The explosion does damage Daxius himself, but hes more resiliant than roy so he can be blasted a few times before killing himself, depending onnthe soze of the blast, and yeah his sword starts to glow red, its not a slow charge but its not instantaneous either, theres a second or two to react.

Okay the wind blade thing doesnt sound to bad now, I'll have to be creative with my defense though.

Also, I have a super spontaneous suggestion, but ive just gotten word back about a 2v2 I was proposing before...