Karl's Erevos frame landed in the center of the quarantine zone, gears hissing as his mech body settled onto cracked asphalt. The wooden walls and tents of the human encampment were little more than splinters under the weight of his frame. He scanned the surrounding ruins. Smoke curled from overturned tents, charred debris glimmering under the pale afternoon sun.
A rift had opened in the sky above the zone — a gash of dark energy leaking corrupted ichor into the world. Out poured monsters. First, the familiar Erebions, sinewy and jagged, glinting with half-metallic carapace. But behind them came creatures he had never seen: the Cradle Fiends, elongated humanoids with glassy, shard-like spines that reflected light in fractal patterns, and the Tremor Hounds, quadrupedal beasts whose footsteps caused fissures in the ground, clawed limbs scratching at the wooden barricades.
Karl's cerulean eyes narrowed. He had to act, but his bulky Erevos frame made the Torque Lattice impossible to use efficiently. His body tensed as he realized the only way: Rider Frame.
With a swift sequence of controls, the Erevos frame's limbs retracted, panels realigning and compressing. Nanites tore through the bulk, reshaping him, transforming the heavy mech into the sleek, agile Rider Frame. The lightweight design hummed around him as the Trinity Core centered on his chest.
Agnes's voice sounded through the neural link, but unlike before, it wasn't teasing or commanding. It was timid, almost a whisper of wind.
"K-Karl… um… please… be… gentle with the USB port~" Her tone trembled. "I… I… I don't… want to… hurt… or—"
Karl's grip tightened around the drive regulator. "Understood," he muttered, trying to ignore the shiver of nerves his companion's flustered tone caused. He could feel her pulse, the way she ran circuits inside the nanite network. One wrong press could overload her, and he didn't dare risk it.
He pressed the USB port once, twice, three times. The regulator purred like a subdued engine — hesitant, yet building energy. He felt the nanites along his legs and spine begin to hum, slowly coiling kinetic energy in preparation for the Torque Lattice. The first wave of Erebions surged forward, jagged limbs slashing, teeth gnashing.
Karl took a deep breath. Each movement was deliberate. Each rotation of the regulator dial slowly channeled Vythra into the Torque Lattice. Sparks of cobalt energy traced along his Rider Frame armor, outlining each joint, each seam, glowing like living veins.
Agnes whispered again, voice stammering:
"I… I can feel… it's… too much… oh, K-Karl… please… s-slow down… I… I can't… ah… don't… go too hard~"
Karl's body tensed with strain. He felt the burn immediately as he completed the first rev — muscles screaming, internal heat spiking, every joint trembling under torque feedback. The Vythra flowed violently, each nanite under tension as if screaming in unison. Pain clawed at his chest and legs. The strain wasn't fatal — Yggdrasil could heal it — but it was raw, physical agony.
He focused. The Erebions advanced, and the first circular kick unfolded like a slow-motion dance. Karl pivoted, his left foot sliding across cracked asphalt. He channeled every micro-gear, every nanite, into a single spinning strike. The boot's kinetic lattice hummed, glowing cobalt. When it connected with the nearest Erebion, sparks cascaded as its carapace buckled. The creature's limbs twisted unnaturally, frozen mid-motion before crumbling.
Agnes's voice shook in his mind.
"Y-Yes… good… oh, Karl… I… I think I felt that… oh… careful… please…"
Another rev, another USB press. The second strike followed — slower, more deliberate. Karl shifted his hips, calculating torque ratios in real-time. The Erebions had begun to swarm, and new horrors emerged from the rift: Shard Mantises, whose limbs cut through steel as if it were paper, and Glass Maw Creepers, their serrated jaws snapping with blinding speed.
Each kick from Karl was cinematic, almost ritualistic. He spun, his boots striking a creature mid-leap, the Torque Lattice cracking its exoskeleton like brittle glass. Sparks flew, grinding echoes through the empty zone. Micro-gears rotated with perfect rhythm, each one a note in the symphony of destruction he orchestrated.
Agnes stammered between warnings:
"Oh… oh, Karl… don't… I… I can't… ahh… I… need you to… s-slow… please~"
Karl's third kick sent the closest Tremor Hound into the wooden barricade, splintering it in half. The force backlashed, muscles burning hotter, internal heat spiking. Sweat ran down his temple. He felt every tendon, every fiber, every nanite straining under Driver Kick's torque lattice.
The rift pulsed again. More demons poured out: Ironback Vultures, skeletal birds with molten veins; Flesh Drainers, grotesque humanoid shadows that seeped ichor as they moved; Warp Crawlers, insectoid horrors that could blink short distances. The quarantine zone trembled under their combined weight.
Karl staggered, boots glowing, regulator dial spinning as he readied the next strike. Each kick now had to be precise. No hesitation. Each was a finisher, like in the Kamen Rider series he had admired as a child.
Agnes gasped nervously, almost pleading:
"Karl… please… I… I can't… if… if you… rev… too hard… I… I'll… I… oh…"
Karl's fingers trembled on the USB. He pressed lightly, careful. The regulator vibrated through him, every micro-gear screaming with power. His Rider Frame glimmered cobalt under the crack-lit sky.
He jumped, spinning into a perfect diagonal arc. The first Erebion, mid-swing, was shattered into fragments by the Torque Lattice strike. He landed, pivoted, and the next kick launched — a spinning, hurricane-like rotation that tore through the Shard Mantises. Sparks flew, concrete cracked, and the kinetic halo around his boots rotated faster with each rev.
Pain seared through his muscles. Heat blistered his skin. Yet he pushed through, each strike timed with careful rotation of the drive regulator.
Agnes whispered, breathless, flustered, and barely audible:
"K-Karl… s-stop… please… I… I… can't… if… you push… too hard… I… I'll…"
Her vulnerability grounded him. He felt a surge of gratitude — of partnership — and it gave him focus. Each kick became cleaner, sharper, more cinematic. Erebions crumpled, Warp Crawlers blinked into walls, Flesh Drainers tore themselves apart on the kinetic lattice fields.
Finally, Karl braced, spinning the regulator to its peak. He channeled all remaining Vythra, his body screaming in pain as the Torque Lattice flared, halo spinning violently. The last kick struck a massive Tremor Hound. Concrete and wooden shards blasted outward. The creature convulsed, then shattered completely.
Karl collapsed to one knee, body burning, nanites screaming for relief. Yggdrasil's healing warmth spread through him, knitting torn fibers, cooling overheated circuits.
Agnes's voice, soft and flustered, trembled in his mind:
"O-Oh… K-Karl… th-thank… you… I… I'm… fine… just… b-be gentler next time, okay…?"
Karl exhaled, visor glowing faintly cobalt. He had survived the first wave. The rift above still pulsed, still feeding more horrors, but Driver Kick had proven its lethal precision — each cinematic strike a testament to his mastery and the bond with Agnes.