Shinji Ikari, returned from Warhammer

But like the giants who had been run through water for days, their bloated and pale bodies knelt on the earth covered with skulls, and instead of hands and feet, thousands of white, thread-like objects extended from their limbs, piercing into the soil.

What is truly striking is His neck, as if His head had been cut off, leaving only an empty neck.

Lilith without a head, Lilith without hands or feet, Lilith nailed to the ground from behind, Lilith with rotting breasts, Lilith trying to get up but failing.

Despite being a headless corpse swollen to the size of a giant, Shinji Ikari felt sorry for it at that moment.

"Gendo Ikari, what exactly are you trying to do?"

Shinji Ikari's crimson eyes, now identical to those of Rei Ayanami and Kaworu Nagisa, narrowed slightly. He then turned around to block Rei Ayanami's view.

Although he knew that ordinary people couldn't possibly see such a horrifying sight, he still didn't want Rei Ayanami to see it. He patted Rei Ayanami's head, indicating that he could leave.

The door behind him sprouted crimson spiral lines the moment he turned to leave, like intertwined DNA, and upon touching each other, it transformed back into a perfectly sealed door.

The seven eyes drawn on the edge of the inverted triangle in the center of the door seem to be guiding the Soul Throne, where the soul resides, watching the direction in which Shinji Ikari and Rei Ayanami left.

Unlike the crowded Ship of Hope, it seems there isn't a fifth living person to be seen in NERV's Hakone.

When he returned to his room, his new combat uniform and change of clothes had already been prepared by someone, but there was a very faint sense of familiarity in the room.

Shinji Ikari wasn't asleep. He had just stolen a working laptop from the development department's warehouse and returned to his room to connect to the signal. He sat cross-legged on the bed, the light from the screen illuminating his face.

The laptop from fourteen years ago was running at high speed. At this moment, it was connected to the Three Sages System, and all the hidden truths and confidential knowledge that Shinji Ikari needed were transmitted to the screen by MAGI... If this moment were represented in the special state of the female protagonist in "Lucy", all the information in the world was open to Shinji Ikari without any concealment.

However, in the other world, Shinji Ikari also possesses the highest authority in MAGI, and he won't easily believe the information he's presented. Although the information is generally accurate, the editor deliberately left some blanks when entering it.

However, if an incomplete truth is pieced together in the wrong way, it may present a completely different result.

The next morning, he returned to the ruins where he had been when he arrived the day before.

The world covered in crimson seemed to have frozen time at that moment, its appearance remaining unchanged from the day of their promise fourteen years ago. But from the very top of the crimson, concrete ruins, Shinji Ikari saw a small, nameless yellow flower blooming through a crack.

Shinji Ikari looked up and felt that the sky was clear and distinct, as if he could reach out and touch it.

"Come down, Ikari. The weather's so nice, let's chat."

Shinji Ikari looked down and saw Kaworu Nagisa, dressed in a white shirt, smiling and waving at him.

“You have a lot of free time every day, Kaworu.” Shinji Ikari jumped straight down from the top of the ruins, but landed on the white ground as smoothly as a cheetah in the wild.

Kaworu Nagisa was still sitting at the piano, his left hand casually resting on the keys, striking out rhythmic notes.

"I'm just enjoying the waiting process, just like someone who buys an autumn coat in the hot summer, and I'm the one who looks forward to autumn."

“The world is now only left with long, sweltering summers; autumn will never come.” Shinji Ikari walked up to him.

"That's good too, to stay in a state where we can look forward to the future, like paradise." Kaworu Nagisa smiled.

Shinji Ikari turned his head to look at the sky that Kaworu had initially praised, "It's really nice, it feels like good weather is going to happen."

“Come with me, I’ll show you the truth of this world,” Kaworu Nagisa said.

Their conversation seemed disjointed and aimless, yet they both understood each other perfectly. Even before Shinji Ikari could speak, Kaworu Nagisa appeared to know what he wanted to do.

Kaworu Nagisa leaped from the ruins where the piano stood, his figure disappearing into the rubble. Like Shinji Ikari, who was granted special privileges by the Grim Angel, he needed no proof, nor any means of identity verification such as fingerprints or iris scans, and easily opened the gate to the outside world.

