Legends turn to Myth

AN: This is the second part of my EVA story. Hopefully it will come out
without formating problems this time. It is still a bit rare and drafty so
read at your own risk. For those who have missed my post last week
you can find the first part at: http://www.angelfire.com/anime6/loki-l/

            Part 2:    Into the Battle


Shinji was not at first aware of what he had done. In the confusion he had
merely grasped for the only weapon within reach to defend the strange
blue-haired girl and himself against the attacking monster. He did not
care that it was the very same sword that his father had wanted him to
wield.

He also had forgotten that the weapons blade was still encased in a block
of solid stone and that it had earlier looked to him as if it would
require a great act of strength to pull it free. He simply reached behind
him and grasped the hilt of the weapon with his right hand.

Not even trying to draw it straight up he as he would have done had he
consciously thought about freeing the sword from its prison, he instead,
once he had a firm grip on it, dragged it sideways out of the stone and
then swung it in wide arc in front of him to take hold of it with both
hands like had often seen soldiers do it.

He never noticed that in the process he was cutting through the stone,
part of the floor, a few pieces of rubble, the corpse of a late litter
bearer and almost the very girl he was trying to protect. The sword was
so light in his hands and the blade was so sharp that none of the
obstacles in its path gave it enough resistance to allow the young man to
register their cutting. Only when he held the sword in front of himself
did he notice that it was a most extraordinary weapon he had taken up in
his defense.

Shinji had realized earlier that it would likely be a magical blade of
some sort that his father had wanted him to draw it. The man had been
obsessed with the secrets contained in the pit and the unnatural tools
that could be created with them for as long as Shinji could recall. That
his obsession had cost the live of his wife and Shinji's mother, Yui Ikari
was something that Shinji could never forgive him. That he had had the
gall of naming the abomination in Shinji's hand after her only made it
worse.

And an abomination it surely was. It gleamed evilly in the near dark that
had fallen over the city and Shinji did not dare to imagine what method
of tampering of the metal might have caused the unnatural color of the
blade. The purple stood in stark contrast with the virulently green
inlays and the purulent orange decorations near the hilt. But even more
than its sight it was the feel in his hands that filled him with abject
loathing and horror.

He could almost taste through it the few drops of blood clinging to it
and he knew that it thirsted for more.

Since the winged monster had backed off a bit when Shinji had brought the
sword between them he decided to risk a glance to his side to look for the
origin of the blood.

His relief that the girl was apparently still alive and unharmed was short
lived as he soon beheld what had become of the body of the dead litter
carrier. Where the sword had cut through the already dead man a disgusting
process had begun. The flesh that had come in contact with the blade had
turned black and rotten and the malignant effect was still expanding and
slowly consuming the entire corpse in front of Shinji's horrified eyes.

He would have dropped the cursed blade then and there had not the winged
monster chosen that moment to attack.

In that moment instincts took over and made him slash out with the weapon
in his hands. The surprised creature managed to block and parry Shinji's
strikes with his own sword but soon found itself on the retreat anxious
not to let its opponents sword come in contact with its own flesh.

Soon others like it joined the fight descending from the overcast sky,
but Shinji managed to defend himself even against their superior numbers.

As he was beating back monsters that was larger, stronger and no doubt
far more experienced in the art of sword fighting Shinji realized why his
father had been so sure that he would be able to wield the weapon. It was
rather than him using the sword to fight, the sword which was using him.
It guided his movements and directed his actions.

Shinji had heard that many experienced warriors sought to consider their
weapon as merely an extension of their self in battle. At this moment it
was Shinji who was little more than an extension of his sword.


