This one came from a different angle than anything before it. It was not a change in the overall approach, but a change in the entire angle of the individual strike, the arm swinging from a position Damien hadn't seen it use yet.
A new entry in the demon captain's toolkit. Something it had been holding or something it had found in the course of the fight.
Damien barely managed to read it.
His block adjusted and he turned sideways from the standard forearm guard into something that redirected more of the force laterally rather than absorbing it straight.
Boooom!
The impact still pushed him back, but differently. The attack was better managed than the last one.
The Captain watched Damien's adjustment, its eyes tracking the change in his block.
Then the captain came in again with the same strike from the opposite side.
Testing whether the adjustment was a learned response or a genuine counter.
Damien met it the same way.
