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Saphen entered the arena stretching his arms out and making no motions to the crowd, not really his style. Fixing the black hat he loved so dearly he stood staring at the door inwhich his opponent would enter. With two wins under his belt he was happy to have made it this far in the tournament at all. The black cloak waved alittle but suddenly stopped even though the wind did not. The hilt of his sword could be seen sticking slightly out on his left side,his otherwise uniformed body remained still.

The metal gauntlets that covered his hands glinted in the sunlight for a moment before he moved them together holding his hands together and waiting with patience for his opponent to enter. While he waited he would concentrate on how his opponent fought and what tactics to use when he got here. Saphen was no stranger to most opponents in the tournament and had studied most of them avidly and Greed was no different. With a smile he went over basic tactics to advance ones even as the people seemed bored by his lack of charisma. His charm was in battle, not his ego though it would be a lie to say he did not have one for with out an ego there is no confidence...and that was not something he was lacking.

"Since you asked so kindly,"

The mans mythril chest plate made a small ruffling sound as Saphen raised his hand. Watching what seemed like nothing at all for a moment suddenly a thumping sound would be heard under greed. The sound was only for a second but it was an important sound. Normally the arena floor was a small layer of sand and under it stone. The stones under Greed's feet (in a circle of about 10 feet around him) were turned to sand. This hurt Greeds footing alittle since it would be similar to running on a desert's floor at this point but that wasnt entirely the problem. The Sand it self swirled above the ground around Greed's feet at a decent speed, around 100 mph or so (my apologies, I didnt have a speedometer during this particular battle.) To the normal Human this would tear skin off their body and be extremly painful but who honestly was normal in this tournament. The tornado of sand would cause a few problems for Greed as it increased in speed trying to rip the man to shreads. While the man was quite a weight over Saphen (195 vs 170) this weight would be a bigger problem while he tried to run through the sand swirling around him which in turn caused the sand under him to turn. The second problem would be if he didnt have some kind of defense ot protect his skin, eyes, or areas such as ears and mouth the damage from blistering sand storms can indeed be fatal.

"Might be a good time to start moving carbons around wouldnt it Greed?" A small laugh escaped him as Saphen's competative spirit grew within him.

("as if to tackle the man with his arms just below his arms." I am slightly confused by this but my guess is your trying to tackle me, with your arms just below mine. If this is wrong let me know.)

The smile was returned out of respect because pain endurance was something Saphen could admire or almost even adore in the sense of Saphen's humanity had it's limitations.

Watching his movements for a moment Saphen knew there would be a problem, he couldnt focus his sand storm in any one direction...Smart b*****d he thought to him self as he lowed the right hand from the air pointing it at the ground. The same thumping sound could be heard but this time infront of Saphen. As the man leaped he would be met by a huge slab of earth flying at his face. It was rectangular and for fun if one read closely on the stone you could find the words "Face goes here." etched on them. Leave it to a man like Saphen to train hours on end to make something so stupid appear so fast in an attack in a crucial moment. The stone was made under the first layer of sand and was about 3 feet thick and about 5 feet in length. It kind of stood up like a man rising from bed in the morning with one end staying on the ground while the other raised quickly to meet his well rounded opponent.

There would be no words of joke at this moment as Saphen stepped to the left of the stone at what he could gauge at the moment Greed launched him self into the air and unless the man could fly (he was hoping not) he wouldnt beable to do anything about Saphen's dodge. This was a simple move but Saphen couldnt risk anything on his opponents, he was only human after all. No amazing regeneration skills, no stunning protection grids or dragon scales would protect him. Saphen kept his attacks small to reserve his energy and more importantly he watched his opponent to adapt to his fighting style. Another thump could be heard this time under the area that Greed would meet the stone. Saphen was not taking any chances if this man was a flying wonder of scientific understanding.

Oh s**t!...well what else could Saphen say, he meant to counter attack him and instead got countered him self...clever b*****d indeed. The weapon hit Saphen but by natural reaction he put his metal arm gauntlets infront of the weapon but was still pushed into the rock with a pretty strong force. But instead of hitting the rock Saphen seemed to melt into it but this didnt make the damage entirely immune but just prevented his back and spine from slamming into the stone it self. Greed was right about one thing, he was an elemental and well this prooved it.

