Under Osiris's efficient and goal-oriented drive, the R&D of Project cherubim type ii had far outpaced NERV's internal expectations.
This outstanding contribution earned him a far more valuable reward: limited, non-invasive observation rights over the Evangelion main bodies and partial access to review non-core schematics.
Although the scope of contact remained strictly confined to the framework of maintenance and adaptive upgrades—nowhere near the absolute secrets of core biological structures, S2 engines, or soul-infusion mechanisms—it was still a qualitative leap.
He could finally stand in front of the vast, silent forms of evangelion unit-01, Unit-00, and even Unit-02, feeling up close the oppressive presence of these titanic humanoid weapons.
The cold metallic armor and the faintly perceptible biological vitality formed a peculiar, contradictory unity.
As he pored over the approved structural blueprints, external-armor junction designs, and non-core drivetrain schematics, combining them with close-up physical observation, his understanding of the Evangelions as weapons rapidly sharpened into a clear, three-dimensional picture.
These interactions vastly enriched his grasp of the Evangelion technical system and gave him a far more concrete, refined plan for how such technology—or samples—could be adapted and applied once brought back to the Warhammer Universe.
He clearly recognized that NERV's current use of the Evangelions, viewed purely from a military standpoint, was inefficient and deeply flawed.
This wasn't because NERV's engineers were incompetent; it stemmed from a fundamentally different objective. To them the Evangelions were not ultimate weapons built to win conventional wars, but key instruments of the Human Instrumentality Project—divine vessels meant to trigger Third Impact and fuse human consciousness into a single transcendent entity.
Combat, especially efficient, sustained combat, had never been their primary design goal.
In Osiris's blueprint, the Evangelion—or its derivative technologies—would be strategic weapons able to survive the brutal, protracted, ever-shifting battlefields of the Warhammer Universe, reliable assets rivaling or even surpassing certain patterns of war Titans.
To reach that goal, NERV's entire operational model had to be completely rebuilt.
Foremost among the hurdles was the fatal energy-supply problem.
Relying on external power cables that limited sortie time to a handful of minutes would be suicidal in any medium-scale conflict in the Warhammer World.
Once the umbilical was severed or the base power grid damaged, an Evangelion would instantly become a lumbering target.
Unit-01's berserk state after power loss had indeed revealed unfathomable biological potential, but Osiris knew that was a unique case born of the fact that Ikari Yui's soul resided within Unit-01—something impossible to replicate in other Evangelions grown from Lilith's cells or in any prospective mass-production units.
In his vision, equipping the Evangelions with independent, durable internal power cores was an absolute prerequisite.
Whether emulating an Angel's S2 engine—assuming it could be safely reproduced and controlled—or drawing on other high-energy technologies from the Warhammer Universe such as plasma reactors, the fragile umbilical had to be replaced.
Only by breaking the energy tether could an Evangelion gain true battlefield mobility and sustained combat capability.
In addition, the armor materials would need optimization against the energy, solid-shot, and even psychic attacks common in the Warhammer Universe; weapon interfaces would have to be standardized and modular for rapid mating with Imperial or Adeptus Mechanicus heavy ordnance.
More powerful environmental sensors and fire-control systems might be required to cope with complex electromagnetic conditions and Warp interference.
Even pilot selection and training protocols would need reconsideration: would they still depend on specific compatible children, or could gene-seed modification or neural-link technology create steadier, more professional Evangelion knights?
These ideas flashed, collided, and combined in his mind, gradually sketching a far more aggressive and militarily efficient weapon roadmap than anything NERV currently envisioned.
Standing on the observation platform, he watched Unit-01 undergoing routine diagnostics below, his gaze seeming to pierce through its present shackles and see a future battlefield where it broke free of its cable, mounted a new power core and weapon systems, and strode across the carnage like a true god-machine.
On the surface, Osiris flawlessly maintained the persona he had crafted.
At NERV Headquarters he was the diligent, supremely capable chief designer of Project cherubim type ii, chairing technical meetings, reviewing test data, and steadily pushing specialized warhead tests forward.
At the Ninth Research Institute he was the gentle scholar devoted to environmental restoration, determined to return the world to blue, periodically hearing reports from Tanaka Sho and Suzuki Miyuki and guiding the next steps of ecological recovery.
After more than a month of continuous effort, the severe contamination and ecological trauma caused by the Seventh Angel's disintegration had been markedly repaired under the sustained action of Metatron's Seed and the diligent clean-up work of the staff—including the physical contributions of a certain ace pilot.
Although the lost marine populations were far from restored, the once corpse-choked waters no longer existed; gradually clearing seawater and revitalized coastal zones had taken their place.
Visually, the glaring crimson of death had been replaced by a more vital azure and the stubborn new green of the shoreline.
During this comparatively calm period, Asuka surprisingly persevered.
She was no longer the resentful, reluctant participant of the early days, but genuinely threw herself into the restoration work, even browsing marine-ecology texts during breaks.
Her relationship with Shinji Ikari subtly changed through shared labor and daily bickering.
Arguments continued, but they now felt more like the typical sparring of teenagers, their tone no longer the sharp opposition of the beginning but carrying an inexplicable, tacit understanding.
Even the usually cold Rei Ayanami quietly began learning cooking techniques; her clumsy yet earnest manner seemed to hint at a faint hope of thawing the frozen relationship between Shinji and Gendo Ikari.
Osiris did not directly intervene in the complicated emotional entanglements and growth of the three adolescents.
He acted more as an outside observer, only at certain delicate moments giving a gentle nudge—through an offhand remark or arrangement—to let the bonds forged by shared experiences sink deeper.
This almost imperceptible guidance, coupled with the authoritative yet gentle demeanor he projected—so different from Gendo's absolute coldness—made the three pilots, starved of familial warmth, increasingly rely on and respect him.
He unconsciously filled a paternal void, becoming a rare, stable reference point amid their chaotic youth.
Yet beneath the ever-easing, occasionally even warm surface, Osiris never forgot his true objective.
His consciousness remained linked with his distant main body, analyzing data on the key of nebuchadnezzar and monitoring NERV's internal information flow through a latent AI virus.
The moment he waited for was fast approaching.