"A huge submerged object has been found near the peninsula. It has been determined to be an Apostle, so we have to kill it in one go when the Apostle comes ashore! Do you hear me? Eva and Eva will take turns to attack the target. Eva Zero is responsible for covering! "
"Understood!"
"Understood."
"Yes."
After ending the call, Asuka let out a long sigh.
"What's wrong with Misato? Did she take gunpowder? Why is she so angry … "
"After all, there's been a lot of pressure from above recently."
Hearing Asuka's complaint, Fangzheng chuckled. There was a reason why Ge Cheng Misato was so anxious. If the Eva couldn't show enough actual combat results this time, then the importance of NERV would be further reduced. To put it bluntly, if the Eva failed to stop the Apostle this time, and the red ponytail took the lead instead, then there would be no need for NERV to exist anymore.
"But you don't have to care about that. Just do what you usually do in battle."
"Is this really okay? Mr. Fangzheng? "
At this time, Shinji also raised his own question with some uneasiness.
"After all …"
"Don't worry. Bearing the pressure is the job of an adult. Ge Cheng's salary is for this, so you don't have to worry about these trivial things. Just focus on the enemy in front of you."
"The target has appeared!"
Not long after Fangzheng's voice fell, the sea in front of him suddenly bulged, and a crescent-shaped Apostle emerged from the water.
"Shinji! And a top student! I'll show you what I'm made of! "
Seeing the Apostle, Asuka naturally couldn't help it. She had long wanted to fight with the Apostle to prove her strength. Unfortunately, Eva No. 2 had fallen into the sea, and Asuka could only watch helplessly. Now that it was finally time for her to take action, Asuka naturally didn't want to be outdone. She took the lead in controlling Eva No. 2 to rush over with a spear.
Shinji and Rinbori didn't say much about Asuka's request. In fact, they had gradually learned and adapted to cooperating with each other during their daily training. In Fangzheng's Spartan training, the three of them were taught how to use close-range weapons in combat. So far, the Japanese Incense was the best, so they were used to it since they were always paired this way.
Hence, as soon as Asuka charged forward, Robot Zero and Robot 01 immediately picked up their weapons and attacked the Apostles.
Unlike in the animation, the three EVAs didn't use long-range weapons. In fact, Fangzheng didn't want to see the EVAs use long-range weapons. Not only did they have zero effect, but they would also lower a person's reaction speed, and the smoke they produced was equivalent to a smoke bomb for the opponent.
On the other hand, the Positron Cannon still had some use. Fangzheng also asked Ge Chengmeili why she didn't make the Positron Cannon into a regular weapon. Setting aside everything else, she could just set up a permanent Positron Cannon in New Tokyo City. Regardless of whether the Apostle was useful or not, they could first fire it. It would be best if they could get rid of the Apostle, but even if they couldn't, they could at least see how strong or weak the Apostle was, right?
Ge Chengmeili explained a lot about this, such as authority, energy, and so on. Of course, when she went on and on, Fangzheng summed it up in one word.
No money.
Of course, according to Fangzheng's suggestion, he should just remove all the useless automatic defense facilities in New Tokyo. After all, apart from creating some fireworks and light effects when the Apostles arrived, those things were really useless. Unfortunately, he didn't care about that.
Fortunately, they still had the money to build close-range weapons.
The three EVAs were holding different weapons. Robot Two's main weapon was Gundyr's halberd, Robot Zero had the standard combination of a shield and a straight sword, and Robot 01 used an ordinary longsword.
This was Fangzheng's tactic. Instead of sending himself to his death with a long-range weapon, it was better to just hold the opponent down and beat him up.
If the A.T. Fields of three EVAs could not kill the Apostle, it could only mean that the Apostle was really strong.
Right now, Machine Zero was at the very front, directly slamming the shield in his hand against the Apostle's face, blocking its path. Of course, the Apostle was not a wooden dummy that could be easily dealt with. It swung its two claws at Robot Zero. But at the same time, Robot 01 had already come to the side. It swung the longsword in its hand and blocked the Apostle's attack.
"Take this!!!"
Asuka immediately seized the opportunity to control Robot Two to leap high into the air. She swung the halberd in her hand and split the Apostle in front of her in half!
"Well done, Asuka!"
Seeing this, Ge Chengmeili clenched her fists excitedly and shouted. Asuka even snorted softly.
"How is it? See? This is my strength …"
However, before Asuka's words were finished, she was interrupted by Shinji.
"Asuka, it's still moving!"
"What?"
