Shinji Ikari, returned from Warhammer

—The vivid imagery and dream that had deeply penetrated my mind seemed to end in just an instant.

But standing before him was a boy who was walking slowly from a distance.

--------

PS: There are actually many settings regarding the native world of Shinji Ikari, who came from Warhammer.

It uses the world setting of the new theatrical version, but retains the Angel settings from the old TV version, as well as AKASIMA from the world where the soul resides, the Earth Sphere Life Monitor System, and the character of the Iron Girlfriend. It's like a hodgepodge of characters from Northeast China.

For example, regarding the protagonist Shinji Ikari, my initial idea was to use the concept of Asuka Shikihachi's final conceptual aggregate. However, we haven't reached that point yet.

There's no need to worry about other Shinji Ikari characters disappearing. The protagonist has always been Shinji Ikari; there's never been any time traveler or anything like that.

Saying any more would be a spoiler; the truth will be revealed later.

136: In the Still Darkness

Passing through the dreamlike station, Shinji Ikari's rationality returned. He also returned to the Dirac Sea.

This is inside the body of the true Night Apostle, Raelil, in His Dirac Sea. Humans cannot survive normally in this negative universe.

To Shinji's slight surprise, his watch was still running, showing that only three seconds had passed.

The universe is based on the concept of time. Originally, time had neither past nor future. Humans depend on this axis; as long as time itself continues to accumulate, even if the order is disrupted, no problem will arise. However—in imaginary space, time does not accumulate.

As long as humanity remains within the imaginary space, it won't age with the passage of time. However, once it returns to the ordinary space outside, who knows what will happen? It's possible that not even a second has passed, or hundreds of years might have gone by. Like Urashima Taro in the fairy tale. It wouldn't be surprising if the same phenomenon as with that jade box occurred.

Shinji Ikari composed himself and saw Gendo Ikari in the area protected by the force field deployed by Unit-00.

At the same time, Gendo Ikari, who had just woken up, also saw him.

Even within the negative universe created by the Angels, Shinji Ikari's imposing presence was enough to repel the surrounding chaotic boundaries. He could display a statue-like, divine physique without needing Unit-00's protection. In this gray world, Shinji's eyes seemed to gleam with a crimson hue reminiscent of Rei Ayanami.

Gendo Ikari's resilience in matters of the soul caught Shinji's attention slightly. However, he didn't praise him.

"Move if you're not dead yet. If you're going to be a useless piece of trash, then stay lying down," Shinji Ikari said coldly. "You don't have much time left."

Even though his gaze was as sharp as a dagger, Gendo Ikari did not look away. At least in his heart, he was just as proud.

"What's the situation now?" Gendo Ikari asked.

"This is the Dirac Sea within the Angels. The fact that you are still alive is entirely due to Unit-00's protection. But this protection has a time limit," Shinji Ikari said casually. "Unit-00's power can only sustain the Absolute Territory for five minutes. There is no backup power source. You have already wasted two minutes and forty-two seconds. In a little over two minutes, you will all turn into a pool of blood."

Gendo Ikari and Shinji Ikari spoke at a distance of five meters, with no obstacles in between them. In this huge space, it felt as if the two were interrogating each other.

Upon learning of the current situation, Gendo Ikari adjusted his glasses.

“Now you need to pilot Unit-00. Only then can we turn the tide. I understand. Take me to Unit-00. We need to manually enter the password there,” Gendo Ikari said.

After the blackout, Ritsuko Akagi considered how to pilot the EVA without power. She designed a manual ejection and insertion system, but it required authorization.

Communicating with Gendo Ikari is simple. You can say he's ambitious, you can say he's ruthless, you can even say he's a piece of trash... but you can't say he's useless.

At 03:04, fortunately, after being swallowed by the Night Angels and entering the Dirac Sea, they found themselves on a flat surface piled with their own wrecked items and unconscious humans sprawled out. Shinji Ikari and Gendo Ikari quickly arrived at the hatch leading to Unit-00. Shinji threw Gendo onto the hatch, where he frantically turned a button on a valve labeled "EMERGENCY" before suddenly pulling it out.

As scalding heat was expelled from it, Gendo Ikari, whose soul was bearing immense spiritual pressure, nearly fell down.

Shinji Ikari watched this scene from below, arms crossed, but he had no intention of helping. He knew exactly how to provoke him even more.

"Hurry up, hurry up like a monkey picking bananas, or do you need me to come up and help you?" Shinji Ikari stood below the mecha, coldly looking at Gendo Ikari, who was panting and had his palm prints reflected on the hatch. "Useless people are just trash that should be discarded. They can't do anything."

