Karl barely had time to breathe before he deployed another set of gears, faster and more intricate than before. He sent the projections spiraling toward a towering nyghoul that had slithered from the shadows. Nanites wrapped around each gear like guiding fingers, controlling trajectory with perfect precision.
"Engage full rotation," Karl murmured, feeling the gears tighten in sync with his heartbeat. The nanites amplified Vythra through the spinning mass, each edge sharper than the last, each collision a small pulse of destructive force.
The nyghoul screeched, desperate to flee, but Karl's design left no space for escape. The eight gears interlocked in midair, forming a rotating cage around it. As they spun faster, the nanites reinforced every edge, ensuring even the smallest gap could crush bone.
Agnes' voice rang sharp in his mind, predatory and hungry:
"Lock them in… grind them down… let the gears feast! Feel the power, Karl… let it flow… make them pay for breathing!"
Karl's lips pressed into a tight line as he felt the momentum and torque of the cage increase. "Yes… the nanites hold… no escape… perfect compaction…"
The nyghoul's limbs snapped one by one against the relentless, spinning metal. Steam hissed from the orb as Vythra surged in waves, powering each rotation with mechanical precision. Eventually, the cage compressed the creature into nothing but a red paste. The sound of metal grinding on bone was drowned by the faint hiss of the cooling steam vents.
Karl exhaled, his heart still hammering, and a twisted sense of satisfaction coursed through him. The Gearstorm Nova wasn't just a weapon—it was an extension of his own will, now tempered by feral instinct, Vythra, and the intelligence of the nanites.
Karl flexed his armored fists inside Erevos, the nanites shifting across the gauntlets as the Drive Regulator hummed with power. The orb pulsed diagonally in the USB port, now fully integrated, and steam hissed faintly from the vents, coiling around his arms.
"Alright… let's see how far this goes," he muttered, feeling the kinetic energy spike with Vythra surging up his forearms.
Agnes purred, her voice no longer teasing but sharp, wild, almost animalistic:
"Yes… yes, Karl~! Turn your fists into spinning death! Every punch, every rotation… make them beg for mercy~! Vrrrmmm~ feel it? That's your power~ unleash it, Karl!"
With a mental flick, Karl sent nanites surging into the knuckles, solidifying them into spinning gear constructs. Each edge gleamed with navy-blue and cerulean light, spinning faster with every heartbeat.
He jabbed at the first berserker demon charging at him. The moment his knuckle connected, the spinning gear embedded itself slightly, tearing into muscle and bone. The demon flailed, but Karl's fists were relentless. Each swing released kinetic energy amplified by the nanites, edges sharpening mid-spin, leaving slashes across the enemy's torso with surgical precision.
"Harder! Faster!" Agnes snarled in his mind, voice dripping with feral delight. "Every hit counts! Every spin tears! Don't stop, Karl~ make them feel the fury of every rotation!"
Karl gritted his teeth, spinning and punching with calculated rhythm. The feedback from the Gearstorm Nova was intense; every pulse of Vythra sent shivers along his arms, but he used it, channeling it into more torque. His knuckles smashed into another demon, grinding and spinning through armor with devastating force. Sparks flew as the nanites reinforced the edges mid-contact, creating a lethal feedback loop.
A grotesque symphony of metal and flesh echoed in the bunker. The demons screamed, tried to swipe, but every strike only drew them closer to obliteration. Karl's own laughter, low and victorious, mixed with the harsh hiss of steam and the grinding whir of spinning gears.
Karl noticed the instability of the crumbling bunker floor as more nyghouls and berserkers closed in. He shifted his weight slightly and activated the foot gear mode. Nanites surged around the bottoms of Erevos' armored feet, flattening spinning gear constructs into frictionless yet durable plates.
"Perfect… I can move faster… sharper turns, better torque… Vythra flow into the feet…" Karl muttered, adjusting the rotation of each plate.
Agnes growled ferally in his mind, thrilled by the imminent carnage:
"Yes, yes~! Step on them, Karl! Every stomp spins them! Crush their bones with your weight, tear the ground from beneath their feet! Vrrrmmm~ feed me their fear, feed me the chaos~!"
With a stomp, Karl felt the nanites in the foot gears enhance his momentum. Each movement caused a shockwave of Vythra to pulse outward, and the spinning edges of the foot plates cut through debris with ease. He pivoted mid-step, gaining unprecedented agility despite Erevos' massive size.
A berserker charged at him, claws slashing. Karl stomped the ground, the foot gears spinning like turbines. The nanites directed the rotational energy into a sudden lateral burst, sending the demon flying into a wall with a sickening crunch.
"Faster… harder… yes, yes, yes~!" Agnes roared. Her voice had no softness now, only predatory hunger. "Your feet, Karl! Make every step a killing blow! Let them taste the gears in every strike! Lock on~ Lock on~ Lock on~ Locked in!!!!"
Karl smirked under his helm. The words were strange, but effective. Every stomp, every pivot, every surge of Vythra translated into both speed and power, turning Erevos into a deadly dance of spinning death. The bunker trembled under the repeated impacts, the remaining demons faltering, confused by the combination of speed, torque, and lethal gear constructs.