Zeruel

Zeruel
Zeruel
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Number	14th
Appearance(s)	{{{appearances}}}
Defeated by	Evangelion Unit-01

Zeruel is the Fourteenth Angel.

Biology

Zeruel is a vaguely humanoid entity slightly larger than an Evangelion. Its undefined, slab-like body is adorned with an array of exoskeletal elements, with key points of reference being a face, a large core centered halfway down the body, stumpy legs that lack defined feet, and -- Zeruel's trademark feature -- ribbon-like cutting arms.

The face is situated at the top of the body at a slight upwards angle (when Zeruel is standing straight), resembling a malformed skull. Two eyes are set within that, as with Zeruel's kin Sachiel and Israfel, are employed for energy projection in addition to vision. The face has a cartilage-like consistency, which gives it a limited range of movement. It is attached to a sinewy, pillar-like "neck" that is normally kept inside the body.

Zeruel typically moves by levitating, rather than via bipedal locomotion. The lower legs, while vestigial, do not go without use: The Angel briefly takes to all fours when it breaks into the Command Center.

The distinctive arms hang from the "shoulders" of Zeruel's bulky "exoscapulae". When not in use, they are folded up onto themselves into small packets, and, when dropped, visually evoke an accordion before being straightened and extended. They function like razor-sharp ribbons, capable of effortlessly slicing through an Eva (armor and all). Each of Zeruel's arms possess a "thumb" at the tip, which often lays flat to provide a seamless cutting edge; in fact, the tips are capable of subdividing into five "digits" total, capable of forming fists (depicted only in production drawings) or wrapping around objects. Due to the way Zeruel's arms are segmented into smaller sections, they are often likened to toilet paper by fans.

Zeruel's body is strong enough to survive the point-blank detonation of an N² bomb, and the Angel's core, located on its front, possesses a movable protective membrane capable of shielding its core when threatened. Zeruel is capable of producing an awesomely powerful energy-blast from its eyes, capable of piercing 18 out of 22 layers of armor plating between the surface of Tokyo-3 and the GeoFront in a single shot (which Ramiel using its massive drill took hours to do). Its energy-blast is also able to blast off Eva 01's arm in a single shot (Sachiel's beam attack did not succeed in seriously damaging Eva 01, and even Ramiel's powerful energy beam took several seconds to pierce through much of Eva 01's armor plating). Like Sachiel, Zeruel's energy-beam attack takes the shape of crucifixes.

Battle

Appearing soon after the fight against the 13th Angel, Bardiel, Zeruel attacked NERV before it had time to fully recover from the previous Angel's attack. Zeruel rapidly blasted its way straight into the GeoFront, piercing through all of the defensive armor layers almost instantly, and then descended into the GeoFront. Because of the speed of its attack, NERV had no time to try to engage it outside, and deployed Eva 02 inside of the GeoFront to engage it. Asuka fired on Zeruel with a full range of guns and rocket-launchers, but Zeruel's AT Field was so strong that even this concentrated fire from Eva 02 had no effect. Zeruel then unfolded its razor-arms, and instantly amputated both of Eva 02's arms. Enraged, Asuka recklessly charged Eva 02 at the Angel. Just as Zeruel was about to decapitate Eva 02, Misato quickly ordered Asuka's connection with her Eva severed so the shock of Unit 02's head being sliced off would not kill her. Zeruel proceeded towards NERV HQ, as Eva Unit 00 was deployed against it. With no time to repair Eva 00 after its fight with Bardiel, Unit 00 went into battle missing its left arm. As a result, Rei charged Eva 00 at Zeruel with an N² bomb cradled in its remaining right arm, then jammed the N² bomb at Zeruel's core through its AT Field. However, Zeruel covered its core with a protective membrane, and the N² bomb did not succeed in harming it, while extensively damaging Eva 00 and the GeoFront. Zeruel then slashed at the wounded Eva 00, and it too was incapacitated.

