In order to activate a QTE, the enemy must first be sufficiently weakened. Upon reaching that point, a chain of actions can be started, which will severely weaken, or even kill, the enemy. Failing to properly execute the chain will result in Kratos' attack being countered, thus getting hurt himself; in rare cases, killed (e.g. in the Helios light reflection minigame with Persephone, where Kratos dies if a wrong command is pressed). In some cases, these actions can be skipped altogether, having Kratos instead resort to attacking and killing his enemies in normal fashion.