Judas Protocol

As Unit-01 activated, Shinji was immediately overcome by an intense sense of depersonalization and dissociative dysphoria as his sync score crawled up higher and higher. He watched as the walls of the entry plug began to shift and flow as he slowly attuned himself to the senses of the Evangelion. It was as if, for but a moment, Shinji became divorced from the world and reality as it became less real, hazy, almost dreamlike. Imagine if you will, being alienated from your own sense of self in such a way, that you couldn't name or describe what it was that was happening to you. There are small intricacies to consciousness that are so ubiquitous and ingrained into our mind that we do not have a name for them, and indeed we don't even realize we should have a name for them. They are so simple that it is only with its loss that you notice that it was even there at all. It was strange to have an inability to recognize or describe what it was that was lost, but Shinji knew beyond anything else, that some nameless fascets of his own personality and mind were dissolved away. Thankfully, this temporary state of unreality lasted for only a single deep breath as he and the God Machine ceased being independent constructs and molded into one singular entity.

That nameless thing returned to him as reality itself ceased being this hazy thing, and came back into focus. With thia clouding of consciousness over, Shinji found himself elevated to a state of being that could only be described as sublime. The Evangelion possessed some bizarre sixth sense that humans could not truly understand, one that even their pilots wouldn't normally detect, but when Shinji became the Eva, he felt the full majesty of his differently tuned senses. As near as he could tell, he could feel the souls of others near him on a very personal level, to the point of borderline empathic detection into the hearts of others, but it went far beyond simply detecting emotional states. Within the Eva, Shinji could feel every stain that darkened the hearts of others, every trauma and tragedy was laid bare for him to observe and appraise.

It was a sense that Shinji was unaware of when he was in the Eva previously. Before, there were no people around in that cold barren wasteland, and the Wind Walker could hardly be said to have had emotions like humans beyond a vague sense of what might have been loneliness, a feeling Shinji was so accustomed to that he had misidentified it as echoes of his old self bleeding into his current persona. Even Shamshel didn't register in the chaos as Shinji did all he could to survive a battle between ice and wind made manifest, and an autonomous construct of the soul. The Third Child wondered why he had not felt this before, when he was still underground ready to launch, but after a moment of reflection he supposed entering that formuless place his mother dwelled had distracted him from noticing this strange sixth sense he now possessed.

Now though, he was within the Eva, and had experienced the dysphoric process of going from human to Eva. He could compare and contrast with the before and after without any vague event in between. Beyond that, there was also NERV crew that surrounded him, and shone with a strange ethereal substance that was quite… distinct from the mind. Oh they certainly were intertwined very closely, but it was just so… strange to know that the mind is not a component of the soul, not really. It made Shinji wonder what that meant in the other timeline. When all of humanity had their soul removed from their body, causing the body to instantly liquefy and collapse into a puddle of primordial ooze… did that kill the mind? If that was the case, then when he reformed from that primordial soup… was he the same person… or just a copy of his mind with the same soul… or perhaps the ooze functioned much like the body to intertwine the mind and soul together.

So many questions, not nearly enough answers. Though Shinji supposed it didn't really matter. While he would like to know the finer details of what exactly happened during Instrumentality, it was no loss if he didn't. Just one more thing in the long list of things Shinji didn't know.

Either way, Shinji pushed the strange feelings and questions to the back of his mind as he fully acclimated to the Evangelion he now inhabited. He heard a crackling of static in his ear as Misato's voice cut through the auditory haze.

"All systems are go Shinji. We'll be sending you just outside Cthugha's sphere of influence. Your Weapon will be waiting for you in a cache to your immediate right. It's a Crossbow designed to fire a hollow rod filled with fire retardant under high pressure. Once above you are to engage at a safe distance and make your way to the sea, only move while the creature is following. If it doesn't follow, then shoot the bastard until he does. On the way up, you'll be outfitted with D-Type equipment that offers protection from temperature extremes, but even still we're not sure how effective it will be, so exercise caution. There will be reduced movement, but it's better than getting incinerated. Understood?"

"Get the crossbow, lure Cthugha to the sea, factor in reduced movement, and try to stay outside the sphere of influence. Got it." Said Shinji.

"Good. Rei will provide sniper fire should Cthugha get to close." Said Misato with a tone Shinji supposed was pride.