Zeruel then crashed into the NERV headquarters' pyramid itself, and descended to Central Dogma, crashing through the wall into the command center's central display area. Just as it was about to fire its energy-blast and kill the entire NERV command staff, Eva 01 (piloted by Shinji) crashed through another wall and punched it away. Pushing the Angel away, the pair then crashed through another wall into the Evangelion pens themselves and continued fighting. Zeruel blasted off Eva 01's left arm, but Eva 01 was still able to keep fighting and force it into one of the Evangelion launching catapults. Misato then fired the catapult, to at least get the Angel out of the base, as Shinji pushed Zeruel's face against the side of the shaft to grind it against the wall as they were fired upwards.

Upon reaching the surface, the pair tumbled in mid-air until Zeruel landed on the ground with Eva 01 on top of it. Despite Zeruel's awesome power, and the loss of one arm, Eva 01 was still able to use its remaining arm to savagely pummel Zeruel and tear savagely at its bony face-plate, and Eva 01 was on the verge of gaining the upper hand in the fight when its internal battery power ran out.

Zeruel then threw Eva 01 against the hillside and blasted apart Eva 01's chest plate, revealing its own core. Zeruel used its razor-arms to steadily stab at Eva 01's core, and the repeated shocks were on the verge of breaking the Entry Plug inside the Eva. However, Eva 01 then entered "berserker mode" an Shinji entered into a (previously thought to be totally impossible) 400% synchronization ration with the Eva. Eva 01 quickly pushed its hands straight through the razor-edge of Zeruel's right arm while suffering no damage, grabbed Zeruel and pulled it right on top of itself, impaling Zeruel's eye structure with its horn. It then kicked Zeruel, sending it flying backwards onto its back while ripping the Angel's arm off. Eva 01 then horrifically merged Zeruel's arm with the stump of its own left arm to regenerate it. Zeruel tried to attack Eva 01 with its other razor-arm, but Eva 01 wielded its own AT Field like a weapon, shattering Zeruel's remaining arm and sending the razor-sharp fragments flying back at it, tearing it to pieces. Eva 01 then advanced on Zeruel like an animal and the crippled Angel tried to fire another energy-blast at it, but Eva 01 simply snapped its neck back and then immediately began to physically devour Zeruel's body. Horrified NERV personnel looked on as Eva 01 ate the Angel's corpse, culminating in Eva 01 consuming Zeruel's S² Engine. This resulted in Eva 01 no longer needing any external power supply to function.

Notes

• The black and white color pattern on Zeruel's front vaguely resembles a human face (seen from the left) with its core as the "eye".

• Zeruel has a very powerful energy or projectile weapon that sets off crucifix-shaped explosions, very similar to that used by Sachiel. Zeruel appears to use the weapon out of both the mouth and the eye holes, as the first time the weapon is used the mouth seems to light up. The crucifix-blast weapon might be a projectile weapon, since Zeruel can shoot at four seperate locations at once.
  • Zeruel uses its eye sockets for a charge-up energy attack powerful enough to blow off Eva 01's chest armor, although the entry plug underneath seems unaffected. Sachiel's cross-blast weapon had no effect on Eva 01, and Ramiel heavily melted all the frontal armor in a few seconds and almost boiled the pilot alive but did not have the time to destroy it entirely. This makes Zeruel's optical blast the most powerful projectile or beam weapon used by an Angel, although Ramiel's particle beam can be sustained for an indeterminate period of time.

• Zeruel was (along with Sachiel and Shamshel) designed by Yoshitoh Asari.

• Zeruel's namesake is an angel "set over strength", from The Biblical Antiquities of Philo. The name Zeruel literally means "arm of God" -- probably no coincidence, all things considered.

Angels

Angels (general)

First and Second Angels (Seeds of Life): Adam | Lilith

Third to Seventeenth Angels (Adam's Children):

Sachiel | Shamshel | Ramiel | Gaghiel | Israfel | Sandalphon | Matarael | Sahaquiel

Ireul | Leliel | Bardiel | Zeruel | Arael | Armisael | Tabris

Eighteenth Angel: Lilin

Rebuild of Evangelion: ?Adams? | Lilith | 3rd Angel | 4th Angel | 5th Angel | 6th Angel | 7th Angel | 8th Angel | 9th Angel | 10th Angel | 11th Angel | 12th Angel | 1st/13th Angel

Other: Extracanonical Angels