Thanks for trying out my game! ^^
I was going for a "rhythm game" mechanic, not a regular fighting/hack-and-slash. Basically the combat heavily relies on learning patterns - pauses are a part of that. I did try to add sound effects and some visuals before the attacks, as well as presenting main mechanics in the intro to help with this.
Maybe I could have done a better job of introducing the mechanics/providing warnings about incoming attacks. Thank you for the feedback!