Damien pulled out before it pinned him.
Stepped back.
The beast found its feet and turned.
He read it differently from the Stormhorn. Different weight distribution, different center of gravity, the roll counter coming from the same instinct but applied through a different frame. The plates on its side had a gap structure he had partially mapped through the failed entry, a natural seam that ran from mid-body toward the front leg junction where the armor had to allow for shoulder movement.
That seam was where the next entry was going.
The beast charged again.
This time he did not go sideways. He went forward, inside the charge's optimal impact point, ducking below the head-level of the approach and driving at the front leg junction with the angle he had identified.
Contact.
