby Boyz, swinging massive weapons to chop down those who reacted too slowly, attempting to re-establish a localized chain of command.
However, lacking the coordination of a unified energy field, these efforts quickly devolved into chaotic melees.
Different Nobs, fighting for dominance, drove their respectively gathered small groups to crash into and slaughter each other. Bloody internal conflicts among the Orks erupted all over the battlefield.
That second, still-functioning Gargant clearly reflected this systemic collapse.
The severing of its mental link to the upper echelon threw its crude internal control circuits into disarray.
Its massive body no longer executed coherent tactical maneuvers, but staggered and swayed like a drunkard. The weapon platforms on its torso rotated erratically, sometimes pouring ammunition into the sky, and sometimes spraying deadly artillery fire into tightly packed clusters of Orks nearby, triggering a series of chaotic explosions and shrill screams.
Its engines emitted intermittent, choking-like strange noises, and its movements became extremely sluggish.
"Purge the remaining enemies. Priority targets: all Nobs still attempting to reorganize their troops, as well as heavy units posing a continuous threat," Ryo's command came through the data link, calm and precise: "Thoroughly shatter any of their power nodes that might reorganize."
"Steel Hound Legion executing purge protocols!" Princeps Olaf responded immediately. The Volkite cannon muzzles of Iron Fang had already firmly locked onto that erratically behaving Gargant: "Concentrate fire, dismantle that out-of-control lump of iron!"
The artillery fire of the three Warhound-class Titans instantly converged.
Deprived of the energy field's enhancement and effective evasive awareness, the Gargant's massive form became an excellent target.
The high-temperature plasma jets of the Volkite cannons and the turbo-laser beams precisely gnawed at its joint connections and power compartments.
Under the continuous bombardment, the armor deformed, tore, and melted, and the internal ammunition and power cores were detonated one after another.
In just the span of a few volleys, this steel behemoth completely disintegrated in a violent explosion from the inside out, turning into a burning pile of scrap.
At the same time, the EVA squad transformed into a highly efficient purging unit, launching a hunt amidst the tide of Orks that had fallen into infighting and disorderly flight.
Asuka's Red Unit-01 pushed its high-mobility advantage to the limit.
She no longer needed to break through tight defensive lines. Instead, she circled the battlefield like a falcon. Her crimson optical sensors acutely caught any Ork Nob with abnormal energy readings or behavior patterns indicating organizational intent.
Once a target was locked, whether it was an Ork Boss hiding among a mob of Boyz or a Mekboy attempting to repair a vehicle, Red Unit-01 would either execute a swift high-speed raid, shredding them along with their surrounding guards using its power claws; or perform a precise Volcano Cannon burst from a distance, completely vaporizing the area where the target was located.
Shinji's Purple Unit-02 took on the task of consolidating the frontline and area control.
He piloted the machine with steady steps, following the advance routes of the Steel Hound Legion and the Imperial infantry.
The A.T. Field no longer needed to be maintained at maximum power constantly. Instead, it was deployed in critical areas as needed, blocking scattered but still deadly Ork firepower for friendly forces.
Simultaneously, Purple Unit-02's massive metallic feet became deadly weapons themselves. With every step down, it could crush Ork Boyz hiding in wreckage or craters into meat paste.
For small clusters of Orks, he used the secondary weapons mounted on the arms to conduct rapid sweeps.
Rei Ayanami's Blue Unit-03 remained stationed on the tactical high ground, but the focus of her mission shifted.
Besides continuing to use precise energy beams to eliminate long-range fire points that posed significant threats to friendly forces, she began to engage more in battlefield surveillance and intelligence support.
Her sensors scanned the entire engagement zone, marking areas where Ork forces were still relatively concentrated, potential escape routes, and any suspicious locations that might harbor secondary command nodes, sharing this information in real-time with the Steel Hound Legion and the other members of the EVA squad.
Under the tacit cooperation between the three EVA-Titans and the Steel Hound Legion, the resistance of the Ork remnant forces was swiftly and systematically dismantled.
Those Nobs attempting to organize a counterattack were purged with priority. The leaderless Boyz either fell in droves under the Imperial Army's firepower or completely lost their will to fight, beginning to flee toward the edges of the battlefield.
The clearing operations lasted for several standard hours.
When the last organized Ork resistance point was thoroughly wiped out under the crossfire of Red Unit-01's Volcano Cannon and the Steel Hound Legion's Titans, the main combat zone in the northern Kaelber Continent finally began to quiet down.
Looking around, the landscape was completely devastated.
The scorched earth was littered with craters, burning wreckage, and the corpses of countless Orks and Imperial soldiers.
The air was thick with the heavy scent of gunpowder smoke, ozone, blood, and the foul stench of burning objects.
But the previously endless WAAAGH! roars and deafening gunfire had been replaced by another sound: the exhausted yet joy-filled cheers of the Imperial soldiers, as well as the solid rumbling of engineering vehicles beginning to clear the roads and transport wreckage.
This sound was not as harsh as war; it carried the relaxation and hope of surviving a catastrophe.
The three EVA-Titans stood quietly in the center of the battlefield, like three giant gods who had just been tempered by blood and fire.
The crimson, violet, and ice-blue paint schemes looked particularly solemn and striking under the joint reflection of the setting sun's molten-gold afterglow and the unextinguished flames on the ground.
Their massive bodies still bore the scars of battle—scrapes, dents, and smoke stains—yet this only added a few touches of unquestionable majesty.
Shinji Ikari, Asuka, and Rei Ayanami remained immersed in the orange-yellow LCL fluid. Through the observation windows of their cockpits, they gazed down at the battlefield they had personally helped shape.
An unprecedented feeling surged in their hearts.
Looking at the soldiers waving their arms in their direction, some even taking off their helmets to pay their respects, Shinji felt a slight daze.
At NERV, the end of a battle usually meant a silent withdrawal, cold evaluations, or the fearful and accusatory gazes of the public.
There had never been... such straightforward and fervent validation.
A faint, yet genuinely existent warmth spread from the bottom of his heart, intertwining with his habitual dazed self-denial, making him somewhat at a loss, only able to subconsciously grip the control sticks tighter.
Asuka straightened her back, her lake-blue eyes flashing with an unconcealable, dazzling radiance.
Look, this was what she deserved!
Not as a feared weapon, but as a hero who brought victory, who was thanked and praised!
She could almost imagine how those soldiers below were discussing her red giant god, discussing her decisive final strike.
A strong sense of pride made her want to shout it out loud, but at the same time, an unfamiliar, almost sour emotion quietly surfaced: so, this is what it feels like to be treated this way.
She pursed her lips, slightly restraining that overly outward emotion, but the upward curve of her mouth simply could not be suppressed.
Rei Ayanami quietly observed all of this.
The cheers of the soldiers, the crackling of flames, the grinding of metal—these chaotic streams of information flooded her senses.
She didn't quite understand this collective emotional catharsis, but at NERV, it had indeed never happened before.
She saw that Shinji seemed to have relaxed a bit, and she also felt the excitement transmitted from Asuka.
She looked down at her own hands, which were controlling the blue giant god.
Protecting, achieving victory, and then... being recognized?
An extremely faint fluctuation, bordering on "satisfaction," rippled across the tranquil, waveless lake of her heart, although she could not yet accurately define it.
The battles they had experienced before brought only trauma and alienation.
But at this moment, on this scorched alien earth, amidst the cheers of the Imperial soldiers, for the first time, they tasted the flavor of victory, mingled between glory and bewilderment.