Chapter 177 209: Blood Ravens’ Basic Operations.

There was no back-and-forth struggle, nor was there any sign of a grueling battle. Shinji was very cautious before making a move, but once the attack actually began, it was in the standard Astartes style.

Cold, cruel, crushing the enemy like a tempest—there was not even the slightest hint of "hot-blooded" fervor. A standard killing machine is as precise as a clock, not a hot-blooded teenager roaring and shouting.

Probing the enemy's capa bilities, drafting the most efficient battle plan, and then executing it with precision—that was why every battle felt brief. The Angel hadn't even evolved a countermeasure before it was reduced to a pile of minced meat.

"A very nice blessing, but this is exactly the kind of enemy I like best."

The fire in Shinji's eyes began to fade. He preferred physically powerful monstrosities like the Angel of Light or the Ice Angel; it was the abstract types, like the Night Angel or the Terror Angel, that were somewhat troublesome.

"Well, you certainly have the grounds to be proud."

Yui Ikari was full of pride. She had always known why Shinji didn't rely on the power of Unit 01.

It was simple: there was no need.

He could clearly crush his opponents with his own strength; why take the risk of a high sync rate? One had to know that a higher sync rate wasn't always better. Once it exceeded 300%, the depth of the entry plug became dangerous; exceeding 400% would result in what happened to her—complete integration into Unit 01.

The current Shinji Ikari was no mere mortal. Yui wasn't even confident she could reassemble him into human form if he were lost. That wouldn't do—her precious son still had many things to accomplish.

"Speaking of which, I suddenly feel that the elders of SEELE are failing to see the forest for the trees. Isn't there a way to achieve immortality?"

"You mean turning into a machine spirit and merging with an EVA?"

Shinji naturally knew what his mother was talking about, and it was a result he tried his best to avoid. "Forget it. To become a machine spirit requires a sync rate of over 300%; those trash couldn't possibly manage it."

Returning to the present, Shinji glanced at the trampled head of the Angel. The mission objective had been achieved—he had confirmed the existence of a "blessing." But as he delved deeper into his thoughts, he frowned.

The Angel could have run away, so why did it choose to come forward and fight him one-on-one? Angels were not belligerent like a pack of bloodthirsty maniacs; they didn't even have the desire for "combat."

"Was it seeking martyrdom?"

"Hm? You don't think this Angel was going easy on you, do you?"

"That's not it. Combat is an instinct for the Angel; it was definitely going for my life. It just lacked the capability."

Shinji shook his head gently; he didn't believe the Angel possessed such wisdom.

"I'm talking about its choices. The will transmitted along with the Negative Universe energy—the Angel wanted to die at my hands, to urge my psychic power to further expand, and to make the Warp projection ever more dazzling."

This tied back to the "Emperor's Conjecture." Fate was already heading down another inevitable path. Shinji couldn't let these monsters go, but he also had to become powerful; otherwise, he couldn't serve as the middle pillar of stability.

'A conspiracy in broad daylight.'

By reading the information from his projection and layering it with the "Human Instrumentality Project," perhaps "It" could finally let out its first cry.

Shinji looked at the mountain-like headless corpse in front of him. In just a few minutes, the body had been covered by the heavy snow. As he watched, his eyes suddenly widened.

'No wonder it felt familiar. This couldn't have been read from my Warp projection, could it?'

When he first saw the Ice Angel, Shinji had thought it looked somewhat like a Tyranid Warrior. Its style was slightly different from previous Angels; its body was quite "hardcore." Previous Angels were all bizarre shapes—some like the Angel of Terror or the Night Angel were even somewhat comical.

'Quantitative change is continuing...'

The corner of Shinji's eye twitched. The only way to counter this method was psychic self-detonation—annihilating his Warp projection and his soul together. He didn't begrudge his own life, but doing so would be meaningless.

It would be equivalent to his return helping the Negative Universe's will push its progress bar significantly, without preventing a single thing. Given the current situation, without him, humanity would surely be destroyed.

"Don't overthink it. Haven't you already determined your path? Just keep walking it step by step."

Yui Ikari said softly. Now that Unit 01 and Shinji were one, she could feel his emotional fluctuations.

"Hm. But I have to prepare for both scenarios. At the very least, I must ensure that the 'Human Instrumentality Project' does not inevitably happen within the next few decades. If I then self-detonate, there shouldn't be any problems for two or three hundred years."

"To hell with 'both scenarios.' Do you think Asuka, Rei, and the others will thank you? You'd be better off killing them first and then self-detonating—that would be gentler."

Yui Ikari snapped, never having been so stern before.

Shinji was stunned, realizing he had said the wrong thing. He didn't offer an explanation, only sighed.

Self-completion had already reached the deep-water zone. His bonds with Asuka and the others were already unbreakable; in some ways, they had started to influence his decisions. And now, he couldn't bring himself to "slay his companions to prove the path."

Taking a deep breath, he looked at the charts Ritsuko Akagi had sent over.

"At least there is one piece of good news. The Ice Angel's AT Field intensity stopped growing when it was infinitely close to Level 8. This should be the limit of its growth."