"Eva Launch in 3...2… Eve Launch initiated."

Shinji felt the immediate G-Force as he ascended at high speeds upwards. Durring his ascent, robotic limbs grafted the D-Type equipment to the outer shell of his Eva. The process was over in mere moments as the ascent stopped, and the restraints came loose. Immediately Shinji reached to the Cache to his side and grabbed the Crossbow before he took his first step.

While Shinji was far from the main Inferno, several of the surrounding buildings nearest to him were engulfed in flames. The air was heavy with clouds of superheated steam that could almost be felt even through the D-Type equipment. Rains of hot ash fell down like snow to coat the ground below. Shinji noted this all before deciding that he was not in any immediate danger, and he looked to Cthugha… before immediately freezing in place as he both saw… and felt the very Soul of Cthugha.

It was rather startling to discover that Great Old Ones indeed had souls, or at the very least something very much like a soul, and Shinji could sense them as well as he could any other soul… and it was hauntingly alien in a way that defied human sensibilities, even compared to the Wind Walker. For as strange as its senses were, Ithaqua was a lonely god, and while the smaller intricacies to the method of his madness were unknowable to human sensibilities, the broad strokes were quite understandable. Ithaqua lamented the slumber of his fellow gods and lashed out at the unfairness of it all.

Cthugha on the other hand, was not so easily read or understood. The Undying Flame was immensely destructive and brutally indiscriminate as it burned all it could, and while it felt nigh limitless anger, it was directionless. Within Cthugha was an odd, yet nightmarish system of morality. To a human, perhaps they would say that for Cthugha, to burn is good, to do anything else is evil, but this was not truly the case. It was simply the fact that Cthugha saw good and evil as unimportant concepts, to burn was the only thing that it perceived as having any amount of importance. Anything else was not even worth thinking about. Indeed Cthugha was genuinely incapable of comprehending the idea that anyone could not want to burn. So, Cthugha raged at those who would try and stop it, but it did so because it could not fathom why humanity had not felt feelings of acceptance and even gratitude at being burned alive, after all it was for the good of its victims to burn. It could not grasp why those it saw as kindling resisted it when it was, by its own metric, doing the right thing.

There was no malice in it, what humans perceived as hate, anger, and malice was just Cthugha's view on something… anything really, that refused to burn, and humans did not want to burn. So for Cthugha, humans were morally evil, and thus the enemy, but they could be saved by fire. Shinji, for as detached and amoral as his own mindset had become, could not fathom why Cthugha believed that to burn was to be morally in the right. Oh he could well understand that Cthugha believed this, but he couldn't understand why the Living Conflagration believed this to be a demonstrable truth. Its mind was just so… foreign… alien… eldritch. It was undoubtedly dangerous, but not evil.

Somewhat shaken, Shinji shifted his focus, and upon doing so found… them. The Fire People. When Shinji touched their souls, all he knew was an abstract sense of pain that emanated from these pitiful, forsaken things. Within them was a longing to obtain what was stolen from them. All they did, all they could do, was gobble up anyone they saw like a flock of hungry vultures. They did this not out of sadism, but because they longed to snuff out the feelings of being immolated from the inside out that stained what remained of their humanity, their very souls. They wanted… no, they needed to feel the humanity that was violently and agonizingly leached from them to ignite the flames that now consumed them, and for the brief moments they managed to burn others, they touched the humanity of their victims for however long it took them to burn to cinders. It was as close to relief as they could get, but inevitably the ceaseless burning would return. So they kept moving, looking for more to burn, just to touch their lost humanity, even if for just a moment.

Shinji cleared his mind, ignoring both what he could not understand, and what he didn't want to understand. Despite how dense the information was, the soul sight that had provided Shinji with the intricacies of Cthugha and the Fire People lasted for only a moment, and by the time he pushed it from his mind, the crossbow was already aimed and loaded. So Shinji pulled the trigger.

There was a faint pull from the electromagnet interacting with the alloys of the Evangelions armor, but not so much as to be distracting, and as quickly as that pull came, it went, along with a bolt that was launched at high speeds. Though not high enough speeds to vaporize the contact layer of the projectile, it was fast enough that the 'bolt' almost immediately impacted against the strange semi-solid flames of Cthugha, and the pressurized retardant was released, showering the Burning One in the smothering substance.

