The first spring formed in Elias's hand before the gray field fully released him.
It came out heavy and rough, a coiled length of dark metal that fought his grip. The surface was ridged in uneven bands. When his fingers tightened around it, the spring flexed with stored force and tried to twist sideways out of his palm.
Dot pressed both palms to the shard and shouted through the strain.
"Hold the picture steady, because I can pull from it if you stop thinking in circles."
"I am being attacked by a professional. My thoughts are entitled to circles."
Yui moved again.
Elias saw him early this time. Not clearly. Not enough to feel skilled. Enough to keep his face from becoming the next target. He slapped the incoming wrist aside and felt the spring answer the motion.
A second coil snapped into existence and wrapped around Yui's forearm.
Yui's eyes narrowed.
The suit spoke at Elias's collar. "Reserve has dropped to twenty-eight percent."
That drop was too large.
He had no room to care.
The field had become a puzzle for one breath. Elias saw where Yui's suit pushed power, where his stance braced, and where the coils could make that confidence turn against him. He did not understand the math. He understood the direction.
Yui tried to rip the spring away.
The coil tightened instead.
Elias threw another one toward Yui's opposite wrist. It missed, hit the dirt, bounced, then snapped upward like it had found the current in the suit. The second spring clamped on.
"Dot, keep them stable around his arms."
"That is not a small request," she snapped, and Elias tightened his grip before the coils could collapse. "Put it on my debt list."
Yui drove more output through his suit. Green lines brightened across his arms and shoulders. The springs pulled harder in answer.
His wrists slammed toward each other.
Yui planted his feet and resisted. The suit hummed loud enough for Elias to feel it in his teeth. Dirt shifted under Yui's boots. The coils held, but Elias could feel the cost traveling backward through the shard and into the suit needles under his skin.
Yui looked irritated now, and that was almost worth the pain crawling through Elias's ribs.
"What is this technique supposed to be?"
Elias could see the answer because the gray vision had left a pattern behind his eyes. The coils were not strong alone. They were responding to output, grabbing pressure in Yui's suit and turning it against his motion.
He almost tried to explain.
Then his mouth tasted blood and reminded him they were still in a fight.
Elias rushed in and drove his shoulder toward Yui's centerline. Bad form. Better timing. Yui shifted to counter, but the springs pulled his arms inward at the wrong instant.
Elias hit him with enough force to make the contact real, even if Yui barely shifted his feet.
A sound came from behind the reinforced glass. Someone at the consoles had reacted before they could swallow it.
The third spring formed too late and struck the ground behind Yui. Elias tried to lift it anyway. His hand only twitched. The ability had not become a muscle yet. It was a door Dot had forced open with both shoulders, and the door was already crushing back toward its frame with Elias caught in the hinge.
The collar voice cut through the field. "Reserve has dropped to twelve percent."
Elias's knees weakened.
The gray edges vanished. The springs broke apart into metallic dust before he could force them back into shape. Dot made a small sound and folded against his chest, her glow thinning until Elias could see the suit lines through her.
Yui stepped free and lowered his hands.
Red marks circled his wrists where the coils had held. He looked at them first, then at Elias, and the pause told Elias the marks mattered more than the instructor wanted to admit.
Elias pressed one palm into the dirt and tried not to fall flat.
"That was better than getting punched for free."
Yui powered his suit down. "Your ability is inefficient, unstable, and dependent on stress."
Dot lifted her head. "You forgot creative and personally upsetting to your wrists."
Yui looked at her for a long second.
"It worked because my suit gave it something to bite. Against a low output target, you may waste energy for nothing. Against a stronger target, you may exhaust yourself before the restraint matters."
Elias accepted the criticism because he could feel the truth in his shaking legs. His fingers would not close all the way. The place where the suit needles touched his ribs felt hot and bruised.
"I still learned something useful today."
"You learned that you are weak."
"I already knew that part, and the useful part is that weak is not fixed."
Yui's expression hardened.
"People say that at the start. They say it when bruises feel meaningful. Later, when their bodies stop recovering cleanly and fear becomes routine, most people bargain with their old weakness."
Elias pushed himself upright. His legs argued, but they held.
"Then I will try to become annoying before that happens."
Dot floated up just enough to point at Yui.
"He is already very annoying, so the foundation is strong."
Yui moved one hand back toward his chest panel.
Elias lifted his guard, even though his arms felt empty and the suit had almost nothing left to give him.
A woman's voice cut through the stadium speakers.
"Enough now, preliminary testing is complete. Further combat risks the subject's condition and compromises tomorrow's course data."
Yui's hand stopped.
Elias let his shoulders drop because pride was not worth another reserve warning.
The speaker continued.
"Elias Kael will receive treatment and report for debrief, and First Lieutenant Rakamaki will stand down."
Yui looked toward the glass.
For three seconds, Elias thought he might ignore the order.
Then Yui stepped back from the circle and let the green light fade from his suit.