Shinji Ikari followed him down the S36 elevator shaft, then walked through the slowly opening mechanical gate, where a strong wind blew in their faces.

A thick fog came into view, making Hakone seem like a moving castle floating in the clouds. Moist, cold air seeped into Shinji Ikari's collar, giving him a brief taste of the coolness outside.

There was only a row of rusty steel steps on the outer wall of Hakone, which looked like it was about to collapse, but neither Shinji Ikari nor Kaworu Nagisa worried about the possibility of falling down.

Kaworu, dressed in white, stood on the rusty steps, gazing into the depths of the mist, before revealing a radiant smile.

"Ikari, today is truly a good day. Look, the world is welcoming you. We can even see the moon today." Kaworu smiled brightly.

The two of them leaped across the outer edge of Hakone at an astonishing speed, one after the other. If Asuka, who had also become an Angel, were to see this, she would surely be dumbfounded. In the face of gale-force winds approaching twenty meters per second, they seemed to defy gravity as they soared upwards.

They weren't worried about the rusty steel steps, because they unleashed incredible power after stepping on them, and the steps supporting them would shatter as if hit by a cannonball. They didn't even need to step on the steps; they could move upwards at high speed on the rough outer wall.

Until finally, the clouds parted and the sun shone through, and Shinji Ikari stood steadily at the top of Hakone, looking down at the world before him.

His intuition was correct. Hakone could no longer be called Hakone, because it stood in the clouds. The thick fog that had just enveloped Hakone was the clouds. A straight, columnar object lifted the pyramid-shaped Hakone from below into the sky through a deep, abyss-like pit.

But what truly amazed Shinji Ikari was the scenery before him, or rather, the world before him.

The moon, incredibly close to Earth, hangs in the distance, its surface clearly visible even to the average person, revealing craters. But its surface is covered in a network of red lines, resembling countless interconnected red crosses. On the crimson earth, however, stand the true, towering crimson crosses, piercing the clouds with unparalleled grandeur. Like the blood-red crosses that appeared at the end of the apostles' reign, but this time, the ones being judged on those crosses are humanity.

"This is the result of the Third Impact that occurred on the day of the agreement, when you and Unit-01 assimilated each other. It's quite shocking, isn't it?" Kaworu looked gently at the world before him. "Mass extinctions of life are not uncommon on this planet. Rather, it promotes the evolution of life. Life should change itself by constantly adapting to the environment. But the arrogant Li Lin wanted to change not only himself, but also this world."

Shinji Ikari raised an eyebrow slightly. When Kaworu mentioned the name Lilin, he realized that the other party had an extremely close relationship with SEELE. Then, the silver-haired boy in front of him revealed one of the ultimate aspects of this world.

Kaworu Nagisa said, "Therefore, those humans who call themselves the Kings of Lilin initiated a ritual to artificially promote evolution. They used ancient life forms as sacrifices to create new life forms endowed with the Fruit of Life. He is an apostle, and also a human, possessing both the Fruit of Wisdom and the Fruit of Life; He is a god, and also the Son of God, representing humanity's choice to seize the apostles' place before God, to make them submit to wisdom, and to become a symbol of the Son of God."

It sounds contradictory that one is both a god and the son of a god, but this is only because the "god" in "god" and "son of a god" does not refer to the same kind of being.

Unit-01 after its awakening, or rather, Kaworu Nagisa, the thirteen apostles who carry the soul of Adam, possess both the fruit of wisdom and the fruit of life, and have reached the status of gods and possess power comparable to gods.

However, in religion, the Dead Sea Scrolls also record another sublime being, who has always appeared before humanity as an omnipotent being. That is the god guided by the Dead Sea Scrolls.

Although humanity attempted to seize the seat that the apostles represented before this god, becoming the eternal divine child merely symbolized humanity's rebellion against Him, or rather, against fate.

In both the parallel world and the MAGI of this world, Shinji Ikari has seen parts of the first volume of the Dead Sea Scrolls. For example, in Figure 1, the only difference between the Angels and humans is whether they have wings; physical differences cannot distinguish them. However, Figure 2 records a human figure taking a fruit and growing wings, ranking ahead of the Fifth Angel, corresponding to taking away the Angels' seat before the gods.

Shinji Ikari was initially somewhat unclear about this, but with Kaworu Nagisa's explanation as Adam's soul, he completely connected the dots.

