The Campagna Adventures

Chapter 36-Maximum Bellum Suscipere (cont.)

Phil watched the current battle in earnest. Alexander and his opponent, Luxray boy, were battling with spears. He noticed several moves that he himself used with Asta Argento, but they were almost more basic in comparison. The Aura Guardian smiled, if he ended up against Alexander then he prayed he got lucky and ended up with a staff, pike, or spear. He had learned that this round would pit him against Hitmonchan boy, who's name was Bryan.

After a two more battles, all of the semifinalists had been chosen except for one. Roxana, Alexander, and Gallade man, who's name was Godric, had all moved on. Phil once again entered the sandy arena. It was starting to get dark now, but the area was well lit by Aura Lamps, which had a flaming Aura inside of something that resembled a gas lamp.

As he and Bryan entered the arena, two battle axes rose from the ground. They were dual bladed each about four inches or a decimeter long, with the bottom of each blade, or the part closest to the hand that held the weapon, was a decent distance from the shaft, possibly to hook onto items. At the of the shaft was a sharp point, which was about six inches, or one and a half decimeters long, and the shaft itself seemed to be of a sturdy oak and was about a meter or yard in length. The only armor was a pair of metal gauntlets.

Phil slipped the gauntlets on and began to twirl the axe. First spinning it with both hands in front of him before taking it with just his right to spin it around and behind him, where his left hand grabbed and brought it back out front. He then tossed it into the air, before catching it with both hands on the way down, stopping it from spinning and slamming the base of the shaft into the ground. The Aura Guardian was in his element.

"En Garde!" Chief Miles shouted.

Phil and Bryan faced each other, and assumed a combat position, holding the weapon at an angle and feet spread to maintain balance. Blazer and the Hitmonchan squared up as well.

"Pret!"

The battle had begun. Bryan took the first swing, clearly aiming his weapon at Phil's right shoulder in an overhead attack. However, Phil simply slipped to the left and out of harms way before using the point on his weapon the thrust into Bryan's side. His opponent cried out and jerked away. Phil paused, a major wound required the wounded to nod if he was able to continue, and to drop his shake his head if he wanted out.

Bryan grimaced, but nodded. The battle would continue. Bryan ran at Phil, though his wound slowed his movements. The Aura Guardian side-stepped out of the way before bringing his weapon in an overhead swing towards his opponent's torso. Bryan brought his axe up in a two handed block, one hand on either end of the weapon's shaft. The handle of Phil's weapon hit that of his opponent's, but, instead of pulling away, he kept the downward pressure on as he adjusted his stance quickly, and yanked backwards with his axe. The gap between the blade and hilt easily grabbing hold of Bryan's weapon and pulling it away.

Phil spun his weapon to send the other axe flying into the arena wall before pointing the point of his weapon at Bryan's heart. Both Aura Guardians looked over to check on their Pokemon, only to see Blazer blasting a staggering Hitmonchan with fire. Phil knew he could technically go help Blazer, but did not. Instead choosing to keep Bryan from interfering, as Blazer was winning anyway.

After a few more seconds the Hitmonchan collapsed, "Match four of round two goes to Phil Lewis and Blazer the Arcanine, who move on to the semifinals!"

Phil and Blazer returned to the waiting room, to rest a bit before their next round.

"Good match, Phil!" Alexander congratulated.

"Thanks, do you know the semifinal matches yet?"

"It will be me and Roxana in the first match and then you and Godric in the second. We do get a short rest as the audience takes an intermission. Of course, the Prandium et Vicit is after the final round. Where the champion of the tournament is congratulated on their victory, and all the warriors are celebrated for the entertaining battles. All the semifinalists usually eat quite a lot, as they have just burned through several hundred if not thousand calories battling and using their Aura. Not to mention the fact that the majority of them are growing teenage boys and young men."

Phil laughed, "I already feel as if I could eat a whole Miltank! I still have at least one more round to go, and it will be the toughest!"

They continued to chat, stretching every few minutes to stay limber. Finally, the first semifinal round was called, and Alexander and Roxana entered the arena, where they were given katana and matching Samurai armor. It was a close and long battle, but Alexander ultimately won. Phil noticed that despite being made with better metal than the ancient katana, they had still fought with traditional techniques, as if the modern katana were as brittle as their ancient counterparts. However, it was then his turn. He and Godric left the waiting room to enter the arena from their respective sides.

When they entered, the Gallade, being a bit of a showboat, blew a kiss towards the crowd, and, more specifically, Bellezza. Which caused George to scowl.

'Kick his a, I mean tail,' George said to Phil and Blazer.

'Will do,' they responded.

As the combatants approached each other, a strange weapon came out of the ground. It looked like a combination of Pyroar Claws, brass knuckles, and an eight-inch dagger. The claws were three inches long, but straight and sharp on both sides, unlike traditional Tiger Claws. Rings were attached in a way that mimicked brass knuckles, which would both add some force to punches and act as a hand guard if the claws were to lock against an opponent's blade. The daggers were attached so that they could be held in either a standard or reverse grip, depending on which was in which hand. There were actually four for each combatant, two with the dagger blade going off to the left, and two to the right.

Chief Miles began, "These are an experimental combination of a dagger, brass knuckles, and Pyroar Claws by a local blacksmith. He said that they were rather difficult make, but requested that they be used at some point in the tournament as a test of their effectiveness. With that said, En Garde!"

Phil quickly grabbed a set that would put both dagger blades in a reverse grip, Godric did the same.

"Pret!"

Godric made the first move, slashing with his right hands claws at Phil's chest. Using the dagger blade, Phil blocked with his left hand, and threw a straight punch with his right. Godric twirled out of the way, slicing his bicep with the claws on his way.

Phil grimaced, but nodded, the wound looked much worse than it actually was.  Godric tried to cross slash with both sets of claws.  However, Phil blocked by locking the claws together.  He then countered by kicking hard enough to send his opponent backwards several feet.

Before Godric could recover, Phil opened his palms to fire several Aura Spheres towards his foe.  An advantage granted by the odd weapon.  Although Godric blocked the first two, three more struck him, puahing him into the ground.

Godric was not a quitter though, he got up and charged.  Phil ducked under the slashes targeting his upper torso and punched into the gut and sliced up.

The Aura Guardian grimaced at the brutal wound.  Three healers teleported into the arena, grabbed Godric, and teleported out to the hospital.  Phil turned to see that the Gallade had surrendered before going to follow his trainer.

The Aura Guardian returned to the waiting room, to await the final match against the Master of Arms, Alexander.