The wind tore past Karl as he vaulted between the jagged mountain cliffs, the floating gears spinning with precise, almost predatory intent. Fifteen minutes of evasion had drained much of his Vythra, but now the time had come to shift the momentum. He pivoted mid-air, the knee gears releasing micro-shocks that launched him higher, and activated Gearstorm Nova.
Unlike the Erevos Frame, this Rider Frame adaptation focused on torque-enhanced mobility rather than armor. Two X-shaped chest gears locked into position, two knee gears thrummed with raw kinetic energy, and the remaining four hovered, ready to strike or defend on command. Every spin of the gears amplified Karl's speed, strength, and reaction time, turning his Rider Frame into a whirling storm of precise mechanical fury.
Agnes' voice, normally teasing, was sharp and taut with tension now:
"Karl… be careful! That thing is still three times your size! One misstep and—"
"Relax," Karl cut in, his teeth gritted, his visor scanning every micro-movement of the demon. "I'm not doing this to kill it. I'm doing this to buy time."
The demon's eyes, glowing like molten steel, tracked him with deadly precision. It shifted its weight and stomped, cracking the cliffside. Rocks cascaded down like jagged hail. Karl spun in mid-air, chest gears torqueing him sideways. Blueprint Overdrive sprang to life: temporary rails erupted from fractured rock and cliff faces, guiding him in sudden zig-zags that the demon could barely follow.
"Focus your Vythra into the gears!" Agnes urged, almost purring, though her voice trembled slightly.
Karl nodded. A micro-beat, a pulse of Royal Azure, and the spinning chest gears hummed louder, torque magnifying his jumps and dashes. He pivoted, slicing one of the hovering gears toward the falling boulders, disintegrating the debris into harmless shards before it could land.
The demon roared, swinging its massive fist in a horizontal arc. Karl barely had time to twist, knee gears propelling him up the cliffside. Floating gears intercepted debris. Blueprint rails bent impossibly around the rock faces, propelling him forward like a comet. Every movement was precise, a dance of evasion and tactical positioning.
He darted closer, closing in on the demon's massive forearm. Torque gears hummed violently, feeding extra rotational energy into his arms. Using nanite manipulation, he shifted his Rider Frame arms into elongated, serrated blades. Sparks of Royal Azure flickered along the edges.
Agnes gasped.
"Careful… you're pushing it too hard… if you—"
Karl didn't answer. He slashed, moving in bursts, blueprint rails allowing him to dart vertically along the demon's arm, strike, then vanish, only to reappear in a different trajectory. The floating gears followed his motions, spinning in lethal arcs around his body to intercept debris and the demon's counterattacks.
The demon howled in frustration, a deafening sound that rattled every bone in the mountain. Each step sent tremors through the ground, but Karl used torque to cling to the vertical cliff face, pivoting off ledges like a predator stalking its prey.
"Let's go for a ride {---}!" Agnes' voice cut sharply, a battle-cry and taunt fused. Her timing was perfect—the voice cue syncing with Karl's movement, guiding his attacks, and signaling micro-rails to extend for his next launch.
The floating gears shot forward, slicing into the rock debris hurled at him. Karl used the recoil of the deflected stones to spin around the demon's massive shoulder. He slashed with nanite-enhanced arms, leaving glowing streaks of Royal Azure across the demon's forearm. Sparks erupted where his blades made contact.
The demon bellowed, enraged. Its movements became faster, more erratic. Every swing, every stomp carried more force. It was clearly reacting to Karl's strikes, its rage amplifying its power.
Blueprint Overdrive continued to save him. Rails appeared in impossible angles—horizontal one moment, vertical the next, twisting in spirals around rock faces and debris. He dashed along them, pivoted mid-air, and attacked in bursts. Every time the demon swung, Karl's torque gears gave him milliseconds of extra movement speed, enough to avoid fatal hits.
The Rider Frame's torque and Gearstorm Nova's rotational bursts made Karl a blur of Royal Azure and metallic motion. Each attack was precise, calculated to buy time and keep the demon engaged while avoiding heavy damage. Floating gears spun like tiny satellites, slicing debris, amplifying attacks, and forming a protective orbit around him.
Agnes' voice grew softer, trembling slightly with both fear and pride:
"You're… you're incredible, Karl… just… keep going… don't let him hit you!"
Karl smirked, teeth gritted. He pivoted mid-air, using knee gears to launch himself diagonally over the demon's head. The chest gears torqued, amplifying rotational speed. He slashed downward with both nanite arms, leaving twin streaks of Royal Azure across the demon's massive back.
The demon roared and spun, striking at the air where Karl had been seconds before. Blueprint rails projected from jagged cliff faces, propelling him up and over. Floating gears intercepted falling boulders, slicing them apart before they could hit. Each strike and evasive maneuver was synchronized, a deadly ballet choreographed by Karl's mind and Agnes' subtle guidance.
Time dragged on. Fifteen minutes of constant motion, pivoting, slashing, and evading. Each second pushed Karl's Vythra lower, but the Rider Frame's torque and Gearstorm Nova kept him mobile, precise, and lethal. Each second was a gamble, a heartbeat measured against the demon's enraged fury.
Karl's chest gears hummed, spinning faster. Torque amplified his jumps and pivots. Knee gears jolted with precision timing, allowing him to redirect momentum mid-air. Floating gears spun in lethal arcs, slicing debris and maintaining a protective orbit. Blueprint Overdrive rails bent and twisted impossibly, guiding him around massive boulders and over cliff edges.
The demon, now enraged and visibly frustrated, stomped, swung, and clawed. Rocks tumbled, dust clouds erupted, and the mountain quaked. Karl pivoted mid-air, a blur of Royal Azure light, floating gears slicing debris, torque feeding every move.
Agnes' voice, soft, trembling, but commanding, cut through the chaos:
"Keep… going… just a little longer… Erevos will be ready soon… you've got this…"
Karl exhaled, teeth gritted, eyes blazing. "I'm not stopping… not until Erevos is back online."
The demon's frustration mounted with each missed strike. Every time it thought it had Karl cornered, he vanished along spiraling rails, pivoted mid-air, and countered with precise, torque-fueled attacks. The floating gears spun, slicing debris, amplifying his evasion, and keeping him in constant motion.
Fifteen minutes stretched into what felt like a lifetime. Sweat, Vythra, Royal Azure energy, and torque pulsed through every fiber of his Rider Frame. He wasn't attacking to kill—the goal was to survive, to hold out, to buy time. Every second brought Erevos closer to being repaired in the Trinity Node core.
And Karl kept moving, pivoting, dashing, slashing, floating, and spinning—a storm of torque, nanites, and Royal Azure, relentless, untiring, and perfectly synchronized with Agnes' subtle, guiding voice.
Finally, after endless rotations, pivots, and dashes, the demon's movements grew more cautious, its frustration mounting. Karl didn't relax—he couldn't. He couldn't afford a single misstep. He simply kept moving, buying time, maintaining mobility, evasion, and control.
The fight was far from over. The demon's rage continued to build, but Karl had achieved his goal: he was still alive, still mobile, still dangerous. And Erevos… was slowly, surely, repairing.