Twelfth Angel

Nothing about this Angel holds one shape for long. On release it pours out as countless black hexagonal pillars flowing in two intertwined serpentine streams, each strand tipped in red at its leading edge. The strands fuse into a single mass, coil around Evangelion 13, and wind themselves into a sphere.

From there the transformations accelerate: a colossal core, then a fetus-like being built around a core, at one point taking on the likeness of a gigantic red Rei Ayanami. That embryonic stage recalls Sandalphon from the original series. Its final form is a core of ordinary size, small enough to be swallowed.

Containment, not combat, defines what is known of this Angel's power. A Spear of Longinus, or something presented as one, pins it inside Evangelion Mark.06, and Mari's cryptic remarks imply she and Asuka have faced it before. She calls it the Last Angel and warns that destroying it could set something terrible in motion, which may explain why NERV's enemies chose to seal it away during the fourteen-year gap rather than finish it off.

Fans have catalogued how its forms echo earlier Angels: the glowing red markings it first shows on Mark.06's visor recall Ireul, its spherical stage recalls Leliel, and its unfurled attack most resembles Armisael.

The moment Shinji extracts the two spears from Lilith's corpse, Mark.06 rises into the air, its limbs bending strangely as though the unit were empty. A red light flares across its visor, and Evangelion Mark.09 answers by beheading the unit with its scythe, letting the imprisoned Angel spill free.

The Angel envelops Evangelion 13 and cycles through its transformations until it condenses into a normal-sized core, which Evangelion 13 then eats. Its destruction demotes Kaworu Nagisa from First Angel to Thirteenth and sets Fourth Impact in motion. One oddity remains: the creature is numbered twelfth rather than eleventh, hinting that an unseen 11th Angel fell somewhere inside the fourteen-year gap.