The moment Karl revved the ignition dial, the Drive Regulator clicked into place with a satisfying whir. Four gears—two chest, two knee—shot out in a blur of Royal Azure light. The X-shaped chest gear crisscrossed perfectly, locking with torque, while the knee gears hummed like coiled turbines, sending vibrations up Karl's legs. The remaining four gears hovered behind him, restless and hungry for commands.
Gearstorm Nova — Rider Variant.
The air around him rippled.
Four gears shot out from the Trinity Node core—two large ones, two smaller—spinning so fast their edges blurred into Royal Azure rings.
They slammed into him one by one:
First chest gear—the impact forced his torso backward before locking diagonally across the left half of his chest.
Second chest gear—interlocked violently with the first, forming the X-torque sigil.
Left knee gear—snapped into place and sent a jolt of torque up his thigh.
Right knee gear—synced in, and suddenly his legs felt weightless, coiled, ready to explode.
The remaining four gears hovered behind him like silent predators, rotating in idle patterns as if hungry for commands.
The demon roared. Its eyes glowed like molten coals. Each step it took sent tremors through the mountains. Karl felt the pulse of his Vythra, already dipping from 70 percent, and knew he had to stretch every drop.
"...Karl," Agnes whispered, voice trembling between fear and thrill, "Rider Frame… with Nova torque… this is going to hurt."
"It'll hurt worse if we don't do it," he muttered, bracing himself.
The Regulator clicked.
Locked.
Committed.
Karl exhaled.
A single step shattered the ground.
The demon raised its head.
"Fast," it growled. "Too fast… good."
Agnes' voice, usually teasing, came soft and almost shy through the comms.
"Karl… be careful. This isn't… like the others. He's fast. Too fast."
Karl answered by vanishing.
He kicked off the ground. Blueprint Overdrive burst to life. Rails projected under his boots for a split-second, only visible to him, weaving intricate loops and arcs across the mountain cliff. He ricocheted laterally, then vertically, then diagonally—pinballing across the terrain in a fluid dance.
Blueprint Overdrive burst 1 — lateral dash
He reappeared ten meters to the left, dragging a thin white line of blueprint light behind him. The terrain carved itself into rails for a split-second, forming a slope he kicked off from.
Burst 2 — vertical dash
He shot upward, using the knee gears as torque boosters. Air cracked into rings around his boots.
The demon's fist cut through the space where he had been a heartbeat earlier.
Agnes' voice came through, faintly shy when directed at him, but sharp the second she addressed the incoming threat.
"Karl… mmh—careful. He's reading your rails. He's adapting."
Karl only smirked. "Good. Let him."
The demon swung its massive fist. The wind from it cut through the air, shredding trees in its path. Karl twisted mid-air, using the torque from his knee gears to reverse momentum and dash upward. Floating gears spun like missiles, slicing thin arcs through the air to intercept falling boulders hurled by the demon.
He snapped his fingers and the four floating gears shot outward like kunai, spinning into orbiting attack paths.
Burst 3 — downward spiral
Karl dropped from above, twisting as the chest gears rotated in the opposite direction, multiplying torque.
He hit the demon's forearm and rebounded instantly, letting the nanite blade in his right arm flash out just long enough to carve a thin line through its hide.
The demon flinched.
"…Cut… me."
Karl landed and dragged blueprint rails under his feet again—this time weaving them like tangled spider silk. Every movement became a ricochet, a pinball frenzy of speed.
He wasn't running.
He wasn't evading.
He was everywhere at once.
The demon swung a mountain-sized fist.
Karl ducked beneath it—barely—then:
Ignition Requiem — partial flare
Royal Azure fire burst from his palms.
Not an explosion—just enough to add torque mid-dash.
He spiraled upward, knee gears venting azure sparks like small turbines.
Agnes' voice shifted, soft, trembling, yet laced with a hunger Karl had learned to recognize.
"Locking on. Let's go, Karl…"
Agnes' tone darkened into feral hunger the moment she addressed the demon.
"Lock on… lock on… lock on—locked in."
The floating gears obeyed her command, spinning faster and taking formation.
Karl jumped off a freshly formed blueprint pillar, slashing with both nanite blades as he rotated midair. Each slash was amplified by the torque gears, producing sharp crescent arcs.
The demon staggered.
Black blood sprayed.
But Karl didn't celebrate—because the demon suddenly sped up.
Not by a little.
By a lot.
A twitch of its arm—
And a shockwave followed.
Dust exploded from the ground.
Agnes sucked in a quick, horrified breath.
"…Karl. His movement speed just doubled."
"That's his passive," Karl muttered, doing another blueprint slide to avoid a follow-up strike. "The more he rages—"
"The faster he becomes." Agnes' voice trembled again. "This is… not sustainable."
Karl flashed a grin. "I don't need sustainable."
He landed on a jagged ridge and immediately launched himself again. Chest gears adjusted, torque amplifying his jump; knee gears ejected a subtle shockwave against the cliff, launching him forward in a blur. He slammed into a rocky outcrop, pivoted, and the nanite blades in his arms extended, catching the edge of a jagged rock as a launch point for the next dash.
"Careful, Karl! You're pushing your Vythra too far!" Agnes' voice quivered with concern and something else—fear masked behind her teasing tone.
"I can manage," Karl replied, his teeth gritted. "I don't have the luxury of stopping."
He slammed his heel into the ground, blueprint energy erupting into a rail that launched him like a bullet straight up.
The demon didn't wait. It leapt, staggering with its own massive speed—too fast for any normal observer. Its hands clawed at the air, trying to predict Karl's rails. Karl darted horizontally, then inverted mid-air, the blueprint rails acting like a temporary web that bent around him in impossible angles.
"Don't underestimate me," Karl muttered to the gears hovering behind him. "Do your job."
The floating gears accelerated, spinning into orbit, slicing through airborne debris, deflecting falling rocks, and forming a rotating shield that protected Karl's torso and head. The chest gears hummed, torque pushing him forward as if he were riding a mechanical wind.
Karl inverted midair, gears screaming with torque, his visor glowing with hundreds of micro-calculations.
"Agnes," he said softly, "ride with me."
Her voice melted instantly, shy and warm.
"Always…"
Then she shifted into her killing tone.
"Let's go for a ride {---} "