The Golden Gate Bridge had become a battlefield of fire and shadow. The air shimmered with heat from Royal Azure Flames, yet some demons persisted. Veilspawn teleported with uncanny precision, avoiding Karl's carefully placed Flame Persistence embers. Cranium Leechers scattered, evading direct hits, and even the Abyssal Behemoth, colossal and slow, staggered under the inferno but still advanced, pushing forward with relentless weight.
But Karl noticed a shift—subtle, insidious.
"They're adapting," he muttered under his helmet, observing through the integration visor. "The Veilspawn, the Abyssals… they're starting to resist the regular flame."
Agnes floated nervously at his side, cyan glow flickering. "R-Really? But the Flame Persistence—"
Karl shook his head, twisting slightly in the cockpit as the nanites whirred around him. "It's not enough. Ash works on most demons, yes… even an Abyssal Behemoth can be reduced if we blast it long enough. But these Erebions—they're… merging. Adapting. Standard heat just… isn't cutting it."
"Adapting…" Agnes whispered, voice trembling. She hesitated, then peeked closer, shyly nuzzling the side of his armor. "S-So what… will you do?"
Karl smirked beneath the visor, his cocky, playful tone returning, but with a deadly edge. "Time to… step it up."
Her cyan glow flickered nervously. "S-Stop the… flames? But—"
"No," Karl said firmly, his fingers brushing the Drive Regulator interface. "Not stopping. Changing form."
With a subtle twist of his wrist, the nanites inside Erevos shifted the pattern of the Royal Azure Flames. Instead of dispersing as a general inferno, the heat concentrated, compressing into solid plasma constructs—dense, glowing, semi-translucent forms shaped from the same royal azure fire he'd been wielding.
"Solid Flame Constructs," he muttered, flexing his armored fingers. "No armor this time—I need mobility. But weapons? Oh… we're going to have fun."
Agnes's eyes widened, cyan light flaring brighter as she realized the tactical shift. "Y-You… you can shape them into… weapons?"
Karl's grin was cocky and wide. "Exactly. Watch."
The first Veilspawn blinked in midair, attempting to teleport past him. Karl's nanites compressed Royal Azure Fire into a sharp, lance-like construct along his forearm. With a fluid step forward and a twist, he jabbed—it pierced the demon mid-teleport, slicing through its tar-black body. Blue motes lingered in its form as the construct dissolved, leaving the Veilspawn immolated in precise, controlled bursts.
Agnes leaned closer, shyness and awe mixing in her tone. "I… I didn't… I didn't know you could do that…"
Karl smirked, cocky as ever. "That's because I didn't need to… until now."
Another Erebion lunged from the shadows, sinew pulsing with cobalt veins. Karl pivoted, compressing the flames in his other hand into a massive, glowing axe. He swung, each strike a crackling arc of heat and plasma, cleaving through the creature's limbs without raising the temperature beyond what the beast could survive—he didn't need obliteration; he needed precision.
"The heat… isn't higher," Agnes murmured, hovering closer, watching intently. "But… it's… sharper… concentrated…"
Karl nodded, eyes narrowing. "Exactly. Thermo-Controlled Combustion gave me mass destruction, but adaptation requires finesse. Solid flame constructs concentrate the energy into one point—sharp, surgical, unstoppable in close combat."
The Abyssal Behemoth advanced, smashing a section of bridge railing. Karl's legs propelled him in a spin, and with a snap of his wrists, he formed dual plasma claws, slashing downward to meet the Behemoth's massive arm. Sparks and cobalt embers danced across the asphalt as the claws cut through sinew and obsidian hide. The construct dissolved just as quickly as it formed, leaving the demon staggered, disoriented.
Agnes let out a quiet, breathless giggle, still shy and flustered. "K-Karl… that… that's… so… close…"
He leaned slightly toward her hologram, careful not to disturb her projection. "Yeah, close enough that I'm having fun. And look, you're helping—directing the ember placement, keeping track of what's still resisting. Without you, I'd just be hacking and slashing blindly."
Her cyan glow flared slightly, nuzzling against him. "I… I like… helping you like this… even if it's… dangerous…"
Karl smirked, spinning midair to land a devastating strike against a Veilspawn attempting to flank from the cable above. The solid flame blade cracked its torso, leaving molten streaks glowing faintly in its wake. "Danger's part of the fun. And you know me—I'm not reckless. Precision first."
He quickly formed another construct—this time a plasma mace, dense and heavy, shaped along his forearm. A Cranium Leecher lunged with twitching proboscises, but Karl swung, letting the kinetic weight of the construct channel the Royal Azure heat in a focused burst. The demon exploded into blue ash, motes lingering around the debris like trapped starlight.
Agnes's cyan glow brightened with pride. "Y-You… you're… amazing… Karl…" she whispered, shy, yet utterly devoted, nuzzling closer against him. "And… I… I helped…"
Karl chuckled, cocky but affectionate. "Of course you did. You planted the seeds, guided the strategy… we're a team." He compressed a shard of flame into a dagger mid-strike, slashing at a Veilspawn trying to merge with another. The two monsters collapsed in a single, clean strike.
"Even… the merging ones?" Agnes asked, voice trembling with excitement and a hint of fear.
"Especially the merging ones," Karl replied, forming a double-ended plasma spear. He spun in a sweeping arc, jabbing into the gap between two Erebions that had begun to merge, separating them with surgical precision. The heat wasn't higher, but the density cut through sinew and flesh like glass.
Agnes nuzzled closer, purring softly in the shy, flustered way Karl loved. "I-I… I like this… seeing you… so in control… so… confident…"
Karl smirked, pressing a gentle armored shoulder against her projection. "And I like you flustered and cute while we annihilate nightmares together."
As more demons fell to his constructs, Karl's mind worked like a chessboard—each swing, jab, and slice calculated for maximum effect. Flame Persistence still lingered in his wake, embers waiting for delayed detonations, while the solid constructs delivered precise, concentrated blows that raw inferno couldn't achieve against these adaptive foes.
The Abyssal Behemoth roared, staggering under a series of focused strikes. Karl's visor glinted, reflecting the glow of plasma shards and the cyan light of Agnes' hologram. "We adapt when they adapt. They evolve, I evolve faster."
Agnes whispered shyly, nuzzling closer, "I… I'm proud… of you…"
Karl grinned beneath his helmet, cocky and affectionate. "And I'm proud of us. You, me… the constructs, the flames… unstoppable together."
The battle raged outside—a storm of shadows, ash, and cobalt fire—but inside Erevos, Karl and Agnes shared a rare calm. Nuzzles, shy glances, affectionate murmurs, and the thrill of hand-to-hand combat with solid, glowing plasma weapons.
The bridge trembled. Demons adapted. Karl adapted faster, and beside him, Agnes floated, shy but shining, proud, and entirely devoted.