The one on one combat match began. It was then that Cipherus realized his immeduate disadvantage.
Mr. Seth knew exactly what enhacements Cipherus was to use. Cipherus, on the other hand, had never seen Mr. Seth's enhancements before and was not sure what to expect.
The two had traveled to an abandoned swampy area to use as an arena. Mr. Seth had chosen the location, and Cipherus suspected it was for good reason.
The two started at opposite sides of the swamp and were supposed to, using their surroundings to their advantage, immobilize the other person.
Cipherus stayed alert, knowing that Mr. Seth could jump out of nowhere at any time. He began to pay attention to the swamp around him and pondered what he should do.
Once again, he believed he hadb to formulate a plan in this situation. Outside of training, Mr. Seth had beaten into his head that intellect would always overpower raw strength.
Cipherus thought. He had the abilities to secrete poision from his dagger and the ability to hide himself easily.
He thought some more about was possible enchancements Mr. Seth could use. They most likely would benefit from the swampy region he had taken them to.
The swampy region was full of wet mud and dispersed aqueous regions. Scattered around were also short trees with dark green leaves and reeds.
Occasionally, Cipherus would notice animals prowling the swamp. He had seen a singluar alligator, a couple snakes, and numerous frogs and toads.
Cipherus then happened to notice something out of the ordinary. In the middle of one of the larger rivers, which was actually a fairly timid river, was a small island. If he could manage to get there safely, he believed he had a plan.
He considered the few options he had. First off, there could be animals in the water that he didn't see.
For example, poisionous snakes would be able to bite him easily in the water. Considering his skill set, that would be a fairly ironic way to go down. He wondered if he could even be affected by poision, however, he didn't want to find out.
He then remembered that surrounding him was a series of small trees. The trees were not all that big, however, they would certainly float in water.
He needed a way to chop down the trees, but after thinking about it, the answer became obvious. He took out his two training daggers, made a few slashes, and down they went.
He lined up one tree on the water and realized he would need to see whether it alone would hold his weight. For the amount of branches that came off such small trees, he believed it would do the trick.
He jumped on the tree, and after awkwardly wobbling back in forth like a fishing bobber, he was able to stand up. It seemed that a single tree could hold his weight.
He needed to get one more tree to use as a second bridge, for the first tree only was able to cross a little more than halfway. However, a singular tree would not support the weight of both Cipherus and another tree.
He then remembered the reeds he had seen earlier, and decided that he could use them. He plopped the second tree down next to first, picked some reeds, sat on both trees and tied them together. He was then easily able to balance on both trees and could use a large stick as a paddle, no secondary bridge was necessary.
He paddled the ten or so feet to the island, and believed his plan was going nicely. He then cut the raft with his dagger in a way that made it still look stable, but also wouldn't support a normal human's body weight.
He pushed it as hard as he could and watched it drive back to the original swampy shore.
Finally, he hid himself and began to wait patiently for Mr. Seth to make an appearence.
Several minutes later, which seemed like several hours to Cipherus, he heard a noise in the bushes on the west side of the river. And there he was, Mr. Seth was standing there.
Cipherus was confused because in order to get to the other side, Mr. Seth would have had to make some sort of raft however he had never seen such a thing.
Just as he began to doubt his plan of Mr. Seth attempting to get on his raft and ride across, then falling into the water, he watched as Mr. Seth jumped right on in.
He was shocked. However, this if anything was the best possible scenerio.
It was at that moment that Cipherus realized Mr. Seth's true enhancement. Along with his dual swords, he was able to cut and manipulate water.
However, the water was no longer just water. Mr. Seth had fallen into Cipherus' trap. As he went to manipulate the sludgy water, it was no longer just water.
For the past several minutes Cipherus had been secreting poision from his daggers into the river. He knew that his poision would not yet be enough to kill a human, thankfully, however, it would sure be enough to win the competition.
Mr. Seth had to he done for.
Cipherus watched as Mr. Seth jumped in, and it had almost been like slow motion. And Mr. Seth must have realized the slightly purple tint to the river water seconds before, and he cursed just before he landed.
Only a few seconds later, he came up out of the water, gasping for air. He managed his way back to the land and slowly he screamed:
"Congratulations Cipherus! You have won this time!"