As soon as the strike to the spear missed, he turned his whole body to face the other’s once more. His footwork was impeccable, shifting forward with his steps. By the time the diagonal slash came toward his face it was too late to really strike his face. Instead, he let the haft of the spear slap against his shoulder, and slide up until the wood rested against his neck – trapped beneath his collar. It didn’t matter though, he continued forward. It only took a couple of steps to put him into striking range – and once there his right hand snapped upward – traveling between the wide-gripped hands of his opponent. 

The result of that was an uppercut, not one with a lot of power behind it – it was just a testing strike. A set-up for a larger combo, but it was targeted and it was going to do some damage if it landed. The most effective block would be to move the spear-haft into place to block, but it’d break under that pressure. And moving it that far, with the wood trapped beneath the metal of his collar - which wasn’t intended just a happy accident - would be nearly impossible. In the same motion as the uppercut, though, other parts of his body tensed and prepared to move in for further strikes – though what those might be even Beatdown hadn’t yet decided.