Combatants in dialogue with setter inspired by extreme characters in sermon (9)

I believe the answer is:

swordsmen

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'combatants' is the definition.
(swordsman is a kind of combatant)

'dialogue with setter inspired by extreme characters in sermon' is the wordplay.
'dialogue with' becomes 'sword' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should believe this answer much more).
'setter' becomes 'me' (the setter of the clue).
'inspired by' means one lot of letters goes inside another (some letters breathed in or 'inspired' by others).
'extreme characters in' says to hollow out the word (remove centre letters) (letters at the extremes of the word).
'sermon' with its middle taken out is 'sn'.
'me' put into 'sn' is 'smen'.
'sword'+'smen'='SWORDSMEN'

'in' acts as a link.

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I've seen this clue in The Guardian.

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