                             * **  ***  ** *


Not far from where Shinji was fighting Misato Katsuragi, captain of the
guard and battle-commander of the forces defending the city stood staring
out of the window and directing the battle taking place in the twilight
that had come with the attackers. Her fortified command post was build on
top of the walkways connecting the two towers of the great drawbridge that
formed the main crossing over the central waterway of the city. Standing
in moving water as they were the stone towers of the bascule bridge were
one of the most defensible places against the rabid hordes attacking them
at the moment and from high up in her combat center Misato could oversee
the entire battlefield below and with short harsh shouts audible above
the general chaos in the war room she directed her subordinates to sound
horns, raise flags and send runners in rapid succession.

The entire bridge was in a state of permanent change as the colorful
display of pennants and banners along its sides was constantly permutating
and everchanging sets of the brightly lit windows in the upper parts of
the towers were independently darkened for short durations by rapidly
opening and closing shutters. The sound of a hundred horns and bells
added a musical accompaniment to the visual chaos.
  
Inside several attendants manning the bridge were busy pulling and pushing
at a large number of levers and pedals or operating the controls of a
machine resembling those of a pipe organ while others were relaying
information from lookouts and runners. In the background a large model
of the city was being manipulated by a group of sappers and artisans to
reflect the actual state of the fortifications.

They were all doing much better than even the best exercise and drills
would have let Misato hope. The entire city was functioning as a giant
military unit. The rochade-transformation had been successfully
accomplished and with a thousand different changes the complicated
castling process had turned the Third Capital into a nearly impregnable
fortress.

The men and women in the field were reacting with speed and discipline to
the various signals she was sending out so that they almost formed one
giant unit and the weapons and traps placed all over the city artfully
hidden in seemingly normal looking buildings were taking their toll on the
invaders. Under Misato's command was the most magnificent fighting force
she could imagine.

But all that counted for nothing. They were still losing against an
overwhelming force.

"Sector C-7 is clear!" one of the sappers manning the model shouted loudly
while taking the last little model banner from an area of the board.

It meant that the last of the defenders in that area had fled or fallen to
their enemies, but it also meant that the short ranged balistae and
catapults behind them could now start firing without risk of hitting one
of their own.

"Signal sector D6 to begin bombardment of C7 and have C6 include it in its
range of fire, but keep all heavy artillery in D7 targeted southward."
Misato ordered.

The city was slowly overrun in front of her eyes and there was little she
could do to stop them.

"Captain," a lookout shouted for her attention pointing to something close
by. "Down at the sword plaza!"

Misato tried to look down the shadows beneath the bridge. The protective
ceiling of the plaza had earlier collapsed burying their last hope beneath
it. It looked as if the invaders had already sent a number of their
bat-winged scouts to scavenge the place. Misato wished them good luck at
their task. At least the winged assasin busy in the rubble below would not
harass her light and signal towers like so many of their brethren were
doing. She was not concerned about the possibility that they might unearth
the sword. Even these shadow-spawned nightmares had no hope of surviving
against the even greater horror of the sword should they be foolish
enough to release it from its stony prison.

Misato turned away from the scenes to another lieutenat who was demanding
her attention.

"Captain Katsuragi, we can't hold the eastern merchants district much
longer," Hyuga informed her breathlessly. "There are too many of them
coming at us from outside."

Misato did not need to look at the model or at the distant battle to know
that he was right. They had lost any hope of holding that area for long
when the invaders had managed to take two channel bridges and a small
ferry to that district intact. The beast-men would not willingly cross
even the shallowest water but once they the ways across under their
control the dark riders that were leading them could easily drive them
across in large numbers.

"Have everyone still there fall back beyond the boulevard and tell them to
seek higher ground," Misato ordered. "And signal the northern reservoir to
prepare to open their eastern gate once everyone has evacuated the danger
zone."

Hyuga hurried of to relay her orders and Misato sighed with regret.

The maneuver would flood the district and turn the appropriately designed
roads and alleys into shallow stream and canals. It would also destroy the
live-hood of many families that had their business in the district. But
Misato could not waste any thoughts one them. The oncoming hordes needed
to be driven back and the water would be the best way to stop them for a
time.

