He moved first this time.
A straight approach with no feint because the Captain was the kind of thing where feints cost more time than they saved and time was exactly what he didn't want to give it. His fist came in low and direct.
Pow!
The Captain swatted it. The distinction was in the force of the defensive motion, which was more than a block needed to be by a significant margin.
Damien's strike was redirected sideways with enough force that his arm carried further than intended, opening his center briefly.
The Captain drove its knee upward into the gap but Damien turned his body.
The knee clipped his side instead of connecting fully, but the impact still rippled through him—the particular jarring sensation of a strike that had been meant to be much worse and was still enough to register clearly.
He stepped back, used the momentum, and launched into a counter immediately.
