Astral Battle

Despite having his Astral weapon for five years now, Yamato has never fought with another Astral user nor has he ever used his Astral weapon in a battle before. Since this is his first time fighting while wielding his Astral weapon, Yamato should be nervous or apprehensive, however all he felt was excitement. If you ask him what he really thought, he'll say.... It was a long time coming!

How many years has Yamato endured? How long had he hid his strength? He couldn't wait anymore, he wanted this fight!

"Let's see how strong you really are!" Yamato shouted then rushed towards the sandy haired kid without hesitation. Closing the distance in a blink of an eye and threw a punch.

Backed by the power of his Astral gauntlet, the punch was more powerful than Yamato's normal punch. Yet the blond guy casually lifted his sword and blocked.

Sword and gauntlet clashed with a ring of metal on metal. "Interesting," The blond guy said then twisted his body and swung his sword diagonally at Yamato.

Yamato quickly drew back to avoid, but the sword changed direction mid swing and followed him. If he doesn't do anything the sword will cut him the next moment. In panic Yamato lifted his hand and caught the sword with his gauntleted palm.

The sandy haired guy's eyes went wide, and the crowd gasped. Even Yamato was surprised but it didn't make him pause for even a second.

He stepped into his opponent's personal space and threw a punch. One direct hit with his gauntlet would have ended the fight there, or even kill the other kid, but the sandy kid was no slush. Despite being stunned for a moment, he shook away his surprise, let go of the sword Yamato was using to hold him in place and drew back.

The Astral sword, separated from its master's grip, vanished. The blond guy succeeded in widening the distance, he flipped backwards twice then summoned back his sword.

He regarded Yamato warily. "Why did you let me go?"

Yamato lifted an eyebrow. "You noticed?"

"Just now you could have pressed your advantage and keep on attacking me before I had time to summon back my sword, but you didn't, how could I not notice?"

The other kid's answer surprised Yamato as these days he's used to toying with his opponents yet no one notices. Still he answered, "I would have won easily if I pressed my advantage. Where's the fun in that?"

He didn't just want a victory after all, but also the thrilling battle that lead to it. Besides this is the first time he has faced someone with an Astral weapon, he couldn't actually waste this training opportunity right?

"You are an arrogant guy," The sandy haired kid laughed. "Don't think you can win though. Earlier I underestimated you and was caught off guard. So don't be too confident and spoil my fun, cause unlike you, if you make a mistake I won't let you off. Here I come!"

This time the blond boy charged forward first. He kicked off the ground, leaped up in air and dropped towards Yamato with a mighty two handed downward sword slash.

"Let's see how you catch this!" He shouted.

Yamato didn't bother catching. He quickly rolled forward under his opponent, letting his opponent leap past. He looked over his shoulder to see the sword tear the cobble floor below where he was just standing. The sandy haired kid suddenly wheeled and swung at him horizontally.

Yamato caught the sword with his hand.

However the blond kid just smirked. "Hmph, this won't work twice!" The sword vanished from his right hand and appeared in his left in an instance. The blond kid continued his attack with a second swing.

This time Yamato barely avoided being beheaded by rolling backwards. His opponent followed swinging his sword recklessly like a mad man, but Yamato continued to roll away till he flipped back on his feet.

The sandy haired boy did not seem discouraged by that though, in fact he seemed gleeful. "Let's see how you defend the part of your body your hands can't reach," he taunted with a smile showing pristine white teeth. "Or do you plan on dodging everything?"

"You talk too much," Yamato said.

"Hmph!"

The sandy haired kid attacked again. He swung his sword low, where Yamato's hands couldn't reach quickly. Yamato jumped back, avoiding the sweeping blade by a paper thin margin.

Astral weapons are very powerful. Blunt weapons will be very destructive, breaking almost everything they hit, while sharp weapons could cut through literally anything except a few tressure metals and another Astral weapon. So a clear contact with the blade would have crippled Yamato, that's why a lot of Astral wielding Street Fighters die in battle than normal Street Fighters.

Unlike in ordinary fights, it is hard to control the strength of an Astral weapon and prevent an opponent from dying. And even if it's possible, no one will do that as it will make the fight nothing but a parody were people strike at each other in slow motion. The only way to stop an Astral weapon from harming a person is to stop it before hitting the person. But that close control requires a high level of skill with little margin for mistake. That's why all Astral battles are considered life and death risks.

That's why battles between Astral weapon wielders are rare.

