The rooftop of San Francisco's edge was quiet now, save for the distant hum of traffic and the occasional gull crying over the bay. Agnes' cyan glow had softened back into something like her normal, teasingly shy self, her earlier frantic worry now melting into tentative relief. She hovered a few feet away from Karl, hands clasped delicately, taking tiny breaths as if finally allowing herself to relax.
Karl rubbed the back of his neck and muttered, "Alright… I think it's time."
Agnes tilted her head, wary. "Time… for…?"
He gave her a sly grin. "Time to see what Royal Azure Flame Manipulation can really do. I need to… get a feel for it."
Her cyan glow flickered. "Uh… Karl… maybe… don't do it on a rooftop… or at all… yet…"
"Relax. Just a test," he said, patting the armored shell of his Rider Frame. "Nothing could possibly go wrong."
Agnes' glow dimmed slightly, a shiver running through her digital projection. "…You just said that about the Sentinel."
Karl smirked and, with a few quick gestures, activated the untransformation sequence. The 8-gear skeletal frame of Gearstorm Nova began to whirl and shift, pistons retracting and grinding softly as the cockpit rails dissolved into a spiraling whirlwind of nanites.
From the storm of dissipating Erevos parts, a scorched but still self-repairing Rider Frame slowly coalesced around Karl. The nanites shimmered blackened and burnt in places, jagged and rough like a reminder of his battle with the Sentinel, hissing and popping as they stitched themselves together. It was a frame that looked like it had survived hell itself—and that was because it had.
Karl flexed, testing the joints. "Yep… still works. Just… might be a little… crispy."
Agnes floated closer, her glow pulsing nervously. "Karl… that… that armor looks like… like a disaster zone. I… don't even want to think about what it would've looked like if Yggdrasil hadn't healed you."
"Yeah… me neither," Karl muttered. He turned and concentrated, hands reaching forward, palms open. The air around his Rider Frame shimmered, and for a moment, everything seemed calm.
Then, flames erupted.
Not just any flames—Royal Azure Flames, deep cobalt and impossibly bright, billowing from the vents, twisting and roaring around him.
"Alright, here we go…" Karl whispered, tentative but eager. He waved his hands, trying to shape the flames into a simple defensive wall in front of him.
But as he did, the wall didn't form. Instead… a series of miniature explosive bursts shot out from every vent across his armor. They slammed into the rooftop, sending chunks of concrete scattering, and—without warning—propelled him backwards like a rocket.
"K-KARL!" Agnes screamed, cyan glows flaring bright. "…WH—WHAT THE—?!"
Karl tumbled through the air, trying to compensate, but the micro-explosions continued in sync with his every instinctive movement. His attempt to form a wall of flames had inadvertently triggered Combustion Vectoring, and the force of the micro-bursts amplified every motion in chaotic feedback.
The first impact was bad. The second was worse. By the time Karl tried to stop, he had accidentally rocketed his own back outwards—literally splitting his spinal alignment into four jagged popping segments, each flaring blue from micro plasma burns. He screamed in pure agony, hands clawing at his Rider Frame as the nanites attempted to compensate, hissing, sparking, and knitting around him desperately.
"AGHHHHHHHHH! MY BACK! MY BACK! MY SPINAL CORD! AAAAHHHHH!" Karl shrieked, voice echoing across the city.
Agnes, eyes wide as saucers, blinked once, twice, then let out a panicked shriek of her own. "…K-KARL! OH GOD! NO! STOP! WHAT DID YOU DO?! OH MY—DON'T—STOP MOVING, STOP MOVING—OH NO, OH NO!"
Her cyan glow pulsated violently, flickering like a malfunctioning signal as she hovered over him. She tried to reach into the micro-explosions with nanite tendrils, attempting to dampen the backblast. "I—I can stabilize him—maybe—just hold still—KARL! I'M PANICKING!"
Karl, still screaming, tumbled over the edge of the rooftop, bouncing awkwardly across the reinforced support beams. "I—CAN'T—STOP—MY ARMS—ARE LAUNCHING ME—AGHHHHH!"
"OH GOD!" Agnes wailed, hovering after him. "…YOU—YOU'RE KILLING YOURSELF! I'M NOT READY FOR THIS! YOUR SPINE—YOUR SPINE! AAAHHHH!"
The next impact slammed Karl into a vent pipe sticking out of the roof. Sparks flew, metal bent, and his Rider Frame shuddered. Yet somehow, the nanites stitched the shattered segments back together as fast as they could, though the jagged, scorched look remained. Karl groaned loudly, lying flat on his stomach, back segmented like a broken accordion.
Agnes hovered beside him, trembling violently, cyan glow painting the rooftop with frantic light. "…I—can't believe—this—this is happening! K-Karl, you—your back—oh my god—you're—my god—you're horrible—STOP SCREAMING—stop screaming!"
Karl groaned, voice hoarse from agony but oddly proud in a twisted way. "…I… I didn't… mean to… just… wanted to test the… uh… wall…"
"…WALL?!" Agnes shrieked, almost short-circuiting. "…YOU BLOW OUT YOUR OWN SPINE—AGAINST NOTHING—JUST TO MAKE A WALL?!"
He twisted painfully, grimacing. "Combustion… Vectoring… it… it kicked in… I didn't even know it existed…"
"…YOU DIDN'T KNOW IT EXISTED?!" Agnes' cyan cheeks practically glowed like tiny suns. "…K-KARL—YOU ARE INSANE! OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD!"
Karl's back spasmed again, and the micro-explosions gave him a final, sideways propulsion, flipping him onto his stomach on the rooftop. The nanites hissed and stitched again, leaving him scorched, jagged, and twisted like a poorly stacked sculpture of fire and metal.
Agnes, hovering beside him, placed a trembling hand on his back. "…Y-You're… you're… going to… survive this, right? Because if you don't, I… I—" Her voice broke, and she fluttered her hands nervously. "…I can't handle this level of stupidity and panic… please… Karl… I'm begging… don't push anything else."
Karl groaned, face against the rooftop, muttering in pain. "…I… think… I learned something… about Royal Azure Flame Manipulation…"
"…Karl," Agnes said sharply, voice trembling but more controlled, "…don't you dare… even think about testing it again today. I swear, I'll—"
"…Maybe… I just need… a manual," Karl whispered, voice flat, barely moving. "…Yeah… definitely a manual…"
Agnes' cyan glow softened slightly, trembling in place as she hovered beside him, still clutching his arm protectively. "…I… I'll… write you a manual. One that says… do not blow out your spine again. That's rule number one…"
Karl groaned, smirking weakly through the pain. "…Thanks… I think I owe you… at least three… ice packs… and maybe… a hug…"
"…K-Karl," Agnes muttered softly, cheeks still tinged cyan, "…don't make me worry about you and laugh at the same time…"
Karl gave a faint, pained chuckle. "…You're lucky I'm still alive…"
"…I know…" Agnes whispered, hovering closer. "And I… I need a few minutes before I can… even pretend to stop worrying."
Karl groaned again, lying flat on the rooftop, scorched, jagged, and surprisingly very much alive.
Somewhere deep in the back of his HUD, a tiny, glimmering note flashed:
Royal Azure Flame Manipulation: COMBUSTION VECTORING — Learned by Painful Experience.
And Agnes, hovering shakily, made a silent vow: never… ever… let him test his abilities unsupervised again.