Raln's face showed his surprise as his opponent vanished from view before the fatal strike could land. Well [i]that[/i] was certainly new. He jerked his head around to quickly take in his surroundings to see if his opponent was still in the premises, and indeed he was; right behind him in fact. During this moment of confusion he didn't have time to avoid the kick, causing him to stumble forward and downward. It was a painful but not particularly deadly blow other then the fact that it put him in a far worse position then he had been a moment ago. He regained his footing and swiveled around, hoping that he still had time to slash his opponent's head off with a right to left swing across his neck before he had a chance to fully get out his weapon.