The chaos within NERV Headquarters continued to escalate.
The deification energy pulses triggered by Unit-01 acted like persistent seismic waves, repeatedly ravaging the massive subterranean complex. In several sectors, the lighting systems had completely failed, plunging them into darkness save for the flickering of emergency lights and spreading fires. The air was thick with the pungent scent of ozone, the acrid smell of burning metal, and a faint, metallic tang of blood.
Panicked personnel ran and screamed through the corridors, desperately seeking shelter or rushing to critical posts, only to find many passages sealed by fallen debris or twisted metal. The strange noises echoing from the direction of Central Dogma grew more frequent, as if something in the deepest stratum was awakening and struggling. A vast, oppressive spiritual pressure—originating from Lilith's true body—spread out in waves like a tide, clashing and intertwining with the divine energy emitted by Unit-01. This created an unstable sense of spatial distortion throughout the entire headquarters.
Though heavily damaged, the Command Center's core systems remained barely operational under the desperate maintenance of Ritsuko Akagi and her team. The main screen was split into several feeds: the golden, halo-crowned Unit-01; the jet-black Mark.06 struggling to rise from the ruins; and the white Unit-03, still in a combat stance but looking isolated and helpless. The signal from Unit-02 remained weak; clearly, both Mari and her machine had yet to recover from the previous heavy blow.
"Unit-03, report status!" Misato Katsuragi suppressed the overwhelming waves of shock in her heart, trying to regain control of the situation.
"I can't... I can't get close to Unit-01 at all! The field strength is too high!" Asuka's voice was filled with heavy breathing and tension as she struggled to maintain balance in the violent energy turbulence. "And Mark.06... it looks like it's locked onto Unit-01 again!"
Indeed, after rising from the rubble, the dark red optical lenses of Mark.06 had once again fixed upon the deified Unit-01, seemingly identifying it as a new target that had to be eliminated.
In the depths of SEELE's monitoring room, even the ghostly silhouettes of the committee members on the monolithic monolith screens seemed to waver slightly due to this sudden turn of events. Keel Lorenz's processed, inhuman voice rang out over the encrypted channel, carrying a trace of ill-concealed wrath:
"Deviations... unacceptable deviations have appeared in the script. Gendo Ikari, you owe us an explanation."
Gendo responded through an independent line, his voice still devoid of emotion: "The sudden intervention of Mark.06 and the excessive reaction of Unit-01 are unexpected variables. However, the core elements have gathered. The opening of the Doors of Guf is irreversible. NERV will execute the established contingency plans to ensure the result conforms to the requirements of the 'Ceremony'."
Gendo was skillfully deflecting responsibility while focusing on the "result." For SEELE, as long as the Impact occurred and Human Instrumentality proceeded, certain hiccups in the process might be tolerable. Gendo was exploiting this very point to buy space for his own personal agenda.
His order to "stop Mark.06 and control Unit-01" was virtually impossible to execute under current conditions. Unit-01 was like a swelling vortex of energy, nearly impossible to approach, let alone control. But Osiris instantly saw through Gendo's true intent: he was using this command to create chaos within SEELE's script while ensuring that Unit-01—the most critical "key" in his plan—remained undisturbed by Mark.06 or anyone else, guiding the Impact toward his desired outcome.
Inside the secure room, energy fluctuations reached their peak. The eerie blue light had turned almost pure white, and the hum of the space became a sharp, piercing whine, as if it were bearing an unbearable load.
Osiris sat cross-legged, his eyes closed in deep concentration. His entire mind was immersed in the link established with his original body. He felt a vast, cold power—spanning endless dimensions—being guided and focused. At the moment of the EVA-Titan's arrival, he would complete the final psionic chain, transforming this war-god from another world into an extension of his own will.
He knew clearly that the arrival of the EVA-Titan was not just to deal with the immediate crisis. It was to seize his own share of authority and knowledge during the coming "Instrumentality" wave stirred by SEELE and Gendo Ikari.
Meanwhile, at the entrance of a secret passage leading to the deepest part of Central Dogma, Kaji Ryoji moved into action. Using his high-level clearance and pre-prepared backdoors, he silently disabled several critical physical locks and energy barriers. He was followed by a few operatives loyal only to him personally, not to NERV or the Japanese government. Carrying heavy equipment, they quickly occupied advantageous positions at the passage entrance, establishing a temporary defensive line.
"Passage cleared. Maintaining silence, awaiting further instructions," Kaji reported in a low voice via encrypted comms, his gaze scanning the surroundings warily. He knew this passage was one of the shortcuts to the forbidden zone where Lilith's body and the Spear of Longinus were kept. In the coming chaos, this would become a place of inevitable contention.
In the secure room, the blue light from the dimensional communicator had become blindingly intense, illuminating the entire room like the deep sea.
"Deployment initiated!" Complex energy patterns spun and reorganized at high speed in the air, forming a stable spatial coordinate beacon. Osiris's psionics acted like the most precise probe, scanning the spatial structure around the landing point to ensure it could withstand the massive stress generated by a creation of the EVA-Titan's magnitude crossing between worlds.
He was also adjusting his own psionic frequency to synchronize with the refined "Dummy System" integrated within the distant EVA-Titan, establishing the foundation for the upcoming remote control. He tuned his state to perfection, like a lead surgeon about to step onto the most difficult operating table—calm, focused, and free of all distractions.
"Thirty seconds."
The countdown from his original body echoed like a cold pendulum in his consciousness.
"Ten, nine, eight..."
Osiris slowly raised his hands. Psionic energy condensed at his fingertips, leaping like tangible blue arcs of lightning. He opened his eyes, his gaze landing on the metal wall of the secure room, as if he could pierce through the heavy barrier to see the apocalyptic scene outside.
"Three, two, one..."
The final countdown rang out, marking the end of the research phase and the beginning of the decisive intervention.