As she stepped back, Axel grinned, nodded - he made a 'bring it on' gesture with one hand, before spreading them wide, making himself the most obvious target he could. After all, what could go wrong? His own affinity, or healing: either was a good enough option. Of course, he'd prefer this to work as planned, but what was he going to do?

The sheer scale of the rushing flames was definitely not as planned, though. He'd expected a spark, perhaps, something that wouldn't even kill off a Shadow. A quick pulse and that'd be it. What he'd got? That - that was on Fira scales, at the very least! It hit Axel hard, sinking into his core - and he smiled. Impressive, for someone whose affinity wasn't anything close.

Waving the smoke away, he asked - "Are you sure you've never done this before?"