Timeless Monarch: Astora

Chapter 1

Chapter 1:
Hiro's Cyan flaming retractable metallic blade clashed against the violent Vermillion embers of Astora's extended sword. At first glance, you would think they were eternal rivals. However, they had only clashed blades recently, over the last two days, against one another throughout the previous week. The duel was filled with fancy blade movements, with each of them trying to disable or gut the other.

Hiro and Astora had never spoken to each other, but they had a firm understanding of each other's abilities. Hiro was powerful, and Astora was nimble. The one-hit nature of Searing Swords made agile, sword-adept Contractors the deadliest close to mid-range combatants in the Galaxy. But what made them unstoppable, the great equalizer, was something far more elusive, something Hiro and Astora both wielded, other than their swords.
Both Contractors were drenched in sweat and breathing deeply, trying to fuel the muscles in their weakened bodies.

Both combatants had been going at each other for days, with fleeting moments of sanctuary punctuating the marathon of a job they were both on.
For Astora, this was supposed to be a security job, somewhat cush, nothing life-changing.

For Hiro, it would always be the most challenging task he has ever undertaken, a life-changing mission.

The moments of respite were never long enough, and they had embraced the back-and-forth fighting the last four days had given to them. The war fought on Keegan's compound to find and kill him had been nothing less than a bloodbath. 90% of Keegan's paid forces, physical assets, and confidence had been decimated by Hiro's forces. This planet would hold horrors for everyone now, even Astora. Astora, however, had pushed these thoughts from her mind, she needed to.

Another high horizontal swing to Astora's head left her glutes, hamstrings, and every other part of her body used to duck Hiro's blade in that squat, burning from the rapid movement. The heat could have scorched her hair if she hadn't cleared the attack completely. Hiro tried to catch Astora when she had ducked by swinging his blazing blade back at her crouched form. Astora, knowing she had become very vulnerable after that duck she committed to, decided to parry the strike and then go for a stab at Hiro's exposed chest! She almost had him if he hadn't used his grounded neutral stance to jump back quickly and re-orientate himself. This fight wouldn't have dragged on as long as it did, if they weren't both such adept Gray Practitioners. Sword fights never lasted this long, but in the world where this new human evolution heightened reflexes, everything from sports games and e-sports to all-out warfare was tackled differently. To the uninitiated, the Gray enhanced reflexes. To the Masters, it was much more magical.
The Gray renaissance of 1994 was the beginning of humanities awareness of the Gray, after that, no other religion had legs to stand on.

Hiro launched himself at Astora again, putting her on the defensive. He launched at her with The Even-Eight Point Saber combo, a move that was taught to overwhelm a defensive opponent with eight well-practiced and executed strikes. The problem with the move was its predictability. So, the move had to be performed with an off-beat rhythm to it. The sword would always come from the same side of you. Either horizontals, verticals, or diagonals. But after eight strikes, too much momentum would be lost, and a retreat would be expected and necessary.

One. Hiro's blade swung to her left. Astora dodged. She needed to prepare for the next one.

Two, a strike to her right. She parried it, albeit, sloppily. Not quite able to riposte.

Three, Bottom right. She angled her blade to parry again while hopping back. She took no damage, but her sword was hit, and her balance was slightly off. She still had room to maneuver. She was no amatuer.

Four, left high, coming down. Blocked.

Five, another direct over head. More power was applied. She had to redirect herself from under his blazing blade.