Oliver's jaw tightened when Yui ordered the suit brought forward.
"Sir, the Wardens authorized baseline testing rather than a punishment session. They want combat response, Ikona knowledge, and course readiness, with no serious injuries."
Yui did not look at him. "Then the suit will do its job."
Elias stood between them with the training suit in his hands, liking the situation less with every word.
"You keep talking like I personally offended you," he said. "Did I miss a meeting where we became enemies?"
Yui turned toward him.
The scar along the left side of his face was easier to see under the stadium lights. It cut from cheekbone toward jaw, old enough to have healed and deep enough to explain nothing.
"Seven bearers came before you today," Yui said. "Each one arrived with a different version of the same look, fear wrapped around superiority. You think the shard made you chosen."
"I think the shard made my life harder."
"Then prove you understand that difference."
Oliver tossed Elias the suit. It was lighter than it looked, a dark training layer with contact points built into the chest, spine, and limbs.
"Put it on over the green," Oliver said. "The panel near your heart activates the support system. It will pierce through the underlayer, connect to your vitals, and remain unpleasant, brief, and necessary."
Elias stared at him. "You said pierce through like that improves the warning."
"It improves your odds of standing after the first hit."
That ended the debate.
Elias changed beside the equipment stand and pressed the chest panel when Oliver told him to. Small needles bit through the fabric around his ribs, back, and thighs. He sucked air through his teeth and forced himself not to pull away.
Blue lines moved across the suit.
A flat voice came from the collar. "Training support connected, impact disruption active, reserve at one hundred percent."
Dot hovered near his shoulder, watching the suit with open disgust.
"It stabbed you politely, and I dislike that."
"Add it to the list after today."
Yui stepped into the first white circle. "Oliver, leave the testing field now."
Oliver checked his watch. "One hour, then debrief with Geras, and keep him intact."
"I heard the order clearly enough."
Oliver hesitated, then walked out through the side door. The moment it sealed, the stadium felt wider.
Yui flexed one gloved hand.
"Raise your guard before I move."
"I still do not know what test we are starting."
"That confusion is part of the test."
Yui touched his own chest panel. Green lines lit across his suit.
"Twenty percent output, allotted range confirmed."
Elias lifted his hands too late.
Yui crossed the distance before Elias could track the first step. A fist drove into his stomach. The suit hardened under the impact, spreading the force, but Elias still left the ground and hit the dirt on his side.
The collar voice answered before he did. "Attack disrupted, reserve at seventy-five percent."
Elias rolled onto his back and tried to breathe.
Dot flew down beside his face. "What happened to your plan of staying alive intelligently?"
"It got punched before implementation started."
Yui waited where he had struck from, hands low and expression flat.
"Guard up means guard up before pain arrives, so stand."
Elias pushed himself upright. His stomach hurt, but the suit had kept the blow from folding him completely. That counted as a mercy he wanted to resent.
"For the record, I do not know what Dot can do on command yet," he said.
"Then learn under pressure before the pressure breaks you."
That was the lesson, ugly as it was. Elias looked at Dot.
"Give me a metal pole, something simple, straight, and preferably in my hand before he kicks my teeth in."
Dot pressed both hands over the shard inside his chest.
"Simple, straight, and rude, so I can try that."
A short length of metal began to form between Elias's palms.
Yui moved again.