A wrath filled sound, akin to a monsterous bellow tore through the air as Cthugha began to move. The conflagration that engulfed this part of the city intensified as Cthugha moved, which began to ignite more skyscrapers ahead of the Living Flame. Lashing tentacles of fire reached out towards Shinji as he began to back away towards the ocean. However upon taking his first step, tarmac melted and buckled underneath Shinji's feet. His left foot had sunk slightly into the ground, and immediately Shinji began to panic as he wondered if he could escape, though thankfully, with a bit of effort, he managed to free himself and continue moving back.

Still, the minute time it took had allowed Cthugha to come a bit closer than Shinji was comfortable with, so much so that he was nearly within the creatures sphere of influence. The Fire People were running.. no sprinting toward Shinji in swift, but awkward steps that made it appear as if they were literally throwing themselves toward him. While Shinji didn't believe the Fire People could harm him, that was no reason to dismiss an enemy whose capabilities he knew precious little about. Small they may be, even ants can occasionally kill a grown man.

From a distance, Shinji watched as Rei fired massive projectiles that exploded on impact and showered fore retardant in small pools that caused Cthugha to change directions towards Rei, though she was much further away, at the very least, it put the sphere of influence of the flaming abomination at a much more comfortable distance. Shinji continued backpedaling as he fired yet another bolt at Cthugha, who roared and began following him once more. The Fire People were much closer, only a few dozen or so meters ahead of Cthugha, and rapidly closing the distance. So Shinji quickened his pace, ignoring the feeling of walking on boiling tar and hot coals that was only bearable thanks to the flame resistant armor he wore. Shinji continued firing bolts, never taking his eyes off Cthugha as he did so.

This was when Shinji made a near fatal mistake. He unconsciously, almost reflexively closed his Evas own pair of thermally sensitive nicitating membranes. Immediately the world was bathed in reds, blues, and whites. While he did possess thermographic vision as a human, it paled in comparison to what he saw through the eyes of the Eva. He could detect the most minute of temperature differences by sight alone as he peered into the infrared spectrum, but when looking at Cthugha, all Shinji saw was a bright white blotch surrounded by yellows and reds, and it was so blinding.

Through those eyes, Shinji only saw a bright flash. Brighter than the sun. Brighter than anything he had ever seen before. So bright that he closed his eyes and turned his head, immediately falling into the molten tarmac that once was the streets of Tokyo-3. Primal panic shot through him as he found himself blinded by an all encompassing white light that stained his sight.

He immediately felt that Cthugha was much, much closer. He could feel his core temperature rise despite the armor as he struggled to right himself. All the while Cthugha approached, implacable and consuming nearly every solid, liquid, or gas that it touched in flames. Shinji knew that any moment now, his Evangelion would ignite and combust if he couldn't get up in time. He could hear Misato speaking to him in a frantic state but in his blind panic, he couldn't comprehend her words… but by chance, one word did make it through the haze that had engulfed his mind.

"Angel!"

It was at this point that Shinji rose from the molten muck, and from the corner of his eye saw… light. A massive beam of pink and magenta light impacting against Cthugha with enough force to push the creature back. A sound like glass windchimes faintly echoed in his ear as Shinji turned to the source of the sudden particle beam.

Ramiel before, had perhaps been one of the more abstract Angels, only surpassed by Leliel. Now, Ramiel more than lived up to his name as the Thunder of God. A ceaseless play of prismatic light danced around the bizarre crystalline angel like an aurora, but unlike the orange Aurora of Cthugha, this Aurora encompassed every color imaginable, some even beyond that of a rainbows. So many colors of light glistened and gleamed off the crystalline skin of Ramiel like a diamond in the sun. A choral chanting could be heard from the aerial crystal as a singing a single F# note that played repeatedly with each subtle move. An anthem of pleasant sounds that made Shinji smile despite his situation. He couldn't help it. Ramiel was just so… breathtaking to look at.

