Beyond M-Eclipse: Easy Mode LIVE

———Lynda———

“I believe I have heard another report already.” Teacher Elrik said while I was recounting what happened. “Ten students ganging up on one in a training room that allows anyone to join and fight.”

“What? The hell happened?” Trener, who wasn’t there, exclaimed in surprise. He probably has a wrong idea about what actually happens.

“The student known as Emmie Pennela has set up a room for everyone to join and attack her at any point before the break is over. At one point ten students show up in rapid succession. It was practically a one versus ten.” He explained, retaining his rather bored tone.

“Another one from that class…” Trener mumbled quietly.

“Did you guys apprehend her already? There’s no way she wasn’t cheating somehow.” Histon said with clear hostility. He took it way worse than I did.

“She wasn’t.” He answered. Of course she wasn’t, there wasn’t any setting that empowered you in any way. I’ve thoroughly checked that a week back.

“Bullshit! There’s no way someone can take on ten people at once!” He shouted out in protest. “That blue bitch must’ve done something! You should know what she did!”

“Calm down.” He responded with a tone that is a stark contrast to Histon’s very loud protest. “No tampering was made to the devices to grant her higher-access commands. This is simply the case of her being able to overpower everyone, plain and simple.”

Hold on. So there are extra features we can’t use…

“How does she even do that?” Kroin asked before Histon could go on another tangent. He wasn’t there, so naturally he’s curious as to what even actually happened.

“I have seen the footage of the fight itself. We all have access to the archives here.” Elrik said while pointing at his tablet. Just how much data and functions are in that damn thing? “Simply put, the gap in strength and skill is too high. Her raw strength is already much higher than the average students here, and much like with everyone else in that class, she is a natural learner who has already figured out her fighting style and battle sense. The rest of you are simply outgunned.”

“Why is everyone always dickriding that damn class?” Histon complained, with less volume this time. Can’t really blame him for complaining about that one particular point. That Perfect Class business smells like conspiracy more than ever before, and it’s pretty damn annoying. Surely you all can find something else to talk about.

“I don’t think even professional fighters can fight off that many people successfully just from that alone.” Kroin remained skeptical. Of course he’s going to be, with him not really witnessing many fights in the first place, let alone ones where someone completely dominates.

“...It seems you have already forgotten what happened two weeks back.” The teacher remarked. Right, that ‘fight’. Can you even count that as a fight?

“...Ah. Nevermind then.” Kroin said to quickly dismiss his earlier opinion.

“This incident is still a good reminder as to why this particular subject now involved attuning your body to mana. The power ceiling is much higher than ever for all of you, and with that comes many more new dangers.” He said, hammering in the reasoning more. “Now then. Let’s actually move onto the topic of today’s subject…”

———Wiina———

“By the way. Why don’t you post on DieChan anymore?” Karra suddenly asks while she scrolls through her phone.

“Just don’t have anything interesting to do or share. I only do it for shits and giggles.” It was never that serious. “I could also ask you why you barely stream.”

“...Touché.” She replied with a cute pout. It has been her passion for a good while, so I still want to help her… Hmm… Now that I think about it, are there any dungeons that are in remote areas that no one really bothers to barricade? I can’t imagine all of them being near a settlement and therefore in the eyes of the public. There must’ve some that are not documented, let alone restricted…

I guess I could go explore around the world and map it out, then have Karra… No wait. That would’ve raised a lot of red flags surrounding our relationship. People are going to question how she got there and who gave her the info. It would create a buzz to prop up her channel, but too many questions might be an issue…

Also, I don’t think trying to gather views from those types of streams would be all that… healthy? You’re constantly putting yourself at risk, and I don’t think those kinds of content are going to be anything less than controversial. In fact, it’s banned on all platforms right now.

…Argh! I’m no good at figuring out this whole deal! I’m a viewer, not a streamer!

I think I should at least check out if there’s any place we can go to that isn’t blocked off, then work from there.

“So what are you reading right now?” I asked, seeing that she has been scrolling and staring at her phone for a while.

“Just some random drama on Chirping.” She answered. Hopefully she doesn’t get too embroiled in it, that place is a fucking cesspool.

“Can’t imagine it being anything more than multiple idiots arguing.” I said, not having a good impression of the site at all. I only look through it because some artists are there. That’s really it.

“Eh. It can be funny occasionally.” …That isn’t worth the level of stupidity shown on so many levels in almost every argument on there…

———Jeff———

“Haaa-!” Emmie shouted loudly as she swung her scythe towards us!

*Parry*

“Ugh! Can’t you two just run away!?” Jass rushed towards us and parried the attack that would’ve hit both Mreak and I.

“Tch! More ballsy than I remembered.” Emmie said with a smirk, still pretty damn confident in her chances. “Too bad those two aren’t pulling their weights.”

Damn it! I didn’t expect her to outclass us that badly!

*Swing*

“““AAaaah!””” All of us were blown away by just the simple act of her swinging her weapon in our direction!

*Tumble* *Crash*

“Argh!” I groaned out as we hit the hard ground. What kind of spell did she use? That was definitely not just a result of the shockwave alone. It’s like some sort of… magnet repulsion?

*Shine*

“Hm?” Suddenly a large burst of light caught her attention before turning to look at us one more time. “I’ll spare you three for now. Try not to die.”

*Leap*

She then leaps toward the direction of the commotion, leaving us to lay down in disgrace.

“Fucking hell man. How did she beat us that badly?” I spoke up after she left. It doesn’t look like anyone else is nearby.

