Because Sylas' forward momentum suddenly came to a stop, Alex's counter was mis-timed. Before, his peak strength would have exploded right at their contact point. But with this current momentum, he would have to slash out before his blades reached Sylas.
He realized the issue, but it was already too late. He immediately began to calculate what he could do to deal with the aftermath. What he didn't expect was that Sylas had his own plans.
<King's Bind>.
The bracelet activated once again. It was an instant cast, something that Sylas shouldn't have been able to do with the space between them being so close. Despite the previous deployment of <King's Shield>, it seemed as though Alex had yet to realize where that Skill had come from. Sylas' relentless pursuit hadn't allowed him the ability to think about anything else.