[quote=@GreivousKhan] He did it preemptively before he entered his guard. Thus forcing him to bypass the second swords tip. Also the blades form very quickly, (four formed in the time it took for your lightening to reach) he cut before coming into range previously. [/quote] The clone sword would have been further away from Metz than the original though, as you said it was 'off to his right' so even if Khazna recognised his original strike was not going to be fast enough, it didn't make sense to grab a new sword out of thin-air and strike from further away with that. I also don't really see how the second sword would be in Metz' way. You said the swords were clones, so presumably it cloned Khazna's sword as he cut with it, which would mean it would just be at an earlier stage in his cut. Also, your character should be out of position really, he overextended trying to strike at a crouching man from six feet away. You can ask Skallagrim for a ruling, he has more experience with this sort of thing. I don't really claim to understand how your character's abilities work but I don't really see how a vague mentioning of a sword forming in the dust where your sword was cutting has somehow translated into a surprise sword attack directly in front of Metz.