The grains of stone slowed his speed so he wouldnt fly directly out the otherside of the stone only to meet the other end of the weapon if it was indeed wrapping around the rock but he didnt have time to sit there and wonder now did he? Obviously this man would out due him in a physical endurance trial...though he hated to admit humanity was the cause. As soon as he was pushed into the stone it burst into sand as Saphen was pushed upwards out of the stone and into the air but this was a two fold attack. Losing the force to tighten it self in the soft sand it wouldnt have time to tighten around Saphen before...launch. With a quick thrust of his hand the pile of sand that had pushed him up into the air surged foward and in a great gust would either tear into Greed's skin once more or atleast with the amount of sand applied launch him in the same direction.

Greed would need eyes in the back of his head to see that Saphen was pushed into the stone and would have difficulty reacting to the assault by any normal means plus the speed of the attack didnt help Greed either. Saphen's body was not launched directly upwards though but instead at an angle about 10 feet away from Greed (your on one side of the stone and im flying away from the otherside.) Landing on the ground Saphen took a deep breath letting the adreanaline flow to block out the pain but didnt blink as he drew his rapier from it's scabbard. This was going to take a clever plan to defeat such a master of the physical...and inhuman arts.

Saphen watched the sand pass the man and the little harm it did if any. One of Saphen's more useful qualities is his ability to not get overwhelmed by a complete defense of an assault. Quite differently it made him want to "crack the code," of the battle with a much greater power. This man's obviously had his ability as a last result defense so Saphen had to work on otherways to beat him and having watched this skill before.

Thump!

The sound was louder this time and Greeds feet would feel the sinking sand once more. Saphen now created a twenty feet radius of sand around his opponent but this time it was also twenty feet deep. As the sand began to swirl around him Greed would soon realize that the sand was not made to damage him but instead the pushing forces were made to keep him centered. From the center point of the attack or right under Greed's feet the sand gripping his body and binding tightly to his ankles and feet pulling him down into the trap below. The sand would flow towards the center point pulling him down so any attempts to trudge through would proove difficult as the ocean of earth would engulf him pushing him back towards that center point and pulling him down slowly. In only a few seconds of the attack the circle around him looked like a valley meaning that he would not only have to trudge through, it would seem like trying to climb up a moutain with an avalance falling upon him. The deeper he became, the more sand binded to his body, the quicker he was pulled down. Saphen did not need to kill Greed, he could ring him out by the rules that one person can not burrow more than ten feet under ground. In summary it was a sand trap much similar to a desert spider's made to pull its pray down into the depths with little hope of finding a way to climb out and suffocate them but in this case he merely needed a ring out.

Saphen was breathing alittle heavily at this point, why make the radius of the attack so big? It was because of his weapon which he had no doubt could proove useful in most situations being of the whip variety which is also the main reason Saphen had drawn his sword but Saphen's stare looked almost blank and lost. Assuming that though the man was only using a few bone sections to make his whip (that is the spinal cord and part of his shoulder blade) Saphen could not imagine it being larger than twenty feet even if he used more bones that would be less support in his body to pull him self out. Concentrating on all of his opponent's movements and preparing to move the sand accordingly Saphen only had a few counters that could be instinctively used but was praying none of them needed to be.

(Sorry if this is in any ways confusing I am often long winded, Pm with any problems.)

Saphen was keeping a close gaze on his opponent for one primary reason, to beable to counter a motion to leave the pit and while Greeds methods would seem extrodinary in the physical sense, had some flaws in the strategic sense. The primary flaw was that Greed had to jump in one direction in order to reach his choosen destination, the time from the air to the ground would give Saphen time to counter this. Once Greed jumped the sand stopped moving from its center motion immediately. This removed a strain from Saphen's body and he could breathe with ease but it would soon be reapplied so he wasnt planning on enjoying this relief for very long. The problem with air motion is unless the man can fly he can not control his movements, this might proove fatal to Greed. A large sum of sand raised up from the point where Greed hoped to land while he was almost a few feet into his jump. The flowing sand would meet him around the half way point. First it would push against Greed consuming his body to make movement difficult while the bulk of the attack continued to push against his motion, feeding it self from the sand trap it self to keep the power to stop Greed's weight from its foward movement which while amazing was still made difficult by having to jump from sand as his initial grounding. It wasnt a straight back push though and I will use an example to paint a better picture.

