Michael sat in his engineering lecture, bored out of his mind as usual. He glanced around the room, watching his classmates scribble notes and doodle in their notebooks.
Suddenly, a loud rumbling noise filled the room, and everyone looked up in confusion.
Michael's jaw dropped as a boxing ring appeared out of nowhere in the middle of the lecture hall. He rubbed his eyes, thinking that he must be hallucinating, but the ring remained.
The professor looked just as shocked as the rest of the class, unsure of what to do.
Suddenly, a voice echoed in everyone's head, causing them all to freeze.
[Stage 1 - Boxing Ring of Hell]
1. Mana will be distributed when you climb into the ring.
2. The first person to climb up on the boxing ring can choose their own opponent.
3. The person that has been chosen has no choice but to climb up the boxing ring and fight.
4. Only when you kill more than one person on the ring are you permitted to leave.
5. But you are only allowed to kill up to ten people to increase the amount of initial mana you get from the ring.
Michael's heart raced as the voice continued, "You have no other choice, puny humans. Kill and kill more. Only then will you truly kill."
The entire class was silent, staring at the ring in horror. Michael's mind raced, trying to figure out what was happening.
He couldn't believe this was real. Was this some kind of sick joke?
Suddenly, one of Michael's classmates stood up, his eyes wild with fear and confusion.
He climbed into the ring, and Michael watched in shock as he called out another student's name and challenged him to a fight.
The second student reluctantly climbed into the ring, and the two began to fight.
Michael watched in horror as the first student pummeled his opponent, blood spattering on the mat.
Michael knew he had to do something. He couldn't just sit there and watch his classmates kill each other.
But what could he do? He wasn't a fighter anymore.
He had made an oath to his mother.
The day he killed his opponent in the boxing ring was also the last day of his life as a boxer and a fighter.
Michael felt his hands start to shake as memories of that fateful day flooded his mind. He closed his eyes, taking deep breaths to calm himself down. He couldn't let that happen again.
He couldn't let anyone else die.
As the first fight ended and the winner stepped down from the ring, another student jumped in. And then another. Michael watched in horror as the fights continued, the sound of fists hitting flesh echoing throughout the lecture hall.
But then, something unexpected happened. One of the students refused to fight.
Daniel Hayden, the one who was ranked even lower than Michael, he was the one.
He climbed up into the ring, but instead of calling out an opponent, he made a speech.
"This is madness, you guys," he shouted. "We can't keep killing each other like this. We need to find another way out of this situation."
The other students, especially Paul, Mark and Raven jeered at him, calling him a coward and telling him to get the fuck out of the ring.
But Michael and Asuna felt a spark of hope ignite within them.
Maybe there were others who felt the same way they did. Maybe they could come together and find a way out of this.
Asuna stood up, determined to do something. "He's right," she said.
Michael stood right beside her and called out, his voice shaking with his tense nerves. "We can't keep killing each other. We need to find another way."
To his surprise, several other students joined in, adding their voices as well.
Michael and Asuna felt a surge of hope as they looked around the room, seeing the fear and confusion on his classmates' faces starting to turn into determination.
They weren't going to let this voice control them. They were going to fight back, find a way out, and end this madness once and for all.