Chapter 1999: The City of Demonic Mist in the Dead World (14)

—2015.6.12—
Gathering Garden.
Literary Society.
"Ayanami-san..." Ikari Shinji tried to speak to Ling Ling.
"What?" The girl who looked down at the book raised her eyes slightly and looked at him over the frame of her glasses.
"No, it's fine, you are busy." Ikari Shinji scratched his head and looked away.
"Yeah." Ayanami lowered her head again.
How should I put it, it's a good thing that the synchronization rate has returned to the passing line, but the follow-up is quite troublesome, because the classmates who are idle in the assembly garden have begun to gossip that he and Ayanami zero are a pair.
If there is no accident, it should be the gossip of Suzuhara Higashi's second biography. Of course, it is also possible that he and Ayanami were seen by other students when they were riding the train or watching a movie.
After all, those behaviors are all dating.
We are only fourteen years old!
...It doesn't seem like a big problem if you think about it carefully.
It's not about age!
No, forget it, is he going to explain to people that Ayanami-san is an apostle, and it is impossible for him to fall in love with humans?
If you really ask her what she thinks about these rumors...
-knowledge.
-Why should you care?
- Are you concerned about this?
At that time, the person who can't get off the stage is still himself.
Ikari Shinji struggled for a while and decided to change the question.
"Well, I've been thinking about it for the past few days. Isn't the purpose of the apostle to rescue the 'Eve' who was sealed in the underground fortress? If it's yours, it should be easy to do, right? Is your father watching out for you?"
"no."
"That…"
"Are you tired of this battle?" Ling Ling closed the book and looked up.
"Huh? It's okay..." Ikari Shinji scratched his head.
After all, driving giant robots is fun, and your card system is still not fully understood.
"There are two ways to end this battle," Ayanami seems to have turned into a ruthless information repeater again: "One, I will merge with Eve and start the 'planet life reshaping program' to destroy the world, the new world will be very long There will be no fighting for a while, and two, destroy all the apostles who come, let Eve continue to sleep, and the status quo of the world will remain unchanged."
"This..." Ikari Shinji tried to clarify his thoughts.
"I won't destroy this world," Ayanami Zero added: "At least not until Mr. Ikari Gendo dies."
I can only wish my father a long life.
"All the apostles, do you know how many there are?" Ikari Shinji asked instead.
"Not sure, but I'll know when they show up." Rei Ayanami pointed to her glasses.
Then what kind of "information integration thinking body" will make a small report, right?
Huh? Wait, doesn't this "all apostles" include herself?
"Except that I can also enable Eve to start the planet's life reshaping program, I am no different from humans. I will grow old and die." Lingami Ayanami further explained as if he had guessed what he was thinking.
Well, indeed, she was wearing a bandage before, and it took almost a month for her to fully recover. Shinji Ikari nodded while holding up the water glass on the table.
"You can fall in love, you can get married." Ling Bo Ling continued.
"Pfft—" Ikari Shinji turned his head sharply and sprayed water on the ground.
"Based on the analysis of the 'Information Integration Mind Body', you want to ask this." Ling Hao has no awareness of what he just said.
"You database! Don't meddle in your own business!" Ikari Shinji wiped his mouth with one hand and pointed at the ceiling - God knows where the missing body is - scolded: "If you really like it, you won't care what the other party is! Even if it is pure Soul or puppet!"
Ling Ling looked at Ikari Shinji's incompetence and fury, and did not respond, only after he finally stopped, did he say: "Go back, the fifth apostle has appeared."
—
NERV headquarters.
"[The target has passed Zeta!]"
"[Optical scanning confirms that it is a blue regular octahedron! No obvious weakness was found!]"
"[The first machine has completed the preparation for the attack!]"
"[The target reaches the sky above Lake Ashi!]"
Hmm...the apostles seem to be pretty this time? Ikari Shinji sat in the plug and watched the image of the apostle from outside.
It was a crystal clear blue diamond, constantly flashing a faint blue light under the sunlight, and it was floating in the air and heading towards the third new Tokyo city at a constant speed.
Da Da Da... Boom Boom...
As always, in order to prove that it did not waste tax money, the Earth Alliance used self-propelled guns and missile positions to bombard the Apostles with painless and indiscriminate bombing, but the difference from before is...
coke - coke -
Several light blue light beams flashed across the body of the apostle, almost destroying all the weapons that attacked it at the same time.
