The heat was no longer a warning. It had become a living thing. It coiled around Erevos, a tangible force radiating from the Sentinel's core, pulsing like a predator aware of its prey. Karl's knuckles burned inside the Gearstorm Nova-integrated fists, the eight projection gears reinforcing his armor but barely holding against the oppressive thermal pressure.
"…It's acknowledged me," Karl muttered through gritted teeth, voice low in the cockpit. Sweat and steam mingled along the edges of his visor. "It… knows I struck it before."
Agnes flickered beside him, voice calm but tense. "…Then be careful. This isn't a simple melee anymore. That heat is radiating… twenty meters. Any limb that enters that zone is… unstable."
Karl's gaze narrowed. The Sentinel's sapphire orb pulsed like a heartbeat within the inferno of royal-azure flames. Every movement he made was monitored. Every approach anticipated. And the moment Erevos' arm came within range, he felt it—the first real resistance.
A wave of radiated heat slammed against the cockpit and the integrated Gearstorm Nova plating. Metal hissed, glowing orange at stress points. Karl's arm, fused with two of the eight projection gears as reinforced knuckle dusters, started warping almost immediately. Sparks flew as the heat melted parts of the reinforced armor.
"…Shit!" Karl muttered, yanking his arm back along a rail, retracting just in time before it completely gave way. "…If I touch it directly… I lose this arm."
The Sentinel pulsed, almost in acknowledgment, as if mocking him. The flame-cyclone around it intensified, now swirling in concentric layers that radiated outward like an invisible barrier. The cockpit HUD blinked red across multiple indicators: armor integrity failing, heat exceeding safe threshold, Vythra flow unstable, nanite stress critical.
Karl took a deep breath. "Okay… okay… no melee. Not yet." He slammed Erevos backward along a rail, retracting while plotting angles of attack. The Sentinel's heatwave contracted slightly, then expanded again, a pulsing trap that marked the boundaries of the battlefield.
Agnes's voice came through again. "…You'll have to hit it from distance. Gearstorm Nova isn't just armor. Use the projections as projectiles. But one… will melt before it reaches the core."
Karl's eyes flicked to the eight gears spinning around him, integrated into the armor. "…Right… I can't throw a single one. Two… combine them… reinforce the heat resistance. They'll reach farther, survive longer." He tapped a few commands on the Drive Regulator, overlaying the nanites' micro-reconfiguration protocols. The nanites began weaving micro-reinforcements into the fused pair of projection gears, strengthening them temporarily against the Sentinel's radiated thermal field.
The cockpit hissed, overheating, but Karl's mind was already racing through angles, vectors, and trajectories. "…If I fire from here, maybe I can exploit the small gaps the Sentinel's movement leaves. It can't maintain the pulse in every direction at once… right?"
Agnes's voice was calm, but tinged with concern. "…You'll have to rely on timing. One misstep, one early heat spike, and the projectile melts before impact."
Karl gritted his teeth. "I know… I know. Let's see what we can do."
He extended Erevos along a forward rail, cautiously approaching the boundary of the Sentinel's twenty-meter heat radius. Sparks hissed as the environment responded violently—the floorboards, support beams, and debris around them cracking and glowing under the invisible thermal pressure. Every movement had to be precise. Too close, and the cockpit and nanites would fry; too far, and the Sentinel could easily adjust its orbital defenses.
"…Almost… just a little closer," Karl muttered, feeling the oppressive heat licking at his armor. The integrated projection gears on his fists vibrated as nanites pushed micro-shields to delay thermal degradation. The cockpit shuddered as the heatwave intensified again, melting the tips of the support rails he had been using to maneuver.
He retracted quickly, feeling the first tangible loss of Gearstorm Nova plating along his forearm. Sparks showered inside the cockpit. "…Damn it… almost gone…"
Agnes's voice sharpened slightly, "…Focus on reinforcement. Use the nanites to stabilize them while you calculate trajectory. You only get one shot at this angle."
Karl tapped the Drive Regulator furiously. The cockpit hissed, gears spinning faster than before as the nanites reinforced the fused projection pair. Slowly, they glowed faintly, radiating with controlled heat as the Sentinel's thermal pulse expanded and contracted around him. "…Okay… enough. Now… fire."
Erevos projected the fused gears forward with precise timing. They arced through the air, spinning rapidly as kinetic energy and nanite control kept them solid. The heatwave rippled outward, but the reinforced projection pair resisted longer than expected. Sparks and molten particles trailed behind, evidence of the thermal field's assault.
