The gravel baked black beneath Kikaru's boots.
She crossed the arena floor with three radiant bands spinning around her wrists. Sparks fell from them and left small scars in the stone. Elias forced himself up from the dirt, ribs grinding under the binder, shoulder burn pulling tight with every movement.
He had no wall left.
The last wall had taken nearly everything and still failed. His left shoulder throbbed from the arena fall, and the burn across his right side pulled each time he tried to breathe past the binder.
Kikaru swung her right arm. The golden bands unspooled and cut across the arena like heated wire.
Elias threw himself sideways. He hit the ground, rolled over gravel and black glass, and felt the strike pass close enough to blister the side of his neck.
"Dots, build an angled lattice from the floor," Elias said.
He pushed the energy down through his palm instead of trying to hold it in his hands.