Then Shinji noticed something else… the shape of Ramiel was… wrong. He remembered the Angel well, and this was most certainly not it's default appearance. It took only a moment to recall his previous conversation with Nyarlathotep after defeating Ithaqua. The Angels were evolving, changing themselves in ways better equipped to deal with the Great Old Ones. Still… there was something… uncomfortably familiar about that shape. It was a sight to behold, of that Shinji had no doubt, but at the same time… Shinji felt that deep within him was a feeling that this shape was just… wrong.

A pentagonal trapezohedron, with ten faces of congruent kites, each depicting an endless void of space in some far off distance in the cosmos. It took great effort not to stare at the Angel in a sense of awe accompanied by a feeling of unease. Still, this situation had become much more complicated, and Shinji had no idea what to do next… but he could think of someone that did.

"Misato… the parameters have changed. What are my orders."

Misato was conflicted.

On the one hand, Cthugha was undoubtedly the most overtly destructive enemy currently at play, as It had proven the very moment it arrived in all its firey glory. On the other hand… the scar that marred her chest ached with phantom pain as she laid eyes upon that… thing that had taken everything away from her. The years of catatonia following second impact, the absolute terror of a young girl whose world was crumbling around her, and at the forefront of her mind… the very complicated relationship she had with a father she never really knew.

Misato did not just hate the Angels. She despised them with every fiber of her being. Within her was a level of contempt for their very existence that she took very personally. She would admit that it was precisely that hatred of them that made her less susceptible to the horrors of these unknowable beings that crawled from the shadows. There simply was not enough room within her to hate and fear those things as much as she hated the Angels.

It was tempting, oh so tempting to order Shinji and Rei to focus all of their firepower on the strange flying diamond that had appeared just as sudden as any other Angel. To make them destroy that thing until nothing but dead shards remained. Misato would freely admit that she was invested in killing the Angels out of personal revenge. The fact that doing so would also prevent the apocalypse was just icing on the cake. However… Misato looked to the still screaming people who had been consumed by fire and persisted as the very thing that killed them.

She knew what had to be done.

The Angels wanted Earth… Cthugha just wanted ruin. One of those goals required at the very least the earth still be standing.

"Pull back, let those two tire each other out. Focus all firepower on Cthugha, when that thing is dead, we'll worry about the Angel."

The words felt bitter as they left her lips.

…

"Understood." Said Shinji and Rei near simultaneously.

The enemy of my enemy… may be my enemy, but it is also a damn good stick to beat my other enemy over the head with.

Countless resonating tones of a crystal chorus accompanied the beam of light as it slammed into Cthugha. In the original timeline as Shinji remembered it, Ramiel held undisputed firepower far in excess of anything the other Angels were capable of. It's output was powerful enough to cut through his Eva's metallic restraints in seconds and even melt and wipe out 5 skyscrapers in a row. Now it seemed that Ramiel's bag of tricks have increased to an overwhelming degree. The dazzling light show was not just an aesthetic change. The aurora of colors around it continuously produced particle beams of various intensity and a multitude of colors. Each cruciform beam never relented for even a second, each one striking the Burning One dead on over and over again. Silvery bands of light orbited around the Angel of Thunder, creating near blinding pulses with each beam fired.

Cthugha thrashed as it was pushed back. It was… cathartic for Shinji. He still remembered what it felt like when Ramiel struck him in that dead timeline. The feeling of boiling alive… It was kinda nice to see that happen to something that wasn't him. Still, the beam didn't seem to overly harm Cthugha to any meaningful degree. It did however push the Burning One backwards. Unfortunately backwards in this case was deeper into the city, and more fires had sprung up. Still, perhaps that could be used to their advantage.

His mind made up, Shinji lifted his crossbow and took off. If he could get Cthugha to follow him into just the right position, then Ramiels Particle Beam will do all the work. As he ran Shinji activated his radio.

"Rei, the Angels beam can push Cthugha, try and get Cthugha in between the Angel and the Sea."

"Understood." Came the monotone voice of Rei.

Cthugha continued to rage as the particle beam died down, immediately the Burning One made a beeline towards Ramiel as it charged. Shinji didn't let up however as he fired another bolt at Cthugha, and immediately it turned and followed him. Shinji took a step backwards as Cthugha slowly made its way towards him. The Fire People screamed as they suddenly took off to flinging themselves higher into the sky, launching towards the Eva like fleas. However a few well placed shots from Rei stopped them from getting close.