Gendo Ikari didn't speak, but gritted his teeth and channeled another surge of power from his body.

At 03:31, Gendo Ikari shattered the glass with his fist, and the outermost hatch opened automatically. As a yellow card was swiped through the card slot, and then his palm was imprinted on the screen, the word "PASSORD" appeared on the screen.

At 03:48, Gendo Ikari typed the two Chinese characters "Hope." For some reason, at that moment, he suddenly remembered the JA mecha that had gone berserk due to his own program modification; its password was also "Hope." Perhaps this was retribution, but Gendo Ikari didn't believe in it.

At 04:12, the cockpit ejected, and hydraulic locks numbered 2 through 32 automatically disengaged. However, theoretically, it was too late. Even with the entire development team present, it would take at least five minutes from the insertion of the insertion bolt to activation.

But Shinji Ikari, who had climbed up the spine of Unit-00, lay down in the cockpit, turned to look at Gendo Ikari beside him, and said, "Your mission is complete. Get out of here."

At 04:31, the LCL fluid was finally fully injected into the cockpit. By this time, Gendo Ikari had already scrambled down from Unit-00's spine. Time was running out, but Gendo showed no panic, knowing that a proud man like Shinji Ikari wouldn't waste his efforts.

As expected, Unit-00 came to life during the insertion of the insertion plug. It was as if the machine was consciously cooperating with Shinji Ikari; as the insertion plug rotated, Unit-00's single crimson eye lit up with a light like a gas lamp.

Unit-00 slowly raised its head. Its blood-red pupils flowed with a dazzling red light, like a flashlight projecting a huge beam of light, even though the cockpit carrying Shinji Ikari had not yet submerged to the designated position.

At 04:57, Unit Zero completed startup.

----------

----------

"The UN forces are already urging us on."

"Theoretically, humans cannot survive in a negative universe, not even EVA."

Ritsuko Akagi stood quietly in front of the screen in the command room and issued the order: "Move the scheduled plan forward by twelve minutes. Annihilating the Angels is NERV's primary mission objective."

"The second eligible candidate's mental state is very unstable, and the synchronization rate is continuously decreasing. At this rate, it may not be possible to complete the deployment of the absolute domain interference imaginary circuit on the apostle when the plan is implemented. Should we postpone the plan?"

"No need, continue with the plan." Ritsuko Akagi said coldly, her hands tucked into her white coat.

The giant machine shook the night sky in the center of Hakone. White doves circled in the sky, but dared not land on the branches, because the area within a radius of several hundred meters was the domain of the Night Apostles.

Asuka, piloting the new Unit-06, had arrived at the battlefield, her mind in turmoil. Before her lay an unfathomable abyss of black shadow.

It devours everything, even light, and is terrifying just to look at.

"EVA Unit 6 has arrived at the designated location. The Absolute Territory is ready to be deployed."

"A bomb will be dropped in sixty seconds. The second qualified candidate, please listen carefully and cooperate to complete the task."

Asuka took deep breaths repeatedly. She felt a little dizzy and lightheaded, perhaps because it was her first time piloting a new mecha, or perhaps she was instinctively resisting the plan.

But I'm not Shinji the idiot, I don't have the willful power to go all out. Why am I not Shinji the idiot? Why are Shinji the idiot and the honor student also falling for this? Damn it, I don't want to do this. If the honor student were still here, I could have let her do it.

The super fortresses streaked across the sky, leaving dozens of white streaks. Asuka listened to the countdown in her ears, feeling increasingly agitated and panicked.

In the darkness, a scarlet eye slowly opened, and something inside the Night Apostle stared at Asuka.

"What?!" Asuka's will was instantly swallowed by the crimson color. Her whole body trembled violently, as if she were on the verge of despair. A tremendous force surged within her, and she dodged backward.

Just as she instinctively took a few steps back, a blinding white beam pierced the ground. As if the gates of hell had been opened, blood gushed from the ground like a fountain. If Asuka hadn't retreated in her panic, she and the Unit-06 she was piloting might have been impaled by the same beam of light.

At this moment, alarms were sounding repeatedly in the command room, and everyone was in chaos.

"What's going on?" Ritsuko Akagi shouted urgently from the command center.

"All the gauges are at their maximum values!" the staff member replied.

"Nothing has even started yet!" Ritsuko Akagi exclaimed, staring in shock at the scene before her as she leaned over the screen.

"Could it be Shinji?!" Misato Katsuragi exclaimed with delight.