Asuka was shocked when she heard Shinji's words. She turned around and was surprised to find that the Apostle she had split in half did not die. Instead, the area around the wound began to wriggle. Then, it turned into two halves!
"What's going on?"
Everyone was shocked. One Apostle was hard enough to deal with, and now there was another one?
"What … what should we do?"
"Attack its core!"
Fortunately, the three of them had undergone Fangzheng's training. Even though the current situation was a bit unexpected, they still immediately reacted, once again attacking the apostle.
But soon, they realized that something was wrong.
"Attacking the core is useless!"
"It can heal itself!!"
The Apostle itself was not particularly powerful, but it was quite resistant. Asuka, Shinji, and Rinbori used all their strength and managed to hit the Apostle's core several times. But what surprised them was that the Apostle's self-healing ability was quite terrifying. Even if its core was hit, it would not die. Instead, it would recover in the blink of an eye!
It was the same elsewhere. Shinji and Asuka had cut off the Apostle's limbs more than once, but the Apostle would recover in the blink of an eye …. There was no way to fight it!
"… Retreat!"
Seeing the chaotic situation in front of her, Ge Chengmeili hesitated for a moment before giving the order. To be honest, she did not want to retreat here. After all, they had boarded three EVAs this time, but they could not even stop one Apostle. If word got out, NERV's reputation would be completely ruined.
But …
"There's no need to retreat. Try again."
At that moment, Fangzheng suddenly stood up and initiated contact.
"Third Lieutenant Fangzheng?"
"Listen to me. There's nothing wrong with trying."
Fangzheng gestured to Ge Chengmeili before activating the comms channel.
"Listen carefully. These two Apostles may have some kind of connection with each other. You have to attack their cores at the same time! Shinji, you're in charge of the main attack. Rinbori, you're in charge of restraining them. Asuka, you'll be in charge of giving them the final blow! The best way is to pull the two of them into a row, and then pierce them like skewers! "
"Understood."
"Understood."
Hearing Fangzheng's order, Shinji and Rinbori immediately responded, but Asuka did not say anything.
"Don't worry, I believe in you."
But Fangzheng did not say anything else. He just said one more sentence and turned off the communication.
"… Continue the battle."
Although Fangzheng's actions were technically beyond his authority, Ge Chengmeili did not say much. In fact, she really did not have any good ideas right now. The idea proposed by Fangzheng was at least … a good idea.
It was much better than sending out three EVAs and returning home with their tails between their legs.
After receiving Fangzheng's order, the battle began again.
Fangzheng, of course, knew this Apostle very well. After all, one of the most classic scenes in EVAs, the 62-second battle, came from this. That part was really classic, but … Fangzheng did not want to repeat it.
After all, it was too troublesome.
With Fangzheng's guidance, the three of them had a goal to work with. Not long after, Shinji pierced through one of the Apostle clones with his sword, while Rinbori suppressed the other one. The two clones were back to back. Then, Asuka went up and pierced through the cores of the two Apostles. With a whistling explosion and a pillar of light … the battle finally came to an end.
Night fell.
In the dark night, the whole of New Tokyo was silent. Fangzheng sat on a chair on the balcony, drinking tea while looking at the night view outside.
SEELE did not make any moves, and Fangzheng did not need to either. He only needed to wait for the complete elimination of the Apostles … But for Fangzheng, compared to the Apostles, the war with humans was the most troublesome.
"Click."
At that moment, Fangzheng felt the balcony door behind him open, and a figure walked in.
"Yo, Asuka, it's so late. Why aren't you sleeping?"
Fangzheng turned his head and glanced at the girl behind him. Asuka, on the other hand, shook her head silently and sat on the chair beside her.
"I want to come out for some fresh air."
"Is that so? But be careful not to catch a cold."
"It's fine."
Asuka sat on the chair as she spoke. Fangzheng put down the teacup in his hand and poured a cup of tea for Asuka.
"You did a great job today."
"Really?"
"Of course. After all, no one expected the Apostles to have that kind of ability. The previous Apostles didn't show that kind of ability, did they? Not to mention, you guys still eliminated the Apostles in the end. That's enough. "
Fangzheng chuckled as he looked at the girl beside him. However, Asuka remained silent.
Fangzheng more or less understood Asuka's thoughts.
Among the EVA pilots, Asuka looked the strongest on the surface, but in fact, she was the weakest.
For Rinbori, driving an EVA was part of her job. She had yet to find a meaning outside of "work". This was normal, just like how social animals always felt that their world had collapsed without a job. But once she lost her job, Rinbori would just live like that. Maybe she lacked interest in life, and there was nothing romantic about it, but she still had to live.