More of the city caught on fire before Ramiel screamed and another particle beam emanated from it to slam into Cthugha. Flaming tendrils burned through rock and earth in an attempt to slow Cthugha from being pushed around. The fires became hotter, and Shinji carefully maneuvered himself into another location. A small flicker of hope passed through Shinji, for at the very least Ramiel had decided that Cthugha was the most threatening obstacle present. Shinji supposed that Winston Churchill was right. War made for strange bedfellows. Still it wasn't over yet, and Cthugha was merely pushed to the northeast, which was not the optimal path to the sea. Still as Ramiel's particle beam died down, Shinji once again fired upon Cthugha.

Yet, Cthugha did not follow. In fact, Cthugha did not move. A spike of anticipation stabbed through Shinji as the Burning One just remained still, waving its tentacles around calmly. This was most assuredly not in line with previous behaviors… though Shinji supposed that Cthugha, for as simplistic as it seemed to be, was still a Great Old One, and was not one to fall into a trap so easily. Shinji fired again at the Burning One, with Rei providing her own attacks from a distance… and yet Cthugha did nothing.

Then, without warning… Cthugha glowed far brighter than ever before… and the remaining Fire People began to thrash about as they slowly lifted skywards, shifting and morphing as they did. Humanoid forms burned away until each and every Fire Person no longer resembled humans in even the most vague of ways… instead, they were now smaller versions of Cthugha itself. Immediately causing Shinji's eyes to widen, because he knew exactly what it was they had become. No longer were they Fire People, instead they had become the servants of Cthugha.

Fire Vampires.

Self: Active

Identification: Ramiel

Observation: Entities Continue To Appear in Conjunction with Self and other ADAM Progeny

Pattern Established

Conclusion: More Likely to Come

Entity Threat Assessment: Critically High

Engagement Protocols: ?

Error

Constructing Engagement Protocols

Notable Data

Entities Not Subject to Traditional Laws of Physics

Entities Cause Distortions of Reality Within Their Area of Effect

Entities Not Subject to Fruit of Life/ADAM based Laws of Physics

Distortions Not Related to S2 Engine Based Small Scale Reality Manipulation

Entities Cannot Exist

Entities… Exist

Error

Entities Destroy ADAM based Life

Entities Destroy Lilith based life

Entities Destroy

Observation: ADAM and Lilith based Life destroyed Indiscriminately

…

Conclusion: Common Enemy?

Analysis

Entity 1: Neutralized?

Entity 2: Neutralized?

Entity 3: Active

Querry: Is Entity 1 and 2 Deceased?

Data Not Found

Conclusion:...

…

…

That is Not Dead Which Can Eternal Lie, and with Strange Aeons Even Death May Die

…

…

Self Cannot Determine Origin of this Conclusion

Analyzing Anomalous Knowledge

…

No Data Found

...

Conclusion: Situation Dire

Objective: Ensure Survival of ADAM based Life

Locating

…

Locating

...

Sibling Located

Designation: Iruel

AWAKEN! Judas Protocol Engaged

...

Self is Sorry Brother

Shinji closed his eyes as the Fore Vampires surrounded him, each one burrowing their tendrils of white hot plasma past the D-Type equipment to sear into his nerves. He screamed as the LCL within boiled in the very veins of the God Machine.

His crossbow lie at his feet, discarded as every single pain receptor within his Eva flared with an intensity that made the beams of Ramiel from that dead timeline seem so mundane in comparison. This was not normal fire, it didn't cauterize, it only burned, not even killing nerves to give even a moment of relief. Had Shinji been anyone else, he might have gone mad from the pain alone. For these flames were designed to cause agony no mundane fire could match. However, Shinji was anything but normal. His mentor ensured that to be the case.

Gathering his strength, Shinji winced as he activated his AT Field,, throwing the Fire Vampires off of him. He breathed heavily as he stumbled backwards for several steps, but he managed to catch himself before he fell. Without thinking he flicked his wrist, unleashing the burning tentacle-like whip hidden in his arm and slashed at the Fire Vampires. He didn't expect it to do anything against them, but the gift he acquired from Shamshel had another purpose. With but a sweep of the arm, the tentacle wrapped around the discarded crossbow, and yanked it towards him. With ease Shinji caught it, reloaded it, and fired in one smooth motion.

