The supplies they had seized were vast—grain alone would be enough to feed everyone for years. At last, the greatest problem of all—food—was resolved.
While the crowd celebrated in relief, Ryota Kitazawa remained silent, deep in thought.
"Kitazawa-kun, is something on your mind?" Misato Katsuragi approached with a gentle smile, asking.
"No… I was just thinking. If we're satisfied with what we've gained here, we'll still be destroyed in the end." Kitazawa shook his head. "NERV is our enemy now. And the thing they most want to do is wipe us out—because to them, we're nothing more than stepping stones."
"You're right. Kitazawa-kun, do you have an idea?" Misato nodded. She relied on him as her anchor. She knew that if he had raised the issue, then he must already have a plan in mind.
"Misato-neesan, let me ask you—have you ever heard of the Human Instrumentality Project?" Kitazawa looked her squarely in the eye as he spoke.
"Of course." Misato nodded. She had indeed heard of it, though only as one of the high-level secrets known to NERV's upper command. As Operations Director, she had never been told the full details—but she knew of its existence.
"But I'd wager you don't know the real truth behind it." Kitazawa shook his head.
"That's right. The Human Instrumentality Project is, in fact, the very culprit that led to this apocalypse!" At that moment, Ryoji Kaji stepped forward, his voice steady.
As Kaji slowly laid bare the true nature of the project, Misato was struck by a profound shock.
"What?" Her whole body trembled.
So this—this was what Instrumentality truly was. And before she had even realized it, she and the others had been nothing but accomplices to Gendō Ikari's crimes!
It was unbearable. Unforgivable.
"I only learned the truth recently myself," Kaji said with a grim shake of his head. "Had I known earlier, perhaps none of this would have happened."
"Damn you, NERV!" Misato clenched her fists, sparks flashing in her eyes.
She looked around at the scorched wasteland that surrounded them. Everything she had once loved had been reduced to ashes—all swept away by the Human Instrumentality Project.
She stepped up to the highest point she could find and raised her voice to the masses:
"Quiet, everyone! Please—listen to me!"
"What is it?"
"What's going on?"
The survivors turned their eyes toward her, puzzled.
"Listen well! I know each of you lost friends or family in the Seven Days of Fire. And the ones responsible for all of it… were NERV—and Gendō Ikari! Without them, we could have gone on living in happiness, still laughing with our loved ones. Without them, our homes would still stand, our families would still be alive. But because of NERV, our homes are gone, our families are dead. So I ask you—shall we take revenge?"
"That's right! NERV destroyed our homes!"
"My sister… my sister was burned alive in that fire! All my family—dead!"
Cries of grief and fury rose from the crowd. Nearly all of them had lost loved ones to the great conflagration, that merciless inferno that left nowhere to run. Now, Misato's words had torn open the wound, and anger erupted like a flood.
"If NERV destroyed our world, why shouldn't we wage war against them?!" Misato clenched her fist tight, shouting with all her resolve: "Those who cower in fear, step aside! Those who love freedom, follow me! We have no place for cowards here—we need warriors! Humanity is already on the brink of extinction. This is no longer the time to yearn for peace—it is the time to fight!"
"Now tell me! Will you follow me to battle—or walk into that wasteland and die all the same?!"
Her sharp gaze swept across the crowd, her tone leaving no room for doubt.
"War! War! War!"
The voices of the survivors rose as one, wave upon wave of anger and conviction. Their grief and fury coalesced into a single word, a single German letter—WILLE. Will.
Thus, an anti-NERV organization was born. WILLE's ultimate goal: to destroy every last EVA along with NERV itself.
And with iron will, to rebuild humanity's home.
Watching Misato, Ryota Kitazawa understood. Today, with the founding of WILLE, the time had also come to settle the score with Gendō Ikari.
With WILLE formally established, Misato immediately ordered their scientists to begin developing new weapons. Unit-02 was fitted with an advanced aerospace system and launched into orbit, broadcasting a signal across the Earth to proclaim WILLE's birth.
Other survivor groups—though disorganized and barely cohesive—soon made their way to Matsushiro as well. Misato welcomed them all. Anyone who had survived this long could find a place in WILLE.
After all, humanity was already standing on the edge of extinction.
Meanwhile, construction began on a colossal weapon: a spacefaring mothership. This super-weapon would become one of WILLE's greatest assets in the coming struggle against NERV.
News of WILLE's formation quickly reached Gendō Ikari. He stood silently before a massive screen, saying nothing.
"It seems our former subordinate is rather capable," remarked Kouzou Fuyutsuki. "To gather so many followers in so short a time… Katsuragi Misato does have talent."
"Of course. That is why I elevated her to Operations Director in the first place." Gendō's voice was calm, deliberate. "But our plan cannot permit interference. Even so, we have no time to eliminate WILLE now. Preparations for the Fourth Impact are already underway… are they not?"
"Indeed." Fuyutsuki nodded.
"Then I'll trouble you to pay a visit to my son," Gendō said coldly. "That Adam's human form should be called my 'son'… it's revolting."
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