Moments after Ex found himself on the ground, he tried recalling what just happened.
After Kisuke fired off the six arrows, he deflected three of them and dodged the other three with ease. To his confusion, however, Kisuke's next attack was just a single arrow, and while wondering why that was, it suddenly exploded into a thousand smaller arrows that rained on him.
This sudden increase in arrows, although weaker than the first ones, caught Ex off guard. He was so ready to dodge and deflect the arrows that it took him a moment to decide to defend instead. This barely slowed him down, and he was still able to put up a barrier before the arrows arrived.
Little did he know, Kisuke's aim was not hitting him with numerous attacks but preoccupying his mind.
Because of the sudden switch, Ex was too late to realize that arrows were approaching him from behind. "Huh!?"
When he turned around, he was able to discern that the arrows behind him were the ones he dodged previously. "They can turn around?!"
This new revelation made him reconsider various possibilities, and he was barely able to deflect them with his crimson sword. But as soon as he slapped the last arrow away, something hit the back of his head, momentarily making him lose focus. "...Ah?"
The next second, another rain of arrows came from above, and this time, he was not able to do anything against it and could only endure it while being pelted to the ground.
The arrows were only strong enough to damage his clothes and scratch his skin, so he thought he would be able to recover. But then, something hit him again on the back of his head, which almost knocked his consciousness away due to how it shook his head.
Ex was stunned, not just because of the two hits, but also the fact that the last arrow that hit him was familiar. 'One of the arrows from the beginning!?'
This made him realize that there was still one arrow unaccounted for, so he prepared to be hit on the back of his head again by preemptively placing his sword on that particular vital point.
But when he thought he was safe, it hit him again. This time, it came from the front, meaning it originated from the ground, the complete opposite of the previous arrow, and smacked straight into his gut, causing him to breathe out uncontrollably.
The next thing he knew, an object traveling at incredible speed was already in front of his eyes, and he couldn't even utter a sound before it hit his forehead and momentarily knocked him out. '...A rock...? Seriously?!'
At that point, he was tumbling down from the sky while being pelted by the rain of light blue arrows until he crashed into the ground.
Hence, the end of his recollection and Kisuke appearing from the corner of his vision, peeking at his disheveled self. "I didn't think 'young ace-san' would fall for that."
Ex couldn't answer immediately. Compared to his sturdy body, Kisuke's attacks were honestly quite weak and didn't really do any damage to him, even in his current pathetic state. However, it was also because of those weak attacks that he didn't feel threatened and didn't immediately notice the arrows' unconventional approach.
Sure, he wasn't hurt, but if Kisuke hadn't been alone, he would be in real danger after his defenses and countermeasures were cleverly taken down. "...What was that?"
"That's my question. What was that?" Kisuke returned it to him. "Why are you trying to read the flow of the battle when you don't know about it at all? And why are you so dismissive of attacks a lot weaker than your natural defenses?"
"I'm no-" Ex tried defending himself, but Kisuke immediately interrupted him. "No, you are. If you didn't, those arrows wouldn't have left your amazing senses. The moment you decide they no longer can touch you, you ignore them to analyze the next volley. If you're going to ignore them, you might as well just come barreling toward me and not give me an opportunity to influence the battlefield. That would have been way more effective than you meticulously dealing with attacks coming after you while also clumsily disregarding them."
"Wha-..." Kisuke's barrage of words and criticism left Ex speechless, and it took him a short while to find something to refute. He hurriedly sat up and raised his voice. "Then how am I supposed to focus on analyzing your attacks if I don't disregard a few of them!? I can't possibly keep track of them when there's a lot going on!"
"You don't." Kisuke immediately gave an answer while also sitting down cross-legged in front of him. "Since you clearly couldn't handle it, stop doing two contradictory things at the same time when you don't know what you're doing."
"...C-contradictory?"
"I don't know what framework the United Armies are following, but you're trying to be a Power-type and Technique-type at the same time, correct?"
He didn't know when, and he didn't even realize it, but at some point, Ex was already sitting in a seiza position and assumed a student mindset. "...That's accurate."
"I don't know if you think that's cool or something, but because you don't excel in either of them, you're just tripping yourself."
Ex was about to refute this again, but Kisuke didn't give him a chance to even utter a sound this time. "You have more than enough power to be a Power-type, yes. Technique-wise, you're also good enough to be a Technique-type. However, although you can proudly say that you can, you didn't ask yourself if you should.
"What makes a person fall into a certain type isn't just what he or she can do, but also how they should become one. In other words, it's the mindset. You don't have that. Because you don't have a deeper understanding of either type, you just end up pulling yourself apart between them, not knowing which way to go in all situations."
The more he talked, the more Kisuke realized how distorted his fighting style was. 'He wanted to be strategic with all of his approach, but he's too impatient to perform well. And because of that, he ends up second-guessing himself, which ultimately weakens him.'
"...Who did you learn how to fight from?" Kisuke had already guessed it but wanted to hear it straight from his mouth.
"Yuuto ji-san and Vali ji-san." Ex answered with confidence.
But for Kisuke, he could see how he ended up like this and massaged the bridge of his nose. "...Let me guess, you're trying to copy Vali Lucifer?"
Ex, at that moment, became a bit embarrassed. While scratching his left cheek, he meekly asked, "Was it that obvious?"
Kisuke couldn't help but sigh in exasperation and muttered, "Of all people, you choose to copy that life-long chuunibyou?"
"...Sorry, what?"