“And all of this was an extermination operation that was planned from the very beginning. NERV calls it the Human Completion Project.” Kaworu turned his head to look at Shinji Ikari. “So you don’t need to blame yourself at all. The Third Impact was simply a choice made by Lee Lin himself.”

"Whether the Third Impact was guided, or it was destiny, or whether I truly triggered it, I have no interest in it." Shinji Ikari looked at the frozen world. "I still have a question."

Upon hearing Shinji Ikari's words, Kaworu Nagisa raised his eyebrows in surprise, but his gaze ultimately settled on Shinji Ikari's smooth neck.

There, there should have been a collar, a symbol of sin, which was Li Lin's punishment for Shinji Ikari's mistake.

However, Shinji Ikari refused it, which proves that he did not care about Li Lin's judgment of him and never believed that he was guilty.

"Go ahead," Kaworu nodded.

"Are you hungry?" Shinji Ikari asked.

Kaworu looked somewhat surprised, but Shinji Ikari took the initiative to go to the edge of the top and said, "Let's go, I'll take you to get something good to eat. Although you are an Angel who can live forever without needing to sleep or eat, sleep and eating are also a kind of enjoyment."

Before Kaworu could react, he saw Shinji Ikari leap off the height.

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"The boy from SEELE has made contact with the third boy, and he showed him the true state of the outside world. Ikari, everything is as you predicted." In another ruin, Fuyutsuki Yukizo said, looking at Ikari Gendo sitting at his desk.

Wearing dark red sunglasses, Gendo Ikari remained silent. The meeting between Kaworu and Shinji Ikari was all part of his plan. Only in this way could he use Kaworu to convey the false rescue plan to Shinji, making him willingly pilot Unit-13, pull the gun from Lilith's body, and complete his true plan.

As for Kaworu, a divine child possessing both the Fruit of Life and the Fruit of Wisdom would never be manipulated by someone like him. However, he cared too much about whether Shinji Ikari could find happiness. Therefore, Gendo Ikari informed him of the false rescue plan beforehand, using him to lead Shinji down the wrong path.

When he realized that his help was what truly caused Shinji's despair, it wouldn't be too much for Kaworu to give up his life to make amends.

He was an apostle, Adam, humanity, and the final sacrifice.

Those who cling to something will be exploited; this is the final manifestation of the King of Li Lin, Gendo Ikari, who has now completely lost his humanity and is left with only pure rationality.

“To be honest, I’m curious to see how he’ll react,” Fuyutsuki Yukizo added.

“We rewrote the script for SEELE, and everything that exists is a tool to serve that purpose,” Gendo Ikari said.

"You think it's not good for him to open up to your son, right?" Fuyutsuki Yukizo asked.

Even he wasn't fully aware of Gendo Ikari's complete plan. However, he could sense the hidden darkness in his reaction.

“But I don’t think so. Try to place your hopes on something, anything. Look forward to what might happen next, it will definitely happen.” Fuyutsuki Yukizo turned around and walked out of the dilapidated ruins.

At the edge of the sunken area in Zone 1, Rei Ayanami crouched down, her room occupied by two big boys.

In the center stood an oven, emanating a familiar yet unfamiliar aroma. This was something Shinji Ikari had specially obtained by using his special privileges to rummage through the Hakone archives. Guided by MAGI, he searched high and low, finding piping bags and baking trays along with them. Then, Kaworu somehow managed to find cake flour and corn oil.

"We can only find corn oil; butter is still a bit difficult to find in Hakone these days," Kaworu Nagisa said with an apologetic smile.

"It's alright, just add sugar, and we're all set." Shinji Ikari rolled up his sleeves and led Rei Ayanami to occupy her room, squeezing her to the edge. She could only squat beside him and watch the two big boys' antics.

Although she didn't care about the food that was about to be cooked, she was worried that the other person would burn down the room that she had worked so hard to build.

The reason was simply because Shinji Ikari found a nest of bird eggs in the ruins. Most of the planet's landmass had been frozen in crimson, but a large part of Hakone in the sky still maintained its normal color, and over the past fourteen years, an ecosystem had developed for this aerial city.

"What are you doing?" Rei Ayanami sniffed, the fragrance filling the entire room, and finally she couldn't help but ask.

