It all happened suddenly.
The news of Rudolph prompted him to prepare for an attack. Then, Sarah convinced him to rethink. Before he could formulate any big plan, news of Merov's possible death surfaced. As if that wasn't enough, Oob urgently conveyed Sage Nevar's entry.
There's a significant chance of them subduing this man inside Hortus—Sarah and Sia with their three rank 7 powers and he, with the blessings of Hortus. But the fight itself was still risky. Moreover, there's nothing to be gained from it.
Varian wanted to avoid it if it could be avoided. If this guy was an asteroid that's going to strike anyway, then he decided, to make him strike Rudolph.
As they walked through a teleportation formation and reached a secret realm, Nevar noticed something.
"These secret realms…you are the one who did the Black Rose operations, right?" There was confusion in his voice.