Karl hovered midair, suspended in the inferno, his Rider Frame screaming under the heat. The Royal Azure flames were no longer just a hazard—they had become an extension of the Sentinel's will, feeding off his Vythra, burning through nanites and torque currents alike. Every rotation of his floating gears, every pivot along micro-rails, felt like threading a needle in a hurricane. The battlefield below was a blur of molten rock and fractured steel, sapphire plasma streaking past him, reflecting in the searing glow of his own fire.
"…Yggdrasil… hold me… just a little longer…" Karl muttered, grit and desperation threading his voice. The nanites hissed and twisted around his frame, attempting containment, but each attempt only fanned the flames. Every joint, every armor segment, every torque-imbued gear throbbed with heat so intense it could have liquefied the battlefield itself.
Agnes' voice broke into his mental interface, tense and sharp. "Karl! I can stabilize some of the nanites, but the Rider Frame is failing fast! Your torque currents are spiking—if the flames reach the core nodes, Gearstorm Nova will collapse entirely!"
Karl's eyes flicked to his chest gears, spinning in frantic rhythm as if they could outpace the fire consuming them. Sparks erupted where the heat licked the reinforced nanite segments, streaking outward like shooting stars. "I… I can't stop it… I'm… holding, but it's spreading too fast…" he rasped, sweat and molten residue clinging to his skin.
The floating gears whirred violently, slicing debris and plasma bursts, but nothing could block the creeping blaze from within. Knee gears pulsed, chest gears spun counter-torque to stabilize him midair, yet with each rotation, the Royal Azure flames crept farther up his limbs, onto his shoulders, and down his torso. Every pivot, every jump, every micro-projectile fired demanded more Vythra than he had remaining.
"Karl… listen to me," Agnes urged, voice sharp with controlled panic. "You can't fight this conventionally anymore! Every second you burn like this—every torque spike, every nanite collapse—it's feeding the ember! You have to… you have to consider a new option… NOW!"
Karl's jaw clenched. "…I… I know…" Heat stung his eyes as sweat and molten residue dripped into his vision. The Vythra readout had dropped below fifty percent, flashing warnings that he barely had time to register. His arms flailed, micro-rails guiding him through arcs around the Sentinel, floating gears slicing chunks of molten debris, yet the flames were relentless, alive, and hungry.
"Every pivot… every shot… barely holding…," he muttered, voice tight. Sparks exploded from where floating gear edges scraped molten boulders, ricocheting small fragments toward the Sentinel. Its sapphire core pulsed in rhythm with the blaze engulfing him, each pulse feeding the inferno further. The ember had become a predator, hunting him through his own body.
"Agnes… can you… keep the nanites together long enough?" he panted. "Or… am I just… burning down to nothing?"
"…I… I can reinforce some sections… but the core torque nodes are overheating… Vythra is dangerously low… you won't last much longer if you don't act," she said, voice tight, almost a whisper now. "Karl… you need… you need the Nitro. Only that… only that can give you the control you need to survive this."
Karl's eyes widened. The realization struck him like a hammer—there was no fighting the flames as they were. Gearstorm Nova was exquisite for torque, speed, precision—but it was no match for a Royal Azure Flames consuming him from the inside out. He pivoted sharply, using knee gears and chest torque to ricochet midair, the Royal Azure blaze licking higher, now engulfing the floating gears themselves. Sparks flew from everywhere. Every rotation sent arcs of fire crackling into the air.
"…Alright…" Karl breathed through gritted teeth, sweat and molten nanite residue coating his skin. "…Agnes… the hard part's done… now… the messy part."
"Focus," she urged, voice trembling but precise. "I can stabilize the remaining Erevos fragments, but you… you need to do this… perfectly. There's no room for error. Your Rider Frame can't take another second of uncontrolled combustion."
The Nitro Capsule pulsed, a dense cube of swirling liquid-metal, vibrating like a storm trapped in ice. Its glow reflected in the Royal Azure flames engulfing him, a contrast of pure energy against the wildfire consuming his frame.
"Injector Arm," Karl muttered, his jaw tightening. From the side of the regulator, the segmented mechanical limb unfolded, each joint clicking into place like a scalpel being prepped for surgery. Lights flickered as the Drive Regulator readied itself for the transfer.
Agnes' voice sharpened. "I… I'm stable, Karl… I can handle the flow… but you have to guide it. Every movement counts."
Karl exhaled, ignoring the heat searing across his shoulders. "…Alright… just… let's do this."
The mechanical arm extended fully, the needle-like triple-sealed injector poised at the USB inner port of the Drive Regulator. Karl's hands guided it with precision, aware that one misstep could rupture nanite conduits or worsen the flames. His Rider Frame screamed in protest, the Royal Azure blaze climbing higher, now fusing with the torque-imbued nanites around his torso. Every rotation of the floating gears sparked molten arcs, but Karl remained focused, eyes narrowed on the target.
"Connecting… now," he whispered, pushing the injector forward. There was a moment of perfect silence, broken only by the whirring and hissing of overloaded nanites. The needle pierced the port—
…and the Nitro Capsule thrummed.
Agnes' voice shifted slightly, registering the flow: "…Karl… it's… moving…"
The Royal Azure flames flared violently, as if sensing the new energy source. Sparks exploded outward, and the heat intensified beyond anything Karl had endured. Every pulse of the Nitro through the Injector Arm sent shivers through his Rider Frame, torque currents spiking wildly. He gritted his teeth, forcing micro-rails to guide him midair while the flaming nanites around him tried desperately to stabilize.
"…Hold on…" Agnes urged, voice tense but almost trembling with awe. "Vythra… stabilizing… just… survive… I've got you…"
Karl's eyes burned through the haze, floating gears spinning madly around him. Every micro-projectile ricocheted with precision, yet the flames now consumed more than his armor—they threatened to overwrite the nanites completely. Sparks and molten debris whirled around him like a storm.
"…No… I can't… fight this with Gearstorm Nova anymore…" Karl muttered. "…Only the Nitro can… only the Jet Frame…"
He gritted his teeth and drove the Injector fully into the USB port, locking the Capsule in. The moment the liquid-metal Nitro surged through the line, Agnes' voice suddenly shifted—now chaotic, ecstatic, trembling with overload. Her words pierced every corner of the Drive Regulator interface:
"K-Karl… it's… it's flooding me… every circuit… I… can feel… OH—YES—OVERFLOWING—!"
The liquid-metal pulsed violently, wrapping Karl in a sphere of glowing, blue energy. Sparks, heat, and torque currents erupted simultaneously, compressing around him as the Nitro-infused sphere began to forge new armor layers. The Royal Azure flames licked outward, merging with the incoming Nitro energy, engulfing him fully.
Karl's Rider Frame could no longer fight; every nanite segment was alight, every floating gear spinning in frantic arcs. The flames and Nitro energy fused, consuming him visually and tactically, a vortex of heat, torque, and power. He clenched his fists as the Injector Arm stabilized the Nitro flow, and for a moment, he felt weightless, suspended inside the perfect chaos of molten light and energy.
"Now… NOW!" he rasped, heart hammering, realizing the only way out was to complete the transformation into Overburn Nitro Jet. The Royal Azure flames had devoured Gearstorm Nova, leaving nothing to fight conventionally—but the Nitro Capsule promised one final surge of control, one final chance to survive and turn the tide.
The battlefield trembled, molten rock and shattered structures illuminated by the inferno that was Karl. The Sentinel hovered, sapphire core pulsing, every ember it had sown now alive and burning, yet Karl had embraced it. He had become the fire, the storm, and soon—the jet that would break free.