The Sentinel's mechanical head tilted slightly as the projectile approached. Its sapphire orb pulsed faster, almost as if preparing to respond. The fused gears slammed into the side of the armor, cracking plates but not penetrating the core. They rebounded, spinning chaotically, trailing smoke and molten fragments, barely recovered by nanites before impact.
Karl retracted Erevos again, cooling vents venting excess thermal energy. "…Not enough… I need to push harder."
Agnes's tone softened slightly. "…Don't force a single strike. Combine them… rotate the impact zones. Use two pairs simultaneously, staggered. That way each pair absorbs less heat over distance."
Karl nodded, adjusting the projection rails and preparing the next attempt. "…Okay… double-fusion. Two pairs. First pair distract, second pair… hits the gap." He let out a controlled breath, letting Vythra surge through the cockpit, reinforcing armor integrity as the nanites worked to repair the scorched and warped plating.
The Sentinel's flames pulsed again. The radius seemed to expand slightly, anticipating his movement, reacting to the slightest approach. The cockpit temperature indicators screamed again, but Karl gritted his teeth. "…Timing… just one window…"
He launched the first pair of fused gears along a diagonal trajectory, letting them arc around the flame cyclone. They slammed into the Sentinel's shoulder armor, sparks and molten metal showering outward. The mech staggered slightly, rotating its torso to compensate. The second pair launched immediately after, fused and reinforced, following a precise gap in the flame coverage.
The second pair hit cleanly against the armor plating near the chest. The sapphire core pulsed violently, flickering faintly, but the pulse intensified instead of shattering—the Sentinel was reacting, adapting, and heating its surrounding plasma even faster.
"…It's compensating…" Karl muttered, retracting Erevos sharply as the cockpit shuddered violently. His forearm plating was partially melted, nanites whirring to patch molten gaps, but the temperature climbed dangerously again. "…Need another approach…"
Agnes's voice was calm but insistent, "…You're already overextending Vythra flow. Focus on micro-angles, pressure points, and energy redirection. Don't force it—use the environment."
Karl's eyes scanned the scorched forest floor. Support beams and remnants of collapsed rails glowed red from the Sentinel's radiated pulse. He adjusted Erevos along the nearest beam, sliding sideways to reposition. "…Maybe I can channel the projectile through the collapsing support rails. That way the Sentinel's heatfield dissipates part of the energy on the debris, letting the projectile survive longer."
He re-fused two projection gears, reinforced via nanites and Vythra overclocking. "…Here goes nothing…" He projected them at a diagonal angle, letting the debris act as a shield against the thermal pulse. The cockpit shivered violently as Erevos recoiled, heat surging past safe limits. Sparks flew from the Gearstorm Nova plating, some segments glowing faintly red from molten stress.
The projectile hit the Sentinel's chest armor at a micro-gap, sending molten fragments outward. The sapphire core flickered violently again, unstable for a brief instant—but the Sentinel's adaptive flames compressed and shifted, stabilizing the core once more.
Karl retracted again, panting, visor fogged with steam. "…Damn it… almost there. I need another opening… just a tiny one…"
Agnes's avatar flickered beside him, voice softer but resolute. "…You've pushed it. Keep forcing staggered hits, use your micro-projections… and remember, your heat management comes first. Don't let the cockpit fry."
Karl's fingers danced across the Drive Regulator. Nanites whirred, shifting plating, reinforcing weapon projections, venting heat through the turbines. "…I can do this. I can… force it to expose that core…"
The Sentinel pulsed, almost taunting, radiating a heat so intense that the forest itself seemed to liquefy. Karl's cockpit felt like a crucible, every movement a risk of meltdown. Yet, with Gearstorm Nova integrated, his movements retained some control, some leverage to fight from range.
And as the eight gears spun around him, nanites reinforcing, Vythra stabilizing, and flames licked outward, Karl knew the battle had escalated. Close combat was no longer an option. Precision, distance, and projection engineering would be his only path forward.
The molten forest burned around them. Sparks and debris swirled like a storm of molten glass. The Sentinel rotated slowly, sapphire core pulsing in hypnotic rhythm, guarding itself against every angle of approach.
Karl gritted his teeth. "…Fine. No melee. Distance. Staggered fusion projectiles. I'll make it work. I have to."
The cockpit hissed violently as nanites vented steam, repairing scorched plating and reinforcing the fused projection gears. The Sentinel's flames pulsed in response, aware, reactive, omnipresent.
"…Phase two… begins," Karl whispered. "…Let's see who melts first."