"Misato!" An angry blonde women shouted storming past the guards into the
combat center. "I have heard that the invaders are trying to steal Yui and
that you are just going to let them."

Misato was tempted to have her thrown out of the room by the gurads. Even
if the scholar was one of Misato's oldest friends, a civilian had no
business on the bridge at times like this. But Ritsuko was not just her
friend but also her nominal superior as a fellow employee of Gendo Ikari.
She might not have any say over the military decisions Misato made in the
defense of the city, but it would probably be best to keep her satisfied
unless Misato wanted to be in trouble later.

"With Rei dead and Shinji who knows where we don't have any body left to
wield that damned sword," She explained her reasoning. "It is as useless
for us right now as it will be for them."

Ritsuko would have nothing of this. "The sword is our only hope to defeat
those creatures," she insisted. 

"If they pull it out of the stone and start cutting themselves on it
perhaps," Misato half joked. "Considering the damage it did to us when Rei
tried wield it, it might very well be their destruction."

"I don't believe you." Ritsuko yelled. "Do you have any idea what went
into forging this weapon? How can you just let it fall into enemy hands?"

Misato did indeed not know what had gone into making the sword, because
Ritsuko and Gendo were always so secretive about it, but she decide that
it would not be the right moment to point that out. Instead she ordered
the mousy lieutenant Ibuki who Misato strongly suspected of having
informed Ritsuko about the sword to have the western tower's searchlight
pointed at the plaza.

In more peaceful times it was used to help ships safely navigate the river
below but now it would enlighten the remains of the square to hopefully
show Ritsuko that it was to late to do anything about the sword since the
winged scouts of the enemy had already absconded with it.

Together with Ritsuko Misato peered outside. There was fighting going on
down there now. There should not have been anybody left. They had
evacuated that section after the collapse of the ceiling had compromised
their perimeter. The moment the outer armor had been breached the whole
upper layer of the square had become 'outside'.

The darkness that had come with the enemy was getting worse soon their
flags would no longer be easily visible from a distance and they would
have to fall back on communicating entirely with the light shutters and
sound signals.

In the dim light provided by the tower she tried to make out what force
had been disobeying her orders to protect an area already deemed
unholdable. Almost all she could see were the dark-winged assasins of the
enemy. Who were they fighting against?

One of the shapes took flight. It was visibly wounded at one wing-tip as
it tried to lift of from the shadow below, but it did not get far. Its
entire wing shriveled before it had made more than a few successfully
wing beats and it fell back to the ground to die screaming a horrible
death-scream that could even be heard above the general din of the battle.

Ritsuko gasped and Misato swore. She recognized that effect. She had seen
it before and hoped never to see it again. Somebody down there was
wielding Gendo's accursed purple sword and he was slaughtering the enemy's
winged scouts.

Suddenly she was grateful that Ritsuko was with her since the women
was one of the foremost experts on the blade.

She send orders to directed two of their only a handful remaining
operational light-towers to add the beams of their large parabolic
gas-lamp spotlights to the illumiantion of the plaza. 

Within a short time her order was relayed and the battle scence below
illuminated.

"It is Shinji!" Misato triumphantly.

"So the third child has successfully drawn the purple sword," Ritsuko
declared in awe.

He had Not only was he wielding the sword, but he actualy seemed to have
mastered it.

"And Rei is still alive, too" Misato added.

The girl was sitting on the floor behind him and not only was Shinji not
trying to kill her he was actively defending her against the attacks of
the monsters. That meant that he was still in control of his bloodthirsty
tool.

Misato immediately directed reserve forces to have Rei fetched out of
there and to assist Shinji in his fight. With the blade in control they
might just win this battle, yet.

"Why don't you direct him to use his sword where he will do more good,"
Ritsuko asked.

"He doesn't know any of the signals," Misato explained.

She had given him a booklet that contained explanation for the standard
signal pennants, but it was unlikely that he had read it and learned them
by heart in the short time.

