Chapter 176 208: Even with the Four Gods' Blessing, You Must Die!

"5, 4, 3, 2, 1, detonate."

Humans had spent an hour probing the Ice Angel's intelligence, ten minutes calculating its limits, and then, leaving plenty of room for error, detonated their strongest conventional weaponry all around it.

Theoretically, the AT Field would be pierced, and the third wave of explosions would critically injure or outright kill the Angel.

This is wisdom—the trump card humans use to defeat those powerful aliens with their frail bodies. Even in the 40K era, where monsters run rampant, humanity is not considered a particularly powerful species.

Frail bodies, unstable psyches, and a lack of special powers; even their psychic talent is lackluster compared to the Aeldari.

Yet, they dominate the galaxy. Even if the Imperium is as crumbling and drafty as a derelict building, it remains the master of the galaxy, not something any stray dog can challenge.

Isn't that right, T'au?

But wisdom alone is far from enough. The reason humanity can exist as a collective is because they always manage to form a balance of power.

You have warriors with superhuman physical strength? I have Astartes. You can create powerful weapons of war? Is the Adeptus Mechanicus weak? Even when faced with unreasonable "gods," humanity has the protection of the Emperor.

But this homeland is different. Here, human wisdom is no less than in 40K, but it lacks that one thing: it cannot form a balance.

Listening to the sudden blaring of the alarm, Shinji raised an eyebrow. An accident had occurred, as expected.

There was no help for it; Angels "cheat." Who among the monsters and demons didn't cheat? Yet the Emperor always made humanity cheat right back. Even when the Iron Men rebellion turned the Golden Age to ash, they still managed to restore the old rivers and mountains as if they were cheating.

[Alert: Ice Angel AT Field intensity rising. 17% redundancy buffer insufficient to penetrate.]

[Third wave of N2 mines detonated. Failed to cause direct damage.]

[The Angel has begun to move.]

Originally an opportunity for humans to showcase wisdom and experience, the reports coming in were all bad news. Ritsuko Akagi remained calm. Whether the R&D or Operations departments drafted meticulous plans, something always went wrong; she was used to it.

"It seems we have our answer. The Ice Angel's AT Field intensity has risen from 2 to 5, exceeding the standard of the Rain Angel. Is it playing the pig to eat the tiger?"

"The probability of it holding back is low. It's just a pile of N2 mines; Unit 01 hadn't even entered the water. Who was it trying to lure?"

Shinji's logic remained irrefutable. If so, there was only one reason.

"It has obtained nourishment from the Negative Universe and is rapidly growing, evolving from a larval form to a mature form."

Ritsuko Akagi held her breath. This was not good news.

It indicated that the Angel—a monster that acted based on instinctive programming—was being manipulated by some will. It wasn't wisdom, but it made it increasingly uncontrollable, and this uncontrollability introduced many variables.

"This change began the moment I returned. It's nothing more than the accumulation of quantitative changes leading to a qualitative leap. You cannot hope that the enemy will forever be a fool throwing itself into the fire."

Shinji was calm; he had discovered this long ago.

"Quantitative to qualitative? Is the qualitative leap the birth of a 'God'?"

"Of course. The subconscious cannot be compared to a Warp entity. Why is humanity full of possibilities if not for the subjective initiative born from wisdom?"

Shinji tapped his forehead. The biggest difference between humans and Angels was active consciousness versus passive instinct. That was why Kaworu Nagisa had seemed so special.

"As long as we have the answer, that's enough. Prepare Unit 01; I'll go finish it off."

Shinji acted much like a heartless man—as soon as he got his answer, he moved to silence the witness. He walked out of the base, the steel giant kneeling in the wind and snow. The Russian soldiers nearby cast fervent gazes toward him.

It was precisely because Shinji was there that they dared to tempt fate. It had been proven that the military couldn't handle Angels, but what of it? They had the invincible EVA Unit 01 behind them.

Most junior officers had never seen the combat footage and only heard of Unit 01's terrifying record, but the pilot's appearance was reliable to the extreme.