"[Confirm that the fifth apostle's attack method is similar to that of the third apostle, Shinji-kun, and prepare for encountering laser weapons.]"
"Understood." Ikari Shinji glanced at the chestnut ball floating beside him, and it really glared at the beautiful shape of the apostle gem.
Don't look at it, that's the enemy, to be demolished.
"【emission!】"
call…
Almost at the same time as the launch, Ikari Shinji's "Duel Plate" appeared on his left hand.
Um? Does this count as a battle?
Ikari Shinji hesitated for half a second, then directly drew the card with the idea of ​​not drawing for nothing.
【Elemental Hero · Bubble Man】
Can you shuffle once? I miss normal magic and trap cards so much.
With the idea that little is better than nothing, Ikari Shinji "summoned" Bubble Man.
At the same time, the text on Bubble Man's card flashed.
[When there is only this card in the hand and on the field, draw two cards]
I'm wrong! In the future, please come first every time!
"[There is a high-energy reaction inside the apostle! An attack is about to be launched!]"
"[What! It actually started to deform!]"
"[Damn! What is that?]"
"[Shinji-kun! Hurry up and escape!]"
Ikari Shinji was stretching out his hand to draw cards, but the headquarters was in chaos, and Katsuragi Miri even shouted.
I'm on the way to eject, even if you say you want to dodge...
sigh - deng!
The first plane reached the ground.
Now let me see what the apostle has become...
what is that! ?
Ikari Shinji originally thought that the diamond-shaped apostle might have been opened or rotated, but...
What appeared in front of him was a crimson-red dragon with scales and armor, four claws and two wings, two mouths on its head, and endless thunder wrapped around its body.
Don't come to illusions at this time!
"[Kakaka—]" The giant dragon let out a terrifying roar, and one of the mouths opened, spitting out a ball of lightning towards the first machine.
boom-!
Blister Man turned into a golden light before he could react.
In the next instant, the dragon's second mouth opened, and a thick blazing white breath was expelled towards the first machine.
"[No. 1 aircraft is directly irradiated by laser!]"
"[The armor is damaged!]"
"[The intensity of the laser is still increasing!]"
Obviously, what the command saw was completely different from itself, anyway, avoid it first... eh?
Ikari Shinji tried to control the first machine to avoid the attack, but the first machine was as motionless as when the synchronization rate was 0%.
Is the 59% sync rate fake? Now is not the time to be angry—
call-
At this moment, Shinji Ikari saw a new vision, not the previous kind of "seeing something that actually exists as something else", but "observing a scene from the perspective of film and television".
And this scene is: the huge red dragon is breathing dragon breath condescendingly, and the "large Ayanami zero" covered with bandages is facing the dragon breath with his back, protecting the little Shinji Ikari in the palm of his hand, even though his back is constantly Combustion carbonization is also motionless.
"…"
Looking at this illusion, Ikari Shinji suddenly remembered a lot of things that he had neglected before, intentionally or unintentionally. The higher the synchronization rate of the EVA pilot, the easier it is to control the body, but at the same time, when the body is damaged, the driver will feel at the mental level. The same pain, the higher the synchronization rate, the greater the pain level.
However, when facing the third and fourth apostles, no matter how the first machine was attacked, he did not feel it at all.
You idiot, you already knew that it was an "artificial apostle", didn't you? And think of it, no, as a giant robot?
Even if she was hurt before, she would act according to her command, but this time it was different. Although she didn't know what the fifth apostle was, its attack made it impossible for the first machine to continue to operate as usual.
"[The armor plate is completely penetrated!]"
"[EVA body begins to dissolve!]"
"[Execute the emergency recovery procedure!]"
"[No! The high temperature melted all the nearby mechanical structures!]"
"[The connection with the insertion plug is interrupted!]"
"[Shinji-kun!]"
"Really... I spent a whole day improving the synchronization rate, but I didn't do it for you..." Ikari Shinji looked at the warning messages flashing around, and suddenly shouted: "Damn dragon! Shut me up. Your stinky mouth!"
Without even looking at it, he slapped the card he had just drawn on the duel plate.
"Incapacitating Attack" or "Magic Tube" must be one of them!
[Astral Barrier: Attacks against your own monsters will be turned into direct attacks on your own. 】
Huh?
