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He stepped into the arena fixing his hat and returning it to his head. His cloak waved defiantely behind him as if begging him to return to the saftey of home. His sword sat quietly on his side as his armored chest plate while strong did not impair his swiftness too much. Saphen stared at his opponent and gave a respectful bow. "It will be an honor to face you in combat," he spoke loud enough for the man to hear but not anywhere close to yelling.

Saphen nodded and figured that he would begin considering the more defensive approach by merely getting into a fighting stance. His hands held foward Saphen concentrated for a minute staring at his opponent. Under the top lair of sand the second layer condensed into solid stone. Two slabs on his opponent's left and right side would stand up in a clapping motion in an attempt to crush his opponent between them. The attack had two advantages, surprise as well as range. If the attack should fail which honestly Saphen had no doubt with this tournament's calibur of fighters he was well out of range and prepared to counter the assault that his opponent may invoke. Saphen kept his hands held out for a moment before going into a Jeet kun do stance. Similar to a boxer in a few senses but his feet remained equal weight and light , his right side which was also his stronger side was put infront instead of the traditional jabbing hand. Saphen's eyes stared intently as the stone slabs would immerge from the sands to hopefully crush his opponent but at the same time would be dissapointed if a fight should end so fast. While he tried to remain an honorably fighter he learned the hard way in life that honor was far from most battle fields and no mercy would be shown in kind.

Saphen stared at the ball as it began to spin, assuming an attack was coming he had to act quickly. The sand being pulled to the ball gave the belief that the ball was going to be the center of the attack and so it was as it came flying at him. Quickly he held his hand high concentrating as the sand infront of him began to lift and flow at his opponent. This tsunami of sand grew in size almost a 100 feet tall and about the same width. As the ball came near his wave thousands of stone spikes would randomly launch from different parts of the sand it self. Several advantages were again held with this attack. Saphen was now not able to be seen by his opponent and so he moved swiftly to get out of his original position running to his right but remaning in the cover of his attack. The spikes being launched were aimed at his opponent and at his attack and the sheer number of them would grant him atleast some time if not success in defending him self or even a blow to his opponent. If the spikes should be passed the man still had the wave of sand to worry about but Saphen put this aside as he prepared for his next attack. Staring at the back of his growing attack while still keeping a decent jog as to remain agile if the ball should pass his strike. Saphen concentrated, he might seem like he was mumbling but all in all he wasnt saying anything.

Saphen nodded with a smile understanding atleast some of this man's key abilities and noted them for now. Listening to the ground he could sense something moving under the ground his eyes stared as the sand suddenly appeared to be clear to him. He could see the stone slabs deep under the ground and the orb that had buried it self. He continued to run along the edge of the wall keeping an eye on the ball as he prepared his next attack. Now the same sand that had flown at him quickly began to grow the opposite way sucking away his opponent's footing and litterally removing the ground beneath him. The large wave of sand was pulling away the floor of the arena it self. If his opponent could not fly or could not find a way to grip and stay above level he would be ring out by falling too deep below the arena rule's standard level. Saphen suddenly darted towards his wave and jumped into it being lifted into his attack for protection as he appeared now ontop of the wave unmoving even as the wave continued to flow in a tsunami type motion. In only a matter of seconds would a huge area of his opponent's ground area be missing but Saphen did not consider this to be a stroke of victory as he continued to hold his hands out chanting it seemed and prepared for the counter attack. "Quite an amazing fighter you are my friend, I enjoy this day and mark it as one of my better fights in the long seasons that come and go! While I do hope this is a victory for me I hope at the same time that it is not a defeat for you but a good match none the less," Screaming over the sounds of roaring sands he smiled saying words of honor and respect as his persona often continued to do even in the most dire moments.

Saphen smiled as his attack was countered but he was already prepared to turn his attack into an even larger scale one. He jumped off of the sand wave and gripped the wall his body naturally held against the stone which was his element of choice with out needing an actual hold, screaming loudly as he prepared for his largest assault of the match. The wave of sand as well as the half of the arena his opponent stood on glowed. The stone walls and stone floor underneatht he sand began to glow and turn into solid steel. The wave grew insize as it wasnt adding more sand but more sand was being created by Saphen him self as the wall of sand reached 300 feet in height and was the width of the arena it self. The wall of sand suddenly froze for a moment as if challenging any other structures in the area and with out warning turned into a solid steel wall arched at the top where it hit over 300 feet. The wall it self as well as the arena now turned metal became magentized and the wall not being held by the earth like the arena was launched towards his opponent attracted to his side of the arena like a lover in heat. The metal wall was now about 20 feet thick and could not simply be broken through by bullets and heat attacks would take time to melt through the now solid steel. Since the wall reached 300 feet in height and flew straight at his opponent his opponent couldnt fly over it and scraping against each side of the arena and with Saphen's concentration remained snug it could not be dodged around it. If he tried to dig under it he would lose due to ring out as he was already only slightly above ring out level. A gravitation field would not be strong enough to force the massive wall away due to the nature of the magentism occuring at such a large scale. Saphen was tired from this massive attack but continued to hold it stead fast as the wall now rushed towards his opponent as speeds only further increased by the massive magnetic pull. "Hope," was all he muttered to him self as he continued to form his wall keeping it strong and preventing it from being morphed into other substances as he kept his hold on the ability well at hand. Explosions might dent the wall but the magnetic pull would keep it in the same direction as Saphen only increased the magentic attraction as it continued to surge foward. It was almost impossible to dodge this attack considering how the position of the opponents went, and with no teleportation allowed in this tournament, Saphen would be shocked if this was dodged. As soon as the metal would strike it would immediately press against every inch of the arena side so if he tried to dig through it, the metal would merely push against it to crush him once more.

Saphen eyes lit up once more staring through the metal at his opponent. Realizing that he was trying to make a reverse magnet Saphen had to do something before his wall could be countered. This would not be an easy task but Saphen did realize one thing he could do. As the wall lunged after his opponent still he looked at the situation. He was trying to make a reverse magnet for something that was magnetic. So Saphen did the easiest thing he could think of. Changed the metal to a non magnetic one. The large steel wall now changed into a stainless steel one. While stainless steel was still a ferrous metal it was not magnetic like ordinary steel but still fairly powerful. Now the giant lumbering piece of metal already has its momentum and would most likely crush his opponent even if the man was ten times stronger than the average man. Gravity would act on its own and with how close the wall was now to his opponent since he was waiting to attack it he would have little time to use any gravity changes to force the metal elsewhere. Saphen was gaining some strength back since stainless steel was only slightly different than steel and the transformation was alot easier. Staring intently at his opponent he decided to not waste time in seeing if his attack would be countered. The back wall behing him was still metal and would work nicely. As the lumbering wall came close to his opponent he screamed once more pulling some metal off the wall behing him and launching the bladed, now stainless steel piece at his opponents waist. If he could knock the wall away the odds of him hearing a sleek piece of metal flying at him with the counter sound of the lumbering wall scraping against the arena would be slim. Even with gravity, with out the reverse magnet it was too large of a mass to be moved so quickly even if he could conjure the power he did not have the time and time was crucial. Hopefully slim enough to win the match for Saphen as he was growing tired of the logic of gravity for one day.

In one of the random seat stands, Sage Tykil played with the viewing computer stopping on the fight of Saphen and Hakkai Baxter. "Hmm... well this should keep my mind off Kerri for a moment."

Sage watched the contestants moves with a smile. "Hakkai will win this... no question."

Sage moved on to the next fight.