Chapter 504: Attack of the Angel
After preliminarily grasping the basic background of this world and locking onto NERV and the Angels as the primary observation targets, Ryo (Second Avatar, hereafter simply "Ryo") was in no rush to take action.
He needed more concrete, direct empirical data to evaluate the true performance and potential value of these unconventional existences.
Maintaining his cloaked state, he moved through Tokyo-3—a city that appeared ordinary but was in fact extraordinary—with his sensors continuously scanning various signals coming from both the surface and underground.
His passive monitoring network first captured anomalous energy readings originating from the outskirts of the city.
A high-intensity energy source bearing a clear hostile identification signature was approaching rapidly.
Almost simultaneously, ear-piercing air raid sirens echoed throughout the entire city, and the public broadcasting system began repeatedly airing emergency evacuation orders.
The sparse pedestrians on the streets instantly vanished without a trace, and the entrances to pre-designed shelters opened one after another. Within an extremely short period, the entire city shifted into a combat-ready state.
Amidst this emergency situation where chaos and order coexisted, a mobile sensor locked onto an individual exhibiting anomalous behavior on a street leading to a designated shelter.
It was a scrawny teenage boy wearing a standard school uniform, walking alone at a sluggish pace down the deserted street.
His direction of travel deviated from the emergency indicator signs, and his movements betrayed a clear sense of bewilderment, completely out of tune with the highly efficient emergency systems operating around him.
Ryo immediately focused a portion of his observational attention on this individual.
In the magnified image from the optical sensors, the boy had his head lowered, his gaze was unfocused, and his shoulders slouched slightly inward.
The information conveyed by this body language was extremely clear: withdrawn, isolated, and in a noticeably unstable mental state.
For a minor to be wandering alone during this moment of crisis, his behavioral pattern was entirely at odds with his surrounding environment.
A blue sedan abruptly stopped beside the boy.
Ryo rapidly cross-referenced the facial features against NERV's public personnel database, confirming the identity of the person who stepped out of the car: Misato Katsuragi, a member of NERV's Tactical Operations Branch.
Just as she was about to speak to the boy, the shockwave generated by the battle between the Angel and the UN forces in the distance swept over them.
A violent explosion occurred at a street corner not far away, and flying debris and architectural fragments struck the side of the sedan.
Spiderweb-like cracks appeared on the front windshield, and the right-side door was visibly dented.
Misato Katsuragi swiftly shielded the boy behind her while rapidly checking the vehicle's condition.
Confirming the engine could still run, she immediately got back into the car with the boy.
The damaged blue sedan emitted an unnatural roar but managed to keep driving.
The vehicle sped away from the danger zone, slightly bumpy, and soon disappeared at the entrance of the dedicated tunnel leading to the underground NERV Headquarters.
Ryo recorded this information: NERV member Misato Katsuragi possessed a special connection to this boy and prioritized his safety during a sudden crisis.
Although caught in the crossfire, the vehicle retained basic driving capability and ultimately returned to the base successfully.
The boy's specific identity remained to be further confirmed, but his importance was beyond doubt.
Ryo's attention shifted to the offensive and defensive battle ongoing at the edge of the city.
The combat units of the UN forces had fully deployed, and dense artillery fire formed a continuous net of explosions around the Angel.
The main gun volleys from the tank clusters stirred up ripple-like energy waves on the surface of the A.T. Field, yet consistently failed to penetrate that seemingly thin, diamond-shaped barrier.
Precision-guided bombs dropped by diving fighter squadrons erupted into dazzling fireballs on the surface of the field; the shockwaves shook surrounding buildings until they tottered, but the Angel's main body remained completely unscathed.
With conventional weapons entirely ineffective, command deployed their final trump card.
An N2 Mine was detonated directly above the Angel. The massive fireball instantly devoured the entire city block, and the intense flash forced observation equipment to activate protective filters.
The shockwave swept across, shattering all the glass in buildings within several kilometers.
However, when the smoke and dust cleared, the Angel remained hovering in place, without even a single crack appearing on its A.T. Field.