Although Ikari Shinji was introverted and autistic, at least he didn't really care about driving an EVA. There were several times in the anime where Ikari Shinji had really made up his mind to quit. If worst comes to worst, I'll just go back and live my autistic life. What does it have to do with me whether you guys love each other or not? Isn't it good for me to stay at home and read manga characters every day?
But Asuka was different. For her, she only had value in driving an EVA.
Because of this, Asuka's requirements for herself had reached a rather perverse level.
Take the battle against the Apostles today for example. At that time, when Fangzheng gave the order, both Rinbori and Ikari Shinji replied, but Asuka didn't. Fangzheng immediately knew what the problem was.
On the surface, Asuka didn't seem to care, but Fangzheng knew that deep down, Asuka was worried that she had messed up. After all, she was the one who hacked that apostle in half, and that was why she split into two. If there was a problem because of this, if the battle failed, if everyone else felt that it was her fault …
Asuka didn't say it out loud, but Fangzheng could tell. People could lie, but their reactions couldn't. After the Apostle was split in half and resurrected, Asuka's Eva No. 2 was restrained in battle. In the eyes of people like Geijo Misato and Akagi Ritsuko, they might only think that Asuka was being cautious, but someone like Fangzheng could see through Asuka's emotions and thoughts at a glance.
For Asuka, driving an EVA was her value in life. If something went wrong, it wouldn't be as simple as the world collapsing. She would lose all meaning in her existence.
Because of this, Asuka was always critical of other pilots. In the anime, she had always disliked Rinbori. This was actually normal. Asuka had been officially selected to be a pilot, while Rinbori had no battle achievements. Ikari Shinji had at least killed a few Apostles in the anime, while Rinbori Ritsuko was just a bystander.
That was why Asuka mocked Ikari Shinji and Rinbori Ritsuko as someone who got in through the back door and a top student. That top student was actually mocking Rinbori Ritsuko for not being able to do anything and not being able to defeat an Apostle. She only got the pilot position because she was obedient.
For Asuka, who regarded driving an EVA as her value in life, this was a kind of blasphemy. She had worked so hard and spent almost everything to get what she wanted, but to some people, all she had to do was pretend to be obedient. No one would be able to accept such a thing.
Of course, the current Asuka was not as unruly as she was in the anime. This was not because her temper had improved, but because under Fangzheng's training and guidance, both Rinbori Ritsuko and Ikari Shinji had achieved impressive results. Rinbori Ritsuko killed Izushi, and Ikari Shinji killed Mosaic. The two of them even worked together to eliminate Thunder Angel.
With such achievements in front of her, Asuka of course would not mock the two of them for only knowing how to eat and not work like she did in the anime. The three of them got along quite well.
But when it came to some core issues …
"… Fangzheng."
"Hmm?"
Asuka had never been very polite when she greeted him. She rarely addressed him by his name, but Fangzheng did not mind.
"What's wrong?"
"… Do you know about my past?"
"I'm not very sure, and I don't really care."
As he spoke, Fangzheng reached out his hand and touched Asuka's head.
"No matter what happened in the past, at least you're here now, aren't you?"
"…"
Asuka silently slapped Fangzheng's hand away.
"I can almost guess what you're thinking. In fact, I've said similar words to Rei and Shinji before. It's not too late to say it to you again. Although you can only drive an EVA now, you still have your own future in the future."
"… Will there really be such a future?"
"Of course. One day, the Apostles will be completely destroyed. After that, what do you plan to do?"
"I …"
Asuka was silent for a long time in the face of Fangzheng's question.
"I've never thought about …"
"Marry? What do you think of Shinji? "
"I'm not interested. I'm not interested in that idiot."
"Then do scientific research? I heard you've graduated from university. "
"If I wanted to do that, I wouldn't be driving an EVA."
"Yeah …"
Upon hearing that, Fangzheng thought for a moment.
"Then, do you want to drive a robot to fight aliens?"
"Huh? Are you an idiot too? "
Asuka was dumbfounded by Fangzheng's suggestion.
"Where would aliens come from?"
"Just because there aren't aliens in this world doesn't mean there aren't aliens in other worlds. Maybe there are aliens in other worlds … Why, are you interested?"
"… No, I just want to drive an EVA."
Asuka thought for a moment about Fangzheng's suggestion, but in the end, she shook her head.
"Is that so? That's a little troublesome, but … let's take it slow."
"Yeah …"
Asuka didn't say anything else. She just closed her eyes and leaned on Fangzheng's shoulder.
Soon, with the sound of light breathing, the girl fell into a deep dream.
Code of Dimensions
Code of Dimensions
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