Karl's fingers hovered over the Drive Regulator, each joint trembling under the weight of anticipation. Every heartbeat echoed in his chest like a drum of war, syncing perfectly with the Trinity Core Node buried in his Rider Frame. The ruined streets of the quarantine zone stretched before him, filled with twisted remnants of human habitation and a seething tide of demons—Erebions, Cradle Fiends, Tremor Hounds, and the new horrors emerging from the crack in reality: Shard Mantises skittering across broken beams, Glass Maw Creepers snapping at invisible trajectories, and Ironback Vultures spiraling down from above.
Agnes's voice entered his mind, low and flustered:
"K-Karl… this… I… I… I'm not ready for… too much… please… gentle…"
Karl exhaled slowly, acknowledging her vulnerability. Her shyness steadied him, grounded him, gave clarity to his focus.
He pressed the USB port lightly, careful. The Drive Regulator responded immediately, purring with a dense, resonant rhythm that penetrated his core. The nanites along his Rider Frame shimmered, aligning, shifting. Armor plates along his limbs began their slow rotation, shedding excess layers in shimmering cascades of cobalt, cerulean, and admiral.
From his back, gear-shaped nanite wings unfolded, rotating like interlocking cogs in a celestial mechanism. The micro-fragments of light scattered across the battlefield, forming miniature cyclones of ash and debris that swirled around him, painting the broken streets in temporary ribbons of molten light.
Agnes stammered, voice breaking through:
"K-Karl… don't… I… I can feel… it… please… careful…"
He twisted the ignition dial once. Nanites along his spine sparked, cascading energy down his arms and legs. A heat wave radiated outward, melting fragments of glass and asphalt in the immediate radius. The demons recoiled instinctively, some leaping backward from the invisible pressure.
Twist number two. His body became a living coil of kinetic tension. Every movement was precise: micro-gear feedback from the Trinity Core resonated through his joints, calculated down to the nanosecond by Agnes's guidance. The gear wings rotated faster, creating micro-tornados of energy and ash. The air shimmered with heat so intense that Erebions and other creatures could barely approach without suffering singed scales, fur, and exoskeletons.
Agnes's voice quivered, flustered, almost pleading:
"I-I can't… K-Karl… if you push… too hard… I… ahh… please…"
Karl's hand tightened around the ignition dial. He felt the nanites burn, felt internal strain spike across his Rider Frame, muscles screaming under torque and energy feedback. This was the price of Overdrive, the cost of Ignition Requiem. But he did not falter. Each rev of the regulator threaded Vythra deeper into his nanites, synchronizing his body with the Trinity Core, with the energy surging in the rift above, with Agnes herself.
The first forward charge began. He surged into the battlefield, Rider Frame accelerating gradually at first, then in impossible increments. The world blurred, light bending around his kinetic aura. Air pressure folded in on itself, whirling debris into chaotic spirals.
Every step left trailing rings of Royal Azure fire, collapsing into shockwaves against the cracked asphalt. Erebions tried to strike, but each approached with hesitation, sensing the heat radiating from Karl's very presence. Glass Maw Creepers recoiled before impact, Shard Mantises leapt too soon and twisted mid-air, and Tremor Hounds' claws sparked when meeting the invisible walls of heat and energy surrounding him.
Agnes's voice, now trembling even more, broke through the mental focus:
"K-Karl… s-stop… I… I can't… if… you overdo it… I… I'll… I…"
Karl ignored her words, not out of cruelty, but necessity. Each step, each acceleration, each micro-rotation of his joints fed the Ignition Requiem. Sparks of cobalt-blue fire streaked across the battlefield, arcs of molten nanite energy carving paths through the debris and dust. The Trinity Core thrummed in sync with his heartbeat — Engine Soul, Gear Drive, Rider Frame, and Vythra all flowing as one.
The rift pulsed violently. More demons poured out: Warp Crawlers blinked across walls, Flesh Drainers lunged from rubble, Ironback Vultures descended in coordinated dive attacks. Yet none dared touch Karl's immediate vicinity — the heat alone burned and staggered them.
Karl slowed just enough to pivot mid-charge. Gear wings adjusted, micro-gear rotations correcting, nanite plates orbiting with perfect precision. He raised his left leg, spinning, letting the first Ignition Requiem finisher strike: a wide, horizontal arc that cleaved through three Shard Mantises in perfect synchronization. Sparks showered like falling stars. The air shivered under the pressure, and the Tremor Hounds recoiled from the blast wave.
Agnes's voice broke again, flustered:
"K-Karl… y-you're… oh! That… that's… too much… please… don't hurt… me…"
Her concern, her hesitation, grounded him again, and yet he had to keep moving. Every kick, every movement was deliberate. The second strike: spinning low, Rider Frame pivoting on one boot, nanite armor slicing into the nearest Warp Crawler, melting its carapace from radiant energy alone. Sparks cascaded, fragments of debris launched outward like projectiles.
The third and fourth strikes followed, each slower, more deliberate, cinematic. Each foot planted, pivoted, and extended like a choreographed dance, each impact sending arcs of molten Vythra energy outward, forcing demons back, reshaping the battlefield. The micro-tornados of nanite fragments whirled violently, reflecting the fractured neon from ruined signs and twisted metal.
Karl's body burned, joints screaming, internal nanites overheating. Sweat and heat radiated through Rider Frame armor, every fiber of muscle and nanite lattice stretched to the edge of collapse. Yet he pushed through, one final strike building momentum. He braced, spinning in place, igniting the full Torque Lattice and kinetic halo from his boots. The Trinity Core screamed in resonance, every nanite orbiting at near-maximum velocity.
The last Ignition Requiem kick struck. Sparks erupted like fireworks, flames roared across the ground, demons shrieked and staggered — many incinerated just by proximity. Dust and ash swirled violently. Micro-tornados from the gear wings ripped through the zone, clearing debris. The heat, the kinetic energy, the Vythra resonance — all concentrated in one single, devastating motion.
Karl collapsed to one knee, visor fogging with sweat and dust. Rider Frame trembled as the Trinity Core slowly decelerated its resonance. Agnes's voice, now soft and shaky, came through:
"K-Karl… y-you… you did it… I… I'm… fine… just… please… be careful…"
Karl exhaled, chest heaving. He had burned through Ignition Requiem, cleared a significant portion of the quarantine zone's demons, and survived the personal strain — the pain of internal torque burns, the overheat of nanites, the total energy output of Vythra channeling through his body.
The battlefield lay littered with charred remnants of Erebions and new demons alike, the fractured zone smoking under the residual heat. Karl raised his head, cobalt flames reflecting in his visor. He could feel every micro-gear, every nanite, every Vythra pulse slowly calming. He had survived Ignition Requiem — and the zone had been irrevocably reshaped in his wake.