“Impossible! Absolutely impossible!” Ritsuko Akagi said firmly. “There are only five minutes in total. Even if he can move freely in the Dirac Sea, it is impossible for him to complete a series of operations such as ignition, release the restraints, and eject from the cockpit in such a short time. You should know that there are as many as 1405 tasks involved.”

“But a lot of it is unnecessary. We just need to get Zero moving,” Misato Katsuragi said.

"Look at the Night Apostle, it seems to have merged!" a staff member suddenly shouted.

The original Night Apostles were divided into two parts. One part was a black and white spherical object that served as the true shadow, floating in mid-air; the other part was the real Night Apostles, lurking on the ground and appearing to be the shadow itself.

But after a white beam of light pierced the earth and tore through the shadows, the shadows beneath the ground and the black and white sphere floating in mid-air instantly merged into one. Asuka was horrified to discover that a scarlet left arm pierced through the sphere's interior, tearing a gruesome wound. Then it retreated back inside.

"What? What happened?!" Asuka muttered to herself in the cockpit.

Just as Asuka was completely bewildered and had no idea what was going on, she saw a brilliant white beam of light tear through the surface of the sphere once more. The beam, bursting forth from within the Angel, was like a sword proclaiming victory, spinning and cutting through the dark sphere faster and faster until its surface was riddled with holes.

"They're here!" Asuka's eyes twitched slightly.

As the apostles shattered into countless fragments that night, a scarlet figure also emerged from the rain of blood. Its appearance was not dazzling, but rather silent, like the Titanic emerging from the sea, or as if it had stood there since time immemorial.

It was only then that Asuka realized that the scarlet eye was the single eye of Unit-00, a machine that had been swallowed by the Night Angel and had returned.

After the bloodshed, a massive crimson cross stood tall above Hakone. This symbolized the annihilation of the thirteenth apostle, the Archangel of the Night, Rairiel.

A demon born from blood, or perhaps an apostle who hates humanity.

Looking at the colossal creature amidst the rain of blood, Ritsuko Akagi trembled all over. Never before had she felt such fear of the machine before her.

"What exactly are we copying?!" Ritsuko Akagi muttered.

"Go to the rescue! Where are the health department personnel? Where are the rescue teams?" Misato Katsuragi urged anxiously. "Check the casualties. There are 346 staff members who were swallowed, including the Commander-in-Chief and Rei!"

"That's right! And the Commander-in-Chief!" Ritsuko Akagi suddenly realized. "Quickly, go rescue them! Where are the health department personnel? Get moving!"

An hour later, NERV, now back to normal operation, announced the successful annihilation of the new Angel, winning cheers from the public.

Although this Night Angel invasion was extremely dangerous, it was also remarkably rare that it resulted in no casualties. Those dragged into the Dirac Sea were protected by Unit-00's domain and held out until the very end.

Oh, not none. There were two cases.

Commander-in-Chief Gendo Ikari is suspected to have fallen from a height, but his injuries are not serious.

The Third Child, Shinji Ikari, also recognized as the world's strongest pilot, was rushed to the hospital due to physical weakness. However, after receiving an intravenous nutrition, he peacefully fell asleep.

When I woke up again, I was faced with the familiar ceiling.

“It was Misato’s request. She said you can recover better at home,” a girl’s voice came from beside her.

Shinji Ikari turned his head and saw Rei Ayanami sitting quietly in a chair beside his bed, reading a book. Because of that spiritual pull, Rei knew what Shinji wanted to ask even before he spoke.

Indeed, compared to physical weakness, what one needs more is rest for the soul.

With only three seconds left while piloting Unit-00, Shinji Ikari was able to shatter the core of the Night Angel. However, he suddenly realized that there were others who had also been dragged into the Dirac Sea, so he could only more steadily tear apart the outer three-nanometer-thick membrane of the domain first, allowing those who had been swallowed into the Dirac Sea to be rescued.

The result of this delayed operation was that some power was drawn from his own body and supplied to Unit-00. The long-lost feeling of weakness made Shinji Ikari feel like he couldn't even punch the wall next to him, as weak as a fart sprite.

As expected, my own Evangelion Unit-01 is still the best.

It should have been much worse, but a portion of the power was contributed by Rei Ayanami. Shinji Ikari remembered that Rei Ayanami was also in the cockpit when they brought him out of it.

Even though he hadn't seen her when he went in, Shinji Ikari thought she had escaped like Rei Ayanami and Ritsuko Akagi.

“Miri asked me to tell you that she will arrange the work ahead, so you should get some rest,” Rei Ayanami said, gently clasping her hands together and placing the book on her lap. “Do you need me to keep you company?”

137: Li, wants to overlap