The bridge shuddered under the endless tide of demons. Waves of Berserkers, Nyghouls, Rendracers, Silencers, Abyssal Behemoths, Glass Mantises, Crackles, Erebions, Veilspawn, and Cranium Leechers spilled from the widening crack. Steel groaned; the air was thick with ash and the smell of ozone from Royal Azure Flames.
VYTHRA ENERGY: 61%
Karl's fingers brushed the Drive Regulator. Thermo-Controlled Combustion surged—he didn't raise the temperature, but every vent spat micro-blasts with deadly precision. Combustion Vectoring sent him streaking across the bridge like a living projectile, dodging and weaving between teleporting Veilspawn.
"K-Karl… there's… hundreds more… incoming!" Agnes squeaked, voice trembling, hugging herself like a child.
"Good," Karl smirked, flipping mid-air, his heel firing a propulsion blast. A pair of Rendracers flickered into existence—his knuckle met one in a micro-explosion, the other evaporating in a pulse of Royal Azure motes. "I was getting bored anyway."
VYTHRA ENERGY: 58%
Agnes's projection shimmered, heat-tinted cyan. Her voice quivered, shy and flustered, yet laced with nostalgia:
"F-Faster… Karl… push the ignition… mmm… just like before…"
Karl grinned beneath the visor, still tearing through Nyghouls with Combustion Vectoring propulsion kicks. "You're… sneaky. And… I don't mind." He planted flame seeds on a Berserker and Veilspawn cluster. A snap of his fingers—BOOM—both detonated in perfect synchronization, sending bodies scattering.
VYTHRA ENERGY: 56%
"Push… me… harder… feel your Vythra… through me…" Agnes whispered, voice flickering with embarrassment. She nuzzled closer to Karl's shoulder, almost melting into him. Her cyan glow pulsed with every movement, brightening as she spoke, fading again when her shyness returned.
Karl didn't miss a beat. He propelled himself into a pack of Abyssal Behemoths, flames hissing through vents, micro-explosions launching him from limb to limb. He left trail after trail of flame seeds on legs and torsos, which detonated as he vaulted away, chunks of black obsidian ash raining across the bridge.
VYTHRA ENERGY: 54%
A Glass Mantis descended, blades spinning like crystal wind. Karl twisted midair, micro-explosion from his boots propelling him into the air, flames condensing into a jagged plasma claw. He raked it across the Mantis' torso, embedding a flame seed that erupted mid-leap, shattering its crystalline body into sapphire-like ash.
Agnes gasped softly. Her voice trembled between fear, admiration, and the faintest trace of her old seduction tones:
"Y-You're… moving like… like that… ohhh… Karl…"
Karl spun into a Rendracer pack, micro-propulsion blasts from his palms sending two skittering creatures into the air. Flame seeds detonated across the crowd like synchronized fireworks, each eruption lighting up the bridge in eerie cobalt.
VYTHRA ENERGY: 52%
The Abyssal Behemoths—two still alive—stomped toward him. Karl adjusted the Thermo-Controlled Combustion, keeping the heat at maximum intensity without overloading his systems. Each venting blast scorched steel and demons alike, but carefully controlled, precise, methodical.
Agnes's hologram clung closer. Her cyan glow flickered brighter as her voice carried the nostalgic lilt more clearly, embarrassed and hesitant:
"R-Rev the dial… faster… Karl… yes, just like… ohhh… just like before…"
Karl laughed, twisting midair, micro-propulsion from his back vents sending him straight up an Abyssal Behemoth's arm. He slammed his fist into the skull, embedding flame seeds in every vulnerable joint along the way. Each detonation reduced limbs to glowing ash.
VYTHRA ENERGY: 50%
And then… something strange.
On the left side of Karl's Drive Regulator, a magic circle slowly began to spin on the ignition dial. Lazily. Almost like it had no urgency. The intricate glyphs rotated, glowing faintly, casting flickering shadows across the cockpit.
Karl froze mid-strike, fist still embedded in the charred remains of a Behemoth limb. His visor reflected the circle. "…What the hell?"
Agnes's projection stiffened beside him. Her cyan glow pulsed erratically as a blush spread across her cheeks, her shy demeanor warping slightly as she glanced at the circle. "I-I… I don't… I've… never seen that before… K-Karl… w-what is it…?"
Karl's hand hovered over the revv handle, fingers curling as he instinctively gripped it, ready to activate the next step—but he hesitated, eyes narrowing at the spinning glyph.
The bridge was still a battlefield, waves of demons clawing, leaping, and teleporting toward him. Flame seeds were exploding in precise choreography, Combustion Vectoring carried him over swarms like a streak of cobalt fire, and Thermo-Controlled Combustion scalded everything in reach.
