Monokuma hopped off of me and Jade's swords, laughing at our expressions. "Upupupu... You guys expressions are priceless... The despair... The agony... It's exciting!" Monokuma cheered gleefully.

I roared, "Shut up, Monokuma!"

"Yes, please shut up! You and your despair talk are giving me a headache..." Jade agreed.

Almost on cue, everyone else came pouring into the room like ants. They all were in state of awe, looking at Despair's Arena. "We heard the commotion from outsi– What in the world is this?" Kirigiri asked.

"W-what is t-this p-p-place?" Fukawa asked.

Oowada whistled, "It's huge..."

Asahina asked, "What are those weapons doing here?!"

Leon scratched his head, "Uuh... is this some kind of arena?"

Monokuma jumped in glee, "Yep! You bet cha! This arena here is the new world I was talking about!"

We all looked to each other with uncertainty. Why an arena? Is this... supposed to be an incentive? I found myself thinking.

Monokuma climbed up to what appeared to be a balcony overseeing the entire arena with quite some difficulty. "Here's what's going to go down! There will multiple challenges where you will duel against each other. Whoever wins in these challenges will win something of most great value..." Monokuma explained.

"What exactly will be of value to us?" Togami asked curiously.

Monokuma grinned, "Why don't we let your imagination think of that while we wait to find out... Upupupupu..."

Sakura shouted with anger, "What challenges do you speak of?!"

Monokuma smiled in glee, "Glad you asked! Here they are!" Our attention was drawn towards a jumbo-tron that appeared above Monokuma's Balcony. It came alive; flashing many colors and flowers. "Monokuma's Despair Challenges" flared at the top of the screen. Almost as if it came out of a video game, the jumbo-tron showed a versus screen with... Jade and I. Monokuma bellowed cheerfully, "And the first Challenge between Jade and Ace shall now commence! Since I am such a fun loving bear, you guys can set the stipulation for their challenge!"

W... what the hell?! I thought in panic. I turned towards Jade, who also had a look of confusion on her face. I suddenly felt something vibrate in my pocket. I reached for it and I saw that my Electro ID had gotten a pop-up message on it:

Select the Stipulation:

A.) Swordplay B.) Race C.) Fight to the Death D.) Monokuma's Scramble

Will someone please tell me why we have to do whatever Monokuma decides to tell us?! I thought angrily. However, I saw that everyone else already selected a stipulation for the challenge Jade and I had to do.

"Come on Ace... hurry up and choose. I hate waiting..." Togami called.

Cursing under my breath, I tapped A on the ElectroID. After it processed my answer, it shut off. That's odd... Suddenly, Jade and I found ourselves on a rising platform, which rose to Monokuma's level.

Jade yelped, "What the-!"

"What's going on?!" I exclaimed.

When the platform finally stopped, Monokuma jumped onto the platform and walked in-between me and Jade. "The voting has come to a close and the challenge for this round is... SWOOOOOOOORD PLAAAAY!" Monokuma proclaimed.

Jade yelled, "But why!? Why do we have to fight for your entertainment?!"

"Yeah! What if we refuse to do the Challenge?!" I yelled.

Monokuma grunted, "What?! You won't do it!? Uuugh! Fine, you wanna play that way!? How's this for ya?!"

Suddenly, all of our Electro ID's buzzed alive. I examined mine and I found the School Rules had been updated. What did that damn bear do now? I asked myself. Clicking on it, the new school rule appeared for all of us to see:

Rule 8: Every student participating in the Academic Coliseum must partake in the weekly Monokuma's Despair Challenges. No exceptions. If a student refuses to do the challenge, Monokuma has the right to punish the student(s).

I read the school rule over and over again. I became extremely agitated with reading it more and more. "You can't do that! You can't just make up random rules just because!" I yelled.

Asahina called, "Let me at that two-timing bear!"

Togami snickered, "You all are so pathetic... Monokuma does have the right to do as he pleases. Don't forget, he runs the show. Besides, will it kill you to just play with swords for a match?"

