Jahar watched warily as the man withdrew his hand from yet another pouch at his belt and flung it; instantly he knew that it wasn't targeted at him as it left Nicoli's hand, and so he kept his focus forward as the Veiled-One closed the distance.  [i]Finally[/i] he thought with savage satisfaction, just before his finely tuned senses picked up the sound of the shattering vial above him and to the left, followed by the telltale sizzle of acid.

When the first tile slid free and begin to rattle downward, Jahar realized his opponent's strategy.  [i]Clever[/i].  A simple retreat, by far the easiest and safest defense against most attacks, was now impossible.  The sense of wariness he had felt upon the throwing of the vial melted back into enjoyment and amusement.  As though he would back down now.

As the Veiled-One ran with a sure-footedness and confidence upon the uneven tiles that the dark killer actually admired, he would take several quick but careful steps forward to meet the attack.  As Nicoli's thrust darted in, Jahar released his left hand from the khopesh and sent an instant surge of energy into the tattoos upon his right arm, shoulder and back. At the last moment he swept his sword in a counter clockwise arc before him, the surge of power in his muscles allowing him to maneuver the heavy sword as though it were light as a rapier.  The khopesh would slam into Nicoli's longsword with another dull ring as the killer would try to force the lighter blade down and away to Jahar's right with a strength of over twice his normal level.

At the same time, he sent another similar surge of power into the muscles of his left arm and shoulder, though this time rather than strength his arm would be empowered with speed.  Jahar's clawed hand would literally blur in motion to most normal eyes, moving several times faster than the speed of his earlier attacks, to strike out immediately after the parry at the exposed upper section of Nicoli's sword arm in a raking perpendicular slash from top to bottom.  Unfortunately, he had been forced to lean in toward the roof to counterbalance the defensive khopesh swing, and so the blow would lack power despite its incredible speed.  Normally he could have compensated with the aid of his tattoos, supernaturally increasing his strength, but he feared to sacrifice his footing while shifting any weight away from the slope of the roof.  Still, with this particular weapon it hopefully would not matter.

Should Jahar's claws find purchase in Nicoli's arm, even with a simple set of scratches, the assassin would feel an inordinate amount of pain, as though a much greater wound had been inflicted.  The pain was occasionally great enough to send lesser men into shock, though Jahar heavily doubted that would be the case here.  Still, in a battle at this level, any distraction could be fatal, which was why Jahar pointedly avoided glancing at the tattooed flower upon his left hand, instead keeping his eyes upon the hand that lay near to Nicoli's belt.  Had he looked, he would have seen the first petal begin to wither and shrivel.  One way or another, the countdown had begun.