With Jahar's close proximity to his opponent and the sloped surface, his options were limited as Nicoli threw the cloud of sand toward him.  Were it not for his Onyx Eye, he would likely have been forced to choose retreat, but its enhanced ability to see in the gloom allowed him to detect the glint of moonlight off of the glass particles as they left Nicoli's hand.  Jahar's lips curled upward into a snarling smile and he sent another, larger surge of energy through his entire body.  The fragile tiles beneath his feet cracked with a loud report from the pressure as he dashed through the cloud to press his advantage, moving a bit upward to his left to gain the advantage of slightly higher ground.  He held his breath and closed his right eye against the glass while keeping his focus upon Nicoli with his open left.

What Jahar hadn't seen, of course, was the rust powder mixed with the glass.  Jahar had dashed through the handful of powder before it had time to fully expand, but it still coated the right half of his torso, part of his face, and most of his right arm as he passed.  While Jahar's gear had very little metal, given that there was not a great deal to strap down, what little he had was quite important.  Immediately, the rust began working upon the metal buckles on the right side of his weapons harness, as well as those securing the straps of the bracer upon his right arm.  The blade at his elbow, affixed to his bracer, also began immediately to be eaten away.

Jahar, unaware of this predicament, saw only an unarmed opponent and the chance for a kill.  His khopesh was currently down at his right side following his parry, and he reached across with his left hand to once again grasp it in a two handed grip as he closed the short distance with incredible speed, the position of the blade similar to the Iron Gate stance both had earlier used.  With a snarl, he would arc the blade in a vicious uppercut swing beginning from the lower right and intended to cleave Nicoli in two diagonally, both the speed of and the strength behind the attack were at more than three times Jahar's natural ability.  An attack of this strength in Jahar's previous experience had been enough to slice through unenchanted steel armor as though it were cloth.

Unfortunately, the killer made a miscalculation in his footing on the unfamiliar terrain, ending his attack with his left foot forward to accommodate the brutal attack.  Whether or not it struck Nicoli, the upswing of the attack would be enough to momentarily unbalance Jahar upon the slope, forcing him to immediately bring his right foot beneath him to recover.  The move was near instantaneous, and would normally have posed almost no issue, but in this case he was a victim of poor circumstance.

In the midst of the attack, the rust powder had completed its work upon the metal buckles in Jahar's weapon harness and bracer, causing the right sheathe holding one of his twin Haladie daggers to simply fall to the tiles and begin to slide down toward the lip.  In a cruel twist of fate, Jahar's right foot landed upon the sheathed dagger as he repositioned his weight and it slid out from beneath him, causing him to fall backward.  Gravity would immediately begin its work and Jahar would begin to slide downward, his body parallel to the roof's edge.  He attempted to slam his right elbow into the tiles, hoping to find purchase with the blade upon his elbow, but to his immense surprise it simply crumbled from the pressure, the rust having done its work there as well, as the friction of the tiles stripped away the bracer, no longer strapped to his forearm.

With a growled curse foul enough to make a sailor blush, the Blackvine would slide over the edge and, unable to change his position mid air, fall ten feet awkwardly to the sands below, the dagger in its sheathe landing a few feet away.