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Genesis 1.07
Third Impact
Somewhere
deep in space, yet approaching Earth
<So, he killed Lunahr.>
<It would seem so. I cannot fathom why he would do such a
thing.>
<It was obviously with good
reason. Runarak would not kill one of
his own kind for no reason.>
<I will go down and bring him
back to his senses. He should remember
the truth when he meets me.>
<Something happened to his
memory. Being sucked into a Sea of
Dirac must have given him amnesia.
Perhaps you will succeed where she failed.>
<I guarantee it, father.>
Rei’s
and Raiu’s apartment
The young couple lay together in
bed, holding each other close.
“Raiu-chan,” Rei whispered.
“Yeah?”
“When will this finally be over?”
“I wish I knew.” Raiu whispered
back. “All we can do is continue fighting and hope for the best.”
“It seems like that’s all we
do. Fight Angels and whatever else
might attack Earth.”
“It’s all we can do to protect Earth
and each other,” Raiu replied.
“There’s something I need to ask
you. Why didn’t you tell us who you
were when we met you right after you landed?”
Raiu looked over at Rei and sighed.
“Would you have fallen in love with
me if I had?”
“Hai. But still, why didn’t you?”
“I don’t know. I guess I thought I could lead a double
life. That got shot down rather easily,
eh?”
“Hai.” Rei agreed. “It doesn’t
matter now, though. I was just
curious. We’re together. That’s all that matters to me.”
“Me too.”
SEELE
HQ
The monoliths of Seele sat in their
circle, the people they represented waiting for Lorenz Kihl to arrive. As his monolith faded into view, the others
began speaking almost instantly.
“We have been silent far too long,”
Seele-02 hissed.
“It is for good reason,” Seele-07
countered.
“Yes.” Seele-04 agreed. “The EVA
series should be nearing completion.
Another three months, I believe.”
“Correction.” Kihl interrupted.
“They will be finished within the week.”
“How did you manage to finish them
so quickly?!” Seele-03 exclaimed.
“Ikari was a fool.” Lorenz
explained. “After he hired that creature Raiu, he left the security light to
build up his militia, unwittingly giving our spy access to the DNA files. Using those files – after Raiu revealed
himself to be that black dragon – we were able to speed up the growth process
and make these EVAs much stronger than any others.”
“How will they be piloted?” Seele-09
questioned. “We already know the Kaoru dummy plugs won’t work with them.”
“We will pilot them,” Kihl stated
simply.
“US?!” the assembled monoliths cried
out in unison.
“Yes. We will destroy NERV and merge with Lilith.”
“How will we accomplish that?” Seele-08 inquired.
“Raiu’s DNA is a mix of human,
Evangelion, and . . . Angel.”
“He’s the eighteenth Angel?!”
Seele-10 gasped in shock.
“No.” Kihl assured the committee
member. “There have been more Angel attacks.
Raiu has destroyed most of them.
But, our EVAs should be able to defeat him with little trouble.”
“Then let us begin,” Seele-06
stated.
“An EVA will be sent to each of
you.” Kihl stated. “Be ready to leave two weeks from today.”
Downtown
mall
“Ooh, look at this, everyone!” Yisiu
called out.
“Yes!” Asuka exclaimed excitedly.
“C’mon, Shinji!”
“Let’s go, Raiu!” Rei stated,
pulling Raiu along.
“No . . . please . . . no . . .”
Raiu moaned.
As groans and protests rose up from
the guys, the girls dragged them toward a clothing store for its closeout
sale. Several hours – eternity for the
guys – later, the group finally left the store, the guys loaded down with
countless bags of clothes. Raiu was
barely less fazed by the experience than the others as he’d been through that
type of living hell before. Hikari had
to grab Touji by the ear and pull him back at one point when he’d started to
walk out.
“Let’s see if there are any more
sales here!” Hikari suggested, much to Touji’s chagrin.
“How about we take these home
first,” Kensuke tentatively suggested.
“And miss out on another sale?!”
Krystal replied. “Not a chance!”
Kensuke groaned and obediently
followed the others as they went from store to store, looking for a sale. The girls grouped together ahead of the
guys, who were clustered together due to the belief in “united we stand,
separated we fall.” Touji chuckled to
himself.
“What’s so funny?” Shinji asked.
