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 today."
Elias stood between them with the training suit in his hands, liking the situation less with every word. The suit was lighter than it looked, but the contact points built into the chest, spine, and thighs made it feel like holding a warning.
"You keep talking like I personally offended you," Elias 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. Yui wore it without touching it, which made Elias want to know the story and also made him smart enough not to ask.
"Seven bearers came through this field 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 and special."
"I think the shard made my life harder."
"Then prove you understand that difference under pressure."
Oliver tossed Elias the rest of the suit pieces, gloves, collar strip, and a flexible back plate that unfolded with a soft snap.
"Put it on over the green training set," 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 more effectively than comfort would have.
Elias changed beside the equipment stand. The suit clung to his shoulders, then tightened across the ribs when he pulled the side seam closed. He pressed the chest panel when Oliver told him to.
Small needles bit through the fabric around his ribs, back, and thighs.
His hands clenched before he could stop them. The bite stayed under the skin, shallow but personal, as if the suit wanted proof he was inside it. Blue lines moved across the material and settled into a faint pulse around his joints.
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 ends."
Yui stepped into the first white circle. "Oliver, leave the testing field now before we start."
Oliver checked his watch. "One hour, then debrief with Geras, and keep him intact."
"I heard the order clearly enough already, Oliver."
Oliver hesitated. His gaze moved from Elias to the suit reserve indicator, then to Dot's empty space. He walked out through the side door. When it sealed, the stadium stopped feeling like a room with supervision and started feeling like a place designed to record mistakes.
Yui flexed one gloved hand.
"Raise your guard before I move toward you."
Elias lifted his hands, then realized he had copied a shape from old movies and nothing useful from life.
"I still do not know what test we are starting."
"That confusion is part of the test today."
Yui touched his own chest panel. Green lines lit across his suit.
"Twenty percent output, allotted range confirmed for baseline."
Elias shifted his left foot back. Too late.
Yui crossed the distance before Elias could track the first step. The movement was not flashy. It was worse than flashy. One clean drive forward, shoulder quiet, hips set, fist already where Elias's body had failed to protect itself.
The blow hit his stomach.
The suit hardened under the impact and spread the force across his ribs and back. Elias still left the ground. Dirt slapped his shoulder, then his hip, then the side of his face. The water he had drunk earlier became a threat in his throat.
The collar voice answered before he did. "Attack disrupted, remaining reserve at seventy-five percent."
Elias rolled onto his back and tried to breathe without making a sound ugly enough for Yui to enjoy.
Dot flew down beside his face. "What happened to your plan of staying alive intelligently?"
"It got punched before implementation started properly today," Elias said, dragging one knee under himself. "Please schedule blame after my organs report in."
"That feels like poor planning from both of us," Dot said, but she stayed close to his face.
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 mercy in the same way a dull knife counted as kindness.
He raised his hands again. This time he kept his elbows closer and his weight off the heels. He had no idea whether that helped. It at least felt less embarrassing.
Yui circled him once.
"You watched my fist after I moved already. Watch the shoulder before the fist exists fully. Watch the hip before the shoulder commits forward. Low perception does not excuse late thinking here."
"For the record, I do not know what Dot can do on command yet."
"Then learn under pressure before the pressure breaks you."
Elias looked at Dot. She was staring at his chest, not Yui. The faint blue pulse under the suit had changed near the shard, faster and uneven.
Elias spoke without looking away from Yui. "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."
The first attempt came out wrong. A bead of metal formed between Elias's palms, heavy and useless, then sagged like warm wax. He gripped it anyway. It burned cold against his skin.
Yui moved in.
Elias swung the half formed lump because standing still felt worse. Yui slapped his wrist aside, stepped inside, and tapped two knuckles against the side of Elias's helmet.
The suit chirped. "Lethal angle detected, instructional contact only applied to helmet."
"Again, and this time react before I finish entering your space," Yui said. Dot's jaw tightened.
The metal stretched between Elias's hands. Short. Crooked. Still there.
Yui's next step dug into the dirt.
Elias braced before he understood why.