The bridge's molten remains steamed behind him.
Karl hung for half a second in midair—
blue fire roaring around him like a living sun—
—before gravity caught up.
SPLAAAAAASH
Or at least,
it tried to.
The moment Karl hit the water—
SSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
—half of San Francisco Bay flash-boiled.
A crater of exploding steam blasted upward like a geyser.
The ocean didn't just splash around him.
It ran away screaming.
VYTHRA ENERGY: 45%
The ocean beneath him frothed like a pot of soup left on maximum heat.
A violent foooOooOOOOSH of steam shot up around him as the water tried to touch him and immediately regretted it.
Karl flailed uselessly.
"WHY IS THE WATER PUSHING ME LIKE A DAMN ESCALATOR!?" he yelled, hands kicking, legs thrashing—none of it helping—because the superheated steam was literally lifting the Erevos frame like a drifting balloon of molten doom.
Agnes, glowing faintly within his core, was already dying of laughter.
"Pfff—K-Karl—stop—HAHAHAHA—your legs—w-what are you even doing?!"
"I'M TRYING TO SWIM!"
Karl flailed instantly.
"NOPE—NOPE—NOPE—AGNES—AGNES I CAN'T—"
He gulped steam.
"I CAN'T SWIM IN THIS MODE!!"
Agnes's hologram blinked into existence beside him, trembling violently—
—from laughter.
"PFFFFFT—HAHA—K-Karl—y-you're—"
She wiped hologram tears.
"YOU'RE FLOATING LIKE A BOILING POTATO—!!"
Karl twisted, trying to paddle his arms.
Only…
His arms were flaming gauntlets the size of refrigerators.
Which meant he only succeeded in:
1. Slapping the water
2. Causing another steam explosion
3. Flipping himself upside down
"KARL—!!!" Agnes choked out, folding over in hysterics.
"You look like a—like a—OH VOID—A TORCH-DOLPHIN—!!"
Karl:
"THAT'S NOT A REAL THING—HELP ME—!!"
Aquatic Demons Attempt to Attack
(Keyword: Attempt)
Below him, the bay churned—Abyssal Lampreys, Shoreline Gulpers, Slithering Deepborn, Fin Razors, and Depth Sirens surged upward, shrieking—
—and then immediately fried like meat dropped into a frying pan.
SHHHHHHHHHHHH—POP—POP—POP—
Dozens of them evaporated mid-lunge.
Bones turned to vapor.
Water turned to steam.
The demons didn't even get close.
Agnes was wheezing at this point.
"K-Karl—every fish, demon, and kelp blade within 40 meters is just—
POOF—BOILED—!!"
Karl spun in a circle helplessly as the water shoved him around in a rolling ring of steam.
"I'M BEING BULLIED BY WATER—!!"
Every time he tried to use combustion vectoring—
BOOM
Karl shot straight upward like a rocket.
BOOM
Then immediately fell back down.
SSSHHHH
The water exploded again.
BOOM
He shot sideways.
SSSHHHH
He spun like a flaming Beyblade.
Agnes was hugging her stomach, voice cracking:
"K-Karl—y-you—HAHAHAHA—
y-you're not flying—
you're just SPEED-DROWNING—!!"
The Current Takes Him
Because the water was evaporating unevenly, a whirlpool formed.
Except the whirlpool didn't pull him under—
—it shoved him like a baby on a water slide.
Slowly.
Inevitably.
Embarrassingly.
Toward the USS Pampanito base.
"KARL—HAHA—YOU'RE—YOU'RE DRIFTING—"
Agnes squealed, pointing.
"LIKE A PIECE OF TRASH—BAHAHAHAHA—!!"
Karl kicked.
Steam explosion.
Zero movement.
"I SWEAR TO GOD—STOP LAUGHING AND DO SOMETHING—!!"
"I am doing something!" Agnes protested, cheeks glowing.
"I'm—PFFT—I'm emotionally supporting you—!!"
VYTHRA ENERGY: 40%
35%
30%
Karl thrashed harder.
The current didn't give a single damn.
It escorted his armored, blazing, flailing dumbass downstream like royalty.
Agnes flickered, trying to get serious—
and failing.
"C-calm down, Karl—ha—if you keep flailing—snrk—
y-you're gonna vaporize the entire marina—!!"
Karl snapped back:
"GOOD. THEN MAYBE I CAN WALK."
"You can't swim but you want to WALK through the ocean!?"
"I AM DROWNING IN STEAM—!!"
"You're not even underwater!"
"I'M DROWNING IN SHAME—which is WORSE—!!"
The evaporating current gently pushed him like a fiery pool float toward the large metal dock doors.
Karl didn't notice where he was drifting until a massive shadow rose before him.
A submarine hanger.
Not just any submarine hanger.
*THE* USS Pampanito
Pier 45 – Fisherman's Wharf.
Karl blinked.
"…No. Nonono—"
Agnes burst out laughing again.
"Ohhhh this is peak nostalgia… you're gonna burn through a museum—!"
"SHUT UP—TURN OFF—TURN OFF—TURN OFF—!!"
He slapped his armor.
He shook the Regulator.
He tried to mentally deactivate the flames.
Nothing.
Karl stared.
"No.
No no no no—NOT THE MUSEUM—
THAT PLACE HAS HISTORY—!!"
Agnes snorted.
"I don't think the ocean cares, Karl—"
He tried one last burst of propulsion—
BOOOOM
He shot backward—
—and immediately got shoved forward again.
Steam burst.
Karl rotated like a flaming rotisserie chicken.
Agnes nearly died laughing.
"K-Karl—y-your arms—your legs—HAHA—
you're doing the HOTTEST BACKSTROKE IN HISTORY—!!"
VYTHRA ENERGY: 28%
Karl reached the dock doors—
and by "reached," he slammed into them chest-first.
CLAAAAAANG
Immediate effect:
1. The metal glowed bright red
2. Then yellow
3. Then white
4. Then melted off the hinges like chocolate left in the sun
The entire doorway dripped away into glowing slag.
"…Karl," Agnes whispered, horrified.
"You… uh… you opened it…"
Karl coughed steam.
"I didn't OPEN anything—THE DOOR JUST GAVE UP—"
He drifted forward into the interior chamber—
a large reinforced entry bay meant to keep the submarine safe.
The heat hissed against the walls, but:
Vythra Energy: 25% — LIMIT REACHED
Azure Overbeetle Mode — FORCED SHUTDOWN
FWOOOOOM—KRRRSHHHH—TSSSSSSS
The flame armor shattered, dissolving into flecks of blue ash.
Karl collapsed onto the metal floor—
hot, but not melting anymore.
The bay survived.
The submarine survived.
Only the external doors were destroyed.
Karl lay on his back, chest heaving.
Agnes hovered over him, cheeks still flushed, trying so hard not to laugh—
"Are—
are you okay…?"
Karl glared at her.
"Say one word
and I swear I'm resetting your personality core."
Agnes burst into hysterics anyway.
"PFFT—
TORCH-DOLPHIN—!!"
"AGNES—!!!!"