Since Yamato revealed his Astral weapon he'd been ready to take the next step as a fighter. To always fight with his life on the line. Still he never felt that reality until now.

Any mistake he makes could be fatal, the pressure was too much. Yet he didn't let himself get drowned in his fears and insecurities. That will just distract him and make him die faster. He tuned everything, that wasn't how to best his opponent, out of his mind and gave the battle his whole attention.

Swing and slash, swing and slash; His opponent bombarded him with relentless attacks. Yamato ever the prodigy started studying his opponents moves - as he evaded and blocked - looking for a pattern he can exploit.

The blond boy was relentless. He attacks wildly with no apparent form or style, making studying his style difficult, but Yamato knows that this is legit swordsmanship, so there's a form somewhere in there to understand and exploit.

The blade swirled in his vision and clang of metals filled his ears, everything in the background blurred. All Yamato's attention was on the deadly moving blade, swishing through the air like a viper hungry for blood.

He saw a the blade draw close and he finally understood. Yamato blinked and stopped avoiding, he pulled his hand back and threw a punch. With a suddenness the world returned to normal speed and the blond guy stumbled back, his eyes wide open in shock. Yamato had parried his attack perfectly by connecting his knuckle to the center of the blade.

This time Yamato didn't let the opportunity go and pressed the other boy with a torrent of attacks. Like that he had transitioned from the defensive to the offensive in one swift move. Hunting his opponent down without mercy.

Yamato sent a flurry of punches at the other boy, sticking close to the later to stop him from exerting the full power of his sword. It was not something anyone taught him but Yamato is talented, for a long time he knew the importance of reach. If one could exploit it well, the possibilities are limitless.

Longer weapons tend to give their wielders an advantage as they could attack from a position their opponent can't strike back. But if the opponent moves too close to them the length of their weapons instead becomes a liability. Using this concept Yamato stuck close to the blond kid.

After that Yamato thought he'd win in a few moves but the other boy surprised him yet again, as without the use of his sword he avoided Yamato's punches by paper thin margins.

One could see that the sandy haired kid was struggling, but Yamato could never connect that one punch that will end the battle. Frustration started growing in him, but Yamato gritted his teeth, pressed down any impatience and continued sending punches.

The kick to his stomach surprised Yamato, making him doubled over. He didn't know when the blond kid had even lifted his foot to send the kick!

Yet he didn't lose focus, and looked up in time to see the silver blade falling at him. At that brief instance that the sword was still falling, many calculations traveled through his head.

First he could try to block the sword, but from the angle.... it was aiming for his back, were his gauntleted hand couldn't reach in time. It'll be difficult.

Now his only option is to roll forward. But didn't his opponent already know his fighting style? Yamato always avoid by rolling forward. Surely if your opponent leave you with only one option, doing that will definitely lead to your loss. But even knowing that one has to do it as they have only one chance of survival, no matter how slim, doing anything else will let the sword cut him into two.

There was a third option though. Mutual destruction.

Instead of trying to block or avoid the attack, Yamato guided by something primal within him punched out at his opponent. This way he'd be sliced by the Astral sword but his opponent will also die. However strangely there was no fear in him; Anyway if the blond guy stops his sword then Yamato will not touch him, but he chooses to continue then they'll both suffer.

Then... Make a choice!

This could also be seen as a threat, stop and I'll stop. Don't and we'll go together!

People didn't even have the time to scream in alarm as they realized what was happening as it took only an instance and it was over.

A figure blurred between the two boys. Everything appeared to this person in slow motion. First he kicked the dark haired kid lightly on the chest then grabbed the collar of the sandy haired brat and tugged it a little.

'That's why you shouldn't give swords to kids!' The man thought helplessly.

After saving the day he walked away. Even the cameras and the spectators couldn't catch a glimpse of his figure because of how fast he was. It was uncertain if the boys themselves knew what happened.

Everyone thought the two kids were surely going to kill themselves and people tried to stop it. But it was too late, no one can make in time.

Suddenly the boys were sent flying away from each other by an unseen force. Yamato crashed into the crowd, bringing a dozen people down with him. While the sandy haired kid was sent tumbling in the air, and down into the pool at the base of the fountain with a mighty splash.

Shandy clenched her fist slightly then finally sighed in relieve. She checked on Yamato briefly with a glance, and seeing that he is okay, she turned to the direction the mysterious expert had disappeared towards.

She suspects that among all the people present here she might be the only one that actually saw the expert's figure clearly!

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