Epsilon brought Coercion back before him as Xaul flew screaming to the earth below. Still cackling madly, Xaul seemed to regain a bit of his previous demeanor as he said, "I don't have to touch you, shiny face. I just have to distract you from what's behind you." Epsilon could sense nothing in that direction, though he gave up a fraction of a second to make another mental sweep of that area. He returned his attention to his insane opponent.

Xaul sheathed the spiked katar as Resheph pulsed wildly and continuously beneath the man's skin. The litany of madness and bloodlust pouring through Xaul's mind forced Epsilon a mental step back, to avoid being overrun by the god's mental presence himself. Raising another psionic blockade to shield himself, he noticed that the obscure pain in his muscles ceased as soon as the katar was covered again. So the pain is caused by that weapon. he noted, It is a formidable effect, if it increases with time. He must be plotting something if he's stopped using it after such a short time. Then Xaul charged forward again, but the angle was entirely wrong for an attack.

And it wasn't one. With his awful grin still stretching his features, Xaul leaped up and rebounded off the middle of Epsilon's perch, using it only as a foothold to gain access to another column nearby. For a moment, the pair considered each other in total stillness, broken when Xaul began entertaining Epsilon's vivisection out loud. The Esper's jaw clenched tightly, as the words brought back memories of his years in the Gemyndi labs. The scientists there had been just as keenly interested in the insides of Espers, and were not choosy if the Espers found out at the same time.

The flicker of a throwing knife proceeded Xaul as the man launched himself from the pillar. Epsilon delivered a quick mental slap that knocked the knife away, but the man that followed it, limp as a ragdoll, would not be dealt with so easily. Epsilon called his power, concentrating it in fractions of second as he had been trained. Blue-silver energy flared along his arms, condensing into a second skin of pure energy that was a solid as steel. As the katars slashed inwards, the found themselves sliding off the Esper's armored arms in a spray of blue sparks. Xaul kicked backwards off the pillar, his attack thwarted.

"Whether that is your goal or not, you will not touch me. My power is my armor and my shield." Epsilon stated, staring madness in the eyes. "But it is also my sword, and I could not ask for a keener blade." The Esper drew his power forth again, and his left hand plucked a trio of throwing knives from mid-air. As Xaul fell back from the pillar, Epsilon flicked the knives one after the other towards the man. Fully expecting the knives to be deflected or dodged, the Esper used the time to draw on a different power. This time, energy flowed not out of him, but in. As Epsilon pulled power from the air, the temperature around him began to drop. Frost gathered in the air before his left hand, minute ice crystals swirling in a tempest around the Esper's closed fist. Epsilon took a step forward to the edge of the pillar and thrust his hand out toward Xaul. His hand snapped open and released a blast of frigid energy that roared at the man with a sound like wind across the wasted tundra.