Yet inside the cockpit, the moment froze. Karl and Agnes both stared at the magic circle, their Vythra energy hovering dangerously low but still sufficient:
VYTHRA ENERGY: 50%
Agnes's voice trembled, caught between shyness, nostalgia, and embarrassment:
"I… I… I don't know… but… maybe… rev it… carefully… Karl… please…"
Karl exhaled, one hand on the revv handle, the other lightly brushing her holographic shoulder. His eyes narrowed. "Alright… let's see what this does."
Agnes clung tighter, embarrassed yet exhilarated, as if her shy body and nostalgic phrases were a tether between them. "J-Just… don't… break yourself… or me…"
The bridge roared around them. Demons screamed. Flames erupted in sapphire arcs. And the slowly spinning magic circle on the Drive Regulator hinted at something even more dangerous, even more powerful…
Karl's hand tightened on the ignition dial.
The next move was his.
The magic circle on Karl's revv handle pulsed again.
VWOOOOOOOOOOOOOM.
The sound wasn't mechanical.
It sounded alive.
A deep, chitinous roar shook the entire Erevos Frame, like a titanic beetle scraping its mandibles across steel. The air vibrated. Cables snapped overhead. The crack itself flickered as if flinching.
Royal Azure flames surged behind Karl—
but not as a wave.
Not as an explosion.
As a shape.
A giant stag beetle silhouette formed from burning blue fire, its antlered mandibles rising like crescent moons. Wings unfolded from pure plasma. Its body curved protectively behind Karl, staring down the horde like a sentinel born from royal fire.
Agnes's projection shrank, her shy little gasp trembling like a glitching heartbeat.
"K-Karl…?
W-What… what are you about to turn into…?"
Karl didn't answer at first.
He just placed his hand—slowly, firmly—on the ignition dial.
The magic circle spun faster.
Then—
He grinned.
"Only one way to find out."
REVV—
The dial burned blue.
—IGNITE.
Karl dragged the ignition dial downward.
VRRRR-CHAAAAAAAARRRRKKKK!!
The entire Drive Regulator screamed.
Pressure vents burst open.
Metal warped.
The stag beetle construct behind Karl lunged forward, its mandibles clamping shut around Karl like a cocoon made from molten Royal Azure.
The cockpit filled with a shrieking, pulsing sound—
SKRRRRRRRRRREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE—
Then—
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM.
A column of blue fire erupted into the sky.
AZURE OVERBEETLE MODE — ENGAGED
Royal Azure flames folded into shape.
Molten armor flowed over Karl's body in segmented plates, clicking and locking with mechanical precision. Every piece glowed like tempered sapphire glass, etched with beetle-like ridges.
Two enormous pincer gauntlets formed over his arms, blades made from solidified plasma so hot that space itself visibly warped around them.
His visor elongated into an insectoid crest, trailing fire.
The stag beetle silhouette wrapped fully around him—
—then shattered into drifting, burning ash.
Agnes's voice glitched, her shy tone cracking with fear and awe:
"K… Karl… y-your body temperature—
I-It's rising too fast—
No, it's multiplying—!!"
She was right.
Because activating Overbeetle had unintentionally triggered two more subsystems simultaneously:
HAZARD SYSTEM — AUTO-ENGAGED
IGNITION REQUIEM — AUTO-PRIMED
His entire internal heat regulation collapsed.
His Vythra output skyrocketed.
His flames changed.
They became white-blue nuclear fire.
THE BRIDGE COULDN'T HANDLE IT
The shockwave hit first.
FWOOOOOOOOM—!!!
In an instant—
The Golden Gate Bridge melted.
Not burned.
Not cracked.
Not scorched.
MELTED.
Steel beams softened like wax.
Bolts dripped like liquid mercury.
The asphalt beneath Karl rippled like lava.
Then came the blast.
Everything within 50 meters—
every Berserker
every Nyghoul
every Glass Mantis
every Erebion
every Veilspawn
every Cranium Leech
every Rendracer
every Silencer
every Abyssal Behemoth—
turned to ash.
Instantly.
No screams.
No resistance.
No death throes.
Just erasure.
A perfect hemispherical zone of obliteration.
A crater of melted bridge and evaporated monsters.
Agnes's projection flickered violently, her voice tiny—
"K… K-Karl… you… you didn't even… ATTACK yet…"
Karl stood in the center of the inferno.
Flames dripping off him like liquid stars.
Heat distortion bending the world around him.
Armor glowing white-blue.
Hazard humming like a living heartbeat.
Ignition Requiem pulsing like a chorus of angels screaming.
Then his footing failed.
The bridge beneath him—now molten slag—collapsed under his weight.
Karl fell.
Straight down into the Pacific.
SPLASH—SHOOOOOOOOOOOOOM—
Water surged upward like a geyser as his body plunged—
But the flames…
did not extinguish.
Even underwater, the Royal Azure Overbeetle armor burned brighter, carving an incandescent trench through the ocean itself, steam exploding upward in columns.
Agnes hovered above him in the cockpit, hands over her mouth, shaking in awe and terror—
"K-Karl…
Y-Your flames…
Th-they…
They won't go out…"
Deep under the boiling waves, Karl's visor glowed.