Ah, no no, as i said before - i agree that crushing the opponent was a power move showing superiority, and i remember Ferdinand saying that she had more mana than Sylvester. My only point was that even when Myne had less mana (i didn't say "significantly", i meant overall Ferdinand is still superior at this point), her rampaging crushing still able to induce significant harm on the owner of a stronger mana, so i don't want to leave it at "only really works on someone weaker" (adding a defensive tools like a feystone armor, or black feystones are beside the point).
As you compared it to the band of lights before as "more significant power move", it's the other way around. You can still put the opponent under the significant strain with crushing even if you somewhat weaker in mana quantity, but you definitely can't seal someone with band of lights if you have less mana. So "bands of light" actually a "better showing dominance", not the other way around. But in case of Ferdinand, any of the two will do... and i guess leaving the guard knight wheezing on a floor with a single glare (Wilfried didn't even knew what "crushing" is), instead of "bound with light" by spell would leave much more impression on a Wilfried, which probably why Ferdinand even decided to use such an "uncouth method"
Crushing is actually more volatile and dangerous than most would think, especially unrestrained one that goes with heightened emotions. The reason why nobles rarely use it isn't because "it's weak", but because it is the same as throwing a ball of mana at someone - as Rosemyne said about Lanzenavians, it's inefficient. And crushing even more so, since it doesn't even have a form, and large portion of it will be uselessly scattered in the air. The expenditure of mana just doesn't worth it.