"I will have a row of pennants set anyway," Misato decided. "Maybe Rei is
well enough to relay the to him for us."

It was frustrating. Their most powerful weapon was wielded by the only
human in the city above the age of six who would not understand the
signals that Misato was trying to send.

Helplessly they watched as Shinji wasted his time fighting the few winged
scouts that the enemy had sent into the heart of the city. Finally a group
of archers had reached a nearby highrise and was starting to rain down
arrows on the winged ones.

Once the last of his foes had fallen Shinji just stood their cluelessly
before turning to Rei. At first Misato thought that he would now turn his
sword against her, but he was just making sure that she was all right.

Rei must have managed to relay her orders to him as Shinji turned to
face the direction that Misato wanted him to walk.


                             * **  ***  ** *


Sinhji slowly advanced in the direction that Rei had said he must go
trying to keep in the center of the spotlight that illuminated his way. He
was unsure about how exactly Rei knew where he needed to go and what
difference a single fighter could hope to make in a battle like this, but
he had obeyed. He did not even insist to stay with her until the troops
she said where on their way would pick her up. Truth to be told Shinji was
glad to be away from her. Or rather he was glad that she was safely away
from him and the sword.

The sword Shinji had decided was dangerous. It was not outright
controlling his actions but merely leading influencing his feelings. He
had nearly lost himself to the bloodthirst when he had fought the winged
monsters. A part of him had delighted in killing them and he had feared
that once he ran out of enemies he would kill Rei. The sword had
definitely wanted her dead, but that hate had been the key that had helped
Shinji to seperate his own desires from the sword's.

He had only know the girl briefly but he had felt a strange sort of
connection there. He most certainly did not want to see her die or come to
any harm. And that was why he was now walking away from her.

Shinji paused as he realized that the circle of light had stopped
following him several some time ago and he was about to step into
darkness. He looked up at the light-towers quizzically nearly blinding
himself in the process. Then he looked back behind him.

The spotlights had not just stopped moving forward they had moved a bit
to the side where they had before been centered directly on the middle of
Shinji's path.

Shinji backtracked and found a small alley branching of from the main road
exactly where the lights indicated. Shrugging his shoulders he decided to
follow that path instead.

Paying more attention to where his illumination wanted him to Shinji made
his way through the deserted city. Finally in the middle of a low bridge
over one of the many waterways it stopped again.

What did that mean? There was no way to move anywhere but ahead or back
from where he had come, but the spotlight stayed centered slightly to the
side of where he stood. Did they expect him to jump into the water?

Carefully walking to the edge he realized that he was not in fact on a
normal bridge, but one of the improvised ones that had been created with
the city's transformation. It was made out of river barges and ferries
that had been strung together to form a new crossing. And the float he was
standing on was strangely disconnected from the rest of the construct.

The other boats had been side by side and fastened to the channels edges.
His raft was not fastened to the boats on either side but instead held in
place by ropes leading to the aft and fore of his vessel. He had seen
similar on ferries that were towed by them across streams, but who would
want to use it to tow a raft along a river instead of across.

The ropes seemed to be under some tension as they were straight and not
dipping down at all as far ahead as he could see. He poked one with the
sword he still held in his hands and the light went out.

The light came on again a moment later. Did they want him to cut the rope?
Or did had that been a warning not to touch the ropes. There was little
else he could do here but passively wait and the light had pointed to the
side and not the center as waiting should logically be indicated.

Perhaps it was just the sword filling him with a need to cut things even
if they were inanimate objects, but Shinji raised so that its blade
sparkled in the light. He held it there for a moment to make his
intentions clear when no further messages seemed to be forthcoming he
let the blade come down and cut through both ropes on the side he was
standing on at once in a mighty strike that he would not have thought
himself to be capable of before he picked up the sword.

For a moment nothing happened and then with a lurch the raft started
moving in the other direction. First slowly and then quickly speeding up
he moved along the river.

