Chapter 57:
Instinct
THE MONSTER WAS HUNTING DOWN citizens who’d returned to their homes.
The one that had landed on Izu Peninsula seemed to be an herbivore. But this one had landed in an urban area with little vegetation, so perhaps it had started eating humans purely out of convenience. Either way, it didn’t give a second glance at the trees once it got a taste for humans.
People panicked as the monster undulated toward them. It raged through the streets, bulldozing cars and devouring anyone in its path. The black creature loomed over the terrified citizens.
“Brace for impact!” The Akashima jumped in from the side, knocking the creature away.
The black beast’s skin glowed upon contact, absorbing the Akashima’s kinetic energy.
“Did you see that?!” Endo asked his gunner.
“That was an A.T. Field. No doubt about it.”
“Permission to speak freely, sir!” the operator said.
“Granted!”
“I didn’t feel anything like bone upon impact.”
“Interesting. But why has it taken the form of an invertebrate?”
“Subject losing speed. It’s reeling!”
“All right. Shift into battle mode!”
The round nose of the plane became the Akashima’s chest upon transforming. Just as it finished, it deliberately delayed its thrusters and wings folding in to twist its body and kick the monster away.
The momentum carried the beast through a forest, leveling the trees. It slowly rose, noting the Akashima as an enemy, and attacked.
“Weapons live. All twenty of them.”
“Yes, sir! Do you think it’s an Angel…?”
“I don’t know. Maybe it’s just a meatbag with blood and guts that happens to be able to generate an A.T. Field. Even people have been known to have Pattern Blue, if only momentarily. Anyway. Take aim. Fire!”
BOOM!
Twenty large-caliber guns, arranged in five columns and four rows, fired continuously, creating a wall of shells. The monster hid behind its A.T. Field, but the bullets tore through it.
“Direct hit!”
“Mount Daikan command, target down. Hang on, scratch that.”
<<This is Mount Daikan command to Akashima. Nerv’s new four-legged unit is heading your way from the direction of Lake Ashi.>>
The Eva-00 Type-F Allegorica’s icon beeped on their radar.
“I guess they’re going to deal with the target at Iwanami… I thought it was still damaged.”
The Eva-00 Type-F Allegorica flew in with a cascade of N2 reactor-powered gravitons, like a heavy VTOL. It landed on the side of a mountain and took a sniping position. It armed the Field Piercer Angel’s Backbone and took aim at the target.
Endo was contemplating whether he should provide support when an urgent transmission came in.
<<This is Spotter 1. Two new bogeys have made landfall at Yugawara.>>
The clouds in the east lit up with the fire of guided weaponry.
“Come on!” Endo said.
There was a flash of light behind them, followed by a delayed explosion. Rei Six’s Allegorica had blown the creature to bits. The Akashima turned to look and saw something unexpected.
“What the hell…?”
The ground was soaked.
“It doesn’t have guts or skin… Is it just…seawater?”
The Akashima shifted into high-speed mode to quickly dispose of the new monsters. Endo felt he was in for a battle of attrition, judging by the sheer number that had spawned so far.
Meanwhile in the Nerv Japan command center…
“Individually, they’re not much of a threat, but there doesn’t seem to be an end to them,” Fuyutsuki said.
“We don’t have enough units to handle them all at once. I’ll contact the JSSDF so we can split the battlefield.”
“Please do,” Misato said.
“We’re receiving reports of creatures like it landing on the coast of Honshu… Uh, Commander Katsuragi?” Aoba said. “This is the seventh dispatch call.”
“Tell them our island is under attack. We can’t provide support.” Misato repeated her decision for the seventh time.
“What are things like outside the island? I thought the JSSDF had it under control.”
“The JSSDF have successfully intercepted some but not others. Either way, we’re running up a lot of casualties,” Aoba said.
