"As you see before you stand close to two hundred thousand students!" The announcer yelled out to the crowd with an enthusiasm that excited everyone. The guy that was announcing was excited because this was his first big gig. He had never seen so many people gathered in one place. Lining the Colosseum was around a million people.
Cheering boomed throughout the stadium as the announcer got ready for the next part of the announcement. "As you can see we have a lot of fighting that will have to be done in 5 days. Of course, the first day will be a free-for-all between all of the first years who number roughly eighty thousand which is like every year the biggest chunk." The announcer took a deep breath before continuing to talk through the cheering. " The free-for-all will be split between sixteen different groups. The winners will then face off in a tournament-style matching and the winners will receive gifts comparable to their efforts. Second place will also receive a give as well. So basically as long as you make it to the finals you will receive one of the gifts!" The announcer was sweating as he looked at the endless line of people.
Eram and the gang found themselves in a wasteland of sweaty and smelly students in the middle of the Colosseum. Alexander almost started to throw up multiple times because of the putrid smell. He had to yell so his friends could hear him over the cheering. " Dude it smells like rotten eggs and grilled cheese! Do these people not shower!"
After he yelled a giant student next to him who loved to eat stared at him like he was his next meal. The group shuddered as they mentally prepared to sell him out. The group started to shuffle around and get closer because of all the students pushing against each other. Alexander gained a new fear as he was squished up next to the obese giant and had to taste his sweat. Alexander almost started crying " How do you taste like onions!" He would have asked but instead, he yelled a rhetorical question.
The group was all packed together like a pack of sardines until they had another second to breathe. The one hundred thousand students moved around like a wave making it hard to feel comfortable. The announcer kept talking about the schedule for the next five days while the group attempted to listen.
Honestly, they tried. As the announcer was wrapping up people finally stopped cheering. " To End this off we will have of course today for preparations. After we wrap this fiasco up everyone can head to their place of residence and the students can go to the assigned dorms that are just outside the stadium. One last thing, Students make sure you have a team name picked out for the tournament. If you make it to the tournament you will be awarded a moniker so please take this seriously. Now please head out in an orderly fashion."
As soon as the announcer finished there was a stampede on both the students and the audience side. Eram and his group were drowned by the tidal wave of students. The group all huddled together as they got trampled. Once all of the students passed over Michael looked up and said what he saw. " It seems we weren't the only one to be trampled." They all wondered how they didn't die but then brushed it off as luck.
The announcer walked over and saw the group and smiled. " Glad to see you all are okay. Sorry about that we definitely should have planned for that. In case you're wondering how you didn't die I have an answer. Principal Thorne provided an immortal field generator that has been set up in the stadium. Nothing can die within the stadium. Don't tell anybody I told you though." The announcer walked to the next group he saw in a cheerful mood.
Lila spoke up. "Let's get to our dorm I don't want to be out here anymore." The group nodded and headed to their dorms.
When they got to the dorm they realized there were five beds around the room for each one of the team members.
Lila was once again the first to express her outrage. " This can not be real! I thought they would at least add a separate room for the girls and the boys but just this. There is one bathroom and one closet!"
Everyone in the group shuffled around realizing the implications. Alexander added his snarky remark. " Guys relax. I will protect these fine young women from these brutes!" He pointed at both Eram and Michael as if they were evil. " As payment, you pretty ladies can come slee…" Lila threw the hardest punch she had thrown in her life. She used her One Impact ability to boost her strength as much as possible. Alexander went spiraling downwards like a falling top landing on his face. His jaw was completely shattered. His spine was also broken in multiple places making him disabled.
Lila collapsed to the ground and started to yell at the passed-out Alexander. " I don't know why I waste so much energy on you. I swear if you thought with what is in your skull instead of what is between your legs I wouldn't treat you like this! Also damn i thought that would be enough to kill you." Remembering the Immortality field that probably reached out to where they were she sighed.
