On the battlefield, the situation had become starkly clear.
Unit-02, piloted by Mari Makinami, could no longer sustain its violent form due to the excessive strain of the Beast Mode. Forced out of its predatory state, the machine knelt half-collapsed on the ground, temporarily losing all combat capability.
Though the previously heavily damaged Unit-01 had rebooted—the purple giant standing tall once more—Shinji Ikari's heart was filled with such immense chaos and resistance upon seeing the fused entity, which bore the clear facial features of Rei Ayanami, that he had lost almost all will to attack.
Only the white Unit-03, piloted by Asuka, maintained full combat readiness.
Watching the hesitating Unit-01, she shouted urgently over the comms channel: "You idiot Shinji! Don't just stand there! Coordinate with me using the 'Cherubim' system!"
"Just like last time with the hijacked Unit-03! We can separate Rei from that thing and save her!"
Asuka's words were like an alarm bell, waking Shinji from his immersion in pain and confusion.
"Save... Rei?" The thought was like a single spark in the darkness, instantly seizing his nearly drowning consciousness.
"Right... I have to save Rei!" Shinji's eyes regained their focus, but within them burned a fire that bordered on obsession. He no longer hesitated. Under his control, Unit-01 let out a low growl and resumed a combat stance.
However, Osiris keenly noticed that Shinji's mental state seemed abnormal; a fixation—a mixture of the desire to save, pure rage, and a touch of madness—was beginning to dominate him.
Inside the entry plug, Shinji Ikari let out a heart-wrenching scream.
"REI—!!!"
Infinite despair, fury at having something precious stolen away, and hatred for his own powerlessness consumed his remaining sanity like molten lava.
Unit-01 seemed to sense the collapsing mental state of its pilot and let out a deafening roar. Simultaneously, Unit-01's synchronization rate began to climb at an abnormal rate, as if the pilot had resonated with something deeper within the machine.
Unit-01: Awakening/Pseudo-Deification initiated!
Ominous red light suddenly burst from the gaps in its purple armor. Above Unit-01's head, a massive white halo—radiating an aura of both divinity and terror—manifested out of thin air!
A colossal, unimaginable A.T. Field exploded outward from Unit-01. It was no longer a visible barrier but had transformed into a golden storm of energy that nearly materialized, warping reality itself. The surrounding ruins were instantly pulverized and disintegrated like dust in a tidal wave.
Just as Osiris was assessing the risks of Shinji's abnormal state, he suddenly looked up. His gaze pierced through the observation window, staring toward the heavens.
A massive, unfamiliar, and absolutely dominant consciousness crashed into his psionic perception like an invisible meteorite!
"Adam..." Osiris made a core judgment almost instantly. "It's the soul of Adam!"
Following that, a black shadow broke through the clouds, descending upon the edge of the battlefield with a sense of pressure that felt as if it originated from the dawn of time.
It was a machine entirely deep blue, with a design distinct from any known EVA—it was the EVA Mark.06 from the Moon!
The machine stood silently amidst the rubble, the pressure emanating from its mere presence rivaling the white female form currently consolidating ahead.
Osiris realized he could no longer wait. He had to intervene immediately to break this dangerous equilibrium! His consciousness plunged into the depths, elevating the dimensional communication channel with his original body to the highest priority.
The arrival of Mark.06 changed the very essence of the battlefield. The gears of fate seemed to let out an overburdened roar.
The vessel for Lilith's soul (the fused Unit-00/Rei Ayanami), the vessel for Adam's soul (Mark.06), and Unit-01—the key trigger point with an abnormally soaring synchronization rate—had all, by a cruel twist of fate, been forced to converge at the same time and place.
Furthermore, what shook Osiris to his core was his psionic perception sensing that inside Mark.06 resided a vast, ancient soul-will no less powerful than Lilith herself. And unlike the dormant Lilith in Central Dogma, this will... was awake! It was active, carrying a clear sense of purpose!
Mark.06 performed no redundant actions. It ignored the wary Unit-01, Unit-03, and the incapacitated Unit-02. Its objective was unmistakable: the white female form that was about to fully solidify, radiating increasingly intense "divine" fluctuations.
In its hand, it held a strangely shaped spear. The shaft had a dark red metallic luster, with a structure somewhat similar to the Spear of Longinus, yet it carried a completely different aura—one of restraint and finality.
"The Spear of Cassius..." Osiris whispered the name. His psionic senses captured the regulatory power contained within the spear—the power of "Choice" and "Breaking the Deadlock," standing in opposition to Longinus's power of "Ending" and "Verification."
Mark.06 raised its arm, hoisting the Spear of Cassius high above its head. The dark shaft reflected no light under the dim sky, as if it swallowed all surrounding illumination. Then, it hurled the spear with sudden violence!
There was no earth-shattering sound. The Spear of Cassius turned into a near-void shadow, ignoring spatial distance, instantly crossing the battlefield to pierce silently and precisely into the center of the white female form's chest.
No explosion followed; no flesh was sent flying.
The pierced white entity shuddered violently. The rapid process of solidification came to a sudden halt. Countless fine cracks—resembling a short circuit—began to appear across her massive body, emitting an unstable light. An unspeakable sense of sorrow, as if the entire world were mourning, radiated outward from the center.
In Shinji's eyes, that white spear had undoubtedly and utterly "killed" the white giant that bore Rei Ayanami's face. The last sliver of "salvation" in his mind shattered completely along with that strike through the chest.
"AAAAAHHHHHHHH—!"
Any further hesitation would allow the situation to slide into an irrecoverable abyss.