Chapter 163: Gendo Ikari's Bizarre Adventure

“Cream puffs, huh? I don’t know much about cooking; most of my skills are in desserts.” Shinji Ikari winked at Rei Ayanami.

Shinji Ikari cracked the nest of bird eggs into a bowl and stirred them. Then Kaworu handed him peanut oil, milk, water, sugar, and salt, which he put together and brought to a boil over medium-low heat. After boiling, he added cake flour and quickly stirred it into a dough, then added the egg mixture and stirred it together. He then used an eight-pointed star nozzle to pipe the cream puffs onto a baking sheet and put them in the oven.

Time flew by as they chatted. Rei Ayanami stared intently at the oven, its interior glowing a warm yellow, unsure whether she was worried that the two boys' cooking skills would burn down the little house she had painstakingly built, or perhaps she was beginning to anticipate the aroma of the desserts wafting from it.

With a ding, the oven timer went off. Although he wasn't worried about getting burned by holding it in his hands, Shinji Ikari still used stainless steel tongs to take the baking tray out of the oven. He skillfully took out a fruit knife and cut a slit in the surface of the cream puff, while Kaworu Nagisa squeezed cream into it.

"No butter, but it smells alright?" Shinji Ikari waved his right hand to the aroma, a satisfied smile spreading across his face. He then divided the ten on the baking tray into three equal portions, giving the extra one to Rei Ayanami.

"Do you have any left?" Rei Ayanami asked, somewhat surprised.

“Of course, but it’s all thanks to you for providing the venue.” Shinji Ikari raised an eyebrow. “And even if we had nothing, we should still share as friends.”

"Am I your friend too? What is a friend?" Rei Ayanami stared at the steaming cream puffs on the white tray.

"Of course, friends are people who share the joys of life, right?" Shinji Ikari said casually, having never thought about such a question. He tilted his head and looked at Kaworu Nagisa sitting upright beside him. "What do you think?"

“Friends are your perception of the world. The world is vast, but it has nothing to do with you. However, if you have friends in this city, then this originally unfamiliar city will have special meaning because of their existence.” Kaworu Nagisa smiled.

Rei Ayanami took a bite of the milk puff, chewing it slowly, savoring the texture so different from her nutritional meal. The milk puff was still slightly hot for her still somewhat immature mouth, emitting a faint fragrance. A slight stirring in her heart, she touched the corner of her eye; tears were welling up.

It was just afternoon tea, but Kaworu Nagisa had also prepared wine. Perhaps considering that Rei Ayanami was also there, it was a Gewürztraminer from Alsace, France, which was semi-sweet. Kaworu Nagisa uncorked the bottle and set it aside. Shinji Ikari sat down opposite him, both of them sitting on the floor. By this time, Rei Ayanami had finished her last piece of wine. Shinji Ikari brought his wine glass to his nose and smelled the aroma of lychee and rose.

There was no shortage of wine. The wine cellar of the General Affairs Department directly under the Hakone Commander had a very considerable collection. Although Gendo Ikari was shameless, he still had high standards for the quality of the wines available for him to taste. There were countless world-class wines from before the revolution. If Kaworu Nagisa brought Misato Katsuragi to the wine cellar, she would be so jealous that her eyes would burn with rage. But the afternoon tea at present only had top-quality wines, cream, and freshly made cream puffs. You can imagine how cloying it would be to eat your fill of these things.

However, this was all the food they could get for the moment; they could only rely on nutritional meals to accompany their drinks. Shinji Ikari didn't mind.

“It’s really nice to sit here and have afternoon tea like this.” Seeing that Rei Ayanami was eating quickly, Kaworu shared the last piece on his tray with her. “Thank you for inviting me. I didn’t expect it to be so pleasant.”

Rei Ayanami nodded; she felt great too, it was a wonderful experience unlike any she had ever had. She wished time could slow down.

“It’s nothing. It’s rare to see such a peaceful scene. Perhaps one day you will be on the opposite side of me. That’s a possibility,” Shinji Ikari said.

It's not a possibility. In this atmosphere, Shinji Ikari put it more tactfully. In his view, Kaworu Nagisa would definitely block his way in the future because of his own position. If it really couldn't be salvaged, at least he should cherish the present.