“Them,” Touji replied, nodding
toward the girls.
“Why?” Chekov asked, dumbfounded.
“They’re like bloodhounds. They can smell a sale from a mile away.”
“Got no argument from me,” Raiu
agreed.
“Hopefully, it will be over soon,”
Chekov stated.
Raiu chuckled then burst out
laughing.
“You obviously have no experience
with women! They’ll go on like this all
day! The only reason Rei only dragged
me to one store the day you got here was because the rest were closed up for
the day. She even tried to get a few
stores to open up for us!”
Chekov groaned painfully and almost
cried when the girls came back saying they’d found a storewide sale.
NERV
HQ
“Misato!” Hyuga exclaimed.
“Yes?” the Commander answered
wearily.
“We got incoming!” Shigeru answered
for his friend. “Thirteen targets!”
“What?! From where?”
“Every direction but up an’ down!”
The longhaired lieutenant responded. “ETA, 20 minutes!”
“What’s the wave pattern?” Misato
asked, turning to the only other lieutenant.
“They’re EVAs!!” Maya answered.
“Crap!” Misato swore. “Get the
pilots! They should have their cell
phones with them.”
Fifteen minutes later, the pilots
were assembled in the control room, wearing their Plug suits. Raiu and Rei stood at the head of the
group. As everyone watched, the EVAs
landed in a semicircle around a nearby lake.
Twelve of the EVAs were white with black lining, silver shoulder-mounted
blades, and white bird wings. They each
held a large bladed staff in both hands.
On each of their chests, they had Seele followed by a number. The last was grey and black with silver bat
wings. It held the Lance of
Longinus. Upon seeing the legendary
weapon, most of the group gasped in shock.
Raiu smirked and pressed a button on the nearest terminal.
“Looks like we’ll have a nice little
exercise, eh?” he stated as the windows pivoted out of the way.
Raiu and Rei leapt out, converting
to their gargoyle forms and flying off.
The pilots ran to their EVAs and activated them.
Lakeside
The EVAs and dragons reached the
lake at the same time. Raiu stepped
forward and readied himself for an attack.
“What do you want?”
“We are here to destroy you and
merge with Lilith,” Kihl responded flatly.
“Well then, bring it on!” Raiu
snarled.
Before the Seele EVAs could attack,
however, a pillar of light appeared in the middle of the lake. It widened into a sphere of light then faded
from view revealing a strange creature hovering above the surface of the
lake. It was as tall as Raiu and looked
like a combination of Arael, Sachiel, and Zeruel. What was truly disturbing was its human face. It faced Raiu and smiled.
“Hello, brother,” the creature
hissed.
Raiu shook his head.
“Not again!” he growled. “I’m not
Runarak Dion!!”
“Yes, you are.” The Angel laughed.
“You just don’t remember. I, Leuach
Raiel, will restore your memory. Then
we shall destroy Earth together.”
“Rei.” Raiu stated, glancing over
his shoulder. “You and the EVAs can take out Seele. I’ll deal with this idiot.”
As the others approached the Seele
EVAs, Raiu took to the air, motioning for Leuach to follow. The Angel didn’t need a second telling as it
flew after the silver dragon. The two
flew several miles before landing.
“Come back with me brother! Father will be most pleased if you do!”
“How many times will I have to
repeat myself to you idiots?” Raiu hissed as he charged the Angel.
Leuach dodged out of the way and was
surprised when Raiu’s tail latched onto one of his legs, pulling him to the
ground. Raiu turned around and leapt
into the air, intending to body slam the Angel. Leuach caught Raiu’s shoulder full in the chest, almost knocking
the wind out of him.
Rei charged Kihl’s EVA and slashed at
him, only to have the Lance of Longinus stabbed into her shoulder. The female dragon shrieked in pain as she
fell backward, the spear wrenching free of Kihl’s grasp. She shakily stood and pulled out the Lance,
grunting in pain as she did so. Once
the Lance was removed, she glared at Kihl in anger and threw the Lance at the
grey EVA. The legendary weapon slammed
into its abdomen and stuck there, half protruding from its stomach, the other
half out its back.
