ARISTOS ACHAION // Awesamdude X Reader

18

The sun glared over your head, causing the white sand under your sandals to sparkle like crystals. Above you, the crowd roared as you made your entrance, spear gripped tightly in your hand. You could feel your heart beating within the cage of your ribs, a steady reminder that everything could end here, now.

Hopefully in a burst of flame if you were lucky.

Across the arena, you watched as Prosperine made his grand entrance, shooting plumes of fire into the air. The people cheered at the flashy display, and glancing up, you caught the edge of a smile grace the caesar's face. It had never been a secret that Prosperine was one of his favorite champions - and it was all the more reason to take him from Vesapasian.

You just had to keep your wits about you.

His crowing and preening over, Prosperine's fiery eyes fixed onto you, a slow smile crawling across his face. "You know," He started, "Everyone was surprised when you killed Diana. A lot of people want you to kill me." He began to pace, kicking up little puffs of sand in a circle around you.

You turned as he paced, keeping your eyes focused on him and your spear in front of you. "A lot of people think that you're going to kill me."

Prosperine tilted his head. "And what do you think?" He sounded far too playful and assured of himself for someone who was in the colosseum ring. Though, given his track record, he probably had no doubt that he would win.

"I think that it would be a much more entertaining fight if you didn't just burn me alive like you do with all the others." You said, fake goading. This was possibly the most important part of the plan - if Prosperine declined, it all ended here.

Prosperine laughed and you braced yourself for the feeling of fire engulfing you.

It never came.

"I suppose I should at least give you a chance to put that fancy new spear to use." He said instead, hand grabbing at the machete had kept clipped to his belt. He tossed the weapon in the air, catching it with a flourish as it came back down. "Fine. I'll slit open your neck and then cauterize it closed so I can do it again."

At least you would have a chance to put your training to use.

Prosperine launched himself forward, breaking the circle he had been padding out around you, machete aimed to strike. Raising your spear, you blocked the hit, using the momentum from Prosperine launching himself at you to spin away, leveling your spear outwards so the sharpened head was pointed at Prosperine.

Above you, the crowd cheered. The fight had begun.

Prosperine lunged at you again, a grimace on his face now. You parried the hit with your spear again, twisting around. As long as you kept your eyes and your spear trained at Prosperine, you could pull this off. Sure, he was a multi-talented fighter (he wouldn't have been able to become a champion otherwise) but his flames were what made him particularly dangerous. As long as you kept out of the flames-

Prosperine attacked again, this time instead of throwing his entire body into the movement, he held back, instead throwing a few sings of his machete at you. You kept yourself moving, absorbing the hits and swinging back with the butt of your spear, hitting him in the shins as hard as you could. You flipped the weapon around in your hand (a handy trick you had learned from Sam) to try and get in another hit with the sharpened head only for Prosperine to catch your spear with his own blade.

"You're better than you were when you killed Diana." He said, searching your eyes with his own. "Who have you been training with?"

"No one." You gritted out. "Doesn't matter - you're going to kill me anyway."

Prosperine laughed, letting his machete slide away from your spear. You weren't expecting the movement and stumbled forward, only assisted when Prosperine wrapped a hand around your shoulder, shoving you into the sand. For a moment, the most you were worried about was getting back up.

The heat kicked in after a moment, Prosperine's hand burning through the tunic on your back.

You shouted, wrenching yourself out of his grip to save your skin. The ghost of his hand still blistered on your back, the skin wailing in agony as you struggled back to your feet. Prosperine just laughed, twirling his machete in hand as you shunted your spear forward, desperation provoking you to attack. You swung wide though, and Prosperine just stepped out of the way, still grinning.

"There's more to it than just flames." He said, swinging his machete at you again. "It would have been quicker if you'd have just let me burn you alive."

"We're supposed to give them a show, no?" You gritted out, swinging with your spear again. Prosperine had to block it this time, his machete catching under the head of the spear. He twirled away easily though, still smiling. You could feel your heartbeat in the burn on your shoulder, and the muscle strained as you lunged in for another hit, the head of your spear slicing across Prosperine's leg.

He flinched back from the hit, the grin on his face quickly turning into a grimace. Machete attacks came in a flurry now, twisting through the air with almost superhuman speed. It was all you could do to keep yourself on your feet, using the long handle of your weapon to catch the blows. You couldn't do anything to stop the momentum though, Prosperine pushing you backwards with each of his attacks.

You dig your heels into the sand, stopping yourself, breathing heavy.

Prosperine's eyes narrowed, and he bore down on you, putting his full weight onto the spear - the only thing stopping his blade from slicing right through you. You pushed back, and for a moment, you were locked in battle, the only thing stopping you from crashing into each other the way your weapons clashed in front of you.

Prosperine grinned.

You saw it coming a moment before it happened.

He stepped away, and you tumbled back into the sand, screaming when he put his hands - those awful blistering heated hands - back on you.