The more Xavier attempted to understand the ability he was facing the more dead ends and confusion he would find. The one thing which he knew for sure was that there was some sort of invisible shield at work, one which defended the woman seemingly of its own accord. Though if battle had taught him anything of shields, it was that each one had a breaking point. It only needed to be found. Throwing aside his attempts to understand it entirely, he set about focusing on one step at a time such as the distance his energy bolt had reached before it was swept aside; diverted but not destroyed. 

As the Dreadful Lightning bolt was swept aside a path of the Dread Energy in the air created a path for it to travel along as well as allowing it to feed upon the energy it touched. This would cause an overall slim reduction in the energy present within the air but grant the bolt more power as it redirected back to Xaviers palm which remained outstretched. The initial plan was to send a volley of electric strikes towards the woman which would hold a nasty series of surprises for her upon meeting her shield, though a sudden spike in energy from the Dread Energy molecules within the womans shield brought about a sudden change in plans. While the energy change was small it seemed that the woman was readying to return the shock he had sent her way. Perhaps this could benefit him in the long run. 

Preparations for a defense were made instantly, the energy replaced to his body by the stray bolt was instantly transferred to the Dread Metal creation process, creating a space of air directly infront of his hand that was thickly laces with Dread Energy. Blood spewed in ribbons from the pores on his hand and in the fraction of a second shifted to create a metallic shaft 4ft long and 12in in circumference which remained connected to the palm of his right hand. During its creation a thinner shaft began to manifest within his chest, piercing through the air and Xavier palm so as to make contact with the larger shaft while also connecting to the surface of the crystal energy orb planted behind his sternum; planning on essentially siphoning power from the impending lightning bolt. 

Just as his preparations were completed the woman released her electricity, a weak energy spike at first up to the point it reached the womans unseen shield. In that moment Xavier could not keep his eyes from widening as a single word slipped from his lips. "Shit.." There was no time to change tactics or move as the now horrendous bolt of energy hurdled towards him, arcing last second to the tip of the shaft jutting from Xaviers palm. All at once it seemed as though thousands upon thousands of electrified needles pierced his skin while every vein within his body suddenly burned a bright, deep red as the majority of the electricity was channeled into his life support, converting it instantaneously to Dread Energy and super charging Xaviers body. Blisters could be seen in splotches up and down Xaviers right arm from which their oozed Dread Metal which covered each of them before hardening. All of it ended leaving strands of Xaviers hair hanging loosely in the air, smoke coming from his shoulders and the pungent odor of burnt hair and skin filling the clock tower. 

Through all of this Xavier had shut his eyes and his teeth had been visibly clenched together, his lips curled back so as to expose his uncharacteristically white teeth. Though now, body aglow, his lips curled ever so slightly to that of a bare smirk just before his eyes burst open to reveal that they too possessed the same reddish glow. "Well that was pleasant." Though he attempted to hide it there was an underlying tone which could hint at the fact that the majority of his body was in a considerable amount of pain, but of course he was not about to let this stop him. 

All at once the glow of his eyes and body began to ebb away while the now partially melted Dread Metal shaft began to heavily radiate the Dread Energy that it was comprised of as Xavier poured every ounce of energy he had just absorbed into it. What Xavier counted on next would be the womans confidence regarding the ability of her defenses, he knew that a successful hit would be as guaranteed as the other attempts however all he would require here was initial contact with the strange shield. 

In one instant the muscles along the right side of Xaviers body could be seen tensing visibly which seemed to cause the metallic shaft to suddenly become riddled with hundreds of thick spikes before it suddenly lurched away from his hand, dropping until it was just barely above the floor to float upright infront of him. With a flick of his wrist Xavier set the spiked shaft into a vicious stand still counter clockwise spin and with a simple motion of his right index finger towards the woman a vast number of needles upon its surface jumped into action. The first 3 inches of the 4ft shaft suddenly began to spin much faster than the rest as well as shift in rotation before roughly 15 spikes were thrown from its surface and toward Sophia, each one leaving behind a thin trail of potent Dread Energy in its wake as it shot towards the center of Sophias chest or back.*[hider=Note]I couldn't tell if she had turned around or not.[/hider] 

The following would happen upon a command from Xavier at multiple given moments. While the entire group of 15 spikes would travel together for the majority of their rather short trip, only 5(Group A) of them were intended to make a direct attack towards Sophia. The other 10 would split into 2 simliar groups of 5, one of which would angle down to the left(Group B) while the other angled to the right(Group C) at the last possible second so as to surround her as much as possible while doing their best to avoid the distance her shield seemed able to reach. Xavier would allow for Group A to be caught in the shield and at the very moment that they did each one would explode with a significant Dread Energy based explosion equal in force to that of a hand grenade. This would serve to lace the air with a very heavy amount of Dread Energy as well as the obvious concussive force the blasts would create, the lacing of the air itself was the overall goal. Groups B and C would do much the same just a fraction of a second after each one made contact, be it with the ground or Sophias shield, an attempt to wound her with the explosions yes but this would simply be the most obvious of uses. There was a greater plan at play as of now.