Nyra felt it immediately.
The absence of incoming energy was its own kind of pressure. She was carrying the converted charge from the earlier absorptions—it sat in her arms like heat, ready, needing somewhere to go. The longer she held it without discharging, the more awareness it demanded. Her body wanted to move, wanted to release the stored force into something. Standing still in the middle of the arena while Tessa simply watched her from across the floor was exactly the wrong condition for an ability that operated on input and output.
She came forward.
Tessa didn't move. Didn't raise a construct. Just watched.
Nyra closed half the distance and stopped. She was waiting for the next bolt—waiting to absorb again, to add to the charge, to build toward the threshold where she could discharge everything at once and end it. But nothing came. Tessa just stood there, hands at her sides, eyes steady.
The charge in Nyra's arms was starting to feel different now.