He wore a blue-and-white form-fitting plugsuit. At less than 1.8 meters tall, he wasn't particularly towering among these northern men, but the suit outlined strong, powerful muscle lines. He didn't shiver at all in the sub-zero temperatures as he walked steadily toward them.

'They said the pilot was a fourteen-year-old boy? This is fourteen?!'

The junior officers whispered among themselves. As career soldiers, they could naturally sense the iron-blooded aura about him—words like "battle-hardened" didn't even seem sufficient.

When the boy stood on the lift and rose into the blizzard, looking down at everyone with a gaze both majestic and loyal, the soldiers of the North raised their hands in salute.

"Shinji, that guy is a natural army 'succubus.' If he weren't piloting an EVA and were sent to deal with the UN forces, he'd probably have gathered a bunch of die-hard followers by now."

Misato Katsuragi couldn't hold back anymore. She felt the boy had a unique temperament that could easily make the UN forces willing to die for him.

"One can only say they belong to the same kind—a level-capped 'big boss' attraction to small fry." Ritsuko had her own unique metaphor, though she had envisioned some overly Showa-era scenarios.

But that would be too inefficient for Shinji-kun; he couldn't be bothered to do such things.

"What is the Angel's status?"

Shinji sat in the cockpit. He never felt this was a problem; for an Astartes who had survived thousands of battles, everyone on Earth was just a raw recruit.

"It is currently surfacing. The military submarine detachment has retreated."

"Surfacing?"

Shinji was stunned. If the Angel's ability was to solidify seawater, it would have the terrain advantage in the deep sea. He had originally thought the Ice Angel would submerge all the way to Tokyo-3.

"What are the coordinates? Also, have the Russian fleet intercept it outside the bay; the Angel might be feinting."

"It's been arranged, but it is still surfacing vertically."

The Angels were no longer idiots, and Misato wouldn't make such a low-level mistake; she immediately sent the coordinates.

'Not only do you not surrender, you dare to engage me in battle?'

Shinji glanced at the coordinates and gripped the control stick in the warm cockpit, his eyes scanning the data.

Unit 01 was equipped with heavy armament this time. Aside from the power sword and bolter, it had external armor powered by high-energy batteries, constructed from ultra-hard No. 3 alloy. It was loaded with shoulder-mounted electromagnetic cannons and 48-cell heavy missile launchers—armed to the teeth.

"Keep an eye on collecting the external armor data so we can retrofit the other EVAs."

After giving the order, he pressed lightly on the control stick. Two solid rocket boosters behind the ribs spat out long flames, and with a tap of his toes, the AT Field expanded.

BOOM—

Everyone on the airfield covered their faces. The blizzard paused for a moment as Unit 01 blasted off, leaving nothing but concentric sonic boom rings in its wake.

The tens-of-meters-tall machine sprinted at supersonic speed along the ground. The visual impact was maximized, leaving everyone stunned. When they realized such power firmly stood on the side of humanity, they couldn't help but cheer.

"Urah! Urah!"

'You really are an army succubus.'

Misato Katsuragi looked at the Russian soldiers who were already chanting "Urah" before the fight had even started, and as the cold wind whipped in through the shattered windows, she crouched down.

'Hiss, so cold.'

-

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-

Sprinting at full speed, leaving huge footprints on the white frozen earth, Shinji had no intention of posturing. It was just that his sync rate was too high; if he didn't activate the AT Field, the inside of the entry plug would be freezing to death.

"How are you going to fight this, Shinji?"

"Coordinates haven't changed. At this speed, we'll collide with the Angel head-on. This Ice Angel's AT Field intensity is still increasing—the Warp, no, the Negative Universe is continuously providing energy."

"That sounds like a Wuxia novel."

Yui Ikari said playfully. Didn't it sound just like the Wuxia novels that were popular when she was young? An peerless expert called the Negative Universe was constantly transmitting "internal energy" to the Ice Angel, raising its ceiling.

As for the S² organ, that was a perpetual motion machine; it couldn't be used to judge an Angel's strength. After all, no matter how infinite your energy, if I cut you down in one strike, you won't get to use your subsequent energy.

