Daniel saw the monk move as his fist flew. His icy punch impacted the monk's shoulder, obviously, and he felt his ice splinter and crack against his defenses. He drew his arm back and shook ice crystals from his fist.

Clever.

The monk said something about boxing being a crude style and he was actually inclined to agree, had the monk not then reared his body backwards with his right elbow extended. A blow easy enough to avoid, Daniel simply leaned backward and let the elbow sail right by his face with no issue.

The monk recovered from that quickly enough and he used his momentum to twist around on his right foot, spinning counterclockwise as his left leg shot up in what should be a backwards kick.

Daniel took a step back and waited in that split-second moment. The monk pivoted swiftly on his right foot, all pretense of defense gone, and swung around, his left leg chopping downward through the air as it swang a wide arc around him.

He gripped his sword tighter. That was his moment.

As the monk's kick reached its zenith, he angled his right arm into a right angle, sword gripped tightly. People in spinning kicks were stationary targets. He took a step forward, reared his arm back and, just as the monk's kick swung downward, he thrusted his arm forward in a stab, jabbing his sword right at the monk's gut.

Unless he was also made of elastic, this wasn't easily dodgeable.