'keep the lid tight', Sam repeated this as a mental mantra as he ate his breakfast. the raven was currently trying his best to keep his poker face on, doing a decent job of it, but he was just so excited for today he was going to fight Sarah his first real battle in the warfare league. smacking his cheek so he could focus on his meal tried to take his mind off the upcoming fight instead he thought on the almost fully bloomed rose which recently attained thorn free vines that clung to anyone who got close thankfully they had the power of a child.

"I have never seen his so distracted", core commented from the living room, her husband nodded in agreement along with her son's best friend and Tyrone who was on a video call. they were all tense unsure what was coming Sam was barely predictable when he was calm, now they felt like a bomb squad dealing with a live explosive.

"if I didn't think I made lose day I would try to get back for some of his pranks," tone looked at him like he was nuts for even suggesting that." you act as if he has never pranked you before" Sam hadn't which lead to Daniel grumbling about favoritism." so what do we just wait or what?"

"well I don't know about you but I have to get Sam dressed," leaving the living room Natale went up stair to grab the outfit he made. by the time he returned to the first-floor, Sam had finished eating sitting at the table mindless twirling a knife in his hands. Telling Sam to put down the knife Natale placed the outfit on the table in front of Sam, the teen blinked a bit as he focused in before grabbing the cloths taking the knife with him. a quick minute in the bathroom allowed Sam to return downstairs in a completely different outfit.

the first thing that drew attention was the jacket which at first glance seemed a simple shade of black but the second would show that it but it was several different shades that when hit with the right light reviled when the clock strikes 12 I do. next were the pants which were designed similarly there hidden text on the legs said pain incoming, the grey shirt under the jacket had no words but was designed like it was on fire. knowing his son didn't wear shoes much Natale didn't include them instead used dark toeless socks.

stepping before the front door Sam immediately began to move, throwing all kinds of punches and kicks to an invisible enemy. the others in the room couldn't completely see his fist and feet but from the smile on the raven's face they could tell he was pleased with the outfit." this is great it much better for a fight then all my other clothing, I can enchant this too!"

"wait what was wrong with the other clothes I made you," the oldest male asked. Sam stopped mid kick to tell him both, "these clothes are just a higher quality then the other more designed for fighting." Natale hummed taking up a thinking pose Cora just sighed shaking her head before asking if Sam had a plan for the fight, the bright and innocent smile he gave his mother the desire to pray for the young girl.

"smile of the devil" Tyrone commented before asking how were they going to watch the fight, Sam quickly explained it was airing on a channel or live stream in about twenty minutes. at that point, it seems Tyrone had reached his people limit for the day and need the call with a short wave.

"that's longer than usual" he continued answering Daniel's unasked question "he doesn't do people often so he had little stamina for them." by the time he had finished speaking Sam stretched his right legs as high as it went making a 150 angle.

Daniel didn't say anything after that turn the holo-t.v. to the league channel which was displaying a replay of an underwater fight. unimpressed Sam went about his warm-up moving over to energy after ten minutes, poking the cores one by one he pulls a bit of there power out then putting it back before it could affect his appearance or it could cause him pain. moving on to mental stretches which were just letting memories flow dark memories.

after putting the fark memories in there place Sam remembers that he had yet to load his weapons on him. a quick trip upstairs fixed that pretty easily,' still a bit of time'. deciding to fuck it Sam closed out letting his mind drift to some random things and thought Sam tried to avoid thinking.

before long the ring buzzed which was a new sensation," it time" Sam whispered before he was teleported out of the house. when he opened his eyes next he said one thing," haven't been to a swamp in a good while." his first move was to exit the water climbing a tree, from the top of said tree Sam was able to get a lay of the land. with his eyes closed Sam rose his smell hearing touch rise to there limits, he could smell natural gas, hear something moving in the water and he could feel-

dropping down Sam felt the chain fly over his head, vaguely he noted the chain wasn't making any noise. being down his sense to the point he could salty open his eyes Sam followed the chain to where his opponent might be "decernere pugnam iter" the dice appear in Sam's hand before he had to move again. he had to dodge the chain a couple more time before he got the chance to roll the dice.

"so it witch and knives today", flicking his wrist two different daggers appeared in small hands before crouch to avoid the chain that was starting to get on his nerves, quickly speaking the chant to send the dice home he began another as he headed to the score of the chains. twirling under the chain he flung on his knives at the source,' an autonomous weapon then" leaping above the chain Sam stabbed the knife into one of the links pinning it to the root of the tree. after making sure it would be coming after him for a while Sam climbed the tree first retrieving his knife then checking no the setup of the weapon just as he finished his chant.

a very worn backpack appeared on his back, picking a flower off the bag Sam reached inside, "tracking" pulling out serial small corked bottles Sam briefly opened them to sniff the contains before shaking his head. he kept going until he sniffed a bottle filled with dark purple dust, smiling he sprinkled some of the dust on the chain before recording the bottle tossing back in the bag and jumping from the tree.

the moment he feet left the tree a glow the same shade of the dust began to envelop the chain. when the chain was free and comply covered by the purple glow it moved not to attack Sam but off into the distance Sam on it tail, "attack" the contents of the bag changed with the command.