Sularos engaged two Seele members in
close combat as Siron sat back, blasting them with sonic waves and booms. Yisiu took to the air in EVA-05, firing
positron blasts at the EVAs on the ground and hacking at any that tried to
engage her in midair combat with her prog sword. Unit-07 ran off a ways and began selectively snipering the Seele
EVAs while Chekov pulled out his twin battle axes and began indiscriminately
slashing away at the white Evangelions.
EVAs 03 and 04 charged into the fray, pummeling foes right and left with
whatever fighting skills their pilots had learned.
Leuach pushed Raiu away and stood up
slowly, his breathing ragged. He faced
Raiu and activated his AT Field.
“Why do you attack me, brother?!”
“I ain’t yer brother! I am Raiu Kusanagi! I never have been, nor will I ever be Runarak
Dion!”
“Quit denying the truth! You may look different, but you’re still –”
Before the Angel could finish his
sentence, Raiu had slashed his stomach open.
As Leuach held his internal organs in his hands, Raiu kicked the Angel
in the knee. Leuach’s knee buckled,
then inverted, the leg broken. Raiu
then kicked the Angel in the chest, knocking him to the ground.
As Rei watched EVA-Kihl calmly pull
the Lance out of its stomach, the NERV EVAs were being overwhelmed by the power
and numbers of the Seele EVAs. Sularos
watched in shock as the wounds he inflicted upon the EVAs he was fighting were
healed within thirty seconds. He was
slowly beaten to unconsciousness only to be awakened by the pain of his own
sword slashing into his chest and stomach. EVA-05 came crashing to the ground, the wings torn from its back
by two of the white EVAs. Chekov
screamed in pain as the arms and legs of his EVA were broken and ripped apart
by the Seele EVAs. Siron collapse in
agony when a hole was punched through her stomach by one of the white monsters.
Raiu leapt into the air as Leuach
slowly levitated off the ground using his wings. The silver dragon scissored his legs, catching the Angel’s head
between them, and snapping his neck.
Raiu grabbed the Angel and slammed his claws into Leuach’s chest, then
tore out his core and S2 engine. He
stood over the dissolving body for a few moments then flew off.
EVA-07 was unsuccessful in keeping
the EVAs at bay as three of them circled her and prepared to attack. They launched themselves at her and attacked
like a pack of starving wolves. EVAs 03
and 04 were each torn limb from limb until only two piles of body parts were
left. Rei stood frozen in shock as
EVA-Kihl ran at her and skewered her with the Lance of Longinus. She fell to the ground as Raiu flew into
view. His roar of rage was heard for
miles. The Seele EVAs looked at their
new target and began advancing toward him.
The dragon looked down at the EVAs as their wing unfolded and they took
to the air.
“You will pay.” Raiu hissed. “Sea of
Dirac!!”
He held the core and S2 engine above
his head and slammed them together. A
shadowy funnel emerged from the organs as they met. The funnel aimed at the Seele EVAs and grew in size. Before the EVAs could react, they were being
sucked into the vortex of the Dirac Sea.
The only EVA left was EVA-Kihl.
Raiu snarled when he saw that a foe was left standing. He dropped the core and S2 engine, then
activated a Kusanagi sword on each arm and dove at EVA-Kihl, the swords slashing
madly. When Raiu was done, only strips
of metal and flesh were left.
The dragon walked over to Rei and
saw the Lance still imbedded in her abdomen.
He quickly pulled the Lance out and kneeled beside Rei.
“You gonna be okay?”
“Yeah . . . now that . . . the Lance
is out. Thanks.”
“No need to thank me.”
Confident in her regenerative
powers, he checked on the EVAs. Sularos
and Siron were heavily wounded, but healing very slowly. He pulled the Entry Plugs from each of the
other EVAs and set them down next to their EVAs. As he approached EVA-07, however, a sense of dread washed over
him. Raiu found the Entry Plug lying
beside the mangled head of the EVA. He
slowly raised the Plug to eye level and saw that it was a mangled mass of
metal, LCL and blood leaking from the cracks.
The dragon set the Plug on the ground and shifted to gargoyle form. He walked up to the Plug and tore the door
open. He looked in, but quickly jerked
his head out and replaced the door.
Returning to human form, Raiu turned
around and saw Rei approaching him in her dragon form, the other pilots cradled
in her hands. She set them on the
ground and returned to her human form.
Once everyone was within hearing range of Raiu, he spoke.
