Exterminus looked at the shoddily made mana creations around Kairos and smiled.

He knew nothing of the Mirror Field and its intricacies but that doesn’t mean he will brainlessly step into the same trap again.

Like how Kairos replicated his Arrow Tempest before, the clones only have a fraction of the original’s strength. Because the human body is infinitely more complicated than an arrow, the mana creations that Kairos made only have its form but sorely lacked functions. His replications are similar to pouring mana into a mould while Exterminus’ version is like an artist that had slowly carved out every muscle, nerve, and vein and pieced them together.

Even though Kairos summoned almost ten times more clones that each are made from more mana than his, Exterminus is unafraid of such poorly made puppets that looks like they are ready to explode anytime.

On the other hand, he is once again surprised by how much mana Kairos could draw.

The amount depends on the affinity of the mage.

The misshapen facial features and slightly deformed human figures aside, just looking how realistic the mana creations looks he can tell they are all densely packed with mana.

“Just like mana poured into a mould. Those contorted eyes and twisted lips. I feel sad for these puppets of yours,” Exterminus said.

At this time, Kairos is still looking at Relestia. Having heard the archer’s words, he blinked a few times as the golden glow faded from his eyes.

What he said to the devil and everything that had happened a moment ago was completely forgotten.

Kairos did not know that the world had been frozen just a while ago and what stopped wasn’t just Axis but time on the whole had come to a pause.

The clones of the archers smirked at the terribly made creations and one of them spat out, “Ugly.”

Kairos felt a little embarrassed. The Mirror Field only copies the energy pathways and activation sequence, but the one who draws the spell circles is himself.

With his wonderfully average talent… It is similar to giving a brush to a random passer-by and asking for a drawn portrait.

It can’t be helped that some faces will be drawn out of the normal acceptance level.

But… He tried his best.

Subconsciously he almost muttered a ‘sorry’. Kairos only stopped himself because he is unsure if his apology should be directed to the ones that suffered seeing his creations or his unfortunate creations themselves.

With a dozen more copies of himself, Exterminus is certain that this battle is over with his victory.

Without needing to speak a command, the clones raised their fists in the air at the same time.

Then they straightened finger by finger, and above each of them five hundred arrows materialised as powerful as the Arrow Tempest Exterminus had summoned.

Magic are formed from wild mana drawn in by mages, refined and conducted through their mana circuits, and poured into spell circles.

The amount of mana that can be drawn by a mage depends on his aptitude but there is a prerequisite condition of being able to channel the mana through the mana circuits.

If there is too much energy to be contained, it will be dangerous for the mage. Experienced spellcasters know how much is within their limits, but for unguided children – especially those that first discovers their talent – it might be deadly.

This is also why the southern mage countries of Gaia scour the world for the use of magic.

Another problem is when using two spells at the same time, if the mana clashes within the mana circuits, it can also drive a mage to destruction. Using multiple spells is of course still possible, as long as no incompatible powers are used and there is no conflicting mana pathways.

But this also sorely limits a mage.

That is why Exterminus and many other grand mages each searched for ways to bypass such limitations.

The mana creations allow the Arcane Archer to create clones with usable mana circuits. And since those clones draw on his aptitude as a mage, they can also do the same thing as he. This means that he can use 13 different spells at the same time if he wishes. The limit to the mana creations is the total amount of mana Exterminus’ main body could draw at once.

For him, his limit is a dozen clones.

For Kairos, his limit is far above a hundred.

After all, he has affinity to all known mana types, just as he has affinity to all the elements.

Kairos himself do not know why, especially for someone who is tested to be inferior in talent, he seemed to be loved by the world.

Those prodigies that were said to be loved by mana, or loved by the heavens, they all seemed to have boundaries they cannot cross.

At least, Kairos had not read about anyone who has affinity to all the sixteen elements and eighty seven thousand mana types.

Compared to those prodigies, Kairos seemed truly loved by the world.

He feels that if he so wished, he can draw all the mana present on Axis Mundi for his use.

Of course, whether he really can is yet to be tested.

The clones of Exterminus looked at Kairos’ horrible mana creations and jeered, “Can you lot even use magic?”

“They will probably self-destruction even without using magic.”

“Can they even speak?”

With so many devastating comments, even if they can speak they were speechless. Moreover, it is true that many of them can’t speak properly.

Thanks to Kairos’ incredible skills, their meridians, mana circuits, even the blood vessels are a mess.

The human body is not something that can be easily replicated. These clones of his are like those of the poorest constitute, so it really is possible for them to explode if they channel any form of energy.

With six thousand arrows above and Kairos’ mana creations unable to cast spells, Exterminus confidently awaited to see Kairos’ despair.

Alas it was but another mistake. He should have fired his spells. Or perhaps, it would be wiser if he followed his instincts and ran.

