"All units, Level 1 combat readiness! Activate all defense systems! unit-03, eva-titan, move out immediately to intercept!" Misato Katsuragi issued the orders without a moment's hesitation.
She knew this was SEELE's probe, and the beginning of the purge.
The engine of the white unit-03 roared as it swerved from its patrol area, rushing toward the predicted impact point.
Asuka gritted her teeth as she watched the nine rapidly enlarging green signals on the radar screen. "Nine units, huh—"
—What a massive undertaking!"
Meanwhile, the muzzle of the Heaven's Punishment-class Volcano Cannon on the back of the silently standing eva-titan began to rotate lowly, emitting heart-palpitating energy fluctuations.
[Remember this site's domain w̲̲̅̅k̲̲̅̅a̲̲̅̅n̲̲̅̅.c̲̲̅̅o̲̲̅̅m̲̲̅̅ Super Worry-Free]
Osiris's consciousness had already deeply merged with the Titan through a psionic link, his cold red monocle locking onto the sky.
"Priority targets locked. Preparing saturation strike," Osiris commanded calmly from within the safe house.
The nine green mass production evass fell like precision bombs, scattering across the ruins surrounding the city and kicking up clouds of dust.
As soon as they landed, they unfurled the 'wings' on their backs—equipment designed to enhance mobility and A.T. Field deployment efficiency—and immediately charged toward NERV Headquarters at staggering speeds, their movements swift, lethal, and carrying pure destructive intent.
"Fire!"
The Volcano Cannon on the back of the eva-titan let out an earth-shaking roar!
This time, it didn't fire a full-power destructive shot. Instead, it used an extremely high rate of fire to unleash a continuous stream of relatively slender but still lethal incandescent jets!
These jets were like the lashes of a death god, precisely covering the areas where the mass production evass were most densely clustered.
"Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!"
A series of explosions rang out.
The two leading mass production evass were instantly struck by direct hits from the Volcano Cannon. Under the extreme heat and kinetic energy, their dark green armor was torn and melted like paper, and their internal skeletons and Puppet System cores were reduced to burning wreckage.
Three others were severely affected by the shockwaves and shrapnel, their movements suddenly becoming sluggish.
"Nice work!" Asuka cheered as the white unit-03 took the opportunity to cut into the battlefield.
She didn't have a divine artifact like the lance of longinus, but after several days of adjustments and optimization, unit-03's Cherubim weapon system and conventional armaments were in peak condition.
The shoulder-mounted grenade launchers spat tongues of fire. Special Cherubim catalyst warheads exploded among the mass production evass in clouds of azure purification mist. While they couldn't instantly decompose the units like they would an Angel, they effectively interfered with their A.T. Field generation and sensor operations.
Simultaneously, unit-03 wielded its high-vibration particles knives like a white ghost, weaving between the mass production evass at high speeds, using its superior mobility and combat experience to precisely sever their joints and power lines.
The eva-titan advanced steadily like a mobile fortress.
Its Volcano Cannon provided precise point-fire and suppression, while its massive power claws became a nightmare for the mass production evass.
Any mass production evas that tried to get close was easily caught and shredded by those indestructible claws, or swung bodily and smashed into its kin.
The battle was an almost one-sided slaughter.
Though these mass production evass were numerous and unafraid of sacrifice, against the eva-titan's absolute firepower and defense, combined with unit-03's exquisite tactical coordination, they were like moths to a flame, turning into burning scrap metal on the ground one by one.
In less than twenty minutes, the last green mass production evas had its core pierced by unit-03's Progressive Knife and collapsed to the ground, emitting black smoke.
All nine incoming enemies were completely annihilated.
The battlefield temporarily returned to silence, save for the crackling of burning wreckage and the groaning of cooling metal.
"Threat cleared. All unknown EVA units silenced," the command center confirmed the results.
Asuka breathed a long sigh of relief. As unit-03 stood amidst the green wreckage of the battlefield, her heart was filled with the thrill of victory, yet also a flicker of worry—this was likely only the beginning.
Osiris's focus, however, was elsewhere.
Controlling the eva-titan, he began to carefully scan the relatively intact wreckage of the mass production evass, particularly their core structures, Puppet Systems, and that peculiar green armor.
"Dr. Akagi," he contacted the Technology Department via the comms channel, "arrange for a recovery team to transport this wreckage—especially the relatively intact Puppet System cores and biological tissue samples—to the Ninth Research Institute's isolation lab as quickly as possible."
These "gifts" sent by SEELE were undoubtedly excellent research materials that could help him gain a deeper understanding of SEELE's technical path, the weaknesses of the Puppet System, and perhaps even reverse-engineer some useful technologies.
Misato Katsuragi watched the screens showing the battlefield being cleared, her expression not relaxing in the slightest.
SEELE's counterattack had come fast and hard. Although the first wave was successfully dismantled, it undoubtedly signaled the start of a full-scale confrontation.
The road ahead was destined to be filled with thorns.
Inside the WILLE command center, the atmosphere was heavy and busy.
After the battle, Osiris did not return to the underground platform. Instead, he requested a highest-level meeting with Misato Katsuragi, Ritsuko Akagi, and Ryoji Kaji via encrypted communication.
The location was set in a temporary meeting room that had been strictly inspected and shielded.
When the three arrived, Osiris was already waiting.
He was still dressed as a researcher and his expression was calm, but his eyes held a depth unlike before, as if they carried the weight of endless time and space.
"Thank you all for coming," Osiris said, getting straight to the point without pleasantries. "The attack by the mass production evass shows that SEELE".
"won't give us much time. Before formulating the next plan, I believe it's necessary for you to understand some—more fundamental circumstances."
He paused, his gaze sweeping over the three confused and wary faces.
"I am not a person of this world."
This single sentence was like a thunderclap exploding in the silent room.
Misato Katsuragi's pupils shrank, and she instinctively leaned forward.
Ritsuko Akagi pushed up her glasses, her gaze behind the lenses sharp as a blade, trying to find a trace of a lie on Osiris's face.
The cynicism on Ryoji Kaji's face vanished completely, replaced by extreme scrutiny and shock.
"Not—a person of this world?" Misato repeated, her voice dry with disbelief.
"You can understand it as coming from another universe, another dimension," Osiris explained calmly, his voice devoid of any fluctuation, as if stating a mundane scientific fact. "I came to this world for the purpose of exploration and research. The technology I possess, including the eva-titan and the Cherubim weapon system, originates from my homeland."
He raised his hand, and a miniature holographic projection appeared in the center of the conference table, displaying complex dimensional coordinates and a simplified multi-universe model. Its tech tree was clearly distinct from NERV's or even SEELE's systems.
"My previous actions, whether restoring the ecology, developing weapons, or intervening in EVA combat, were done both to collect research data and out of a genuine intent to stop SEELE's destructive plans. Because their 'Instrumentality,' from a multiverse perspective, is an extremely dangerous and uncontrollable spatio-temporal disaster."