“Though we won,” he began, “it was
at a cost I wish we didn’t have to pay.
We defeated one of NERV’s greatest enemies today, but we also lost a
good friend. Krystal died defending
NERV, Tokyo 3, and most importantly, humanity.”
Gasps of shock and mutters of denial
passed through the pilots. Kensuke
wiped his eyes and turned away from the others. A recovery team showed up on the scene about then. They were about to load Krystal’s Entry Plug
onto a truck when Raiu stopped them.
“Rei and I will take back the EVA
parts. You just worry about the
pilots.”
As the couple shifted into their
dragon forms, the depressed pilots were herded into a couple of vans and driven
off. Raiu turned to Rei and lowered his
gaze. Raiu was about to say something
when Rei cut him off.
“There was nothing you could have
done. Let’s just get these back to
NERV.”
NERV
debriefing room
Misato stood before the pilots and
almost cried herself.
“What I want to know is,” she stated
angrily, “how were they able to beat our EVAs so easily. Raiu, I thought you made them stronger than
any other EVA.”
Raiu stared at the ground, his right
fist rhythmically clenching and unclenching, for a few moments before replying.
“No matter how powerful an EVA is,
it will never be a match for me.”
“So?”
“Seele used my DNA to make their
EVAs more powerful. I felt a similar
version of the link I share with Rei the moment I saw them.”
“How –”
“You bastard!” Kensuke cut Misato
off by lunging at Raiu, his fist pulled back to punch the older teen.
Raiu didn’t even look up. He merely reached out and grabbed Kensuke’s
hand a few inches before it connected with his face. Kensuke tried to punch Raiu with his other hand only to have the
same thing happen. Raiu finally looked
up and stared Kensuke down. Raiu
released the younger teen’s hands and stood up.
“If you truly believe I would betray
you, then you are fools.”
“What other possibility is there?”
Kensuke asked.
“Do the rest of you feel the same
way?” Raiu asked.
When no one even bothered to look
him in the eye except Rei, he sighed disgustedly.
“Then this is goodbye.” Raiu stated
in a low voice before turning to Rei. “Don’t try and stop me. They’ve made their decision.”
Without another word, Raiu walked
out of the room and eventually, NERV HQ itself. Rei turned to Kensuke and narrowed her eyes.
“You little . . .” Rei hissed. “I
know Raiu didn’t give Seele those samples.
He wouldn’t betray us like that.”
“You don’t know that for a fact,”
Kensuke returned.
“Wrong. I know him better than you know yourself, you chakana.”
Before Rei could leave, Shinji
stopped her.
“What does that word mean? I’ve heard you and Raiu use it several
times.”
“Cha means mother.” She replied
before glaring at Kensuke. “Figure the rest out yourself. And didn’t you even think of the possibility
of a spy?”
Rei followed Raiu’s lead and slowly
walked out of the base. Misato was
about to berate Kensuke when the other pilots stood up in unison and walked
out, pointedly ignoring Kensuke. Once
they were gone, Misato and Kensuke were left alone.
“How could you?!” Misato yelled.
“He’s done more for us than you’ll ever know!
He even risked his life by sacrificing half his heart to save Rei! I, for one, believe he’s innocent.”
“So?” Kensuke snorted. “Because of
him, Krystal is dead.”
Misato was about to snap at him in
anger, but calmed herself before speaking.
“You’ve got a choice right now.”
Misato stated coldly. “You can go apologize to Raiu and curb that attitude of
yours. Or, you can walk out that door
right now and never come back. We can
always find another pilot.”
Kensuke walked out the door and
didn’t look back.
Orchard
Raiu leaned against the tree and
closed his eyes. A few moments later,
he sensed Rei land nearby and walk toward him.
Raiu opened his eyes and looked at her as she sat down next to him.
“Why aren’t you back at NERV?”
“Because you are more important to
me,” Rei replied, leaning her head on his shoulder.
“Then why didn’t you defend me when
Kensuke accused me of betraying NERV?” Raiu snapped.
“I was just stunned by what was
going on. I didn’t know what to do
until it was too late. I’m sorry.”
“It’s alright. I shouldn’t have snapped at you. What’s new at NERV?”
“Well, in the past few days, they’ve
finished the repairs on the EVAs. Right
after you left, Kensuke was given a choice.
He could apologize to you or leave.
