Chapter 564: Instant Kill and Showdown
"All hands to Grade 1 combat readiness! Activate all defense systems! Unit-03, EVA-Titan, deploy immediately for interception!" Misato Katsuragi ordered without a single shred of hesitation. She knew this was SEELE's probe, as well as the beginning of their purge.
The engine of the white Unit-03 roared, rapidly pivoting from its patrol sector to charge toward the predicted landing zone. Looking at the nine rapidly expanding green signals on her radar screen, Asuka grit her teeth: "Nine units, huh... Talk about a massive budget!"
Meanwhile, the barrel of the Nemesis-class Volcano Cannon on the back of the silent, towering EVA-Titan began rotating with a low drone, radiating a heart-palpitating energy fluctuation. Ryo's consciousness had already deeply fused with the Titan through the psionic link, locking his cold, red single eye onto the sky.
"Primary target locked. Prepare saturation strike," Ryo calmly directed within the safehouse.
The nine forest-green mass-production models plummeted like precision bombs into the ruins surrounding the city, kicking up a sky full of dust. The instant they hit the ground, they deployed the "wings" on their backs—equipment designed to enhance mobility and A.T. Field deployment efficiency. They subsequently launched a charge toward NERV Headquarters at breathtaking speeds, their movements swift, lethal, and carrying pure destructive intent.
"Fire!"
The Volcano Cannon on the EVA-Titan's back let out a sky-rending roar!
This time, instead of firing a full-power destructive shot, it continuously sprayed out several relatively narrow yet highly lethal scorching jet streams at an extremely high rate of fire! These streams lashed out like the whips of the grim reaper, precisely covering the densest charging sectors of the mass-production models.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
A rapid succession of explosions tore open.
The two mass-production models rushing at the very front were instantly struck dead-center by the Volcano Cannon. Under the extreme thermal and kinetic forces, their dark-green armor was torn open and melted through like paper, turning into burning wreckage alongside their internal chassis frameworks and Dummy System cores.
The other three units were also severely caught by the shockwaves and shrapnel of the explosions, their movements instantly turning sluggish.
"Nicely done!" Asuka cheered, the white Unit-03 slicing into the battlefield to seize the opening.
She did not possess a divine artifact like the Lance of Longinus, but after several days of adjustments and optimizations, Unit-03's onboard "Cherubim" weapon systems and conventional armaments were in peak condition. The shoulder-mounted grenade launcher spat tongues of fire, detonating "Cherubim" catalytic warheads within the pack of mass-production models. Though they couldn't instantly dissolve the targets like they did with Angels, the azure purification mist effectively disrupted their A.T. Field generation and sensor operations.
Simultaneously, wielding its Progressive Knife, the white Unit-03 darted through the mass-production models like a phantom. Leveraging its superior mobility and combat experience, it precisely severed their joints and energy conduits.
The EVA-Titan advanced steadily like a mobile fortress, its Volcano Cannon delivering precise, suppressing shots, while its massive power claws became an absolute nightmare for the mass-production models. Any unit attempting to draw near was effortlessly grasped, torn to shreds, or swung violently to smash into its peers by those indestructible talons.
The battle was practically a one-sided slaughter.
Although these mass-production models were numerous and completely unafraid of destruction, before the absolute firepower and defense of the EVA-Titan, paired with the masterful tactical coordination of Unit-03, they acted like moths to a flame, turning into burning scrap iron on the ground one after another.
In less than twenty minutes, the final green mass-production model was pierced through its core by Unit-03's Progressive Knife, collapsing to the ground spewing black smoke.
All nine of the encroaching enemies were annihilated.
The battlefield temporarily fell back into a heavy silence, save for the crackling of burning wreckage and the shifting sounds of cooling metal.
"Threat cleared. All unknown EVA units silenced," the command center confirmed the battle results.
Asuka took a deep breath. Standing with Unit-03 amidst the field of green wreckage, her heart was filled with the exhilaration of victory, yet a trace of hidden worry lingered—this was likely only the beginning.
Ryo's focus, however, lay elsewhere. He controlled the EVA-Titan to meticulously scan the relatively intact mass-production model wreckage, especially their core structures, Dummy Systems, and that peculiar green armor plating.
"Dr. Akagi," he contacted the technical department over the communication channel, "arrange for a recovery team to transport these wreckages, especially the relatively intact Dummy System cores and biological tissue samples, to the Ninth Research Institute's isolation laboratory as quickly as possible."
These "gifts" delivered by SEELE were undoubtedly superb research materials, which could help him deeper understand SEELE's technological pathways, find the vulnerabilities of the Dummy System, and potentially reverse-engineer some useful technologies.
Watching the cleanup feed from the screen, Misato Katsuragi's expression did not relax in the slightest. SEELE's counter-offensive had come incredibly fast and hard. Although the first wave was successfully dismantled, this undeniably declared the beginning of a total confrontation. The future road was bound to be filled with thorns.
Inside the WILLE Command Center, the atmosphere was heavy and busy.
Following the conclusion of the battle, Ryo did not return to the subterranean platform. Instead, through encrypted communications, he requested a supreme-level meeting with Misato Katsuragi, Ritsuko Akagi, and Ryoji Kaji.
The location was set in a temporary conference room that had undergone rigorous sweeping and shielding. When the three arrived, Ryo was already waiting. He was still clad in his researcher's attire, his expression calm, yet his eyes carried a profound depth that seemed to bear the weight of endless space-time, far different from before.
"Thank you all for coming," Ryo got straight to the point without any pleasantries. "The attack by the mass-production models demonstrates that SEELE will not give us much time. Before formulating our next plan, I believe it is necessary for you to understand some... more fundamental facts."
He paused, his gaze sweeping across their puzzled and wary faces.
"I am not of this world."
These words landed like a sudden clap of thunder in the quiet room.
Misato Katsuragi's pupils constricted violently, her body subconsciously leaning forward. Ritsuko Akagi pushed up her glasses, her gaze behind the lenses turning as sharp as a blade, attempting to catch a single trace of deceit on Ryo's face. Ryoji Kaji's playfulness vanished entirely, replaced by extreme scrutiny and shock.
"Not... of this world?" Misato repeated, her voice carrying an unbelievable dryness.
"You can understand it as originating from another universe, another dimension," Ryo explained calmly, his voice devoid of any ripples, as if stating an ordinary scientific fact. "I came to this world for the purpose of exploration and research. The technologies I wield, including the EVA-Titan and the 'Cherubim' weapon systems, originate from my home universe."
He raised his hand, and a miniature holographic projection surfaced in the center of the conference table, displaying complex, incomprehensible dimensional coordinates and a simplified multi-universe model. The technology tree was glaringly disparate from NERV's or SEELE's systems.
"My prior actions—whether repairing the ecology, developing armaments, or intervening in the EVA battles—were done both to gather research data and to actively stop SEELE's destructive plans. Because from a multi-universe perspective, their 'Instrumentality' is an exceptionally dangerous and uncontrollable space-time catastrophe."