In the illusion, a rippled orange shield suddenly rose up around the little Ikari Shinji, completely covering the large Ayanami wave, but the red dragon's attack did not stop, and began to ablate the orange shield. Shield, the large Ayanami Rei, who was enduring the attack, looked a little dull at the small Shinji Ikari, who started rolling around in his palm.
In the next instant, the illusion shattered and disappeared.
"Gum... huh... ha... So this is... the pilot's... normal experience?" Ikari Shinji resisted the pain of being drilled in his chest, and took the second card he had just drawn.
[Forced Escapement Device: Return a monster card on the field to the hand. 】
Boom! Machine No. 1 stomped its feet heavily, stomping through the access gate that had just popped out, and then the whole machine fell down.
"Bastard...Even if there is a counter-trap card..." Ikari Shinji's consciousness began to blur, and he was still muttering to himself.
[Curry Curry...] Chestnut Ball shook his head.
"What... the opponent is a god? Not affected by the trap card? How can it be..."
—2015.6.17—
NERV headquarters, ICU ward.
"Hmm... an unfamiliar ceiling."
Shinji Ikari opened his eyes and stared at the roof in a daze.
The memory seems to be interrupted, the last scene is the use of the emergency escape device, and then...
"Are you awake?" Ling Ling's voice came from the side: "The operation was successful, you are already a girl."
"What!?" Ikari Shinji sat up abruptly, lifted the quilt on his body and looked at it: "What, it's still there."
"…"
"…"
Ikari Shinji silently pulled the quilt back on: "Where did you learn that from?"
"Information-integrated thinking body analysis believes that this sentence will help you wake up more quickly," Ayanami replied: "In addition, the behavior just now was evaluated as 'seeing each other to show friendship'."
"I didn't see anything last time!"
"Then do you want to see it?"
"I…"
"'You can't see it even if you look at it', this is what the information integrated missing body said."
"..." Ikari Shinji rubbed his face vigorously: "I will kill that 'Information Integrated Missing Body' sooner or later... Now please talk about the business."
"I'm here to let you know that the second battle against the fifth apostle will take place in the early morning of tomorrow," Ayanami said: "You need to arrive at the EVA hangar at 17:30 today for the first machine start-up test. If it is successfully activated, it will start at 18:05 and arrive at the Erzishan sniper position at 19:00 to stand by. If there is no accident, the operation will officially start at 0:00."
After Ayanami finished speaking, she took out a combat uniform from the bedside table next to it and placed it by the bedside of Shinji Ikari.
"Well... what happened to my original one?" Ikari Shinji looked at it.
"The melting degree of the chest and back is more than 70%. The technical department is analyzing the cause, because if you want to cause that kind of result normally, you should have been broken down. They are very curious." Curiously replied.
Hey, so the red dragon isn't that bad, it wouldn't even kill an ordinary person in one bite... uh, an ordinary qualified person.
"What happened to the first machine? Where's the apostle?" Ikari Shinji continued to ask.
"The chest armor was completely penetrated, and the body was severely melted, which almost affected the insertion plug, but it has been repaired now," Ayanami Rei replied: "Because the synchronization rate was detected to be greatly reduced before the end of the battle, it is necessary to carry out a start-up test. , if it cannot be activated, the second operation will be completed by No. 0 aircraft alone."
Don't worry about that, Ikari Shinji shook his head.
The first machine wants to reduce the synchronization rate and reduce its pain? But that is useless. Since the card says it is a direct attack, it is a direct attack, and because of this behavior, the synchronization rate may not drop but rise.
"What is the state of the apostle now?"
"After the first machine was repelled, it stayed just above the underground fortress, and transformed a part of its body into a drill bit to drill down," Rei Ayanami replied: "Due to the continuous harassment attacks of the Earth Alliance army, the speed of this drilling behavior is very fast. It has been greatly slowed down, and it is expected that it will not be able to penetrate all the armor plates until 4:00 a.m. tomorrow. If the second battle fails, the third battle will be carried out in the underground fortress, and the probability of 'Adam' being rescued will exceed 87%."
After she finished speaking, she picked up a tablet on the bedside table, adjusted it twice and handed it over: "This is the form of its attack, please be vigilant in combat."
Um? She guessed that what I saw was not the real body of the Fifth Apostle?
Ikari Shinji thoughtfully took the tablet and glanced at it...
Is it something like this sapphire jewelry that made me look like that? !