He left. EVA-07 wasn’t
repaired. Misato doesn’t want anybody
else to pilot it. Hikari now pilots
EVA-04. No other Angels have
attacked. All in all, it’s been good
and bad.”
“When is Krystal’s funeral scheduled
for?”
“A week from tomorrow,” Rei replied.
“Damn. Talk about yer bad vibes.”
“Huh?”
“Your birthday is the day after
that,” Raiu stated in a low voice.
“So – oh.” Rei whispered as
realization hit her. “Yeah. That is
really bad. What are we gonna do?”
“We’ll still have the wedding on
your birthday. Although, we will be
there for her funeral.”
Earth’s
orbit
So, Runarak has killed both Lunahr
and Leuach. He also continues to deny
the truth. I will have to deal with him
myself. No matter what happens, though,
I will merge with Lilith. She and I
will be one again.
Sea
of Japan
The crewmen of the aircraft carrier
went about their jobs as if nothing was wrong, none of them taking a few
seconds to look into the sky to see impending doom. Thus, it came as a world shattering shock to them when a flaming
sphere struck the ship with the power of a nuclear bomb. The blast vaporized the ship and turned all
the water for several miles into pure steam, killing all aquatic life.
NERV
HQ
“Holy shit!” Shigeru yelled,
surprising the other three.
“What is it?” Misato asked calmly.
“Several hundred cubic miles of the
Sea of Japan just disappeared!”
“What?! How?”
“Something fell from space.” Maya
explained, reading a printout. “The blast turned the water into steam.”
“Crap! Call the pilots! Raiu and
Rei, too. They might not want to help,
but it’s worth a shot.”
Sea
of Japan
The EVAs rode a group of carriers
out to the location of the ‘meteor’ crash.
Once there, they saw nothing out of the ordinary. Without warning, a beam of red energy shot
up out of the water and hit EVA-06 in the chest, blowing a hole through its
body. As the EVA collapsed onto the
deck of its carrier, a being rose out of the water.
It was shaped similar to a human,
but was different in several ways. It
had two extra fingers on each hand, four eyes like EVA-02, and writhing
tentacles in place of hair. Each of the
fingers had an extra joint on them, making them much longer. Two of the eyes were human while the other
two were catlike. The tentacles hung
down its back from the base of its skull.
The being smiled at the EVAs before speaking.
“So, this is my reception. A group of pathetic Evangelions. How demeaning.” The being looked at Sularos.
“Wait – one of them was copied from Lilith.
Too bad it’s been altered, or I could have used it instead.”
“Who are you?” Sularos snarled.
“Oh? The weakling speaks?
Heh. I am Lord Shriak, leader of
the Angels, and your destroyer.”
Having said that, Shriak fired
another blast, this time at EVA-03. The
blast severed the Unit’s head from its body.
The head fell to the deck of the carrier and rolled around as the body
fell into the water. Hikari screamed in
rage and fired her positron rifle at Shriak, who merely watched in amusement as
the bullets bounced off his AT Field and flew back at EVA-04. Each bullet hit with enough force to punch
through the EVA.
Several of the bullets hit EVA-04 in
the head, blowing it to pieces. Hikari
didn’t even have time to scream.
Sularos fired his fusion cannon as Siron shot her energy beam at the
Angel. Both attacks were merely
absorbed by Shriak’s AT Field.
Shriak grinned evilly and raised his
hands over his head. A shock wave shot
out, knocking the pilots unconscious and shutting down their EVAs. Sularos and Siron were merely stunned,
however. The Angel flew down to the
ship that had been carrying EVA-03 and picked up the decapitated head.
With a single flex of his muscles,
Shriak crushed the head, killing Touji as he lay helpless in the Plug. He went from ship to ship, repeating his
actions until only Siron and Sularos were left. The Angel reached down and gripped the two upgraded Evangelions
in his hands so that he was holding their faces, but wasn’t covering their eyes,
then lifted them up until they were looking him in the eye. A moment later, all that was left of each
EVA’s head was a bloody stump, proof to the strength of Shriak’s energy blasts.
Shriak flew over the EVAs toward
Japan.
