Ixion, while he trained his eyes on the woman that was in front of him to await the possible, kept note of the being that was above them. While he had the certainty that this person was not with them, he still had his doubts that the person was there to be antagonistic for her in case things didn’t go according to plan. There were too many variables in this vicinity. There was the woman, a rune blade in her hands. There was the person that kept their eyes and ears on the conversation. There was the possibility that the Ducal guards would be just around the corner in the case that a fight broke out. There was also a possibility of a mob fight that would break out because of the thrill and chance that people in this mob could get back at their bitter rivals. While the latter was a highly-unlikely case, it was one of the many variables that he had to take into account.

The one variable that he didn’t take into account was the figure’s next action. Due to unknown reasons, the figure, now having been identified as a male, had jumped from one side of the street to another, slamming against the wall of the building before scrambling up to the rooftop. [i]What is that idiot doing?[/i] he thought, knowing that this man’s foolish actions had cost him the element of surprise in the case that he was, indeed, on his side. Now, his cards had been left bare and, with him rejecting the proposal that the woman had offered him, he was left to deal with the consequences. He kept the weight at the end of the chain on the ground, in the case that he needed it, but he knew that it would be helpful in any move that he might do to counteract hers. At least if the Ducal guards came that the unknown man above would bear witness to her making the first move.

She didn’t make any retort to his statement, which troubled him. He had noticed that she closed her eyes, though the inaudible mutter that he could see from her lips allowed him to know that she was about to cast a spell. This was verified a moment later when one of the runes flickered. During that time, he kept an image of everything that was around him. This had certainly been beneficial as his eyes burned with the abrupt light that shone out. The instance that the light had blinded him, he disappeared from the street, retreating to a higher location. The light still burned into the back of his eye socket, but at least he was out of harm’s way in case she was able to see him and was charging towards him. More importantly, he was somewhere close to where the man was. His mind was racing with what to do. This woman, he concluded, must have a way of detecting him. That was why she was able to find him in this city. This left with retreating being an unviable option. This left him with two options. One of those options was to disable her of her weapon. This would benefit everyone in the vicinity who was blinded by, hopefully, disrupt the flow that ebbed through the weapon. Not only that, but it would have disarmed her of one, possibly two if the blade also had all of her attacking arsenal on there, turning the entire fray into his favour. However, this would only work in the case that she remained still. She was more than likely trying to get to him to achieve what she wanted to do. This left only one other option.

He remained motionless, keeping the image of the area in his mind to be his eyes, as he whispered to the man. “Flee from this place and tell the Ducal guards that I had defended myself from her brash actions.” He drew a breath and whispered something else, though more for himself and whoever he has in mind.

“Please forgive me for what I am about to do.”

Before the man could retort to what he had said, he disappeared. He emerged in a rough position behind where the woman had stood. Whether she had remained where she was or if she moved to where he had been, she would have travelled in a straight line. Drawing one of his daggers, he turned around, throwing it with deadly accuracy in the general direction that she was in. Perhaps… just perhaps, she would survive this so that he wouldn’t have a bounty on his head.