Oidin changed his approach.
He stopped cutting storage threads—the interception had made that technique costly, each cut feeding the armor rather than clearing it. He redirected toward larger fate threads instead—the connections that defined Naxra's relationship with the fight itself rather than the specific mechanical threads of the echo storage.
The thread between Naxra and the armor.
Not the storage mechanism. The ownership connection—the fate-link between the fighter and the suit she wore, the thread that made the armor hers rather than just an object on her body.
He reached for it.
The energy cost hit him immediately—a significant expenditure, far larger than the footing twists and storage cuts he had been executing. This was an important fate. The armor was central to Naxra's fighting identity, the connection between fighter and ability running deep. Cutting it would require more than the small interventions he had been using.
He pulled the thread.