If it were anyone else, Shinji would already be warning them not to watch such nonsensical things, but since this was his mother, he swallowed his lecture.

"Something like that. As weapons, these alien Angels are indeed powerful. Their growth completely transcends the biological category—they have no wisdom, yet possess immense power. You could call them the perfect puppets."

"It's just that the Dead Sea Scrolls previously locked the framework."

Yui Ikari was also a pioneer in human research on Angels and immediately understood Shinji's meaning.

Why set a standard for AT Field intensity? Why use the Ice Angel as an experimental subject? It was to obtain this answer: Why is the Dead Sea Scrolls called the inevitability of fate?

It was because it dictated the number, sequence, strength, and skills of the Angels. Unless the world looped many times, it would only change due to the butterfly effect after countless iterations—like 17 Angels becoming 13, or something similar.

"But the concept of that Negative Universe gradually gained consciousness and began to break the framework to strengthen the Angels?"

"Yes. That is the greatest gain from this trip. Originally, all Angels, including Adam and Lilith, were its descendants. They were born with a strong link to the Negative Universe. It's not a question of whether it can be done, but whether it wants to."

Shinji's expression was grave. His words weren't entirely accurate. To be precise, the Negative Universe of the past never had the concept of "want."

"Angel"—this religious term was not baseless. Since they were named Apostles, they were born with a mission.

Shinji had only discovered this mission because of his own butterfly effect, and then facilitated that mission because of his peculiar experiences. The world line in Ayanami Rei's dream would not be like this—at least, not so early on.

"Actually, in 40K, there is a more accurate description for a similar situation."

Thump—Boom—

Unit 01 stopped instantly. The inertia tore a massive crater into the frozen earth, and not far away, the ice on the sea surface shattered as a colossal figure leaped out from the deep.

"Its name is—

Blessing."

Blessing.

Another term that one must "taste" in 40K. Gods bestow power upon their followers in accordance with their wishes.

Shinji was even more convincing than others; as the Emperor's Champion, he was a beneficiary of such blessings.

Without the blessing, he would have died at the hands of the Black Legion long ago; without it, he could not have returned. So, while others felt it was unfair for the Angels to "cheat," he felt it was perfectly normal.

To use an inaccurate metaphor, the relationship between the Angels and the Negative Universe's will was even closer than that between the Primarchs and the Emperor. Isn't it a matter of course for them to receive blessings? The key was whether the Negative Universe's will had the desire, and now, it did.

Of course, because the Negative Universe was too immature and the "God" was far from complete, it wasn't as exaggerated as those transcendent beings in 40K. Otherwise, during the Third Angel, Shinji would have already returned to the Golden Throne.

In fact, this "blessing" had begun a long time ago—for example, the Angels becoming more cunning and their actions becoming more tactical. But that had been subtle. Shinji had not traveled back from the end of time and did not know what intensity the original Angels were supposed to have; he could only deduce it from their behavior.

But this time, he truly saw a blessing from the Negative Universe.

'What blasphemy!'

Shinji watched as a monster with Ayanami Rei's ice-blue hair color crawled out, his anger reaching a peak.

In a short time, it had expanded more than tenfold from the photos, reaching a hundred meters in height. This was the most typical characteristic of a blessing, and the blessing of a Chaos God would cause a loyal Astartes' fury to burn.

The Emperor's blessing is a supreme grace; a Chaos God's blessing is supreme blasphemy. Humans have always been this double-standard.

"Shinji, the Ice Angel's AT Field intensity has reached Level 7."

Misato Katsuragi reminded him in a hurried voice. The problem Shinji could easily understand was a miracle in her eyes.

'What did this Angel eat to grow so fast?'

Right—the Angels had another advantage: their carrying capacity. In 40K, the blessings of Chaos Gods were not something ordinary people could endure, but these wave-particle organisms weren't that fragile.

"Continue monitoring. Begin the second step of the experiment."

"Yes."

Shinji closed the communicator and looked at the Angel in the distance. The thing looked strange.