Hyuga followed with a more scientific assessment. “So far they’ve landed in the Ogasawara Islands, Izu Islands, Izu Peninsula, and northern and southern Honshu, in that order.”
“And what do you make of that?”
“It looks like they’re moving out of Yomotsu Hirasaka in a cone shape,” Hyuga said.
“It’s a cone now, but it might be forming a circle…”
“Bogey sighted in Tokyo-3! North Sengokuhara area!” an operator shouted.
That was an urban combat zone, as far from the coast as could be.
“How is it in a city center?! Pull up the map!”
An icon lit up to indicate the new hostile. “There! Along the Hayakawa River!”
“I should’ve known!” Misato banged on the console. “It’s going up the river!”
“It’s right next to a civilian shelter!”
A cluster of defensive machine guns opened fire on the monster. Bullets sparked and smoked, but in the end they bounced harmlessly off the lizard-like creature’s field. It crawled under a building, where the guns couldn’t reach it.
“Where’s Six?!”
“On the other side of the caldera. Distance is…”
<<I’m on my way—Kyaa!>> Six responded, but one of the creatures latched on to the already-damaged hind legs of her Allegorica as she was taking off. She fell to the ground.
“Six!”
The black monster ran amok in the shelter area, sniffing the air for prey. It crawled along the buildings, breaking through them wildly, until it reached the civilian shelter.
After six charges, the top of the shelter was destroyed. The shielding was supposed to be bombproof, but it was of little use against a force that could gouge it out.
“Arm the guided missiles!”
“Wait!” Fuyutsuki said, cutting Misato off. “The only effective weapons we have are anti-Angel penetrators. One miscalculation and the shelter is done for!”
“Quantum flow inclinometers picking up a disturbance! Mount Kamiyama plateau!” Hyuga shouted, though no one immediately took notice.
Everyone had descended into a panic. In fact, they were so afraid, none of them had noticed their own hysteria. Mount Kamiyama had formerly been the highest peak in the Hakone caldera, until it was flattened during the battle with Sahaquiel. Now a circle of light was gathering on its horizontal summit.
<<Good to see you’re all keeping busy.>>
The decoded voice echoed in the command center through the old tactical network.
Misato cringed. It was Kaji.
Thirty blades of light rushed like a blizzard from Mount Kamiyama toward the urban area, piercing the black monster. The creature burst like a water balloon pricked with a needle.
“That’s…”
Six watched the light from the south side of the caldera. She recognized it from somewhere.
“That’s Marmaros’ weapon! Quatre’s mutant Eva has it?!”
<<I came to talk, but it seems that will have to wait,>> Kaji said ominously.
The color of mutant Eva-0.0’s hostile icon changed on the display.
“Signs of another warp gate opening up on Kamiyama Plateau!”
“Wait!” Misato grabbed a headset and started yelling into the microphone. “Ryoji! Seele! You should know what that thing is! Armaros is dead, so why are we still being invaded?!”
Silence.
Then an answer.
<<Do you still think this is an invasion? Those things are merely vestiges of creatures who failed to obtain life. They’ll die soon enough. They eat only to satisfy their appetites and can neither grow nor breed.>>
“Why are there so many of them?!”
<<Because they are trying to open the gates of heaven.>>
That was the last thing Seele/Kaji said before the icon for Quatre’s mutant Eva disappeared from the Kamiyama plateau.
“Wait! I’m not finished with you!”
“Misato-san… Commander… They’re gone!”
“Toji-kun…”
“But our enemies are still here…”
Nerv headquarters watched as a series of flashes blazed from the west to the east over Kamiyama Plateau. The three monsters on the coast of Yugawara were annihilated by the JSSDF’s vaporizer bombs. That was the worst of the invasion.
The number of monsters that made landfall decreased drastically after that. Dawn broke, and the invading force was no more.
Seele/Kaji had been telling the truth. The few monsters that landed on the Izu Peninsula had all stopped their invasion a few kilometers from the coast and liquified into seawater.