“The power disparity, for one.” Jass said as he quickly recovered and got back up first. “One hell of a freak of nature. She doubled in strength in only a few weeks.”

“I mean. It wasn’t like we were slacking either.” Mreak chimed in as both of us staggered to our feet. “Seriously, leaving us in the dust was not cool.”

“Tell me about it!” I quickly said to vent my frustration. It’s not like it’s her fault that she’s putting in the effort, it’s always commendable to be so focused and efficient… But I still feel salty. “Seriously, even three-on-one in our favor and she still kicks our asses.”

“Kenni and Karra would’ve turned all of us to dust in a flash, I bet.” Jass remarked. Right, those two. They were already stronger than Emmie, and they also haven’t been slacking. I can’t see how we’re gonna beat those two if we can’t even beat the third best.

“Really need more people in our alliance, then.” I said, thinking that maybe we can get one or two more people.

“I think the best bet is to third party the fights. I know it sounds cheap, but we’re already worn out as is.” Jass suggested, and that’s one hell of a lame plan, even if it is the most practical one.

“It’s not that serious, dude.” Aside from not liking it on principle, I also don’t want to seem like a tryhard.

*Bang*

We all looked up in the sky the moment another set of fireworks went up, showing who just got eliminated.

“Qyunda, huh.” I muttered, finding it rather surprising. She’s pretty damn strong, and now she’s already out? Only half the class has been eliminated so far. Thought she’d be in the top five.

“Seems about right. She probably seeks out and tries to fight Malk immediately. It’s a kill-on-sight for those two.” Jass pointed out. I guess that makes sense. They’re about equal so the fight goes on for a while, but not long enough for one to not be considered ‘tapped out early’. “Also, I know it’s a weird time to ask, but what the hell did you do for Karra to threaten to murder you frame one?”

“…Dude, you were there! You know why she has it out for me!” I said feeling incredulous. He dipped before he also got caught!

“The hell are you talking about?” Jass flatly said, not acknowledging it at all.

“I’m curious about that too.” Mreak chimed in. Great, do I actually have to-

*Sizz* *BOOM*

…

“” …What the fuck happened just now?

“Welcome to the afterlife, buddy.” Qyunda dryly said, sitting on the sofa alongside the others who got eliminated.

“Haha. Real funny.” I sarcastically said while looking around… Wait. Did those two not get caught in the crossfire!? “Where’s Mreak and Jass!?”

“Tough luck, you got singled out.” Kist said, clearly mocking me. How the hell did that large fireball not hit either of them!? Wait. Was it a fireball or something else? I know it was a fire spell of some kind.

“You got hit with a fire javelin aiming right at you from above. Didn’t get even a little bit of time to react.” Rico recounted the event. It was from her wasn’t it… “And yes, it was from Karra.”

“No idea what you did to piss her off, but I’m not about to fuck around and find out.” Nicks chimed in as if to also mock me. I’m really being the butt of jokes right now. Where’s Kenni to… Nah, she’ll probably mock the shit out of me since it’s funnier for her.

“It was a fun watch, I must say.” Rico said with a tiny smirk on her. I can imagine the spectators here having a lot of fun… “Maybe I should make the map a bit bigger next time, since you guys were eliminated a bit too quickly for my taste. Not a lot of drama going on.”

“Just how deep does the simulator go?” Qyunda muttered, curious as to all the possibilities it had. We’ve checked out all the options we got, but it felt a bit lacking. This right here is a lot more impressive… Not that it wasn’t before, but this is really eye-opening.

“More than enough for this exercise, at least.” She dismissively replied. “Also, are you gonna stand there or find a seat already?”

…Guess I should’ve been doing that first and foremost, before spectating the match.

Let’s see here… and there we go.

“Wouldn’t be surprised if other subjects also use it. Maybe math can be a tiny bit less boring.” Jeyst remarked sarcastically. It does seem like something to help with demonstrating something in… I dunno, science class? Like anything too dangerous to demonstrate in a lab room.

“Who knows how the other classes will manage with these facilities. Not really exposed to all of it myself.” Rico said, making it clear she doesn’t have all the insights. “Though even if I did, it would be unprofessional of me to just blurt it out loud.”

Meanwhile on the big screen, Jass is fighting Jennla right now, having separated from Mreak at some point.

*Slash*

He got a good opening and swung his sword right into her torso and ended the fight.

“...Damn it.” The loser showed up and looked quite dejected. “Slipped up for a second and now I’m part of the loser club.”

“Make yourself comfortable.” Qyunda said, feigning hospitality. “Surprised he got a jump on you when he was beaten up alongside this guy by Emmie like two minutes back.”

“Seriously? Didn’t give off that vibe to me.” Jennla said, making up excuses already. “Maybe he knows a healing spell or something?”

“I doubt it. I think he would’ve healed me if-

“Not a chance. It’s still a battle royale. He has the incentive for you to not be at full strength if he knows how to recover it.” Gregori breaks his silence to disagree with me.

“Not disclosing all your tricks is part of being a good fighter.” Rico remarked, implicitly saying that he does have a healing spell since she’s not denying it. I think she would’ve noticed if he did or did not. “Anyway, take a seat and watch the spectacle. I’m pretty sure we’re in the endgame now.”

As she said that, the screen is still with a bunch of magic being flung around. It really does look like they’re going full-throttle. It does feel like anyone could win if they play their cards right, but I know that either of those three would most likely win, but who’s to say.

…Damn this is getting me quite invested. It’s just a school activity, it’s not that deep.