The ice-blue body swayed. It had two recurve legs and a slender tail. Its surface bulged like armor, and it had four half-limbs resembling those of the Angel of Light. Its head was triangular, and when opened, it was full of fine, dense teeth; inside the oral cavity, one could see a monster-face similar to the Fish Angel. The Angel core was not visible from the surface.

It was a humanoid Angel, but compared to those previous Angels, it looked somewhat familiar.

Each Angel had an indescribable appearance: giant eggs, strange fish, spider-like forms, or simply formless. But Shinji could suddenly describe this thing.

'Hmm, it looks a bit like a Tyranid Warrior. No wonder it looks familiar.'

Freezing ability, Level 7 intensity, physical biting and striking capabilities.

The Astartes glanced at it and reached many conclusions. The blizzard whistled by, making the distant black shadow appear hazy. The next moment, Unit 01 leaped to the side.

Whew—Boom!

A beam of intense light lit up in the shadows, and then a Cross of Light bloomed on the frozen earth. Shinji, having pre-read it with his psychic power, dodged first, and smoke billowed from the launchers on his back.

Full burst.

Missiles whistled through the air like falling flower petals. They didn't slam into the Angel, but rather enveloped it. The outer casings of the individual missiles fell away, and dense armor-piercing cluster warheads shot out.

Boom, boom, boom...

A continuous barrage of explosions erupted. Ice shards flew everywhere, and the AT Field flickered. Just as visibility was isolated, an armor-piercing projectile wrapped in an AT Field flew out.

Beep—

The defensive light curtain was clearly struggling. Before the kinetic energy was exhausted, Unit 01 had already sprinted over. The electromagnetic cannon on its shoulder blasted a second and third projectile, making the AT Field shake even more violently.

Clang.

Two power swords dragged on the ground, carving deep furrows into the frozen earth. Shinji watched the front, suddenly pulled the control stick, and simultaneously heard his mother's voice.

"Watch out."

Unit 01 went from a sprint to a backflip in an instant, and the next moment, Shinji saw the problem. A strange sight appeared on the route of his previous sprint.

The blizzard and dust were solidified in the air, like a floating cloud. Then, two pink ribbons of light, similar to the Angel of Terror's, stabbed into the ground, leaving behind two bottomless pits.

'So that's it. No wonder it dared to come to the ground to fight me.'

Shinji immediately understood that this Angel's ability had nothing to do with cold ice; it was freezing space—it was just that the liquid resulted in an ice-like effect.

"And those two—no, four—light whips."

Unit 01 tumbled and retreated like an acrobat. The air emitted a whistling screech. Those four "severed arms" extended four whips of light, howling as they tore everything around them apart, followed by a flash of intense light in its mouth.

BOOM!!

The Cross of Light bloomed. Shinji lowered his shield and pulled out his bolter, adjusting it to rapid-fire mode.

Dat-dat-dat-dat-dat...

Twenty micro-missiles were emptied instantly, but they solidified in mid-air before hitting the Angel's AT Field. Then, a whip of light swept over, detonating them with a "bang."

Integrated offense and defense, space-freezing—if it were anyone else, they would have been blindsided. But Shinji and Yui Ikari discovered the problem simultaneously.

"Did you see it?"

"Mm. The whips of light cannot attack within the frozen area. It deactivated the freezing; that's what triggered the explosion."

"Are we going to break through head-on? Use the AT Field to forcibly tear through the freezing."

"That's too risky. Also—"

Shinji shook his head, performed a roll to dodge a beam, hunkered down, and sprinted forward. Suddenly, he performed an emergency stop to dodge, popped out the large shield, and then kicked it forward.

"Your son is a technical expert."

Thump—

The shield made a dull sound, slapping forward like a door plank, and then it hung in mid-air, motionless. Unit 01 circled around the side, and a new magazine was already loaded.

AT Field neutralization.

Dat-dat-dat-dat.

A series of bolts solidified in the air again. Before the Angel could counterattack, the shoulder-mounted electromagnetic cannon fired a round, drilling through the hole after neutralization, only to be swiped away by the light whip.

