The wind tore across the Golden Gate Bridge, howling like a living beast. Salt spray stung Karl's eyes as he crouched behind a twisted steel girder, the orange beams of the bridge reflecting the overcast sky. The crack above San Francisco had opened wider in the past hour, jagged and pulsing like a wound in reality. From it, the first wave of demons had already begun to spill, crawling, slithering, and leaping onto the roadway.
Karl's boots scraped against the weathered asphalt, the hum of his Drive Regulator under his hands growing louder with each passing second. The Royal Azure Flames flickered around his fingers, faint at first, a promise of the inferno he could unleash. His breathing was controlled, each exhale puffing clouds of mist into the cold air. His pulse was steady, Vythra at 92%—enough to go full throttle if he needed to.
The Golden Gate Bridge shuddered.
Cables groaned.
Steel screamed.
The sky split.
A jagged crack tore open above the span of red metal — glowing like a wound carved across the clouds. The air around it rippled with eldritch distortion, the colors bending and warping with every pulse of unstable energy. The wind carried that familiar cold, metallic taste: the scent of a demon incursion.
Karl stopped walking.
No — his body froze on instinct.
His pupils narrowed as the first shadows began to fall, stretching down across the bridge like claws.
Agnes materialized beside him, her cyan glow rippling nervously.
"…Karl… not again…"
The crack pulsed violently — a thunderous BOOM rolling across the ocean. The asphalt beneath Karl's boots vibrated, dust trickling down the twisted beams.
Shapes began falling from the crack.
From the rift above, shapes began to tumble down into the bridge like nightmarish raindrops. The first were the Veilspawn—tall, spindly, grotesque figures, black as tar with twisted, elongated limbs. Their forms jittered unnaturally, teleporting in stuttered bursts, jerking across the air with chaotic unpredictability. Karl's eyes narrowed as one suddenly appeared ten meters to his left, then vanished, only to reappear behind him.
"Right. No hesitation," he muttered under his breath, jaw tightening. "These things don't care about morals… or mercy."
Behind the Veilspawn, the Cranium Leechers swarmed like insects with human teeth. Their proboscises twitched as they slavered in anticipation, hunting for psychic signals, senses attuned to thought patterns and fear alike. A single touch would be enough to overwhelm the mind; dozens? Death was guaranteed. Karl's hand crackled with blue fire, fingers spreading as he focused.
And then came the Abyssal Behemoth, dragging itself forward in horrifying steps. Even from a distance, its weight shook the bridge. Its hide shimmered with something like molten obsidian, and as it moved, the bridge groaned under the strain. Karl's stomach tightened. That thing wasn't just big—it was adaptive. It would take coordination and precision to bring it down.
Even further back, barely visible through the haze and the crack's pulsing distortion, Erebion prowled forward, sinew gleaming under flickers of cobalt light. Its jaws twitched unnaturally, a perfect predator sculpted in nightmare. Every motion it made hinted at inhuman speed and intelligence. Karl's gut clenched.
Karl exhaled once.
A long, steady breath.
"…Of course they'd block the only way in."
He placed his hand on his Drive Regulator.
Inside the device, buried under steel and circuitry, the Trinity Node Core pulsed once…
THUMP.
…then again…
THUMP.
A deep-blue heartbeat.
Agnes floated a half-step closer, her holographic fingertips hovering near his arm, trembling.
"Karl… you're really going to—?"
Karl didn't answer.
He revved the Drive Regulator.
VRRM—
The device pulsed.
VRRMMM—
Nanites began to leak out like liquid mercury.
Agnes's projection startled — then slowly brightened.
"It's been… a long time since you used full integration…"
Karl's thumb slid across the ignition plate.
The Trinity Node Core flared.
Nanites exploded around him in a spiraling vortex — a whirlwind of cobalt and black metal rising like a storm. The air thrummed with mechanical life, with the roar of nanite engines powering on, aligning, locking into formation.
