Beyond M-Eclipse: Easy Mode LIVE

———Wiina———

“What are you doing here again?” I asked, feeling a bit uneasy with her presence.

“Me? I’m here to check on my junior, of course.” Rico mockingly said as she walked towards me. “I like your chop, I must say.”

“And that means?” I asked, having no idea what she meant.

“I think a few people already mention this, but the more attention you take from us, the more we can move about freely. It’s good that you have that shapeshifting ability of yours… I guess some of us also have that ability too, but that’s another story.” I think I have heard that a few times already…

“So you’re not here to blow my guts out?” I jokingly asked.

“Nah. I don’t have a reason to. I’m not your drill sergeant, unlike that old hag.” Does she really need to call the coach a hag? “I could do it if you wanna kickstart that boost, if you want.”

“I’d rather not. I don’t want to get a lot of power so suddenly again…” I denied the offer with a head shake. Among the laundry list of powers, gaining strength from being damaged is absurd when you also have extremely potent regeneration. I could theoretically just self-destruct myself a bunch of times to close the gap. Theoretically. 

“What about eating some orichalcum and mythril?” She offered again. Is she just teasing me?

“You already know my answer to that is a no…” I rebuffed her again. Is there any reasoning to this aside from teasing me?

“Meh. That’s rather boring.” She complained. Surely you have a lot of things going on in your life more interesting than this…

“So do you have anything else to impart?” I asked, in case there’s something else on her mind.

“Nothing too peculiar, but I do notice you having a few people targeting you already.” She remarked with a sinister smirk. It does become a bit more common, but it’s very easy to avoid, since they’re mostly muggles. “Bunch of idiots, of course. Maybe if they have some sort of leverage it could’ve worked.”

“I’d rather you not say anything like that out loud.” I said, not exactly thrilled at such an idea.

“Heh. As long as you don’t show any weakness, they’ll likely not dare to even do that.” She said, as if that’s something easy to maintain. Everyone has some kind of weakness, some are just much more buried deep down. “I have run into some underground organizations as well, and they are all fun to slaughter.”

I’m not a demon like you are, so can you stop saying stuff like that?

“Mind you, there are altruistic motives as well, I don’t go around killing people for funsies.” She said, as if noticing my scrutiny. I can’t really tell how true that is, so I’d rather not contest it.

The fact that she even casually mentions how she kills others doesn’t exactly paint her in a good light. I would consider death to be something that most probably aren’t deserving of.

“I’ll believe that, for now.” I exasperatedly replied, finding it a bit hard to keep up with the conversation without sounding too critical. She’s clearly not seeing all of this as too important of a story.

“Lemme tell ya, playing the vigilante felt real nice. You should try it sometimes. Killing is optional anyway.” She casually mentioned the latter part which just makes it pretty clear she can easily subdue them without killing them.

On the topic of vigilantism though, I might try that, if I actually have a clue on where any of the evildoers are. Not to mention that these guys might’ve gotten rid of them all already.

“I’ll keep that in mind.” I said, not giving out any promises.

“We’ll see.” She said dismissively. “Anyway, it seems like you have been growing in strength since we last met. It’s no surprise, of course, but I think you should be reminded that your power continues to rise no matter what.”

“It’s not like you aren’t grinding up the totem pole yourself…” I remarked. Seems that in this setting, those who are powerful still continue to climb up and keep that gap wide. I can tell that she has increased her strength by a few percent since we last met, which is quite a lot…

“It is how it is…” She said, giving a non-response. “By the way, that old hag wants me to come back to the school, can you believe that?”

“Really? Guess she wants you in that gym again.” I somewhat jokingly said. They always squabble in there, according to the rumors.

“Wouldn’t that be something? She wants to hire me as a magic instructor, can you believe that shit?” She said, clearly finding it more amusing than frustrating.

“I mean. It seems easy enough for you, right?” I said, knowing she has many years of power to back up such a position.

“It’s been so long since I trained with the fundamentals you know? A lot of people are like that.” She seems to oppose my opinion, finding teaching those unaware to be difficult. “I’m up for it, but I guess I need to leave behind those demon lackeys to help Mom and Dad at all times.”

…Right, those oozy shadow things… I know she uses Ilusion to mask them to look normal, but when you can see through it it’s so weird… Not just because they’re weird shadow demons, but because they’re weird shadow demons doing mundane task of preparing a fucking philly cheesesteak.

At the very least I had to commend her on being mindful of her parent’s wellbeing. From what I can extrapolate, her parents are not special in the slightest, it’s her who is extraordinary. There’s a very complicated history on that front, so I’d rather not pry.

“Speaking of that school, just what is she planning now? The place is basically built back from the ground up, it’s a new building with new rules and schedule and all that.” I said, wondering how she’s planning on opening it back up again.

