Abius stared at the water ahead of them, really not looking forward to their upcoming battle. They felt like they were being punished somewhat, as Abius had never done a battle in the water against another gladiator before. But there Abius was, about to fight Lord Tromos, the former House Master, now the Raptor and the person in charge of the Arenas overall.
Apparently this was somewhat normal though? Abius vaguely recalled that the Ancient Warlord used to challenge a house fighter every year round about now, as a bid to prove that the Raptor, whoever was in charge of the arenas, was a capable warrior themselves, but last year, because of the Sudden Darkness, a lot of that was cancelled. Now things were back to normal, old traditions had come back. And, for some reason, Tromos had decided to challenge Abius. But because Tromos was the Raptor, he also got to choose the location and type of battle. So he’d picked an underwater battle using pistols and spears. Abius’s main weaknesses. At least this fight meant neither combatant was wearing much armour. That would have slowed Abius down even more.
The crowds were cheering and rather excited. Anything featuring a Raptor was always a big spectacle. Already he was waving to the crowds as if he had already won.
The arena itself was odd. One very narrow glass pillar in the middle, that the two gladiators were standing on and nothing else, just a massive crystal cylinder, allowing everyone to look in. Combatants were allowed to surface for air, but once they stepped off the pillar, they were no longer allowed to stand back on it.
A bell rang, and, immediately, Tromos fired at Abius. Being a very large target, Abius knew they would have to relinquish the safety of the pillar, otherwise Tromos would just pepper them with bullets and drain their health meter. Abius fired a handful of shots, mostly at Tromos’s feet, in a bid to distract the Raptor, then dived into the water, circling the central pillar and using it as cover.
Annoyed by Abius’s attempt to flee, Tromos raced to the pillar’s edge and tried to fire into the water. Abius though knew they were pretty safe for the moment, the pistols weren’t of a particularly high calibre and were designed for chip damage, so the bullets would barely penetrate the water. The problem was, Abius would have to surface for air at some point, and then Tromos would be able to attack them more easily.
And Tromos was doing just that, waiting for Abius to submerge. Abius considered firing their pistol at Tromos but didn’t know if the bullets would make it or even reach their target. It was hard to tell in the water. Having a long snout meant Abius could very briefly surface for air, but as they did so, they felt a bullet scrape against their head plate. Sure, Abius got a fresh breath of oxygen and nitrogen, but not as much as they wanted.
Tromos approached the very edge of the pillar, wanting to get a better shot at Abius. Abius tried raising their hand from the water and blind-firing, but all this did was get their hand shot at. Instead, Abius briefly surfaced, dropped down into the water again then made their way to the far edge of the crystal cylinder. Tromos’s aim was still pretty good, and Abius was certain they were clipped a few times as they raised themselves out of the water, but it didn’t matter. Abius raised their spear and lobbed it at Tromos.
The force and speed of the spear was enough to unbalance Tromos, and a couple of pistol shots at Tromos’s feet sent him spiralling into the water.
Now they were both off the pillar, Abius was feeling a little more confident, but they were down on their health metre and had just lost their main weapon. Although the pistols were made so they could fire underwater, reloading them was tricky and the water meant that they basically did nothing.
On the plus side, Tromos was now restricted to his spear. And because Tromos wasn’t as physically strong as Abius was, he couldn’t really thrust the spear to do much damage to Abius. The problem now though was that Tromos was literally swimming in circles around Abius, trying to punch holes in what little armour Abius had. The spear did mostly bounce off Abius’s natural rounded plating, but a stab to the neck or stomach would mean big trouble.
Both Abius and Tromos surfaced for air at roughly the same time, giving Abius a quick chance to reposition and get closer to the glass pillar. They planned to use it as cover, and it did work somewhat well, but as Tromos resurfaced for air for a second time, Abius suddenly got an idea. They needed one, because, somewhere along the line, Abius had somehow lost their pistol too.
Tromos resumed his attacks, picking away at Abius’s health bar. But as Tromos attempted to thrust towards Abius’s stomach, rather than trying to dodge, Abius grabbed the spear and pulled it and Tromos towards them. Not wanting to relinquish his weapon and thinking that Abius was trying to take his spear from him, Tromos held on to the spear and let Abius drag him towards them.
That was exactly what Abius wanted. Abius quickly let go of the spear then wrapped their arms around Tromos. Tromos started clawing at Abius, desperately trying to escape, but it was too late. Using their sheer strength and some wrestling know-how, Abius immobilised Tromos between their massive legs, then made their way to the surface, holding Tromos below the water. Because of Abius’s size, they could hold their head above the water, while keeping Tromos below it.
While Tromos was definitely drawing blood with his claw attacks, it turned out to be futile. Tromos struggled greatly, but the struggling quickly slowed down as he slowly ran out of air. Abius hesitated, fighting their own protective instincts to not harm Tromos and let him breathe, but after thirty seconds, Tromos stopped moving completely and went limp.
There was a brief moment of Abius wondering whether Tromos was faking passing out, but that question was answered by Tromos suddenly disappearing out from Abius’s grip. The Raptor had lost the match and had been teleported out of the arena to the medical bays, where he’d be fixed up.
Abius didn’t really have time to celebrate. Exhausted from the match, they clambered back onto the crystal pillar then laid on top of it, breathing heavily.
“I hate water matches…” Abius muttered to themselves as the crowd erupted into a confused applause. “Why can I not just have normal matches…”