Ultraman grunts? Call me Space Policeman outside!

In the image, the Fifth Apostle, resembling a blue octahedron, is approaching Tokyo-3 and is about to land.

"The pilot of EVA Unit-01 has arrived at the hangar. Unit-01 will be ready for sortie in five minutes," another technician reported.

“Alright.” Misato Katsuragi nodded, then looked at the screen with a serious expression. “Fifth Apostle… let me see what you’re capable of.”

In the scene, the Fifth Apostle arrives at the Third Neo-Tokyo City, which is already in a state of combat, under the cover of night.

The blue shell shimmered in the moonlight.

The moment it stepped into the city, it suddenly transformed.

The body twisted, contracted, and transformed into an irregular cross shape, with enormous energy accumulating.

Seeing this, everyone in the command room felt a sense of foreboding.

The next second, a blinding beam of light burst forth from the center of the Fifth Apostle's front, blasting towards the city. With a series of loud bangs, it engulfed and destroyed all the defensive buildings along the way, directly piercing through the defensive facilities of an entire street!

"What!?"

"This level of power..." Misato Katsuragi frowned and became worried when she saw that the Fifth Apostle could unleash such power with such a seemingly casual attack.

If Unit-01 were hit by this attack, just how severe would the damage be?

The Fifth Apostle reverted to its octahedral form and continued to float forward, like a floating turret with extremely high firepower.

"Unit-01 is ready for sortie, please give instructions!" the technician reported at this moment.

“Go…” Misato Katsuragi wanted to give the order to attack, but after glancing at the charred streets on the screen, she hesitated for a second before making a quick decision.

"Raise the two weapon systems first, then transport Unit-01 to the ground!" she ordered.

They are the ones coming from behind. When Unit-01 first lands, it is very likely that the enemy will seize the opportunity to attack it, so they need some cover to attract the enemy's attention first.

"Understood!" Upon receiving the order, the technician immediately relayed it.

As the two gates opened, two structures loaded with weapons sprang out.

"Buzz!!" The Fifth Apostle instantly sensed the anomaly, switched forms, and unleashed a beam of light that destroyed one of the buildings.

And that's when it's maintaining its output.

The third gate on the ground opened.

"EVA Unit-01, arrived at mission location!" the technician reported.

The Fifth Angel immediately noticed the presence of Unit-01, quickly changed direction, and launched another attack.

However, Unit-01 anticipated the beam and dodged it with a roll.

"It's up to you... Shinji-kun." Misato Katsuragi said, clenching her fist as she looked at Unit-01 standing up again on the screen.

Chapter 101 The Powerful Apostle

Shinji, piloting Unit-01, quickly dodged the Fifth Angel's beam and said with some lingering fear.

"Concentrate, Shinji."

"This enemy is significantly stronger than the one from yesterday," Natsuki warned Shinji from inside the cockpit.

After yesterday's battle, Shinji has come to accept the feeling of fighting, especially after seeing Natsuki's battle in his dream, he is no longer so afraid of fighting the Angels.

“Okay! Mr. Natsuki.” Shinji gripped the joystick tightly, took a deep breath, and reminded himself to concentrate.

In the dimly lit city battlefield, the lights of the defensive towers illuminated the irregular blue figure of the Fifth Apostle.

He must proceed with caution when facing an enemy with heavy firepower.

With Unit-01's defenses, it couldn't withstand a single shot.

"Woo—" The Fifth Angel twisted its body, emitting a high-frequency cry, and began to charge up its power towards Unit-01.

"Here it comes!" Shinji immediately sensed the opponent's intention to attack, and now he possessed a reaction ability far beyond that of ordinary people.

He immediately steered Unit-01 to run to his side.

The Fifth Apostle's firepower was indeed fierce, but the attack was not instantaneous, and it was difficult to change direction for a short period of time after the attack landed.

"Whoosh!!" The rapid movement of Unit-01 made it difficult for the Fifth Angel to aim, and as expected, a beam of light missed its target, leveling the spot where Unit-01 had just been standing.

After dodging the attack, Unit-01 picked up a rifle from a nearby building, raised it, and aimed.

"Rat-a-tat-tat!" The gun kept firing at the Fifth Apostle, who had not yet withdrawn his beam.

These bullets landed on the AT field outside the Fifth Apostle's body, and the two fields collided, but still failed to break through the defense.

The Fifth Angel's AT Field is much stronger than Unit-01's.

This is a very powerful enemy.