It was indeed good news that the Angels wouldn't grow without limit as he had feared. All his conjectures were based on the premise of his survival; if he were defeated by an Angel, then all of that would be nonsense.

"So, it still wants to kill you?"

"Yes. This is a shortcut, but it also represents a risk. The will of the Negative Universe has no lifespan limit; it doesn't lack time. Naturally, the best method is to control me."

Shinji was very good at putting himself in others' shoes. The expansion of a psychic's projection would accelerate the birth rate, but if it could eliminate him, it would be a gain—it was a win-win either way.

"Let's go back. Akagi Ritsuko should be able to find some answers. Mother, why do I sense a trace of displeasure from you?"

In just a few minutes, a layer of blood-red thin ice had condensed on the surface of Unit 01, shattering as it turned. Yui Ikari remained silent for a long time before replying:

"Forget it. For the sake of that Akagi Ritsuko being useful to you, I won't step on her and squash her to death."

"No wonder the dummy plug system went berserk last time; you were aiming for her."

"Hmph. I dislike this woman. Let's make it clear: I only accept Asuka and Rei. Don't bring just any woman home."

-

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"This is the energy spectrum, and this is the spatial instability detection. Do you see this anomalous data? My judgment is that it is the Negative Universe directly transmitting energy."

Back at the base, a large group of Russian troops had already gone to clean up the battlefield. The camp by the airfield was now empty, and Akagi Ritsuko was holding a tablet, conducting post-battle analysis.

She noticed the young man's gaze was a bit strange and smoothed the blonde hair at her ear. "Is there a problem, Shinji-kun?"

"No. Please, continue."

Shinji shook his head—he couldn't possibly say that Yui Ikari was holding a grudge against her.

"Right. About 17 seconds before the battle started, space suddenly tended to stabilize, and the Ice Angel finally fixed at Level 7 intensity. I suspect this is the limit of the Fifteenth Angel; just like a balloon, no matter how much you pump air into it, there is a limit."

A clever metaphor. Every living being has a limit.

Shinji, however, found the flavor a bit familiar—wasn't it the signature Warhammer trope that "the older it is, the stronger it gets"?

He thought for a while and asked, "What do you think is the reason?"

"Perhaps every Angel has a natural limit, or perhaps the Ice Angel was born only recently."

"Recently?"

"Yes. The Research Department found something interesting on the seabed."

Ritsuko Akagi excitedly swiped the screen, showing a pile of new data. "Although it's just a preliminary test, the analysis of the seabed rock layer traces shows that the Ice Angel only appeared on the seabed recently, and it appeared out of thin air. This is different from the volcano specimen where we found the Embryonic Angel—the latter had been sleeping inside the volcano for over a million years."

That was the meaning of science—always able to deduce problems from clues. Everyone knew that life on Earth began in the ocean—the Sea of LCL—evolving from cells, but the Angels were different; they were all bodies cleaved by Adam himself.

New. It wasn't one of the seeds left behind by Adam originally. Shinji frowned, thought for a moment, and blurted out: "This isn't the Fifteenth Angel from the Dead Sea Scrolls script?"

"Hm. Doesn't this match up with the 'Emperor's Conjecture' again? Your predictions were truly well-founded. As wave-particle organisms, the Angels are composed of energy; their quantity does not need to follow the architecture of the Dead Sea Scrolls."

This was clearly bad news, but Ritsuko Akagi seemed very excited, as if the clouds had parted to reveal a deeper truth.

"Does that mean it's not endless? Are we facing a new kind of Angel?"

Misato Katsuragi was not as manic as she was; she knew that if this news leaked, the world would fall into chaos.

"Theoretically, yes. But you don't need to worry. Aside from SEELE, other nations don't know the specific contents of the Dead Sea Scrolls, nor do they know there are only 17 Angels. Without expectations, there will be no despair."

Shinji had long been prepared; he didn't lose his footing like Misato. An Astartes' enemy could only be a god; an embryonic Adam wasn't qualified to be one. This was within his expectations.

"Are you sure?"

"There is no data yet. However, I can compare the Ice Angel's biological specimen with the previous Angel specimens. Of course, it would be even better if we had a specimen of Adam's core body."

Ritsuko asked tentatively.

"No problem. I'll give you a portion when I go back."

There were no outsiders in the room, so Shinji didn't bother playing coy.

"So it is in your hands."

Ritsuko wasn't surprised, smiling bitterly. "But you really do have vast magical powers. The people at SEELE have dug three feet into the ground—even the Pacific Fleet suffered for it—and they still couldn't find it. Yet, it was right under their noses. I'm quite curious: how did you lift the Adam embryo?"

This was becoming one of the world's unsolved mysteries, but Shinji looked anything but proud; he couldn't be bothered to answer such a stupid question.

'What's there to make such a fuss about?'

Providing safekeeping services and hiding things for others—that's just a basic operation for any Blood Raven warrior.

Back in the day, how many good things had he held in trust? An Adam embryo was nothing.

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