The Undying Mecha Emperor

Without a shield, most solo mechas going against even just three opponents would be hard pressed to remain standing for more than a minute.

But for Margaret, she bullied the twenty eight mechas like a three meter tall NBA player who spent five hours in the gym daily playing against a bunch of tall but scrawny high school kids.

Fat Lion led the way and roared out a ferocious battle cry as they all charged towards Margaret in thunderous fury.

They were obviously seniors in the academy as evidenced by their neat formation even in the absence of explicit instructions by their "Fat Boss".

From our vantage point, Margaret's solo charge against so many enemies looked extremely epic.

"Oh my godddd she is so cooolll!!!" Eliana Wang gushed in complete fan girl mode.

"Frog in the well." James muttered in response. But even he had his eyes glued to the unfolding scene before us.

Within seconds, the battle was joined!

Bam!!

In a ruthless and awe-inspiring opening move, Margaret's shield-less left hand flicked out and jabbed the unfortunate Fat Lion to death with a single accurate strike to his head.

Without losing a single beat, her right feet slammed down heavily to the ground and propelled her powerfully forward at jaw dropping speed that took even us, the spectators, by surprise!

The poor mecha that was next in line had no chance to react.

Margaret's sword flashed lightly under the sun and struck its unguarded neck at a slight angle and cleanly severed it!

"Kyaaaaa!! Coool! Super duper cooool!!!" Eliana Wang squealed in delight.

But Margaret was just warming up!

What followed was a dazzling, mesmerizing sequence of attacks that could, without an ounce of inaccuracy, be described as a dance of death.

Every step she took was perfectly placed and positioned. Every strike was flawless without an inch of excess movement. Every kill brought her the time and space she needed to either reset or follow up to the next kill.

If I didn't know better, I would have claimed that the battle was a completely choreographed battle scene depicting a heroine bullying her enemies!

"Ugh. I hate it when she does that." James grumbled in an indirect admission of Margaret's skill.

"I wonder who will win in a one on one battle. Sherry Lin or Margaret Whitefrost?" I wondered out loud.

"Do you even need to ask? As good as Sherry Lin is, never forget that she is still a Lin! They are a family of mecha producers, not warriors!" James replied with disdain.

"I have to agree. Sherry Lin is a monstrous once a century prodigy. But the Whitefrost Clan has no lack of prodigies too. And if the prodigies of the Lin family were to be pitted against the prodigies of the Whitefrost family, I'll take the Whitefrosts anytime." Elise Wang said.

"Hmmmm." I nodded.

But in my heart, I could somehow sense that although Margaret was incredible, her fighting style was more like an assassin's efficient and deadly strikes.

A learned observer would highly appreciate her moves. But it lacked battlefield impact.

Sherry Lin's style was far more flamboyant and eye catching. Coupled with her highly grounded fighting skills, Sherry Lin was like a battlefield general, her every move able to inspire and galvanize others to action.

A general versus an assassin.

Who would win?

I spent a pleasant minute or two comparing both girls and visualizing their imaginary fight while Margaret completely trampled on the remaining twenty something mechas to their inglorious deaths.

Finally, after laying waste to twenty nine mechas, she finally came face to face with the "final boss".

Fat Boss.

"Very good. You're extremely talented. What's your name? I am Gerard K-" Fat Boss began. But alas, we would never know what he was about to say.

Bam!

Margaret's right hand flicked out lazily and crushed his head to smithereens.

Boom.

His mecha blackened instantly and he collapsed to his knees.

Bam!

Margaret kicked it aside without a shred of empathy and emotion.

Cold indeed.

"Kyayayayayayayaaaaaa!!! Big sister Margaret! Please accept these kow tows as a token of respect from your student! You are now my shi fu!!!" Eliana Wang collapsed to her knees and banged her mecha head heavily to the ground three times.

I rolled my eyes helplessly.

Thank goodness only Eliana Wang did that.

Elise Wang still maintained a cool head and did not join her twin sister in her antics.

"Did you guys catch that move I was talking about? I only did it twice." Margaret said when she reached us. She coolly ignored Eliana Wang and her fangirling.

But Eliana Wang had been bitten by the fangirl bug really hard.

She did not care that her "teacher" had yet to acknowledge her, and she dutifully stood behind her like a disciple.

"Yeah. Its good. And not just that move, I learnt quite a lot. You're really good." I commented.

"Thanks. Alright, now that the show is over, what do we do now?" Margaret asked.

"We want to get those three flags, but we don't want to join the massive battle. So I plan to sweep the perimeter and take out all those who are lying in wait, and then clean house the survivors of the main battle and secure the three flags. After that, we'll look for the other four flags and secure them as well. Oh, and eliminate as many mechas as possible." I explained my battle strategy to her.

"Good. Lead the way." Margaret said.

And thus continued the "Massacre of the Eternal General".

It was probably the only time that the academy's lesson plan and learning outcome failed so horribly.

As with experiential learning, the experience students go through was designed to trigger emotional and mental responses which would then be shaped by the events of the lesson.

If the experience did not happen as per the lesson design, then the learning outcomes were basically shot.

How could the outcomes be reached if the experience was different?

And so the title of the lesson had to be changed.

It went from "The Blackening of the Rising Sun" to the "Massacre of the Eternal General".

I think it is apt.

Because even though the five of us did our part in the massacre, we weren't the stars of the show.

The main star of the show was... Sheera Lin.