'where is he?' Sarah thought to herself self looking like she hadn't gotten a goods night's sleep. which was true since she learned how dangerous her opponent truly was so instead of sleeping she spent the time researching and preparing.' there is no way that train should have kept him this long unless he was playing with it' and according to the rumor that was very likely.

before she could worry more her chain came flying through the trees at her, 'in one action she grabbed the train and forced her mana through it gain control back, just in time to as 10 to 12 knives and dagger came flying at her from the same direction as her chain. rotating the 12-foot worth of titanium links she deflected the knives then pivoting one her foot she swung it the one that came from behind.

it wasn't the last one either, more and more knives came flying out of the woodwork, she lost count but she thinks the stopped after the 30-something blade. taking the chance to catch her breath she briefly wondered how he was carrying them all. she took steps back preparing to jump but after tacking two steps forward she felt a sharp pain in her left leg looking down he heart sunk seeing one of the blades she knocked down had inserted itself in her leg, "fuck" just as the wound started to bleed and the other blade rose off the ground.

as her arm moved to intercept two things happened, first her injured leg gave out on her strangely making her realized the blade was poisoned. second, the chain came to life pulling her out of the way but the blade gave chase,' your finally awake Cobra chain' ribbing the blade free she reached into her side bags pulling out two pills almost dropping them at a from a sharp turn and blade. popping them in her mouth she gagged at the bitter taste of them, 'thank god I prepared for poison'. the power of the pill worked instantly the strange color started to fade from the wound as the blood stopped flowing from it.

once she deemed her leg healed enough she gave the cobra chain a mental commanded ceasing her retreat and putting it into defense mode, as her feet touched the ground she swung the chain at the chains incoming blades. leave the chain to keep the weapons busy Sarah searched through her side bag, she needed to find the other fighter she had something for that even if it costed her a pretty credit. making a sound of triumphant she leaned out of the way of a spinning blade she pulled out a fist-sized compass.

holding the compare above her head after jumping over two zipping blades, she injected the device with mana making it release a plus over the swamp. she had to dodge three more times before the compare locked down on Sam's location bringing her free hand up *whistle* the chain instantly flew towards her wrapping around her waist and dragging her upwards.

point her body in the right direction she let the chain pull her while she got to work putting together a battle rune, the shot rune was a generating type which meant making something that in case of the shoot rune were 0.22LR-9mm bullets depending on the mana amount used. slapping the finished rune on the back of her hand she made a finger gun and *BANG* *CLANG* one of the knives chasing her fell from the sky.

*BANG* *CLANG*

*BANG* *CLANG*

*BANG* *CLANG*

*BANG* *CLANG*

shoot all the knife out the sky Sarah turned forward trying to see if she could see her opponent...' there he was... is he dancing' Sam wasn't dancing his feet were firmly planted on the ground. she didn't like the look of what he drew in the ground urging the chain to move faster with a burst of mana she prepared to shot.*BANG* the same moment she fired Sam spun out of the way facing Sarah with a smirk.

"you're just in time for the main event" Sam shouted leaning out of the path of another bullet before slamming both hands on the ground forcing a large amount of mana through them into the spell circle he had crafted which began to trembled not a moment later.' now to buy time for the spell to activate', Sam planed before flicking his wrist moving two more daggers to his hands.

throwing them at the chain wielding female Sam changed his legs with mana before leaping into the sky, throwing more knives he pulled out a vial filled with a bubbling grey lighting from his bag and flung it at her. as she Didi before for she shoots down the knives and daggers then made the mistake of shooting the vial opening it letting its content mix with the air.

"that reeks" she screamed as the unholy scent reached her nose, it seems wore the death and vomit it was making her eyes water and throat close up. "oh god I can taste it" she complained as the chain flew higher trying to escape the cloud not that it was letting her.

*slam* she hit the ceiling of the area hard,' fuck, I need to get out of this cloud before I hurl chunks" this time she had the chain head for the water knowing at least she wouldn't be able to smell anything underwater.

"smart', Sam commented as he saw the cloud of foul heading for the water the spell was almost ready so he took a seat on a tree branch waiting for the show to begin, "I'll admit that her will is strong most people lose their ability to think in that cloud.*SLPASH*

Sam made sure to keep a heightened ear out for her as he watched the spell circle tremble along with the muddy soil it was written in. the circle sunk into he soil leaving it bubbling letting the smell of rain forest fill the air, the soil settled for a moment the same moment the could of oil dispersed and Sarah burst from the water looking as pissed as a wet cat. she rushed at Sam chain at the ready but when she got close and saw the smirk on his face and she paused for just a second. that second was all it took for a massive hand to burst from the soil its shadow covering her comply, "FUCK!"