Panels of the integration chamber formed around him — dark, smooth pieces assembling like armor plates floating in zero gravity.
For the first time in eight months, Agnes hesitated…
…then softly…
"Um… K-Karl…?"
"Yeah?"
Agnes swallowed — projection flickering with emotion she barely understood.
"I… this might be dumb but… maybe this will… motivate you… after that dream…"
She took a half-step closer, cheeks glowing bright cyan, heart pounding in code.
She said it softly at first — timid, afraid she was doing something wrong.
"…Are you… ready~?"
Karl froze.
His breath hitched.
Because no one — not even Agnes — had said those words since the day they met. Since she was a machine following scripts. Since she hadn't learned how to be herself yet.
Karl felt something warm twist in his chest.
"…Agnes…"
But she wasn't done.
Her projection flickered, nervous tick making her stutter as emotion glitched her hologram.
Agnes:
"V-V-VRRMMM…"
The nanite vortex tightened around Karl, rising up his legs, chest, shoulders — like a mechanical cocoon.
Karl couldn't stop the small smile tugging at his mouth.
He hadn't heard that sound…
…that tone…
…that shy attempt at enthusiasm…
in months.
Agnes looked down, covering half her face.
"V-V-VRRMMM…"
Karl's heart squeezed painfully at the nostalgia.
Karl:
"Agnes… why now?"
She peeked up, voice quivering.
Agnes:
"B-Because… you woke up shaking… from that horrible dream… and you wouldn't say anything… so…"
She clutched her holographic hands to her chest.
"I… wanted to remind you of something warm. Something old. Something… us…"
The integration chamber locked into place.
CLANG.
CLANK.
VRRRM—SHKTT—FORTIFY.
Panels sealed.
Nanites snapped tight around his frame.
Erevos's skeletal armor began to shimmer into existence.
Agnes inhaled in her own digital way — then shouted the last line with all the courage she could force out of her trembling voice:
Agnes:
"START YOUR ENGINE!!!"
The world seemed to stop.
Karl's eyes widened.
Memories crashed into him —
New York's rubble.
Agnes's first activation.
Her teasing, glitchy, awkward "personality."
Her nervous smiles.
Her terrified stutters.
Her growing… humanity.
Karl exhaled shakily.
"…Agnes… you haven't said that since—"
"I-I know—!! It was stupid, wasn't it? I thought maybe you'd— maybe you wouldn't like— I thought— I just— I wanted—"
Karl cut her off gently.
"You trying to motivate me?"
Agnes's projection flickered cherry-cyan.
"…After that girl in your dream… the one who was crying… the one haunting you… I didn't want you to face another crack alone…"
Karl swallowed hard.
The nanites locked into full formation.
EREVOS FRAME — ONLINE
Blue flames flickered inside the vents of his armor.
But Karl didn't move.
He just stared at Agnes — a little stunned, a little nostalgic, a little grateful.
"…Agnes."
Agnes froze, eyes wide.
Karl:
"I missed hearing you say that."
Agnes's whole projection glowed pinkish-cyan like an embarrassed heartbeat.
"…R-Really…?"
Karl nodded.
Karl:
"Yeah. Really."
The moment lingered in the roaring silence of the crack.
Then—the Golden Gate Bridge trembled violently.
A Veilspawn teleported onto the road.
Cranium Leechers skittered toward the cables.
The Abyssal Behemoth dragged its bulk forward.
All of them blocking Karl's path.
The Royal Azure Flames flickered between Karl's fingers…
Not explosive.
Not chaotic.
Controlled.
Focused.
Deadly.
Karl's voice deepened, resonant through Erevos's modulator.
"…Time to go."
Agnes braced herself, floating at his shoulder.
"K-Karl… don't forget… I'm with you."
Karl stepped forward, flames curling up his arms.
"I know."
The demons screeched.
The crack pulsed.
Erevos Frame lit up with azure fire.
Karl revved the Drive Regulator—
V R R R R M M M —