The sand was like a snake launching out of the ground. The head gripped Greed the sand quickly surrounding his body and binding strong enough to hold him but if hit would yield slightly and refill it self. This pushed him in a foward but downward motion. In one small arc the snake would aim it's head at the center of the pit with Greed firmly in mouth as some sand passed him but the bulk remained with crushing force,with nothing he could due in the air. If he managed to break some of the sand more would replace it like trying to stop a wave of water by punching it. The sickle would proove little use since its range could not reach the outer circle of sand and with the sand pushing into Greed's body with great force, would have little ability to swing anyways. If all worked out well Greed would hit the center of the pit being crushed by the sand monster and the sucking down flow of sand would continue as soon as he touched the sand but this time he would be on his back. He could not use his knees to launch him self this time and the sand would already be binding 90% of his body from the snake crushing down upon him only to become apart of the sand pit it self. Saphen's blank stare remained once more as like a conductor of an orchestra kept a watchful eye on all sections of his performance. Waiting to see if Greed could do something in the air while the sand pushed him down he would be ready for what ever greed had left.

The very instance Greed's body hit the center of his trap he would once again begin to be pulled down to the depths below and ringed out though Saphen would release him as soon as he was declared victor, he was not much for killing with out reason. The snake like attack did not take an amazing amount of energy since it was merely a sweeping motion of the element it still put some strain on him. The hardest part was keeping the sand pit in motion to pull him down but Saphen had the energy to do so, but he couldnt play that game all day and if this was going to work it had to now.

(Interupt while your in the air so the rest of the post does not occur)

Greed's attack was indeed clever and on any other surface would have prooven to be a great deal of a problem but his blood spilled on sand, and that was the general issue. Weaving earth was a unique ability because when ever one could control an element they had a certain connection with it. An earth elemental in a sense can communicate with the element as his abilities are a connection with nature and not so much of a master and slave relationship.

The needles lifting would send vibrations through the sand and Saphen felt it but not enough to make Saphen suspect anything. The cape he wore was not for show and if one had watched at the begining of the match would notice the strangeness of the cape stoping movement even if the wind did not. Lucky for Saphen Greed had aimed at his back , the first needle would bounce off the mythril cape and the vibration would alert Saphen immediately that there was an attack from behind and his own attack was halted.

If Saphen was not an earth elemental the cape would normally be very heavy and not wave at all but through years of training the cape was controlled by Saphen subconciously and the waving of the cape was merely to keep the illusion that it was simply an ordinary fabric. Saphen's cape wrapped around his entire body creating a cylinder of metal (kinda looked like he was locked in a soda can if you asked me, it was even under his feet!) which happened when Saphen was assaulted but had no idea what was going on, kinda like a last ditch defense. Though the black metal cape was around him Saphen was not blind. His elemental sight he could stare right through metal or earth and looked behind him to see what was happening.

"The blood, the b*****d!" the thought pushed through his mind as he saw the needles assault the cape but did little to harm him. If it wasnt for the first hitting his back he may have been killed. It was also lucky that he wore a mythril chest plate which added extra defense to his vital organs but this isnt important right now, what would Saphen do now that his trap had failed? Change the point of attack.

Greed had launched him self straight in the air and Saphen was protected from the needles for now but couldnt run in this state. Staring back at his opponent through his defense he smiled, the strain of the trap was removed and he was fairly relaxed now but what could he do here? Greed had reached the high point of his jump and would begin to descend straight down.

The sand beneath Greed quickly parted making a hole beneath his landing point. Saphen would move the sand as rapidly as he could move it to create what would kinda seem like a water well. A cylinder hole that would be about 15 feet diameter and about 15 feet deep. Saphen only needed Greed to touch below 10 feet to win so he couldnt waste energy making the hole any deeper or any wider.

The man couldnt reach the outer walls of sand since the hole was almost double his size, and even if he could grab it the sand would slip from his fingers, it was being held by Saphen's will and was not condensed enough to be gripped, his weapon could not find a grounding either in this situation. Watching Greed's movement Saphen couldnt imagine he could fly and being in the center of his sand pit once more from his previous attack Greed couldnt make another attempt at the edges before he fell into the hole for a ring out. Putting his hands and feet on the sides of the walls wouldnt slow his speed down enough to save him from the ring out and he couldnt reach both sides with all four points anyways.

"What strength..." he whispered as he watched his now glowing opponent descend towards the hole below him. Saphen couldnt move in this state, holding the sand in that position required some effort though not so much of a strain but a concentration to keep every grain of sand from pouring into the hole filling it and defeating the point of doing it at all but Saphen was confident that Greed had no way to attack him atleast in this position.

(As you said your needles would be stopped by bone and so Mythril they would merely bounce off, a much stronger material. The diagrams were awsome XD and the attack was clever. I just got lucky you aimed for my back.)