The battle raged from daylight until nightfall.
The UN forces tried various tactics: concentrated armor-piercing fire on a single point, ultra-long-range sniping with railguns, and even bunker-busting bombs attempting to break through from below—all returned without success.
The Angel seemed completely oblivious to all of this, merely advancing steadily toward NERV Headquarters, occasionally waving its whip-like tentacles to effortlessly destroy the defensive fortifications along the way.
When the Angel breached the final defensive line and began to directly attack the superstructure of NERV Headquarters, Ryo detected a violent biological energy reaction coming from underground.
The launch shaft roared open, and the purple-and-green Unit-01 burst through the surface under the effect of massive thrust.
Ryo's sensors immediately began scanning at full power, focusing on analyzing the method by which its biological tissues and mechanical structures were integrated.
Based on the mecha's reactions and its extremely clumsy, sluggish movement patterns fed back by the sensors, Ryo judged that the pilot of Unit-01 was clearly a completely inexperienced novice, or there were severe compatibility issues with the unit itself.
Facing the Angel's agile and deadly whip attacks, Unit-01 could only block and dodge clumsily. Blinding sparks continuously erupted from its thick armor as it was struck, appearing entirely incapable of fighting back.
Just as Unit-01's left arm was entangled by the whip and the armor let out a teeth-aching sound of twisting metal, Ryo successfully hacked into a secondary encrypted channel of NERV's internal communications.
The channel was flooded with tense orders and reports.
"...Unit-01's left arm heavily damaged!"
"Synchronization ratio dropping rapidly!"
"Shinji! Hold on! Try to break free!"
The name "Shinji," combined with the fact that the boy observed earlier was rushed into NERV Headquarters, allowed Ryo to quickly connect the two.
The pilot was that fragile and bewildered boy.
Almost exactly as the pilot's identity was confirmed, a drastic change occurred with Unit-01 on the battlefield.
After its left arm was forcibly torn off and the unit collapsed to the ground letting out an agonizing howl, the sensor readings instantly shattered safety thresholds.
The biological signals within Unit-01 became berserk and chaotic, and the energy output curve spiked at an abnormally steep angle.
Its ghostly green optical sensors abruptly turned an ominous blood-red.
Subsequently, this massive mecha, clearly without anyone piloting it, stood up on its own and let out an inhuman, bone-chilling roar.
Its behavioral pattern changed completely, discarding all tactical maneuvers. It pounced on the Angel with a speed far exceeding its previous state and pure bestial instinct, tearing through the A.T. Field that had previously stopped all conventional firepower with its bare hands. It then frenziedly bit into and ultimately destroyed the Angel's core with its teeth.
The entire process was filled with primal, barbaric violence, forming a stark contrast with its image as a precision weapon.
Ryo completely recorded the energy peaks during the berserk state, the biological signal signatures, and the process of devouring the Angel's core. At the same time, he filed the pilot's identity, "Shinji Ikari," linking it with the observed instability of the unit and its potential danger.
After the battle concluded, the city fell into an eerie silence.
Ryo began to systematically consolidate the collected data.
The bio-mechanical fusion technology and A.T. Field application displayed by the EVA represented research directions of immense value.
As biological weapons, the core structures and energy systems of the Angels possessed equally high research value.
But at the same time, the instability and potential risk of losing control exhibited by the EVA could not be ignored.
These discoveries provided crucial grounds for subsequent action plans.
Based on the characteristic of coexisting technological value and risk, simply watching from the sidelines was no longer sufficient to accomplish the exploration mission.
Acquiring these technologies held strategic significance for enhancing the scientific strength of his faction.
Ryo reached a conclusion: contact with NERV was necessary.
The risk of a direct military seizure was too high; a better strategy was to find an opportunity to demonstrate his own value, gradually acquiring technological data through a cooperative format.
The attack process of the Fourth Angel provided him with preliminary negotiating chips and ideas for intervention.
He needed to wait and plan the proposal for the first contact.
(End of Chapter)