Tokyo
3
Raiu and Rei stood in their dragon
forms on the outskirts of the city, waiting for Shriak to arrive. They didn’t have long to wait. Only a few minutes after he attacked the
EVAs, the Angel arrived in Tokyo 3. He
landed in front of Raiu and Rei. He was
about to speak when Raiu cut him off.
“Before you get going on a ‘come
back with me, son’ speech, I’ve got one thing to say. I am not Runarak Dion. I
am Raiu Kusanagi. I never have been,
nor will I ever be your son.”
“Quit denying the truth, Runarak.”
“You’re the one denying the
truth. You and your ilk. Either leave Earth in peace, or die in
pieces.”
“I have no intention of fighting
you, my son. I only wish to merge with
Lilith, so that our family may be one.”
“You’re insane!” Rei exclaimed.
“Perhaps.” Shriak replied calmly.
“But there’s nothing you can do to stop me.”
“That’s were you’re wrong.” Raiu
growled. “Terra Flare.”
The black beam shot out from Raiu’s
mouth and tore through Shriak’s AT Field to hit the Angel square in the
chest. A flash of bright light blinded
the two dragons as the energy poured into the Angel. When they could see again, they saw Shriak standing in the exact
same place, not a mark on him. He
calmly fired a beam at Rei, slicing her in half at the waist. Raiu let loose a cry of anger that would
have deafened any humans who had heard it.
He charged Shriak only to be thrown back by the Angel’s AT Field.
The Angel fired another beam that
cut into Raiu’s chest, knocking the dragon to the ground. With both opponents unable to continue
fighting, Shriak began blasting into the ground. Once he had blown a hole into the Geo-Front, he flew down,
leaving Raiu and Rei to slowly heal.
Raiu rolled onto his stomach and crawled over to Rei.
“You okay?”
“Go . . . on.” Rei gasped. “I’ll be
. . . fine. Have to stop . . . Third
Impact.”
“I’ll do my best.”
Raiu painfully stood and leapt down
the hole after Shriak.
Geo-Front.
As Shriak approached Lilith,
something knocked him to the ground. He
rolled over and stood up to see Raiu floating above the underground lake. Raiu fired another Terra Flare at Shriak,
knocking the Angel down again. The
dragon charged his prone opponent and leapt into the air to come crashing down
on Shriak with the force of fifteen N2 mines.
Raiu stepped off Shriak and lowered his arms to his sides. A Kusanagi sword emerged from each of Raiu’s
arms.
As Shriak slowly stood up, Raiu
slashed at him, slicing his arms off and cutting deep gouges in the Angel’s
chest and abdomen. Shriak jumped up and
kicked Raiu in the chest several times, finally kicking him in the jaw, and
sending the dragon flying several hundred yards. To Raiu’s shock, Shriak’s wounds and severed limbs rapidly
regenerated. Once the regeneration was
complete, it looked like Raiu hadn’t even touched him. Shriak smirked as he saw Raiu’s face and
began walking toward the silver dragon.
“Surprised I can heal so
quickly? You shouldn’t be. I am virtually a god. Even compared to you, Runarak.”
“I am not Runarak Dion. You of all
beings should know if your son is dead or not.”
“Why do you persist in denying the
truth? It’s really getting irritating,
you know.”
Raiu stood up and launched a flurry
of punches and kicks at Shriak. The
Angel merely laughed and blocked each of Raiu’s attacks before punching Raiu in
the chest.
“You still fight the same. Only my Runarak would fall victim to that
counter attack.”
Shriak fired a black fireball at
Raiu, tearing the armor from his chest and shredding the skin beneath. Raiu stumbled back several steps and fell to
his knees.
“You were never able to beat me, so
why should that have changed, my son?” Shriak mockingly asked. “If you continue
to fight me, I will be forced to destroy you before I merge with Lilith. Then we will be one again. Admit the truth or die.”
“The truth?” Raiu asked, a strange
grin on his face. “All right. I’ll
admit the truth.”
Shriak smiled widely only to have it
wiped from his face a moment later.
“I am the Dark Hearted one.” The silver
dragon hissed. “I am the possessor of the Soul Blade. I am Alpha through Omega.
I am Raiu Kusanagi. But, most
importantly. I. Am.
HUMAN!!”
Shriak watched in surprise as Raiu
stood up, his chest instantly healed.