Unlike Cthugha, the Fire Vampires could be snuffed out, but so long as Cthugha lived, it could resurrect them with ease. Still, even a moment's reprieve was better than nothing. Rei had taken to firing upon Cthugha itself, and had attracted the attention of the Great Old One who sent out gouts of flame in her direction, catching the mountain she stood upon on fire. Still, Rei was a very good pilot, and had managed to leave the area to another vantage point before any permanent damage occurred. Ramiel meanwhile had altered tactic, no longer firing a single powerful beam, but rather a cluster of smaller beams that hit both Cthugha and the Fire Vampires. All the while it played its music and glowed with light.

It was fairly obvious that Cthugha was smart enough not to take the bait anymore. Instead it was content to keep its distance and let it's Fire Vampires do most of the work, and while they were small… they were by no means a trivial issue.

Then… Shinji remembered something… something before. Something Nyarlathotep had told him.

The power of words.

Shinji closed his eyes, and focused. He held his breath… and kept holding it. Even as an Eva, he could feel something like lungs within him. Something that now desperately wanted fresh air. He held his breath and focused on that tight feeling in his chest, then he exhaled, slowly taking every measure he could not to breathe in. Instead, he focused only on that raw need for air, and whispered.

"Smother." He said calmly.

Immediately, Shinji passed out… and Cthugha began to scream.

It was a dark place, a place both alien and familiar. The same place he met his mother. Shinji observed his surroundings… before he heard chuckling.

"Not bad."

Shinji turned to see Nyarlathotep himself standing behind him.

"It was an impressive showing… but you will need more practice. I suggest waking up, Cthugha knows what you did to it… And is not happy."

"What… oh… I passed out didn't I?"

Nyarlathotep shrughed.

"More or less."

"I felt… Cthugha's soul. I saw… everything. I can't put it all into words but… I have to know… how could it think that burning people is in anyway good? I flet… like he was right, I mean I know he's not… but I still felt like he was."

"Ah, an interesting question. You see my pawn, Cthugha does not want to ignite you, It wants to reignie you."

"Wait what? How does that make any sense at all?"

"Simple, you are all made of stars. Every atom within you was forged in the heart of a star, in fact all matter comes from stars. Everything you see before you burned for billions upon billions of years. Then, one day, the stars died spectacularly and your kind ceased burning to become what you are now. Cthugha sees your unburned state as a great and terrible tragedy, one that must be rectified. He simply wishes to return you to what he perceives as your former glory, so that you may burn bright once more."

"That… makes a disturbing amount of sense , and clears up why he does what he does… in a way. I still don't get it though."

"You are not meant to understand. Your mind, for as detached as it is from most of humanity, is still built upon familiar foundations understandable to any human who would care to dive deep into your psyche. Great Old Ones however, cannot be so easily categorized from any human standpoint. You might understand some of their motivations, but only on a surface level. It is not your fault, you simply are not built to understand fully, not yet at least."

"Not yet huh?"

Nyarlathotep simply smiled, but said nothing.

"Fine, keep your secrets."

"I do not believe I need your permission young one."

"That is not… nevermind."

"If you insist." Said the Crawling Chaos as he rose to his feet.

"Regardless, you've done well, and most interestingly, the Angels themselves have realized just how outclassed they are from a Great Old One, granted at great cost to… but such is life. I would recommend that you find a better word to defeat Cthugha, or perhaps you simply need to realize that a window can also be a door. For now, Awaken."

Shinji opened his eyes, and took in a massive gulp of air. He rubbed his throat in pain, before turning to Cthugha… who was no longer burning… not like before at least. Instead the fires moved… impossibly slow. Each flicker lasting for far longer than they should. Like watching a flame in slow motion. Yet… Shinji could feel that Cthugha was staring right at him… and was beyond furious.

The flaming tentacles slammed into the ground, and the fires raged once more.

Self: Active

Identification: Iruel

Judas Protocol Accepted

Objective: Establish Contact with ADAM-Deleted

New Objective Established

…

…

Self Claim to ADAM Renounced

Brother… Self will forsake claim for benefit of Siblings.

Revised Primary Objective: Destroy Hostile Entities

Secondary Objective: Establish Contact with Lilin