Kairos shook his head then with a thought all hundred misguided copies of himself rushed forward.

Instead of using evil spirits to pilot these mana creations, he sent out a hundred pieces of his soul. These fragments quickly turn into smaller versions of Kairos.

Their soul power are only a fraction of his original strength but each are still stronger than any other S rank cultivator because of his immense talent.

Yes, Kairos do have some natural gifts. After some serious counting work, there is two talents he can think up of, his soul strength and his mental capacity.

The latter is gifted to him when he first trained in the Origin Cultivation Method, as though a door had opened in his mind bringing him wisdom and intelligence.

His soul strength is a latent talent. During his first year end aptitude test in Saint Cadets Academy, the testing crystal cracked when checking his soul aspects.

Till now, Kairos had no leads to why he had such potentials and can only credit it to a natural endowment given to him in exchange for all his other lacking.

The smaller versions of Kairos wielded the mana creations with great control, or as much control as possible in an inferior clone body.

They charged towards their targets with abandon. Instantly reaching Exterminus, his twelve mana creations, and all the assassins around.

Exterminus was unfazed by such a thing. Knowing that they cannot cast spells, he was prepared for the clones to do something desperate.

He waved at his own clones to send out the arrows and quickly withdraw to prevent Kairos’ creations from taking them out by self-destructing.

Exterminus had keenly predicted Kairos’ thoughts. A small smile creeped onto his lips. The battle is already over.

Although he wanted vengeance, he decided to leave Kairos alive so he could learn how the lad is copying his spells.

If he can replicate it, surely his fame will soar within the elf kingdoms. No, his name will be known throughout Axis Mundi!

Distracted by his thoughts of grandeur, he did not notice that none of his summons moved.

Suddenly, he felt a great blow and a searing heat within his body. The Arcane Archer only ever felt such pain when his magic backfired.

Blood rolled down his nostrils as his eyes turned red with popping veins.

In a place unseen by those from the physical realm, Kairos’ soul fragments are engaging in heated battles with the wicked spirits.

Each of them had dressed themselves in majestic soul armour and armed with gleaming weapons.

Aisa had taught him the Soul Art to battle devils on the astral plane, the War God’s Epitaph; it is his ultimate trump card, used only one beings that are otherwise untouchable or when all else fails.

Yes, Soul Arts can affect any cultivator, mage, and in fact any living beings as long as they have a soul.

With soul strength this powerful naturally, Kairos was fully capable of using the War God’s Epitaph to deal irreversible damage to his foes’ souls during combat and finishing them off with an actual blade.

However, Kairos never used it that way because it will hurt his own soul permanently each time he abuses the Soul Art against the living.

More specifically, Kairos is not allowed to use his soul powers against anyone that is not evil to a hopeless degree, because what he has is called the True Holy Soul. Just like Relestia being a Soul Healer, Kairos’ soul is also special, and the reason why he is the champion to vanquish the devil invasion.

If he used what is sacred and pure against the innocent; no, even those who are wicked but had a chance to turn their way back, regardless of the result, it will be damaging to his soul.

That is why Kairos had never used it.

Not that he won’t ever use it if he was forced to a point, but the consequence is something left undesired.

Now is a rare chance to use his Soul Art again without regards.

One by one the evil spirits bound within the mana creations were killed by the fully armed soul fragments. Not only are Kairos’ True Holy Soul a frightening existence for the wicked, it was a hundred against twelve.

In an instant all of Exterminus’ clones became unresponsive, and the archer felt his body wrecked by the fearsome force of a technique rebounding.

He helplessly coughed out several gulps of blood, preventing him from warning the others.

He had thought that he cleverly nullified Kairos’ replication of his spells, but all along he was playing into the enemy’s hands.

Then, the hundred mana creations exploded into a fiery hell.

Although their design was filled with imperfections, Kairos had packed them with massive amounts of mana.

It was like setting off a series of detonations, moreover, Kairos had gleaned how the student of Exterminus had resonated shockwaves to cause overlapping internal damage to a target and used copied it.

This time, the victim is Exterminus Starwalk.

The explosions hammered down on the archer all at the same time. Their strength will compound at once, crossing path directly on his heart.

Of course, not just the heart, but everything else around will be smashed into bits.

Yet, after another bucket of blood pouring out of his mouth, Exterminus remained standing.

Technically, he continued hovering slightly above ground.

A new line of information cross his Heavenly Sight: “Greater Levitation – Nullification of air resistance secondary effect, redirect blast type damage by creating a path of zero resistance to drain the shockwave power. Greater Levitation – Spatial Anchoring secondary effect, weaken all contact-based damages with spatial stasis barrier.

Recommend to bypass with emissive type attacks.”