Chapter 40:
Apostate’s Bow

 

THE SAHAQUIEL ANGEL CARRIER was still pursuing Six. Its fingertips grew longer and longer out of hands that were too big for its body. Six shot it down with the Powered 8 railgun. She wasn’t part of the Yomotsu Hirasaka mission. This was her reason for conserving as much energy as she could during her encounters. She ran from the Angel Carriers and had only come out of hiding when a full blast from Trois had decimated one of the Sahaquiel Carrier’s arms.

“Time for me to fight back!”

She closed in on her enemy while unloading the rest of her magazine into it. By the time she was close enough, the Field Piercer that was mounted on the Eva-00 Type-F Allegorica’s right wing was fully charged. The Angel’s Backbone was ready to fire. She aimed it at the center of Sahaquiel’s remaining hand, which had a pattern curiously similar to a bullseye, and let loose.

“Is it over?”

Rei Six suddenly noticed the mutant Eva lurking behind her.

“Quatre?! What are you doing here?”

Quatre had been confident that she would pass by unnoticed, so the sudden mention of her name startled her.

It’s those sensors on Super Eva’s shoulder pylons!

Sahaquiel’s large but thin hand lost the ability to support itself once it was split apart, and all one thousand meters of the membrane cast a shadow over Six’s unit as it fell across her like a blanket.

“Whoa.”

The membrane contracted like a muscle as soon as it made contact with Eva-00 Type-F Allegorica. Once she was locked in place, the Angel Carrier stabbed through Sahaquiel’s palm, right into Six, with its staff weapon.

Six spoke from inside the membrane.

“I’ve been looking for you. You always hid behind the hands—”

Sahaquiel’s fingers tightened around Six’s neck, making a grotesque teru teru bozu. The tip of the Carrier’s staff slid through the membrane, but it stopped just before it touched Eva-00 Type-F Allegorica’s chest. Six was holding a prog knife in her left hand, and her A.T. Field was shielding her.

The ring, which was made of tessellating blocks, expanded around Eva-0.0 to keep it from strangling to death. It cut off bits of Sahaquiel’s hand and slithered like a snake, finally piercing the Q.R. Signum on the Carrier’s left shoulder with its bayonet.

This was the barrel of the Angel’s Backbone. The total length of the firing system wasn’t much different from the previous model, but the barrel was now made of the spine of discarded Eva-00s, making it three times longer than the prototype.

The longer barrel resulted in an increase in initial baryon velocity, while also increasing the A.T. Field’s penetration and stretching capabilities. When removed from its sleeve, the barrel could move like it had a mind of its own.

Compared to its previous model, which mainly focused on long-range support, the Eva-00 Type-F Allegorica was equipped with gear that made it more mobile and more capable of handling close-quarters combat.

“Phew!”

Six picked up the replica lance from the ground and stowed it away in her left pylon.

 

“That girl’s Eva is ridiculously strong.” Quatre gave Kaji her honest assessment.

“All right. We’ll have to try activating this bow with the Q.R. Signum.”

Quatre wasn’t pleased. Every time she tapped into the Q.R. Signum for power, she was forced to look at Armaros’ darkness, and it hurt every time.

“…!”

But what she saw this time wasn’t the usual dark. Countless Evas were killing each other in a valley. This vision was a first for her, but she’d seen the result of this battle not so long ago.

Rock formations that look like a forest of petrified colossi. A place where the horrors of the past seem to be frozen in the present. North Africa…the Valley of Human Bodies.

And the giant standing tall at the end of the battle was—

“It’s working,” the Kaji-vessel’s voice jolted her back to reality.

Quatre looked at the display. “Power flow confirmed. Syncing with FCS.”

Immediately, the energy readings spiked, sucking them, and the soul of the Eva, into it.

 

Six saw Quatre’s unit on course for an attack.

“I’m warning you, Quatre! I see you as hostile! I will fight back! And I’m really strong!”

Six bragged as she readied the Eva-00 Type-F Allegorica for battle. The Angel’s Backbone was already charging again.

 

“What is this bow…?!”

Quatre couldn’t let go of the great bow, but neither could she stop it. Azumaterasu drew energy from everything…from the mutant Eva to her own mental energy.

My consciousness is fading.

They were going through the same thing Super Eva had when he’d first shot the bow from Hakone.

“This bow…it’s Sacrilegus! Where did they find it?! Puppet, attach it to the ground and open a tunnel!”

“She’ll get me if I stop!”

The battle had already begun.

“If you don’t stop…” The weapon was so fearsome that even Seele was afraid. “If you don’t stop, the bow will drain us of all our energy! Do you want to be a pillar of salt?!”

The mutant Eva hesitated.

<<Gotcha!>> Six fired the Angel’s Backbone at them.

The baryons wrapped in a thin penetrating A.T. Field grazed the mutant Eva’s shoulder and burned a bit of its head.

“Urgh!”

Quatre had bought some time before Six could fire again. She jumped back and stabbed the point of the great bow’s lower limb into the ground. She felt it let go of her as it formed a warp gate beneath it. However, Quatre couldn’t draw the bowstring. She only had one hand, and that was currently keeping the bow steady.

“Picture your right hand in your mind. Just don’t hit the lance!”

She took Kaji’s advice, and suddenly the mutant Eva was pulling the bow back with its right arm. Quatre arched her back in her seat to compensate for the feedback she felt.

“It’s so heavy!”

Too heavy. This bow wasn’t made for Evas but for something much larger.

Three points of light lined up above and below the bow’s grip and formed an arrow.

“Fire!”

Quatre felt something shoot up from the ground and out through the bow. Six dodged, but the mountain behind her where Wolfpack had been crucified was blown to smithereens.

This is…

“A weapon that draws power from the tunnel complex itself. Is this another tool of the Human Instrumentality Project? Or is it one of yours?”

The mutant Eva let go of the bow and took a step back. The ground beneath Azumaterasu cracked, seeping hot gas out of the fissures. The Kaji-vessel also reeled at the bow’s display of power.

“This weapon is not one of the mythmakers. This is not something we are supposed to touch. This is…”

The Q.R. Signum in the mutant Eva’s chest suddenly shook. Quatre translated for the black giant’s scale.

“That…is mine.”

“I figured,” she finished.

The Kaji-vessel nodded in understanding.

Shinji saw the arrow and recognized it as the same light that had enveloped him. He sensed the mutant Eva’s presence.

“Quatre! And Kaji-san’s with you?”

Armaros charged toward Super Eva as the latter was focused on the bolt of light.

“Crap!”

But the attack never came. The black giant had switched targets and was now flying toward Azumaterasu.

What did he say before?

<<That…is mine.>>

Shinji heard the black giant’s words even as Six softly repeated them.

<<That’s my bow.>>

“What are you talking about?!”

Shinji’s surprise was mixed with anger, not only at his heart, which was now going berserk, but also at the voice Armaros had chosen to speak with him.

The voice was his own.