Alexander was passed out and was unaware of anything that happened. Yuki asked. " Do you want me to heal him?"
Lila laughed then sighed. " Go ahead it's not like he is going to learn his lesson." Yuki pulled out a small bird out of her bag and touched it. The bird immediately decayed and died. She touched Alexander, and his injuries healed in the blink of an eye. Everybody watched in amazement as she brought Alexander from the brink of death to a healthy state.
Lila then struggled to get up. Yuki immediately helped her to her feet and then to her bed. Lila was exhausted after using her ability. In truth, she didn't use enough strength to kill Alexander, she unconsciously held back. The immortal array didn't reach all of the way out to the dorms but just enough to cover the stadium.
Eram sat on his bed and wondered how tomorrow would go. He honestly wasn't in the mood to fight anyone. He closed his eyes and looked inside himself wondering what he should do. He didn't want to let his teammates down but at the same time, he didn't want to hurt anyone. He wondered what at the end could be worth it.
He also was scared of death and didn't know how to approach the fear inside his heart. He felt like there were no right moves he could make. He could hear his friends talking but he felt like he couldn't even reach out and touch them. To him, they were far away. He thought to himself' Wouldn't it be easier if I just killed myself.' He didn't know who he could talk to.
The more he thought the more everyone's mortality became real to him. If he wasn't the strongest how would he protect everyone and everything he cares about? He felt lost and confused and didn't know how to address it. He thought about all of the times throughout the months that lead up to this moment and how on multiple occasions he saw how weak he was.
Multiple teachers took him on to personally train him because he was already more skilled than his other classmates. In the many fights, he realized how impossibly weak he was. They brushed all of his efforts like he was a fly and he couldn't do anything about it. He realized that in every fight Sheila was going extremely easy on him.
If the people he couldn't do anything against couldn't make it to the twelfth ring and make it back alive, how could he? The more he thought about it the worse his condition got. He couldn't see anything except the blood from the small animals in his eyes. He started to sweat.
Eram jolted up out of bed only to realize everyone else had already gone to sleep. He went to the bathroom and fell to his knees. He started to cry harder than he ever had. ' Fuck murdered three innocent kids! Fuck me Damnit!' he clenched his fists so hard they bleed. He couldn't see the blood on his hands was his but only the three small baby animals. He kept lamenting his weakness.
Yuki heard Eram fall to his knees and decided to get up to see what was up. She walked to the bathroom and heard a primal whimpering. It was quiet but she felt like she remembered this noise before. She opened the door and saw something horrendous. Eram was kneeling in a pool of blood with most of his hands shredded. She could see he tried to rip his eyes out to stop seeing the animals but to no avail.
Yuki immediately knelt by Eram's bloody body and hugged him. "What's the matter." She held on to him trying to reassure him. She used to try to harm herself when her parents would put her down so she thought she might understand him.
Eram was crying his heart out and began to wail. " I killed three babies. I killed them in cold blood. I am a monster." Eram couldn't see anything else other than the three babies lying dead in his hands. He couldn't understand why he did it. He could have just said no so why did he do it?
Yuki thought maybe he was going through a delusional fit so she just held him there. Erams' body kept healing and mutating in weird ways then back to normal. She didn't know what was happening to him but just wanted to be there for him.
Eram kept crying for a while until he was too exhausted and passed out. She used all of her strength to carry him to his bed and was barely able to get him up on it. She let go of him and was beginning to walk away. She heard Eram start to shiver aggressively. She came back and held his hand and he stopped shivering. Deciding it would be easier to just sleep over here she put the blanket around Eram and lay down outside the blanket keeping a little distance between the two.
She lay there and cried a little. Eram was a bloody mess and what was he talking about killing three babies? When he woke up and got a chance she would need an explanation. But for now, she wanted to get some sleep. She turned over onto her side and cried a little.
The group had gotten close over the few months spending many long hours together training and living together. She thought to herself. ' I hope he is alright.'