At this moment, the Fifth Apostle has changed its form again. The central octahedron has shrunk, and rhomboid crystals have appeared around its body and connected to the center, resembling a wheel. The enormous energy has condensed once more.

"I have to run!" Shinji saw this and realized that the enemy was about to attack again, so he piloted Unit-01 with his gun at the ready and started running.

As long as you dodge... you can retaliate...

Shinji thought to himself.

A continuous purple beam shot out from the spinning body of the Fifth Angel at an extremely high speed, cutting through all the buildings in front of it, including the running Unit-01.

"Ugh!" Unit-01 was hit in the waist by the beam, and the pain was transmitted to Shinji, causing him to let out a cry of pain.

The outer armor of Unit-01's abdomen was also cut open, and blood seeped out.

The entire machine overturned on the ruins on the ground.

"Unit-01 is 37% damaged, and the power cable has been cut!" the technician monitoring Unit-01's condition in the command center shouted urgently.

"Shinji, be careful!" Misato Katsuragi quickly warned in the communication channel when she saw the Fifth Angel change form again.

This thing clearly wants to press its advantage.

Before Unit-01 even got up, it had already completed its charge-up, and the irregular cross shape looked like it was about to unleash a deadly beam.

"Yes, Mr. Natsuki!"

At this moment, Shinji and Natsuki were both ready to transform, bringing the battle into its second phase.

Just one second before the beam of light burst forth.

"Woo—" The Fifth Apostle suddenly let out a high-frequency cry, its body underwent irregular changes, and it withdrew its original attack, flying towards the sky.

It seemed to have sensed something.

It wasn't that they sensed the danger beforehand.

Instead, they noticed something that attracted them.

It came to Tokyo-3 because something was hidden beneath NERV headquarters that attracted it. The fluctuations it emitted made it think it was Adam, but just a moment ago, it sensed Adam's fluctuations in another location.

Lacking any intelligence, it was bewildered: which side was the truth?

"Whoosh—" Driven by instinct, the Fifth Apostle flew into the night sky.

"The Fifth Apostle has stopped its attack and changed direction!"

"The Fifth Apostle is moving towards the Pacific Ocean!"

It stopped again!

"It's heading back towards Tokyo-3, no... it's disappeared!" the technician reported repeatedly through the monitoring screen.

The Fifth Apostle's sudden behavior puzzled even them.

Most of them were unaware of the inside story regarding the Apostles, nor of what lay hidden beneath their base.

"Disappeared?" Upon hearing this news, Misato Katsuragi frowned, pondering the reason for the apostle's behavior.

Now, only a large number of destroyed defensive structures remain on the battlefield, along with Unit-01 slowly rising from the ruins.

With the enemy gone, the battle could no longer continue.

"Shinji, are you alright?" she asked with concern over the communicator.

"Ah... I'm fine," Shinji replied, clutching his stomach.

"That's good." Misato Katsuragi breathed a slight sigh of relief. "Let's prepare to return to base."

"We'll develop a new plan later."

......

The Fifth Apostle's unusual behavior puzzled everyone except Gendo Ikari and Professor Fuyutsuki.

Why did the apostles, who originally came for this base, suddenly run off to somewhere else?

And in the end, there was also the indication that they wanted to come back.

They couldn't find the answer for a while.

But they knew that the apostles would eventually return, so they had to prepare in advance.

"Concentrate all of Japan's electricity into one point, and then use a positron cannon to directly attack the core of the Fifth Angel...?" In the early morning, in Gendo Ikari's office, Gendo Ikari listened to the plan proposed by Misato Katsuragi and pondered for a few seconds.

"What do you think the success rate is?" he asked.

"The prediction given by the supercomputer MAGI is that the success rate is no more than 10%," Misato Katsuragi answered truthfully.

Victory in battle is never based on probability, so she thought it was worth a try.

Gendo Ikari remained silent for a moment, then finally nodded.

"Let's proceed according to your plan." He would agree to any plan as long as it could eliminate the apostles.

"But...who are you planning to send on this mission?" he continued.

“I plan to have Shinji use the positron cannon for sniping,” Misato Katsuragi replied. “I believe his combat skills are sufficient for this mission.”

"Yes." Gendo Ikari had to admit that Shinji was the most suitable person to pilot Unit-01.

"When carrying out the mission, let Unit-00 provide defense from the side."

"Huh?" Misato Katsuragi was stunned for a moment when she heard that Unit-00 was to assist in the operation.

"Has Unit 0 completed its final debugging?"

"And... I remember that Li's injuries haven't fully healed yet."