Turning around he saw the source of his motion up ahead. The ropes were
leading to a large drawbridge where presumably through a system of
pulleyes the mass of the slowly descending bridge was serving as a
counterweight to reel him in.

>From the way both he and the bridge were speeding up their motion it
looked like it would close just when Shinji passed its position in the
river. A thought occurred to him. 

The bridge looked like it would be awfully close to the water once it was
closed.

Shinji quickly lay down on his raft hugging himself to the deck.

Another thought occurred to him. What exactly would happen once he ran out
of rope on the other side? Being brought to a sudden full stop from the
speeds they were going did not seem like something that would be healthy
for the boat or for that matter for him.

He needn't have bothered since a cheerfully waving guard manning the
bridge cut him loose when he passed safely underneath the bridge with
several spans of headroom above him.

Now coasting along Shinji shakily stood up again to see what lay ahead.
There was little to see, but the distant sound of battle had become
notably louder.

Slowing down his craft finally came to a rest in the middle of what looked
like a small artificial lake.


                             * **  ***  ** *


The artisan held in his hand a little glass bauble containing a small
purple figure that looked like a thin and especially ugly type of horned
demon.

"Evangelion Unit 01 has reached the southern retention pool!" Lieutenant
Ibuki reported from where she was looking out the window.

The artisan dutifully placed the little bauble in the velvet clad part of
city model that represented the retention pool.

"All pond gates closed," Lieutenant Ibuki added now spying men waving red
flags on all the minor channels and waterways leading to the pond.

"Launch channel is clear," the artisan added after looking over the model
one last time to make sure that there had been no change of status along
the way since he had last checked.

"Are you sure about this, Misato?" Ritsuko asked hesitantly.

"We need Shinji in the battle and we need him there now. This is the
fastest way to get him directly into the heart of the enemy forces. If he
can handle holding the sword he can handle a little rafting," the captain
declared categorically then in a louder voice she ordered. "Open sluice
gate seven and launch EVA!"

"Opening sluice gate seven," lieutenant Aoba confirmed from his console
where he was relayin that order.

The artisan lifted a small wooden board bearing the number seven out of
the way. For a few heartbeats there was relative silence in their part of
the bridge while everyone waited eagerly.

"EVA-01 launced!" Lieutenant Ibuki finally declared when she saw Shinji's
raft beginning to move in the distance.

The artisan backhanded the purple figure sending it madly carroming down
a path of little velvet clad channels towards the southern edge of the
display.


                             * **  ***  ** *


Shinji was screaming loudly and holding on for dear life as he was riding
his raft down a series of narrow channels. He had stuck his sword into the
raft to create a handhold when he had first realized that the lake he had
been on was emptying itself and was now clinging to it as if his life
depended on it.

And it very well might have, given the speed at which the water masses
were rushing down the channels. But for all his terror he also felt an odd
sense of security and being watched over as he was holding tightly onto
the unholy artefact to keep from falling overboard.

The city was whisking by left and right at speeds not normally associated
with horizontal movement and several times he almost thought he would die
when his path took a sharp turn to the side.

Finally the stream he was riding left the city proper and emptied itself
into a meadow outside the city walls momentarily flooding it in the
process.

And a good thing that was too, for the meadow had up until then been a
staging area for the hydrophobic attackers. The water forced them back
giving Shinji just enough breathing room to pull his sword free and ready
himself for the fight.

These enemies were different from the ones he had fought before. While
some of the winged nightmares were present, the bulk of the enemy's forces
were made up out of earthbound creatures that were half men and half
beasts. The creatures came in several distinct forms, but no matter if
they had beaks or snouts, were shaped in grotesque parodies of wolves,
bears or rams they all had in common the inhuman feel of savage malice
about them. They almost physically reeked of evil. A few mounted
adversaries were among the hordes, but Shinji paid them little attention
since their numbers were few and their more human appearance made them
seem less of a threat to him then the monstrous foot soldiers.

