Watch high and low attacks and parry your way through six duels. Enemy health rises from 6 to 11. From duel 3 onward, feints change the opponent's stance during the warning.
W/S chooses your stance. Press RETURN during ATTACK to parry. A late parry while COUNTER! is visible deals 2 damage; the third consecutive parry also deals 2. Press A to retreat, safely avoiding that attack while giving up your counterattack.
Directions work on the keyboard or pad; the pad button also acts as RETURN. SPACE opens confirmation to restart this stage. NO is selected initially. Choose with A/D, confirm with RETURN, or cancel with SPACE. Play pauses during confirmation. CTRL+C returns to BASIC.
The arena has depth, with visible incoming attacks, retreats, counters, flashing armor, and defeat debris. Sounds and poses distinguish warnings, feints, attacks, counters, and recovery. Wait for animations to finish before pressing again.
HEARTS is your health, ARMOR is the opponent's remaining health, and CHAIN counts consecutive successes. Parrying during READY or at the wrong height causes damage. Recheck the attack's height after a feint.
