Miguel reeled backward, steam rising from his burned cheek, sizzling where arcs had kissed his abyss-forged skin.
He coughed once, dark water trailing from his lips.
"Still stingy…"
James landed hard.
His boots ground against fractured stone.
Smoke coiled from his heels like coals on thundered earth.
He locked eyes with Miguel.
"Try harder."
"I'm at 90%."
Miguel raised both hands.
The world responded.
Air collapsed crushing inward like an invisible vice.
The pressure plummeted.
The ozone screamed.
Even light twisted.
James' electricity his very power began to fold in on itself.
Spiraling.
Twisting.
Consuming.
( He's collapsing my charge field… )
( He's manipulating magnetic tension—twisting the battlefield into a cage. )
This wasn't just water anymore.
It was a pressure engine.
A biome of suffocation and collapse.
The earth beneath James cracked.
Bones creaked.
Sparks burst from his back.