He was slightly concerned that he could not see any other human defenders
anywhere nearby. In fact all the usual battle noises seemed to be coming
from behind him in the direction of the city.

Where was everyone else? Shinji wondered as the monsters again closed in
around him, encircling him from all side. Was he supposed to take on that
army all by himself?

As the first attackers dashed forward through the receding water Shinji
concluded that he was in even deeper trouble than he had thought.

He parried a few attacks and cut down the first of those who dared to
approach him. He soon found that they were far stronger warriors and
competent fighters than the bat-winged monsters had been.

When he saw that he was surround by hundreds if not thousands of the
creatures he realized that he would not have any choice. He closed his
eyes and surrendered himself to the siren song of blood and death that
had been playing in his mind since he had first picked up the blade. He
allowed the bloodthirst of the sword to take control.

When he opened his eyes again they were glowing red and the hordes before
him suddenly knew fear.


                             * **  ***  ** *


"They are going to overwhelm him." Lieutenant Ibuki feared trying to make
out Shinji among the hordes of beast-men south of the city.

"We flushed him directly into the heart of the enemy's forces." Captain
Katsuragi stated. "I can only hope, that you did not overestimate the
power of the sword."

"Don't fear Misato," Miss Akagi assured her. "If Shinji has truly
mastered Yui than he can easily overcome those hordes."

Captain Ktsuragi seemed less sure, but she said nothing and turned to
direct other parts of the battle raging in her city.

Lieutenant Ibuki stayed next to the blonde scholar peering out into the
twilight. 

Something was happening out there, but it was almost to dark to make out
anything more than vague shapes. Suddenly movement came into the crowd of
monsters where Shinji had disappeared. The chaotic motions soon resolved
into a large circle that was cleared leaving nothing behind but wreckage
and the dead bodies of a few attackers. In the center of that sudden
clearing stood Shinji with his sword raised high into the sky.

Unnatural lighting seemed to answer him and the hordes of monsters further
shrunk back from the youth. The mounted half-men tried to spurn on their
soldiers to attack him, but it seemed that the beasts had more fear of the
young boy holding the sword than of their eyeless leaders.

"He is surrounded by an Aura of Absolute Terror that envelopes him almost
like a physical armor." Ritsuko said in awe even if it was clear from her
quick analysis that she had been expecting something like this.

"Is he fighting now?" Captain Katsuragi asked rejoining them again at the
window. "He frightening them!"

At that moment several of the half-men concentrating their efforts on the
same group of minions convinced them to attack. Details were hard to see
but it became obvious that Shinji was dispatching the attackers quicker
than the half-men could convince them to fight. Shinji fought his way
through the attackers out of the ring and into an especially large
concentration of beast-warriors.

"What is he doing?" The Captain demanded outraged. "Hacking and slashing
the foot soldiers will not achieve anything. He has to go after the
leaders to get them to disperse!"

"He does not know that either," Mistress Akagi sighed regretfully. "Unlike
Rei or the second child he never received any training. It is a miracle
that he has been doing as good as he has so far."

"We somehow have to point him out the enemies he has to engage," Captain
Katsuragi declared.

"Can't we use the spotlights for that again?" Ritsuko asked. 

"Even the closest working light-tower is too far away to be of any use,"
the Captain explained. "The circle of light they would create would be
awfully large and dim. Impractical to point out anything smaller then a
large building."

They watched on in silence as Shinji wasted his efforts against lowly
foot soldiers.

Suddenly Misato turned to Lieutenant Ibuki.

"Maya," She said unprecedentedly addressing her with her given name during
an operation. "Didn't you mention something a while ago about colored
lenses and focusing spotlights? You said one of Ritsuko's papers had given
you the idea."

"She is a great fan of your work," Misato explained as an asside to
mistress Akagi.

