EVA, also known as Neon Genesis Evangelion.
The work mainly told the story of boys and girls piloting giant multipurpose humanoid decisive battle weapons called Eva units, fighting against mysterious enemies known as Angels that attacked humanity.
Unit-01 was one of those machines.
At first glance, it looked like a mecha. In truth, it was a gigantic biological organism—a clone of an Angel. Its so-called armor was actually a restraint system used to bind its body.
To put it simply, it was a product created through a fusion of biotechnology and precision electronic machinery.
If that thing had not awakened, then it was not particularly powerful.
But if it awakened or went berserk, "terrifying" would no longer be enough to describe it.
According to its setting, it was capable of destroying humanity.
As for why Kuroneko had not recognized it at first, that was because it looked like it was still in an unpainted state.
In addition, parts of its design had been modified, which was why she had not identified it immediately.
Now, however, it could be confirmed that the BETA with that shape had absolutely been manufactured with Unit-01 as its reference.
And that raised a horrifying question.
Why did the BETA know about Unit-01?
When combined with the fact that Mr. Kain had charged into that BETA Hive alone, a possibility no one quite dared to think about began to surface.
S-surely not.
....
After understanding what Unit-01 was, Yuuko Kouzuki watched the image in the live broadcast window before her with an extremely grave expression.
If that Unit-01-type BETA truly had abilities like the original work, then they might as well implement Alternative V immediately.
Fortunately, it seemed that this was merely a BETA with Unit-01's exterior. It had only been built in that shape, and its size looked to be twenty meters at most, roughly the same as a Tactical Surface Fighter.
In the work Kuroneko had described, Unit-01 was over eighty meters tall.
As for its functions, those were still BETA functions. Even so, it was already terrifying enough.
The BETA had very likely read his memories, learned about that work, and used Unit-01's form as a reference to create a new BETA species for itself.
If that was the case, the situation was extremely bad.
If the BETA continued using his memories to manufacture even more troublesome new species, then Earth could truly be declared beyond saving.
So Yuuko once again hesitated over whether she should eject him.
But was there another possibility?
What if the one actually controlling that Unit-01-shaped machine was him?
What if he had broken free from the brain-class's control? Or rather, what if he had never been controlled to begin with, and instead, through some unknown means, had used BETA technology and factories to manufacture a Tactical Surface Fighter-class BETA?
If that possibility was true, then for Yuuko, it would be an enormous surprise. It would mean humanity's power to counterattack and drive out the BETA had increased even further.
For now, all she could do was wait and see what the Unit-01 in the footage would do next after destroying every BETA.
....
Lock, lock, lock, lock, lock, lock, lock, lock, lock, lock, lock...!
Locking onto hundreds of targets complete!
Irradiate!
A massive barrage of laser beams pierced directly through the weak points of Destroyer-class and Interceptor-class BETA.
Both types were enormous. With these thin beams, unless he fired several more shots and punched more holes through their bodies, they might not necessarily die.
But right now, there was no need to waste laser fire. It was enough to make them suddenly lose the ability to move. The rest could be handled by the dominated BETA moving in to finish them off.
After the finishing blows were delivered, the controlled BETA would then have the energy inside their bodies drained in reverse, killing them.
In the blink of an eye, the BETA had almost been wiped clean.
Not a single one would be allowed to leave this Hive and return to another.
The reason for doing this was somewhat akin to silencing witnesses. It was to prevent the BETA from actually transmitting any useful information to the brains in other Hives, which could then report to the superior-brain-class and develop some targeted countermeasure.
In reality, since he had already killed the brain-class, there was no way for the specific information about his Tactical Surface Fighter-class BETA to leak out.
The design plan existed inside his own memories. He had never placed the manufacturing blueprints into the factory machinery that produced BETA.
It was like a 3D-printing industrial mother machine. To manufacture a device, one first had to input a design blueprint into the control system so it could begin fabrication.
However, Kain had not input any blueprint. Instead, he had manually controlled the 3D-printing equipment and built it by hand.
Because he had been in a superhuman state at the time, operating it had posed no problem.
After manufacturing was complete, he had naturally destroyed the factory as well. There was absolutely no way any data could be obtained.
As for the BETA in this Hive that had survived despite the absence of a brain-class, they might report the performance of this Tactical Surface Fighter they had witnessed.
After that report was sent upward, the other brain-class units would probably understand it this way: a strange Tactical Surface Fighter had seemingly used a little of their own tools to counterattack.
For example, say two people were attacking you while armed with weapons, and you attacked them with the same kind of weapon.
If the boss of those two people learned about the incident, he would only interpret it like this: you had seized one of the weapon-wielding people, who had originally been trying to attack you, but you dodged and guided his attack into the other weapon-wielding person.
That boss would not think you had stolen the weapon, modified it, and used it to attack his own side.
As for why Kain believed the brain-class would understand it that way, it was because in his superhuman state, he understood that this was how the brain-class thought.
However, after one or two reports, they might still interpret it that way. But after repeated reports, the brain-class would realize there was a problem and respond with targeted measures.
Perhaps they would even attempt to create a new BETA that integrated multiple functions into one body.
In truth, it was not that they could not manufacture such a thing. It was simply not cost-effective.
They needed the most cost-effective Worker-class BETA to mine, not frighteningly expensive BETA for mining.
But if the threat grew large enough, they would probably have no choice but to manufacture frighteningly expensive new individual BETA—multifunctional BETA.
That meant the product Kain had obtained, this fusion of biotechnology and electronic machinery, was not something he could casually use to attack BETA Hives. It was not invincible.
He estimated that after he raided one or two more BETA Hives, the other side would begin responding with targeted measures.
There were many possible forms that response could take.
For example, Heavy Laser-class irradiation. This machine could not withstand many shots from them. If the BETA simply manufactured several more Heavy Laser-class units and aimed them at him, they could destroy him.
And in the worst-case scenario, they might manufacture a BETA with properties similar to his machine.
As for why he had made this machine, its purpose was not to be used in this world, but to take it back to his own side.
Because this Unit-01-shaped Tactical Surface Fighter-class BETA's true purpose was to extract G-elements.
(End of Chapter)
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