Just when everything seemed to be settling into a stable rhythm, a new crisis descended.
The Seventh Angel breached the defense grid in a bizarre, helical posture. Its slender limbs, like waving blades, effortlessly sliced through the anti-air artillery arrays.
Just as it was about to inflict greater damage on the city's core, a piercing shriek echoed from the sky.
A sharp, red-and-orange EVA tore through the clouds like a meteor, plummeting toward the battlefield in a perfect tactical aerial drop.
It was Unit-02—strikingly different from Unit-01's heavy frame and Unit-00's plain design, every angle of Unit-02 exuded precision and agility.
The moment it landed, Unit-02's right leg sprang out like a fully compressed spring.
The muscle fibers beneath the armor plating let out a dull bang, and the intricate structures in the foot completed micro-adjustments for the kick in a millisecond.
This flying kick precisely pierced the weak point of the Angel's newly deployed A.T. Field, then blasted unobstructed into its core region.
"Bang—!"
The Angel's body fractured internally like a glass vessel struck by a heavy hammer, radiating countless cracks.
Before the hum of the shattered core could fully dissipate, the massive biological structure began to rapidly shrink and disintegrate.
The entire sequence, from arrival to termination, took no more than ten seconds, displaying breathtaking combat efficiency.
The clear, ringing laughter of the Third Child, Souryuu Asuka Langley, echoed over the battlefield via the external speakers, brimming with undisguised pride and flamboyance, marking her official entrance onto the NERV stage.
In the Ninth Institute's observation center, Osiris captured the entire flash-like battle.
His gaze swept over the fluid joint movements as Unit-02 withdrew, noting the unique design of its back thruster ports and its distinctly different power exertion pattern from Unit-01.
"Excellent explosive power and precision," he quickly recorded on his data pad. "Maneuverability is clearly over thirty percent better than Unit-01's baseline. It seems each EVA has a different combat specialization."
However, this technical admiration was quickly overshadowed by reality.
After the Seventh Angel was destroyed, its remnants disintegrated just like its predecessor, pouring down in a viscous, bloody rain of LCL.
This fluid, rich in anomalous biological activity, immediately reacted violently with the seawater in the newly restored area.
The ecological data on the monitoring screen went haywire with alarms.
The high-concentration LCL fluid produced by the Seventh Angel's disintegration caused severe secondary pollution to the restored zone.
The substances, rich in anomalous biological activity, reacted instantly upon contact with seawater. The monitoring system recorded a rapid drop in water body pH in a short period, with the total alkalinity indicator deteriorating by over 60%.
Oxygen depletion caused by the pollution was particularly severe. Dissolved oxygen concentration in the core contamination zone plummeted below 2mg/L, far below the minimum requirement for marine life survival. Water quality monitoring showed that ammonia-nitrogen and nitrite levels increased fourfold within two hours of the pollution event, indicating a complete collapse of the water body's self-purification capability.
The extent of the ecological damage was shocking. Coral reefs exhibited large-scale acute bleaching, with over 70% of reef-building corals dying within 24 hours. The fish population in the cultivation area suffered collective hypoxia, particularly the more oxygen-sensitive species like snapper and damselfish, with mortality rates exceeding 85%. Even large seaweeds, such as kelp and ishijun (a type of brown algae), which previously had strong resistance, showed tissue necrosis and shedding.
Ecological reconstruction progress in the restored area suffered a major setback. The primary ecosystem cultivated by the "Metatron's Seed," including the established food web foundation and microbial communities, was almost entirely destroyed. According to preliminary assessment, this pollution setback the restoration work by at least three to four months.
The contamination area continues to expand. The spread rate of the LCL fluid exceeded expectations, affecting the previously untouched northwest cultivation farm. Staff are urgently setting up containment barriers, but with limited success.
The Ninth Institute's ecological restoration project faces the most severe crisis since its inception.
A section of the Ninth Institute's marine restoration zone, close to the contamination core, instantly reverted from an oasis of life to a dead body of water. The familiar, rust-tinged metallic smell once again permeated the air.
Researcher Tanaka couldn't help but pound the control panel, watching the large swathes of red data on the monitoring screens and the corpses of marine organisms floating in the real-time feed.
Miyuki Suzuki silently pulled up the comparison charts of previous environmental data, her brow furrowed tight.
Osiris stood before the observation window, looking at the sea area outside that was once again stained an ominous red. His eyes were calm, but his slightly pressed lips betrayed a hint of displeasure.
This was not merely an ecological regression; it was a direct blow to his research achievements.
"Log: Seventh Angel disintegration fluid possesses strong lethality to nascent ecosystems. The subsequent pollution cost of the standard Angel elimination model is severely underestimated," he said calmly into the recording device, then directed his gaze toward the distant area where Unit-02 had landed.
"Rapid contamination resulting from high-efficiency kill—this may be more alarming than the Angel itself."
The shocking scene of the Seventh Angel being instantly annihilated was a glorious victory in the eyes of ordinary citizens and some NERV personnel. But to Shinji Ikari and the members of the Ninth Institute, the cost was too heavy.
Shinji personally watched the sea area—which he, Doctor Osiris, Rei Ayanami, and many staff had painstakingly revived—be instantly stained a dead red again. The widespread death of the small lives that had only recently found a home there caused him to feel intense negative emotions toward the Unit-02 pilot he had never met.
This emotion spilled over into school.
When Souryuu Asuka Langley, the transfer student, walked into the classroom with her signature confidence and pride, she was not met with universal welcome. Especially among classmates who were privy to the inside information or whose family members worked on the Ninth Institute's related projects, murmurs circulated that "her reckless action ruined our sea."
Although Asuka attempted to arm herself with an even more forceful attitude, the intentional or unintentional alienation and strange looks still stung the sensitive heart beneath her proud shell like fine needles.
The deadlock was only broken after NERV arranged for her to also live in Misato Katsuragi's apartment, making her Shinji Ikari's "roommate."
During one dinner, Misato uncharacteristically brought up the matter seriously.
"Asuka, regarding the engagement with the Seventh Angel last time," Misato chose her words carefully, "the combat itself was impeccable—flawless. However... the LCL pollution generated by the Angel's disintegration caused severe secondary damage to the marine ecosystem restoration zone run by the Ninth Institute."
"That was an area that Shinji and a lot of people—spent a tremendous amount of effort to restore."
Shinji, who had been focused on his dinner, froze but did not look up.
Asuka's hand, holding her chopsticks, also stiffened mid-air. A flash of surprise crossed her face. She only remembered cleanly eliminating the Angel and receiving widespread applause; no one had ever told her about such an ecological disaster afterwards.
"Huh? That kind of thing... how was I supposed to know that would happen—" She instinctively tried to defend herself, but her voice trailed off.
She glanced at the silent Shinji, then recalled the vague exclusion she felt at school. Some fragments of information seemed to click together.
She was not an unfeeling block of wood; it was just that her pride had conditioned her to blame any negative feedback on others' jealousy or stupidity.
But now, with confirmation from the tactical commander Misato, the nature of the situation was entirely different—her victory had indeed been built upon the destruction of others' vital achievements.
That evening, Asuka unusually didn't watch TV in the living room, heading back to her room early.
She lay on her bed, staring at the ceiling. Misato's words and Shinji's silent profile kept replaying in her mind. A strange, uncomfortable emotion spread in her heart.
It wasn't regret; she would never regret destroying an Angel. But a sense of awkwardness, similar to having "messed up" and "involved unrelated things," made her feel heavy inside.
She rolled over, burying her face in the pillow, and gave a muffled groan.
This issue, definitely made her feel—unsettled.