The thread bent around Alex's hammer.
Mingyue saw it touch the blood along the haft. Pale light spread toward his hand, much faster than the strand had descended toward the street.
"Let go."
Alex released the weapon.
She brought her twin swords across the space between his fingers and the hammer. Purple light followed the edges, cutting off the thin connection before it could close around his wrist.
The hammer dissolved, and most of its blood returned to Alex. A dark patch remained beside the strand, caught where the weapon's head had been.
He looked at his empty hand, then toward the soldiers beneath them.
The descending thread had stopped, but two more were moving around it.
Mingyue stepped in front of the nearer one. Frost spread over its surface while Alex's white flame reached the section beside her sword.
The strand snapped.
Its loose end withdrew above the roofs. The other continued downward, forcing her to turn before she could follow it back toward the light woman.
