The rails beneath Erevos hummed faintly, the royal azure lines stretching across the landscape as they approached Minneapolis. The horizon was streaked with golden sunlight and fading storm clouds, but the calm was suddenly pierced by a spike in readings.
Agnes' voice came sharp, almost breathless in the cockpit. "Karl… I'm detecting a Vythra signature. And it's strong. Stronger than anything I've measured in weeks."
Karl's eyes lit up beneath the visor, the familiar spark of hope igniting inside him. "Finally. A Chosen? Could it be… someone like us?"
"Maybe," Agnes replied, though her voice carried a note of caution. "…Maybe not. But it's definitely alive, and definitely Vythra-positive."
They surged forward along the rails, Rider frame still engaged for precision and minimal energy consumption, the purification turbines humming faintly to ensure the air remained uncontaminated. Every kilometer brought them closer, Karl's heart pounding with anticipation.
And then… the ground trembled.
Before them, partially hidden behind the undulating hills of the outskirts, a massive silhouette emerged. At first, it was just a shadow, but then the enormity of it became clear: the demon was at least three times the size of Erevos, hulking and grotesque, its limbs ending in jagged blades of malformed bone and sinew. Its skin was a mottled black and crimson, veins of ichor pulsing visibly across its massive torso.
Agnes' voice hitched. "…Karl… that… that's not a Chosen. That's…"
The demon let out a guttural roar, and the very air seemed to convulse with killing intent. The pulse of raw malevolence was so strong that Agnes' HUD flickered, her stomach twisting with nausea. "…Ugh… I'm… I'm going to be sick," she whispered, almost collapsing into the virtual cockpit controls.
Karl gritted his teeth. "Then hide… we'll need to observe." He brought Erevos to a sudden halt behind the jagged peak of a nearby mountain, Rider frame folding inward as he crouched in the shadows.
From their vantage point, the demon's brutality became horrifyingly clear. It moved with terrifying speed for its size, sweeping across a nearby valley where low- to middle-class demons had gathered. Limbs and torsos were torn asunder with ease, the ground erupting in a geyser of blood, viscera, and shattered bone. What wasn't destroyed immediately was trampled into a paste under its colossal feet, leaving the valley behind it as a gruesome tableau of red and black.
Agnes' voice trembled. "…Karl… this… this is carnage. Look at it… it's…" She paused, voice shaking, "…it's effortless for it."
Karl's visor replayed fragments of his memory. Images of the entrance to Chicago flashed in his mind—bloodied streets, crimson paste, limbs scattered across the asphalt. "…It's the same pattern," he muttered under his breath, cold recognition cutting through the excitement he'd felt earlier. "…This… this is exactly like the Chicago massacre."
The demon shifted its massive form, towering above the valley floor, and turned its head. Its eyes—an unnatural, glowing red—locked onto the faint Vythra signature still emanating from Erevos.
"Karl… it knows," Agnes whispered, trembling as her avatar leaned closer. "…It senses us. It's coming."
The mountain beneath them shuddered with the demon's next step, the sound of tearing earth and splintering rock echoing across the valley. Karl's grip tightened on the Drive Regulator, every muscle tensing. He had just recognized the scale of what they were facing: a being powerful enough to flatten dozens of low-tier demons with ease, and now, with Vythra in the mix, its attention was directly on them.
"…Agnes," Karl muttered, voice low and calculated, "…we need to assess. We can't—can't just rush in like idiots. But…" His eyes narrowed behind the visor. "…we need a plan, and we need it fast."
Agnes' avatar hovered closer, glowing faintly with worry. "…Karl… I can't help you if you panic. This thing… it's… insane. You feel that? The Vythra in it… it's like it's feeding off everything alive. If it detects even the slightest weakness—" Her voice faltered.
Karl shook his head, a mixture of adrenaline and cold focus sharpening his expression. "…We survive. We observe. And we find a way to either avoid it… or neutralize it before it senses more Vythra around here."
The demon let out another roar, the killing intent nearly palpable now, and its gaze swept toward the mountain again, as though it had already decided their position. The earth itself seemed to react to its presence, small landslides triggered along the slopes, rocks rolling and grinding as the beast advanced.
Agnes clenched the cockpit controls, voice breaking with a mixture of fear and frustration. "…Karl… if you don't move, I'll—"
Karl's lips curved slightly, a grim smile. "…I know." He didn't intend to move recklessly; instead, he began analyzing the demon's movements, pattern, and reach. Every swing of its limbs, every shift of its massive frame, every sound it made was a data point, a variable for when they had to act.
Agnes' eyes widened, voice softening into a low purr of exasperation. "…You are impossible, you know that?"
Karl chuckled faintly, tension coiling inside him like a spring. "…And yet… somehow, it works."
The demon suddenly stomped, shaking the ground violently. Some of the red paste from its prior kills was flung across the valley, a reminder of the raw destruction it was capable of. Karl's grip on the Drive Regulator tightened. "…Agnes… I know where I've seen this before. This pattern—it's carnage we've never encountered in its entirety until now, but…" He paused, voice tightening, "…I can't shake it. We're not ready for a full-on engagement yet."
Agnes' avatar floated closer, shaking faintly. "…Karl… I don't want to engage. This… this is… insane. Look at it. It's like a mountain walking, a killer's perfect form. Do not make me drag you into a disaster."
Karl met her gaze through the HUD, his expression firm. "…I know. That's why we hide, we observe, and we prepare. Whatever this is… we're not the same helpless targets it was eating before. We can handle it—but we need precision."
Agnes let out a breath she hadn't realized she was holding, her avatar trembling slightly. "…I hate it. I hate that it senses you… that it senses us. I can feel it too. I…" She paused, voice breaking just slightly. "…I don't want you to die."
Karl's expression softened for a brief moment, the weight of the moment pressing down on him. "…Then stay close. We do this together. I need you thinking, guiding, not panicking."
The demon's head shifted again, red eyes scanning the mountainside, and Karl instinctively lowered the visor, obscuring his presence behind the shadow of the mountain. The faint hum of the Drive Regulator and the spinning purification turbines on his back were the only sounds, masking the faint pulse of Vythra within him.
"…It's massive," Agnes whispered, voice trembling. "…And it knows everything. If it finds us—"
Karl shook his head, tone sharp but calm. "…Then it won't. Not yet. Observe first. Prepare next."
The hum of the nanites in Erevos' back grew louder, the purification turbines spinning faintly, ready to counter any airborne contamination if the demon's presence carried residual ichor or corrupted particles. Karl's mind raced, cross-referencing previous carnage patterns with his own memory logs, trying to predict what the demon would do next.
And then it turned its gaze fully toward them, the weight of its killing intent pressing down so hard that even Karl's Rider frame felt small, insignificant. The ground beneath their concealment vibrated with each step, small rocks skittering down the mountain slope.
Karl's hand tightened on the Drive Regulator. "…It knows we're here. Time to see if we can… survive this inspection."
Agnes' voice was low, trembling, almost purring despite the fear. "…Just… don't die… Karl. Please."
Karl allowed himself a grim smile. "…No promises… but let's make it worth it."
And as the demon began advancing toward them, the duo prepared to move with silent precision, fully aware that the next moments could decide whether they survived or became just another patch of red paste on the mountainside.