Confirmed: A maximum of two freezing fields can be generated, with a rotation interval of 0.5 seconds. Binding intensity is extremely high, covering a 100-meter diameter.

Shinji launched a charge. The power sword, thrown like lightning, solidified in mid-air. Just as the shield lost its binding and continued to fly forward, Unit 01 bent its knees, the immense power causing the earth to crack.

Bang!

Unit 01 performed a massive leap into the air. Behind it, the stirred-up dust solidified in mid-air; clearly, he had exceeded the maximum range of the freezing field.

The Ice Angel reacted extremely quickly, swinging a light whip to knock away the incoming shield. Then, it looked up, seeing Unit 01 falling like a giant bird.

Freezing.

The massive robot solidified in the air. The light whip pierced toward Unit 01's chest like a long spear. This move connected extremely quickly; there was no time to break free. But at the same time, just like the large shield earlier, that string of bolts had returned to normal.

Boom, boom, boom...

A large, bright spark exploded on the Angel. Shinji watched two long spears graze his head without changing his expression, his pupils burning, psychic power fully unleashed.

Crack.

Clear cracks appeared in the air, finally shattering like ice. A sync rate of over 300% released terrifying energy, taking two seconds to tear the freezing field to pieces. As the Ice Angel regained its balance and threw out two more long spears of light, Unit 01 also reached out its hand, gripping the large shield that had been swatted away earlier.

AT Field fully activated.

The rock-solid AT Field deflected the light spear. Bracing himself with the shield, he descended like Mount Tai. The Ice Angel hastily took a few steps back, narrowly avoiding being crushed underneath.

"In that case, your freezing field is useless."

A 100-meter diameter would cover both parties. The combat plan for close-quarters fighting was complete. Shinji became even more focused and leaped lightly. He saw a slender tail

sweep across the ground, smashing the surrounding cedars into fragments. Then, he saw the previously soft light whips turn solid.

Swish—

The AT Field was pierced. This was the Angel concentrating all its energy, learning from the EVA to focus its AT Field to deal massive damage. But Unit 01's AT Field was simply too strong; tearing through the field was the limit. However, the Ice Angel had four arms.

Two light spears headed straight for his chest. Fortunately, Shinji still had the shield in his hand, so he turned his body sideways.

Sizzle—

Bright sparks appeared on the surface of the shield. The high-strength alloy was gouged with two notches in the blink of an eye, plunging into the snow and ice alongside the rounded shoulder armor. The Ice Angel seized this opportunity to retreat, but in a flash, it lowered its head again.

It didn't move an inch—or rather, a giant steel foot was planted on its paw, pinning it in place like a nail.

"Trying to run?"

Unit 01 held the shield in its left hand, concentrating the AT Field on its surface. Increasing the defense by several times after concentration, it blocked the light blade's slash. Its right hand reached to its waist, pulling out the shortened bolter.

Dat-dat-dat-dat...

At near-zero distance, bullets attached with the AT Field reduced the Angel's thigh to a bloody mess. The body, which was two heads taller than Unit 01, tipped forward abruptly. But the Angel was indeed a monster without a sense of pain; following the momentum, it opened its mouth full of sharp teeth and gnawed toward Unit 01's head.

The terrifying bite force crushed steel, but this was not Unit 01's head. Shinji snatched up the tattered shield and shoved it into the Angel's mouth. Stepping back half a step, he pulled out his power sword with his backhand and hacked it into the Angel's waist with a plop.

Before the Ice Angel could spit out the iron filings in its mouth, Shinji had released the sword and shield, joined his fingers into a blade, and thrust it into its throat. Then, he grabbed the spine fiercely, unleashing his strength to the limit together with Yui Ikari.

Crack.

That sharp-toothed, inverted triangular head was ripped clean off, along with a long length of spine.

"Negative Universe blessing?"

With the head pulled off, the mountain-like body lost control and immediately toppled forward. In his psychic vision, Shinji could see the energy of the Warp gathering behind the head—there was no need to hunt for the Angel core.

He threw the Angel's head to the ground, half-turned around, and stomped down with his raised right leg.

"Blessing of the Four Gods? I'll kill you to show you!"

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