Nevin rolled to his feet even as the ornately dressed man tested his weight on his injured foot, both men hissing in pain as they moved. The lackey had now had time to draw out his dagger, and Nevin still had his sword - but the bounty hunter was trained at least to some degree in using his weapon, and Nevin was not. But the man didn't know that - and he had already lost the use of one arm, hanging limply at his side with blood oozing and spurting from the long gash Nevin had inflicted on him. His eyes darted past the blood mage to the other fight and he grinned viciously.

Almost, almost Nevin turned to look - but he didn't have that luxury, if he looked away he would likely end up with a knife in his guts. No, he would deal with this bastard, and then figure out what he had been grinning at. That decided, Nevin rushed at him, moving to one side to force the man to turn on his hurt foot. The lackey scowled as he tried to turn to keep up with Nevin, but the redhead was not injured in his legs, so he was moving faster than the man could keep up.

Nevin suddenly jerked to the other side, and the man tried to turn to block - and Nevin swung, gripping the sword in both hands as he attacked. The lackey tried to bring his dagger up to block, but Nevin powered through the shoddy, impromptu defense, slicing another line in the man's torso. The man let out a bellow of pain and lashed out, trying to stab Nevin, but the Alchemist locked their blades together, sacrificing the sword to throw both blades away from their fight. The lackey stared at Nevin, stunned for half a second, before turning and lunging for his dagger or the sword -

But it wasn't fast enough, even as he tried to ignore the pain in his foot to move faster. Scarlet threads burst forth from Nevin's outstretched hand, coiling and twisting together into a deep red whip that writhed and squirmed in the air. With no motion from Nevin the whip snaked through the air, coiling around the man's leg, and Nevin jerked back, dragging the man backwards along the ground, his fingers scrabbling for purchase.

The lackey rolled over onto his back to try freeing himself from the sudden whip around his ankle - and let out a strangled scream at the sight of the threads squirming around Nevin's skin, the same threads that composed the whip that was currently making his leg burn in pain. His fingers dug at the red cord, but he learned the same thing the other victim had - the whip was easily as tough as steel, and fingers just could find no purchase to pull it free. Instead his fingers turned raw as the flesh on them was torn away.

"Wh-what are you?" The words escaped from disbelieving whips as Nevin dropped his other hand down, more red threads unclog from beneath his skin, forming another, shorter whip that went rigid. Nevin snarled.

"A Cobalt-taken monster." The short, stiff whip was driven into the soft tissue of the man's neck, coiling around his arm to strike when he tried to shield himself. A wet gurgle, and he went limp, blood leaking around the edges of the red coil in his neck. Nevin ripped the whip away and spun on his heel to see Stare finish her foe - or not. The mage was pressing a golden knife against her throat, a cruel smile curving his lips as he kept his eyes closed.

"I don't know how you escaped crow b***h, my master said his brother had no one close enough to help you." He was gloating, unaware of the results of his lackey's fight. "Reginald, worry about the corpse later. My sponsor wants this one alive, but he's fine with dead too - go check on the cell and see how these two fools escaped..... Reginald - Reginald answer me you misbegotten excuse for a bookkeeper." He twisted his head, opening his eyes to look - right into the furious, burnt red orbs of Nevin. "Oh, dear." Crimson red that had been quietly slithering over to him as he floated suddenly sprang up, coiling around the man's wrist, wrenching the hand holding the dagger away from Stare's throat. The other whip snapped up, coiling around his neck - and this time, the one around the neck was not 'hungry' and just choked the man as Nevin heaved him off of Stare, his muscles trembling as he pulled hard. The blood mage kept the whips on the unknown mage, keeping him pinned as he let Stare recover.