Reginald stood firm, desperation tightening his expression. "No, Karl! I won't move! I won't let you throw your life away like this!"
Karl looked up at him, his chest rising and falling sharply, each breath scraping his throat like broken glass. "Reggie… please… don't make me do this."
Reginald's eyes softened, but he didn't step aside. "Then you'll have to drag me out yourself."
Karl sighed, his voice barely above a whisper — but steady.
"…Alright then."
He turned his gaze to the dark corner of the lab, where the sleek Erevos Prototype rested — dormant, silent, yet alive in the air like a sleeping beast sensing its master's will.
"Erevos…" Karl rasped, blood dribbling from his lip. "Execute Command Sigma-Null. Protect priority target: Reginald. Remove him from the combat zone… by any means necessary."
The lab trembled.
The prototype's eyes — twin streaks of blue — flared open. The floor panels split apart as swarms of nanites poured forth like liquid steel, coiling across the tiles in serpentine motion.
"Sir—! What are you—?!" Reginald shouted, but the words were cut short as the nanites surged toward him, forming long, metallic tendrils. They wrapped around his arms, torso, and legs, lifting him effortlessly off the ground despite his struggles.
"NO! Karl, stop this! I'm not leaving you!" he screamed, thrashing violently.
The nanites ignored him, obeying only their creator. They carried him toward the Erevos Car — the sleek, living vehicle Karl had once called humanity's future. The door slid open like a living mouth, and the tendrils gently but firmly placed Reginald into the passenger seat.
The door sealed shut, and the car's engines pulsed with a deep, thunderous hum.
Karl weakly approached, every step echoing in the empty lab. He placed his trembling hand on the car's hood — the surface rippling slightly, almost alive to his touch.
He looked through the windshield at Reginald, who was pounding the glass, screaming Karl's name.
"Sorry, old friend," Karl said softly, forcing a faint smile despite the tears in his eyes. "Had to get a little rough with you… but it's for your own good."
The car's interior lights shifted blue in acknowledgment, almost as if it understood his intent.
"Take him far away," Karl whispered, his voice barely audible. "And don't come back unless I call for you."
"COMMAND CONFIRMED," a synthesized voice replied from within the car.
The Erevos Prototype roared to life, nanite exhaust swirling like liquid lightning. In an instant, it shot forward, tearing down the lab's departure tunnel, leaving a trail of molten dust and displaced air in its wake.
Karl stood alone in the storm of light, watching the only person he'd ever loved as family disappear into the horizon.
"…Goodbye, Reggie."
He turned back toward the vault door that sealed the Erevos Mech Hanger, coughing blood into his sleeve, and whispered to himself:
"Now… let's see if I can still be the monster they need me to be."
The lab fell silent after the roar of the departing Erevos Prototype faded into the distance. Only the sound of Karl's ragged breathing and the faint hum of the emergency lights filled the air.
He turned toward the massive vault door that sealed away his greatest creation — the Erevos Mech. The air grew heavy, the silence suffocating. With each limp step, Karl left faint drops of blood on the polished floor.
"Access code… Kurogane—Sigma—Prime," he muttered hoarsely, pressing his trembling hand against the console.
The steel doors shuddered, then slowly began to part with a deep metallic groan. The entire building trembled as rows of lights flickered on one by one, revealing a colossal silhouette within the darkness.
The Erevos Mech stood at rest — a giant of nanite armor, humanoid in form but terrifyingly alien. Its surface shimmered like liquid obsidian, constantly shifting and reforming, as if it were breathing. The once dormant monster Karl had buried beneath guilt and grief… now called to him again.
He approached the platform at the center of the hangar, every movement agony. His bones creaked, his lungs burned, and his vision blurred with static. Still, his eyes gleamed with a flicker of the same fire that had once fueled his vengeance.
"…My creation," he whispered. "My curse… and my only salvation."
He staggered toward the control pedestal. "Let's wake up, old friend."
The command console recognized his voice. "Initiating neural synchronization. Warning: pilot vitals unstable. Proceed?"
Karl smiled faintly. "Proceed."
The hangar lights dimmed as the mech's eyes ignited — two blazing orbs of blue fire that cast long, spectral shadows across the room. Nanites began to swarm from the walls, coiling toward Karl like liquid silver serpents.
He raised his arms as they wrapped around him — crawling beneath his skin, merging with his veins, reconstructing tissue, replacing dying cells. His fragile frame convulsed as the nanites invaded his nervous system, each pulse of light carving across his body like lightning veins.
"Pain… is just data," he growled through clenched teeth, forcing his body to stay upright.
The swarm consumed him entirely, enveloping him in a cocoon of black and blue metallic mist. His screams echoed through the chamber — not of agony, but of defiance.
Then silence.
Moments later, the cocoon cracked — and from within, a newly reborn figure stepped forward.
Karl's once frail body was gone. His skin was etched with faint luminous circuits; his eyes glowed faintly cyan. The nanites had stabilized his failing organs, intertwining life and machine until there was no distinction between man and metal.
He looked up at the towering mech — his reflection gleaming in its armor — and smiled weakly.
"Guess I wasn't meant to die just yet."
He walked toward the entry platform, the nanites recognizing his presence and forming an interface pod around him.
"Neural link — engage."
A thunderous sound erupted as the mech's armor plates shifted and realigned, each segment locking into place. The entire hangar glowed as the synchronization reached completion.
Karl's voice resonated through the chamber, deep and metallic:
"Erevos — Online."
The giant's eyes flared brighter, shaking the entire facility as energy surged through its frame. Outside, the world burned under the crimson light of the dimensional cracks, demons descending like a storm.
Karl stared up through the shattered hangar roof at the chaos above — his heart steady for the first time in years.
"…Mom. Dad." He raised the mech's arm toward the sky, its palm pulsing with energy.
"I couldn't save you… but maybe I can save what's left of this world."
And with a deafening roar, the Erevos Mech launched into the burning sky — a streak of blue fire rising to challenge the darkness that poured from the heavens.