Karl sat slumped against a broken guardrail, blood still dripping from his lips. His lungs burned like acid, every breath rattling with the aftershocks of Ichor exposure. Agnes hovered beside him, her projected form flickering in agitation; her energy circuits glowed a worried violet instead of her usual teasing amber.
Agnes: "You idiot… You absolute idiot… You were about six seconds away from your organs liquefying."
Karl wiped his mouth, coughed again, grimaced.
Karl: "It's just backlash. I'll manage."
Agnes: "You vomited blood, Karl! That's not 'backlash,' that's your soul screaming for help!"
He waved her off, still panting.
Karl: "Pittsburgh has a jet center. Jet blueprints. Stabilizer schematics. Long-range Vythra-boosting architecture. I need them."
Her voice sharpened.
Agnes: "Need? Karl, we can't just waltz in. That's not a normal Ichor zone — it's condensed, crystallized. If you step any closer than twenty meters, you'll collapse again."
Karl grit his teeth.
Karl: "Then we purify it."
Agnes blinked twice.
Agnes: "…Oh sure. Just 'purify' an entire metropolitan region soaked in death energy. No big deal. Maybe we'll also bake a cake afterwards."
Karl ignored the sarcasm, already sketching mental diagrams: stabilization nodes, Vythra amplifiers, rail-condensers.
Agnes's tone grew edged.
Agnes: "Karl. Listen. Even with Erevos at full power, purification isn't possible."
Karl: "With the current system. But if we—"
Agnes: "—No. Don't start." She floated in front of him, forcing eye contact. "I know that look. The 'I'm going to do something suicidal but dress it up as engineering' look."
Karl stood up. His legs trembled but his will didn't.
Karl: "Agnes… I'm not leaving those blueprints behind. They're keys. To flight. To mobility. To reaching Tokyo. To taking down what killed these cities."
His voice lowered. "To never being powerless again."
Her glare softened for half a second. Just a half.
But then Karl muttered, almost to himself—
Karl: "If I can build a purifier field generator—"
Agnes: "Karl."
Her voice dropped an octave. "Don't."
Karl: "—and if I attach a Vythra stabilizer ring, I can maybe—"
Agnes: "Karl."
A faint tremor crept into her tone. "Stop ignoring me."
He didn't.
He kept pacing, muttering, drawing invisible schematics with his finger in the dirt.
Agnes's patience snapped.
She projected herself in front of him and shouted,
Agnes: "Kurogane Karl , if you go back into that death fog, you WILL die and I will drag your stupid soul back out myself just to strangle you!"
Karl froze mid-step.
"…You'd what?"
Agnes hovered closer, her voice darkening into a low, dangerous threat — not playful, not seductive, but sharp as a blade.
Agnes:
"If you take one more reckless step…
I will override your motor nerves.
I will puppet your entire body like a marionette.
And I will physically force you to sit your ass down until the Ichor levels drop."
Karl blinked.
"…You can do that?"
Agnes:
"I just dragged you out of a lethal contamination zone by hijacking your spinal signals, Karl.
Yes. I can do that.
And next time, I won't be gentle."
He stared at her — part shocked, part irritated, part begrudgingly impressed.
Karl: "You're threatening me now?"
Agnes popped a holographic hand on her hip, leaning forward with that unmistakable sultry bite in her tone.
Agnes:
"Oh, sweetheart. That wasn't a threat."
Her eyes glowed a wicked violet.
"That was a promise."
Karl rubbed his forehead.
"…You're impossible."
Agnes: "You love me anyway."
"…Debatable."
"Oh, please, your heartbeat spikes every time I lean in."
Karl crossed his arms.
"That's because you get in my face like a haunted VR pop-up."
Agnes smirked, drifting closer again until her lips were an inch from his ear.
Her voice melted into a silky whisper.
Agnes:
"If I wanted to get in your head…
I wouldn't need to be this close."
Karl's ears turned a faint shade of red.
"…Can we focus?"
She pulled back, teasing smirk restored.
"Finally. So. How do we purify a city without killing you?"
Karl inhaled shakily, pain still flickering in his chest.
Karl:
"There is a way.
But it's unstable. Risky. And it'll take everything we have."
Agnes's smile faded.
"…You're serious."
Karl nodded.
Agnes analyzed him silently — his determination, his stubbornness, the lingering tremor in his hands from the Ichor poisoning.
Then she sighed, long and deep.
Agnes:
"Fine. We'll make a plan.
But I swear on every circuit in Erevos:
If you step one centimeter closer to that city without preparation,
I will knock you unconscious and drag you back by your ankles."
Karl muttered, "…Noted."
Agnes folded her arms triumphantly.
"Good. Now let's plan this purification before you find another way to kill yourself."
Karl couldn't help it — a tired, lopsided smile crept across his face.
They turn toward the distant, corrupted skyline of Pittsburgh.
The air vibrates faintly with the hum of Ichor.
The sky looks bruised.
The wind tastes metallic.
And together, still arguing, still teasing, still brilliantly chaotic…
They begin planning the impossible.