“Beats me. She’s the one who changed the whole renovation plans multiple times over. At least it looks like she’s bringing back something from the past.” She seems to also agree with me that Walsuna is getting a bit homesick… workplacesick?

“By the way, do you know much about this world’s ancient history?” I asked, since it seems like everyone considered Walsuna very old, so they might not have as much insight on that whole shebang as she does.

I gathered that it is an era of magic that’s now lost to history, mostly seen as nothing more than myths and fairytales.

“Nah. Can’t say I’m familiar.” She answered rather decisively. Guess that means no exposition from her then. “I haven’t exactly known that many people who are familiar with that era. I never bother to ask them much about it.”

“I see…” I replied, not knowing what else to really ask.

“By the way, what are you doing outside today? More training, I assume.” She suddenly asked.

“I was going to do that, until you interrupted me.” I bluntly answered.

“Is that right? Maybe I can help to compensate? It’s better to train with another person rather than alone.” She offered. So is she actually going to blow my guts out?

“...Are you sure you can hold back?” I asked, not feeling all too safe with her around as it is.

“Hmph. Why don’t we figure this out now?” She suddenly said with a sinister smile on her.

*Grab* *THROW*

“Whoa!” She threw me up into the sky very suddenly. It took me a moment to stabilize myself and stay still in the air.

“Let’s start off simple, shall we?” She said as she formed a large sword out of darkness, flying up to my level.

*Clash*

In no time she flies towards me and we exchange blows with our blades while still in the air. I’m still not exactly an expert on this, fighting in the air at close-range. There’s all sorts of problems with maintaining stability in the air.

“I didn’t exactly take you for a swordsman.” I remarked as we created some distance.

“You have your blade, so I simply show you mine. It’s not my most proficient fighting-style, I will admit.” She said as she readied to continue the assault.

*Glide* *Clash* *Clang*

We started moving around the air in all directions, trying to get an opening but were countered each and every time. No one has gotten a graze, let alone a good hit.

At some point everything started to become a blur and it’s really hard to keep track of her even if I can sense her energy.

*Block* *Parry*

We’re still in a stalemate as we swing at each other from all directions, approaching and backing off, not giving either side a chance to get an opening.

Neither of us are using anything but the power to fly and a sword, keeping at it for a while.

*Parry*

“...Want to step it up?” She suddenly offered after we knocked each other back after another parry.

“I’d rather not. We’re high up in the sky but there are still buildings and people below.” I declined the offer, not wanting any possibilities of collateral damage.

“Hmph. Suit yourself.” She replied, clearly disappointed as she seemed ready to go back on the offensive. Seems like we’ll be at it for a while…

———Lynda———

“Hnrrrgg!!! Simple my ass!” I shouted out loud in frustration, unable to do what Karra seems so dismissive about. “What was I doing wrong?”

“Maybe we really shouldn’t put stock in what she said. She’s just too talented and all that.” Glery also can’t help but express her frustration as well.

“There has to be some sort of secret she forgot to tell, intentionally or not.” I can’t help but throw out that tiny conspiracy.

It’s not like she was skimping out on a lot of details, and yet despite taking notes and following through there doesn’t seem to be any progress. Was I missing something, or did she forget something crucial?

“Shouldn’t take a short break? Your veins are about to pop.” Glery remarked. Has it gotten that bad? If that’s the case maybe I should relax a bit, just to get her to stop worrying.

“Alright, fine.” I quickly conceded. Can’t believe progress hasn’t shown its face.

She handed me a bottle of water as I walked over to the bench and sat down.

“*Gulp* Haaah…” Refreshing. Makes me realize I was actually quite dehydrated during the practice.

“I wonder if that school will teach this anyway…” Glery suddenly pondered out loud.

“Hah? That damn castle-skyscraper thingie? You think we can actually apply for that?” I asked, wondering if she’s that optimistic about it. We don’t even know what will actually happen. Like did our tuition fees just mean nothing now? What happened to the staff of the old place? The principal? School projects? All of that has to be thrown in the trash, right?

“It’s just a feeling I have. Admittedly.” She answered. So that’s what her gut is telling her, and you know what? Not gonna knock her for it, even if it feels rather unrealistic.

“I wonder if that place costs a fortune to apply. It’s gonna take a lot to maintain that giant campus, right?” Meanwhile I think it’s gonna be so expensive to enter that we’ll definitely not get in unless there’s some sort of perks for being students of the old school, but again, all that info might’ve been thrown in the sewage already.

“Unless they have a way to circumvent that.” She suddenly rebuffed. Must be rather confident on this hunch of hers. Certainly the most she has been confident in a while, so I’d rather not rebuff her back and make her lose that confidence.

“They might, as it stands there’s still a lot we don’t know.” I said, not opposing the idea.

There’s a lot we can think about, but right now, I am more interested in learning more about magic. You know, getting cool powers and all that. I doubt there’s many that can resist.