Beyond M-Eclipse: Easy Mode LIVE

———Lynda———

“Well no one has beaten her points record yet.” I remarked as we waited for the next challenger. They all fall way too quickly considering what they’re capable of.

“Maybe if they weren’t a bunch of cowards, it might’ve happened already.” Histon said, not taking solace in that fact. “What the hell are they afraid of? It’s not like she’ll be harmed even if they literally blow themselves up.”

“They probably just couldn’t let themselves go despite this low stakes environment. In part due to stage fright.” Kroin speculated. There are a lot of people who can scrutinize your performance. I sure hope no one here has a massive hater looming over their head.

“Really now?” Histon said in disappointment. “I don’t hear them heckling or anything, doesn’t look like anyone is in the mood to insult anyone, at least not loudly.”

“That kind of prospect is probably still on their mind. It’s not something they can just shake off when there are other factors causing them pause.” Kroin argued. “Either way, I want anyone with the courage to take her on to be more bold as well. I still think a lot of them still aren’t aware of how much we’re capable of.”

“Too bad they had to demonstrate that to a walking one-woman army.” I remarked. “You’d think they’d got an idea of how strong they are since they’re not immediately turned into red mist like those soldiers.”

“Probably have a hard time internalizing that.” Kroin speculated. “Anyway, can someone get on stage already?”

“Why not just go down there yourself?” Trener suggested.

“Don’t joke around. We should play it by the books and let the weaker ones go first.” Histon said before Kroin could personally answer. “Otherwise why would those Perfect Class guys not go fight her immediately? They are probably thinking the same thing.”

“But would that even matter?” I asked. That sounds kinda arbitrary.

“No, but I like it being a smooth progression like that.” Kroin answered before Histon could. “There is obviously the pressure that would come from going after them, but that is all hypothetical. I’m pretty sure they will wait until the others get their turn regardless.”

“They sure are on their high horse.” Histon remarked despite one simple fact.

“And what does that make us?” I pointed out. He simply glared at me for a second and did not actually say anything in return.

“Oh, looks like the next one has arrived.” Kroin remarked as a new face entered the arena. Saying ‘a new face’ isn’t the most accurate, most people here can recognize each other by face at minimum. It’s a tight-knitted circle of people, there’s not a lot of strangers like Fiss in the school.

He’s using a sword and his demeanor doesn’t display that much bravado. Doesn’t seem like he’ll put up much of a fight.

“What were you saying again?” I asked Kroin since Rico’s announcement blurred that for me. It’s pretty loud so it’s hard to hear what others are saying even if I wasn’t paying attention to it.

“I said he doesn’t seem all too special.” He answered. Doesn’t look like he and anyone else have high hopes for this guy specifically.

*Dash* *Clash*

He does manage to not trip up on the first exchange, but that’s mainly due to Emmie holding back by an absurd amount, and she is the one completely controlling the pace of the fight.

“You think they will give a higher score if you’re crazy enough to move first in the fight?” I asked, since no one has done that yet.

“We don’t even know what the actual criteria is outside of ‘good performance’.” Kroin replied.

He’s struggling pretty hard as Emmie increases the pace of the battle and makes it harder for him to follow. It looks slow but our perception is heavily skewed, so I should infer based on how he reacts to her movement, and it’s looking bad despite only a minute having passed.

“Another disappointing one, it seems.” Histon said, looking bored despite the fact that this is part of the schedule we all collectively made up. There’s not much we can do about it.

That guy isn’t even throwing spells around, which probably would also increase his final score if I were to guess. They would want to encourage spectacle more than anything with how this event is planned out.

*Smack* *Strike*

“Freaking hell. I know they’re not going all out like Uires was, but how many fodder matches are we gonna go through?” I said, feeling annoyed by how quickly he got knocked out.

“” There is a slight hint of irritation in Rico’s words as she does the usual match-ending speech. Considering how quickly that ended it’s clear she’s not happy with the results either.

“Like he deserves that.” Histon harshly commented.

“Come on now, at least he actually dares to fight her. Not that I know why he’s holding himself back like the few others.” Kroin said in that guy’s defense, but not without a jab of his own. “We’re at six battles, and only one put up any sort of struggle.”

“Seventh is always the one where things changed up, right?” I pointed out. Whoever they are should make for an interesting show if that superstition still holds any water.

” Rico announced, and this time it is someone we actually know the name of.

“Well, let’s see if your little sister’s friend can get a better result.” Trener said. “You should have a clue, right?”

“I don’t really meddle in their affairs.” Histon calmly replied. I seriously doubt that, otherwise he wouldn’t be such a nagging brother when it comes to anything remotely dangerous.

I blocked out Rico’s announcement since it has already gotten stale by now. Can they at least have someone else announce it?

*Dash* *Clash* *Block* *Parry*

This time around, the challenger is the one to attack first. Grinn swung the club right towards Emmie the moment the match started.

