You know, I think I read the action wrong, I guess Beambro was trying to punch Bern at first and she blocked with the sword.
Background: hubby used to train with a European swordfighting reenactment group. I kind of suspect my moment of "Beambro can't possibly be that stupid" is coming unintentionally from the way the scene is drawn, as in angles the swords are held at / length of the swords / positions of bodies. Which is all right, drawing fight scenes is damn hard, I just want to point it out. And, "magic" can explain everything of course, deus ex machina.
Going off of reality, the first huh moment is that it looks like Bern is using European style bastard swords, one in each hand. Hubs, who is 6'2", can actually wield one ~2kg sword in one hand, but would not personally try to wield two at the same time, or in his words, "not if I want to live.". So either the swords are drawn too long, or they must be enchanted to weigh a lot less. And before we start on Bernadette's strength, if she's granted magic strength from the swords, see below. If she's not, her arms are drawn too skinny, flat chested or not.
Panel 3, the angle of her block, if it's a block (and why I thought initially Beambro went straight for her sword with his punch) - angle & length of sword + angle & length of her arm + we can even see her back = she is not in a planned block, because of the way her wrist has to be bent to hold the sword like that (even though we can't see it). At that position it absolutely has to be that the sword magically absorbs the force of the impact completely. If the swords were granting her strength to block in that position, and they're that long, physics says they would bend even slightly under the impact, even if she had the strength to stop it.
Plus, the portrayal of time flow. If the punch was instantaneously blocked by the sword, then he quickly grabbed said sword to try a second punch, I think panel 2 should have his fist already retreating when the other hand grabs. Otherwise, it looks like literally, he was aiming to punch the sword while Bernadette, standing passively behind those swords, looks on wonderingly. "What on earth does this guy think he's doing, doesn't he know we're in the middle of a fight? I'm right here you know..."
And then the grabbing thing. European swords were, by the time of the evolution of armour, not made to cut so they weren't all *that* sharp. But unless Bernadette was really standing passively, they could still damage the fingers without proper protection, which involves the use of metal (chain) gloves. Deus ex machina magic cloth gloves could explain this part though.
Just on the whole, when the initial shove aside move didn't work, for Beambro to then plant his feet, grab the sword with both hands, squeeze his eyes shut and grunt and shake while trying to make it budge, while Bern just stands limply and eyes him, makes me think he really is a glorified gorilla anyway. Here is where I yell at *Bern* to remember that she's still in a fight, for Maytag's sake, move yer ass and kick some already.