"A large convex lens might focus a spotlight enough to reach over the
distance," mistress Akagi mused thankfully concentrating on the first part
of the information that captain Katsuragi had provided. "But it would
require some caluculations and you would have to have a lens specially
made. I don't think we have the time for that."

"I have the necessary equipment already prepared here at the bridges own
spotlight. The target I was planing for was about the same distance as
Shinji is now," Maya admitted.

"Well that is perfect!" Captain Katsuragi cheered. "I told you she was a
smart one. Go, go! And Aoba you go with her in case there is any heavy
lifting."

Maya and Shigeru hurried outside to the western tower of the bridge where
her experiment was located.

"I don't feel so good about going out there in this weather." Maya
confided in her fellow bridge officer.

"What's a bit of lighting and bat-winged terrors against the chance of
really impressing you Ritsuko." he teased.


                             * **  ***  ** *

Back on the bridge Misato assured her friend "Maya really is a smart one.
You should take a look at some of the stuff she has written sometime
when this is over."

With that she went back to the rest of her bridge and left Ritsuko alone
at the window.

She could need an assistant, she mused, she would have to ask around a bit
about this Maya once the battle was over. Her problem of course was that
anybody intelligent enough to be of real assistance in her work would also
be smart and naturally curious enough to ask exactly the wrong sort of
questions. Ritsuko would need someone who was both competent and capable
of working alone and unsupervised on complicated problems but also so
trusting and loyal that they would not question her or investigate where
she forbid them to go. And ultimately of course they would have to be
expandable.

Risuko looked out the window where Shinji still could be seen fighting in
the distance. He was still aimlessly hacking and slashing at the hordes of
beast-men like a man possessed.

Lightning struck again and this time it almost seemed to strike the youth
directly, but far above the sword he was holding up with both hands the
lighting seemed to split up and branch. From all Ritsuko had been taught
it should have travel straight down through the sword and the boy into the
ground, but it was almost as if the lightning itself was repulsed by the
Aura of Absolute Terror that was surrounding Shinji. The lighting branched
instead and hit in a dozen different places around the boy incidentally
striking down a small number of his enemies.

The scary thing was that if you had just enough imagination you could
almost think that you saw a great horned demon in the pattern of the
purple afterimage of the lighting.

Ritsuko shivered not wanting to think about that too much.

Finally, after an indetermininate time that had seemed to her like a small
eternity, but was still amazingly short for Maya to get her machine to
work, a dim red spot the size of a man's head appeared on the battlefield.
Ritsuko waved Misato back over to the window.

"So Maya has actually gotten her gotten her gas-light pointer to work,"
she commented. "I told you she was a smart one."

The red dot sought out one of the riders marking him for Shinji. For a
moment Ritsuko feared that he was already to far gone in the thrall of the
sword to react to the hint, but eventually he took notice.

Shinji waded through the see of beast-men surrounding the half-man on the
horse as if they were of no concern. The fight when he finally reached him
was little more involved.

Maya immediately pointed out the next rider in the crowd and Shinji went
after him. After the third target Shinji had obviously recognized the 
pattern and was now independently seeking out the human looking leaders of
the enemy by himself.

Shinji might made it look so easy, but Ritsuko knew the true strength of
a pale rider. No human should have been able to deal with one of them this
easily even aided by the sharpest sword in the world. It wasn't Shinji who
was fighting down there, it was Yui.

Monster was fighting monsters down there and at the moment the greater
horror was winning. Already the troops surrounding Shinji had come into
some disarray as there were now far less half-men than would have been
necessary to control the beast armies in the presence of so much terror.

"He is doing it," Misato cheered. "With nobody to drive the reinforcements
into the city the tide will soon turn for those forces already trapped in
the city."

She went back to send messages and coordinate her troops to take advantage
of the situation.

There was still fighting going on and it would be for some time, but
Ritsuko sensed that the battle was already won. As she gave one last look
in the direction where Shinji was fighting, she could not help but ask
herself at what price.

                                                              )  )" <
                                                             tsu zu ku

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