The delicate balance of stillness broke. They acted at the same time, using the Force to anticipate each others moves. For the long moments before they stared into each others eyes and played out the battle in their minds. Darth Avayl’s apprentice was good, trained by himself. He knew every move that Quillorus could make. He knew how fast he was capable of moving, knew his thought process well. Personality profiling was his special gift. It came well in handy when training apprentices.
They both knew who acted first. But to everyone else they did at the same time. Quillorus moved in with a heavy strike from above, taking his left hand off of his saber and bringing his right back to his shoulder. His saber hand, the right, came down with a crash of sparks and yells that silenced the spirits drifting through the temple.
Darth Avayl countered with a parry from bellow and immediately came back with a quick change of direction that forced Quillorus to parry and step back.