Relic-Verse: Champions of Hope

Chapter 25

-- Part 1 --

Alice's bare feet sunk slightly into the stand as she looked up at the empty stands of the Antlien King's Coliseum. She was dressed in her purple tank top, and had several pieces of light-weight armor strapped onto her arms, legs, and chest. Her hair was tied up into a bun to keep it out of her eyes, and she had two sheathed knives attached to her waist.

In the center of the arena stood Pigalous, his eyes sizing up Alice. On his back was a massive ax, situated firmly between his two wings. To Pigalous's right, was a comparatively small golden Antlien, who Alice vaguely remembered to be called Antomine.

"Alice, it is finally time to begin your training to become the next champion!" Pigalous snorted and slammed his fists together, causing a small burst of air that blew around some sand.

"That's cool and all, but what's with goldie over here? Didn't he lose?" Alice's head tilted as she gestured to Antomine, who proceeded to glare at her.

"Excuse me? I happen to be the one who actually made it to the championship, and would have won if you didn't fall out of the sky!" Antomine glared at Alice, causing her to growl and reach for her knives before Pigalous slammed his foot down and made them both freeze.

"Quit fighting like that! I brought Antomine here to train you, since he is more your size, and less likely to step on you and crack your ribs." The Battle God smiled as his tiny wings fluttered and lifted him into the air. "Now! Let's not waste any more time! We've already started much later than I originally planned, so we have to make up for it and train like there's no tomorrow! So instead of arguing, fight for real!"

Without missing a beat Antomine pulled out his red blade and lunged at Alice, prompting her to duck and narrowly roll out of the way before kicking her foot out and causing Antomine to faceplant into the sand. The Antlien coughed up some sand before tapping his pincers together and jumping away from Alice.

Alice quickly grabbed her knife and ran at Antomine, who swung his sword down with the hope of making her back off, only for the sound of metal clashing to fill the arena. Alice was currently beneath the sword, holding it back with her knife and smiling at Antomine, who simply clicked his pincers in irritation.

The two stood at a standstill for a moment, before Alice finally strained herself, pushing against Antomine's blade until he pushed back, which Alice took advantage of by rolling out of the way. His sword slammed harmlessly into the sand, and before he knew it, Alice had bonked him on the head with the handle of her knife.

Pigalous loud out a roaring laugh as Antomine groaned in defeat, sheathing his sword and stepping away from Alice, who was grinning madly with her victory.

"Guess I am better than a wanna-be champion, huh?"

"No you are not! I was going easy on you! I just didn't want to slaughter the apprentice of the Battle God!"

"I beat you fair and square."

"Only because I was holding back!"

"Sure you were, and I am a boy!"

"Wait are you-?"

"No!"

"Children, cut it out!" Pigalous landed into the sand, kicking up a small cloud that temporarily consumed the two fighters. "It was nothing more than training, no need to get worked up about it all! Now, that went by faster than I intended, so brush yourselves off and get back to it! You are fighting until you can't lift a blade!"

Alice and Antomine glared at each other before going in for round two. Before the duo knew it, hours had passed, countless wins and losses on both sides, more bickering about who was going easy on who, and the laughter of Pigalous filling the room.