She’s not screwing around like the last guy, moving around and making sure to actually cover the massive amount of ground available to both sides.

I don’t remember what elements she is proficient in, but unlike Uires she hasn’t used a single spell even as the match dragged on and both sides were not pushing for an advantage. I’m pretty if she doesn’t show her hands soon Emmie will get bored and quickly end the match.

“Well, she seems physically stronger than Uires, at least.” Trener remarked as the fight went on. He’s not wrong to say that. The pace of the fight is a bit faster than in that match, but it’s pretty subtle, so some might argue otherwise.

“Still can’t force her to even use two arms.” Histon commented, still not impressed. I don’t think most of us can do that with the extreme power gap, but okay.

*Smack* *Smack* *Smack* *Strike* *Tumble*

Soon enough Grinn slipped up and got combo’d for her efforts, being sent flying and rolling on the ground for a solid few seconds. Emmie seems to have a habit of doing that for this event. During that raid she doesn’t go for a combo and instead every single swing is simply fatal. It’s not the kind of battle that you could afford to get hit at all, and even if you live you’ll be using a precious resource to heal you back to fighting condition.

This one you could, but it’s clear that she’s not going to make it not feel punishing. Probably the reason she is stringing combos is to make the slip-up look a lot more humiliating than simply getting launched back on the first hit.

It might also just be that she’s doing it to look flashy. She’s not here to exclusively win, but to make a spectacle out of the whole affair.

*Clash* *Clack* *Block*

She managed to quickly recover and continue on the offense, not wasting any time moping on the ground and instead quickly approaching her for the runback. She doesn’t seem to care about charging up a strong spell like Uires does.

*Swing* *Evade* *Swing* *Evade* *Swing* *Evade*

One attack, one avoid. When one of them swung their weapon down on the other, the defender quickly jumped or dashed away with the burst of speed that makes it look like one of those fights between two extremely fast characters. Obviously we can still track their trajectory, it’s not like they’re so fast they can’t even be detected, but it gives off a similar vibe.

“She really shouldn’t jump around so much like that.” Kroin remarked as the fight rages on. “Her lack of ability to shift her airborne momentum makes her really vulnerable. I don’t think she would tolerate that kind of risky play for long.”

“It’s the best way to get a burst of speed compared to just dashing or sliding, unfortunately.” I pointed out. It’s hard to create a purely horizontal momentum by using all of your leg strength. You’ll probably move at an angle that leaves a lot of room to be attacked from.

**Leap** *Clash* *Strike* *Crash*

“Yeouch, that gotta sting.” I remarked as she finally faced the problem we were talking about. Both of them jumped high and swung their weapons at each other, but the fact that the moment the weapons connected both of them naturally got repelled by the result force, but Emmie can offset that by her being able to fly while Grinn can’t, so she quickly began falling down on her back while Emmie can afford to even descend down and hit her right in the chest to send her falling down even faster.

“Staying airborne is gonna be so bad for almost everyone here.” Kroin commented while Emmie gracefully landed back down unlike her opponent. I don’t know if Grinn was caught up in the moment, but that was a really bad play.

“She gets back up pretty quickly, that should’ve hurt a lot.” Trener remarked as Grinn quickly stood back up, still ready to fight. She’s clearly a hardy one, which is weird, isn’t she a healer or something?

“...Oh right. She is a healer.” I muttered out.

“Yeah. She can simply heal herself and be back in fighting condition.” Kroin said in response. “Still, she is surprisingly strong for someone who should be a back-line supporter.”

“I guess it compensates for her not having any offensive magic, I guess.” I commented.

*Clash* *Dash* *Clack* *Block* *Leap* *Clash*

“Hey, Glery, is she actually stronger than Uires?” I asked, since she wouldn’t provide any input without us prodding her.

“By a bit. I would say she is mostly more efficient than there being a large power gap.” She answered. A disciplined one, I see.

“So no buffs or overclocking?” I asked so she can provide more detail.

“None at the moment.” She answered.

“Haaa!!!” Grinn then suddenly screamed out as her body glowed with power.

“Now she is.” Glery said. So she does know enhancement spells as well. That’d make for a good dungeon diving team member.

“” Rico commented. Don’t make it sound so ominous…

*Clash* *Clack* *Block* *Strike* *Clash*

The speed of the battle seems to increase by a significant amount, and she is recovering from any stray hits Emmie inflicted on her pretty quickly.

“Now this is getting somewhere.” Histon said with a slight smirk on him, looking like he is enjoying this match more than his sister’s. I sure hope no one shares this fact with her, as if those two don’t butt heads enough as is.

*Clash* *Parry* *Block* *Clash*

The intensity of the match isn’t dying down as the two keep going. Looks like this is going to take a while. I don’t know how long Grinn’s buffs are gonna last, but the moment it expires is when the match is finally over.