Both fighters dashed towards one another. Astor struck first, having the longer reach. Their swords clashed with each body withstanding the ear-rattling blow. Astor didn't know why he was now able to endure of celestial's blow, but he didn't let his thoughts stray too far from his priority. Astor quickly pulled back his sword, and Anthony swung the next attack. His diagonal swipe was sidestepped by Astor. While ducking slightly, Astor lurched forward and attempted to swipe at the knees of Anthony that weren't protected by steel armor. Anthony had used the momentum of his diagonal strike to shift his leg back effortlessly out of reach of Astor's light strike and began to lean his body forward. Astor strained his chest and back muscles to pull his sword back above him just in time to guard against a downward strike. Blocking most of the impact, Astor calmly slipped his opponent's sword down onto the top half of his sword. Quickly twirling the handle, Astor let his opponent's blade drop below his by using the flat side of his blade as a ramp. Repositioning his sword above Anthony's now falling blade, Astor took a step forward and struck the blade downward towards the ground before swinging at the neck of Anthony. Astor did not fully commit to his strike because he had felt little resistance from Anthony as he struck his blade down. Anthony had predicted Astor's move and was now taking steps backward, pulling his sword back into a stance all while dodging Astor's strike. Anthony instantly took a wide stance and shot a thrust forward. Had Astor had fully committed to his swing, he would have been left wide open for Anthony's lunge. He had just enough time to change its trajectory, letting it pass harmlessly to his left. The strength from the contact had caused Astor to falter backward, halting his attempt to charge forward and exploit Anthony’s wide lunge. The two readied their stances again. Both were breathing only moderately despite the ground they covered. With the pace of the battle reset and the warm up over, Anthony started walking cautiously towards Astor with his blade in front. Astor responded by shifting left away at the same speed, occasionally eyeing the muddy ground below them. As Anthony approached his range, Astor lunged lightly at Anthony’s sword. Undeterred, the old man continued his slow pursuit. Astor knew that if they were to clash at close range, he would lose. Anthony was cloaked in armor with only his head exposed. His legs were covered in hardened leather armor and were a viable target, but it would take more effort for Astor to strike at since Anthony was nearly a head shorter not mentioning how predictable it was. It was going to be an uphill battle for Astor, but he gladly accepted it. Strangely enough, the people around him had started making room for them. They also did not attempt to jump into the fray. Astor didn't know whether to thank them or loath them. Taking a deep breath, Astor swung down hard on the Celestial. Smashing his sword down, Astor threw two upward consecutive swings, forcing his foe's arms up and away from his legs. Anthony’s face contorted with strain and Astor continued the pressure by swinging at his exposed legs. Anthony blocked it and redirected the blade by locking Astor’s blade up in a wide gap in front of them. The man had used the combination of the sharp edge and the flat of his blade to guide the momentum of Astor's sword tip effortlessly against his guard. Astor flinched as Anthony stepped forward. Attempting to back away from the arm’s length distance, Astor was thrown off balance by a forceful shoulder charge from Anthony. Scrambling for balance, Astor blocked a powerful verticle swing before landing on his back against the ground. Calmly, while keeping his sight trained on Anthony, Astor pushed off the ground with his elbows and curled his body into a backward somersault before propping himself back up. He jumped backward onto his feet and since his actions had caught the Celestial slightly off-guard, both were able to swing their blades at each other simultaneously. Recoiling from the body-rattling strength, both retreated to once again regain their composure. Astor noticed how both of them were now breathing expeditiously. Astor felt the slow crawl of despair and agony from his muscles as they tensed, but his intense concentration was numbing the pain. Looking at the ground one last time and, with a strange feeling of precognition, Astor dashed forward in one quick motion with his sword lowered. Astor saw Anthony's sword raise to eye-level to greet him. Astor allowed his feet glide above the ground momentarily just as Anthony charged forward to meet him. The elder prepared a swing that would cleave off Astor's head just as he landed. Astor felt his heart slow as his vision narrowed. He approached an invisible bubble-shaped arc from which he thought represented the knight's range imagined in his mind. Even in the face of imminent death, Astor couldn't avert his gaze from the knight's own eyes. As soon as Astor saw a flash of the movement, he instantly contracted his back and extended his thigh muscles, allowing him body to land sooner than the knight had predicted. With nearly just one foot, Astor was almost able to completely halt his whole body's momentum. From the tip of his toes, up his calf muscles and knees, and into his back and abs, the force from the friction rattled throughout his body as the ground underneath solidly held. Anthony's swing passed within millimeters away from his eyes. Astor continued watching the veteran's reactions as he positioned himself to strike. Slipping what little remained of his momentum into his heels, Astor stepped in and swung upwards at the arms of the man and felt the sword glance off the knight's steel-plated vambraces. As the knight tried to bring in his arms, he stumbled momentarily on the muddy floor below himself. Astor flipped his sword to his left hand so that the blade ran back and along with his arm as a guard and pulled out his dagger with his right. Astor closed the distance and lunged at Anthony's neck. The dagger had slashed up the cheek of the old man, but failed to be fatal. Anthony threw a desperate swing towards Astor after ducking low from the blow. Astor allowed the weakened blow to glide up his shielding sword, stopping it with the guard of his sword, he locked their swords in place by locking the guard of their swords together. Astor tried stabbing the underneath of Anthony's inside elbow, but the old man pushed forward, making Astor's stab bounce off his arm guards while throwing a kick towards Astor abdomen. Astor dodged the kick and backed off. Although extremely weary from his exertion, Astor couldn't just let his pressuring end there. Throwing his dagger, Astor proceeded forward again as Anthony swiped the dagger away. With his left hand on top now, Astor cycled his sword once to build sword speed and feigned a left diagonal down slice. By pushing his pommel outwards along the path of his stroke just before it collided with the knight's blade stance, he could effectively bypass the enemy's blade and have his blade end up on the side opposite to the knight's stance guard. Pulling his blade back up, Astor swatted the both their blade upwards, clearing a direct path to Anthony's head. With all his might, Astor swung back down, intending to cleave through the man's head. To his surprise, the knight motion fiercely to the one side, making Astor strike bounce off the pauldron of his armor. Now his sword, along with his arms, were sent twisting away from the knight's body. He also lost footing while trying to compensate for his swing. Astor knew that he couldn't stop a follow-up attack with his sword anymore. Thinking quickly, he thought that he could at least minimize the damage and perhaps if he were lucky, his leather armor would negate most of the blow from a glancing cut. Astor tried to position himself to receive that blow, but just then, Astor's field of vision shook violently. "What........" Astor muttered while turning his attention away from Anthony's sword. Looking towards the Celestial's body, he saw an outstretched arm leading to his gut. The sheer impact passed through the steel plates located inside the leather vest. Astor felt his tunnel vision returned to normal as his concentration wavered. He futilely tried to pull his sword back, but another impact to his chest muscles prevented his arm from contracting. Completely helpless, Astor took two more soul-wrenching blows to the stomach. Astor heaved in agony, lowering his head from the blows. The last thing Astor saw was an outstretched palm heading towards his chin.