The skin under the armor plates turned midnight black. The edges of the plates smoked slightly and
changed into a charred black color, as if they’d been burned. Raiu’s arm blades grew longer and slightly
curved as blades emerged from the end of his tail. His claws and talons lengthened and sharpened as his muscles grew
in size, slightly stretching the armor.
As Raiu’s wings grew larger, his eyes burned red.
Streams of colored light appeared
from out of nowhere and began circling the two titans. The lights merged and coalesced to form a
grey pillar around them. The sides of
the pillar then expanded, leaving them in an expanse of grey. There was no horizon, no land, no sky; only
grey. Images flashed around the dragon
and the Angel as Raiu spoke, an AT Field holding the former in place.
“For the love of family . . .”
Images of Kea and Raiu fighting side
by side flashed by only to be replaced with views of Raiu and Rei kissing
numerous times.
“ . . . the kinship of friends . .
.”
Memories of Shinji and Asuka
fighting Angels alongside Raiu and Rei circled for a few moments before being
replaced with images of the teens going sale hunting.
“ . . . the loyalty of allies . . .”
An image of Misato berating Kensuke
for attacking Raiu lingered until images of Raiu explaining his past took over.
“ . . . the memory of those who have
passed on . . .”
Images of Kaji, Gendo, Fuyutsuki,
and Krystal swirled around, mixing into a giant montage of faces. They were replaced by pictures of Raiu’s
other friends before his death.
“ . . . and for humanity itself . .
.”
Faces and images of people from
around the world floated by, each one changing into a new face or picture every
few seconds.
“ . . . I will destroy you and
prevent the Third Impact.”
The two giants were then returned to
the Geo-Front.
“What was the purpose of that?”
Shriak asked impatiently.
“Life itself gives me the strength
for this.” Raiu hissed in reply. “Apocalypse.”
A Kusanagi sword emerged from each
of Raiu’s arms as a red line ran from the tip of his snout to the end of his
tail. The silver dragon split in half
as if he’d been sliced down the red line.
The two halves floated away from each other and new body parts began
growing from the cut edges. In a matter
of seconds, there were two Raiu’s standing before Shriak. The one on his left had a Kusanagi sword on
its right arm, and the one on the right had a Kusanagi on its left arm. The twin dragons each drew back into a
battle pose for a few moments before charging Shriak.
Raiu Right attacked first with an
upward slash, sending Shriak flying into the air. The dual dragons then leapt straight up until they were level
with the Angel and each went into a series of sword slashes so complex and
rapid the human eye would see only a blur.
Shriak was bounced back and forth between the silver warriors, each hit
nearly knocking him senseless. Each
time he tried to attack one of them, the other Raiu would hit him from
behind. Once the Angel was mangled and
diced beyond recognition, the dragons let him fall to the ground, creating a
small crater where he landed. Both
dragons hovered next to each other above the Angel. They didn’t even wait for the dust to clear before firing
multiple Impulses, Banishers, and Terra Flares at the prone Angel. After several moments of that, the dragons
landed and merged into one again.
As Shriak painfully stood up, Raiu
snarled savagely. Small spheres of
energy circled around Raiu before flying into him, creating an aura of blue
energy around him. Raiu slowly shifted
into a sphere of pure white energy.
When Shriak took a step forward, Raiu shot forward in the shape of an
energy arrow. The arrow tore through
Shriak like he wasn’t even there.
Several hundred yards behind Shriak, Raiu reformed as a dragon, his back
to the Angel as Shriak seemed to explode.
“It is over. Shriak is dead. The Third Impact has been avoided. But at what cost?”
Raiu spun around in time to see
Shriak’s core rise up and hover above the ashes for a moment. Before Raiu could react, the core began
flying toward Lilith. Raiu growled and
flew after the red sphere. He caught up
with it before it reached Lilith, and threw it away from her. The core stopped in midair and came rushing
back at Raiu. He fired a Terra Flare at
it, but the core merely dodged and continued on its course. A few seconds later, the core collided with
Raiu, punching through his heart/core.
The silver dragon collapsed to the ground and rolled over to try and
stop the core. The last thing Raiu saw
before he lost consciousness was the core slamming into Lilith’s chest,
knocking the replaced Lance of Longinus from her body.
“Forgive . . . me . . . Rei,” Raiu
whispered.
A single red tear fell to the ground
as Raiu slipped into the darkness of death.