As much as I wanted to argue with Togami... he did have a valid point. But there was one thing that I wanted to be sure of before I started this... challenge... Jade must have read my mind because when I was about to ask my question, the words came out of Jade's mouth. "What... what happens if you... k... kill someone... in the challenges...?" Jade asked.

Monokuma jumped, "What?! You guys are really thinking about killing each other at a time like this? You guys are blood seekers!"

"Just answer the question... will there be a Trial if, per say, Jade were to kill Ace?" Kirigiri pressed.

Monokuma shook his head, "Nope. I won't let that happen. The challenges will not have killings in them. I will personally make sure of that. So you can know that your safety is in good hands!"

That makes me feel a lot better... I mumble to myself. The jumbo-tron set up a counter and it started counting down from 100. Monokuma hurriedly ran back to the safety of his balcony. Jade and I looked at each other with dismay. "Jade... I..." I started.

Jade continued, "I know... I don't want to do this either..."

"You're right... let's not holding anything back. This will be our rematch from the tournament!" I yelled, more to convince myself than Jade.

Jade nodded, "Y-yes. You're right... I will... do my best..."

I slowly drew my dual-blades from my sheaths. They vibrated and illuminated a crimson-red glow. Jade followed my lead, drawing her rapier swiftly and got into fighting stance. Her rapier glow a almost holy light. Alright... I may not like this, especially with the terms of this match... but I got to give this my all! I thought. The counter then hit zero and the fight began.

Jade suddenly charged at me, thrusting her sword forward. Surprised at her speed, I jumped back, parrying her blade upward. Our swords clashed, vibrating violently with the contact. Seeing Jade had not fully taken in the force of the recoil, I lashed out at Jade with my swords. Jade, however, was expecting my attack. She side-stepped my slash and my Inferno sword latched itself into the ground.

Jade lashed her rapier toward my side. Crud! I thought quickly. I ducked under her slash. Her blade connected with Inferno and knocked it towards the end of the arena. I slashed upward with Erazor and made contact with Jade's sword. She was knocked off balance and sent a few feet away from myself. When she landed, we looked around at our field. Inferno was five feet from where I was, and Jade was about... six feet away from myself. I need to get Inferno back. Jade's too fast for me to just use one sword... I found myself strategizing.

Jade and I looked at each other, at Inferno, and then back at each other. We made a scramble for my sword. Thankfully, I reached my blade before she did because it would of gotten worse for me. Only a second behind me, Jade lashed her rapier at my back. I felt a force push me off the platform and I felt myself falling. I heard Jade exclaim with fear and so did everyone else watching the fight. Togami and Monokuma were the only ones who weren't in horror. Togaimi was paying little to no attention to the fight, while Monokuma was cheering us on.

I fell a few feet before stabbing my swords into the side of the platform. I felt my arms bulk wildly and I came to an abrupt stop. Jade scrambled to the edge and sighed in relief to see me "hanging in there". I nodded to Jade with reassurance that I was alright and I started climbing back up the spire. It took me a few minutes to get back onto the spire.

Breathing heavily, I took a moment to look at the jumbo-tron. Monokuma had programmed the screen to show how much more me and Jade could go before we would give out. Jade's HP was in bright green still, while mine was just starting to go into the yellow stage. Alright... let's get this party started! I thought to myself to get pumped up.

Jade asked, "Can you go on?"

"Heh... shame on you. Thinking I'm down just because I was knocked off a tower..." I joked.

Jade giggled, "You're right, you usually put up more of a fight..."

I glared at Jade, "Ha... ha... real funny..."

With that, Jade and I both charged at each other again and yelled our battle cries. We both lashed out, Jade and I both made contact, and the recoil nearly broke my arm. Wincing at the pain shooting up my arm, I slashed with Erazor and Jade was able to parry. We both began to get into a parry chain. We slashed back and forth with sparks and grinding steel filling the air around us.

Finally, I was able to perform a perfect parry with both my swords. Slashing upwards, I made Jade lose her balance. I suddenly felt a pang of guilt and hesitation run through me. I... I can't do this anymore! I thought. I glanced at the jumbo-tron and I saw me and Jade where both at the same deep red HP. Because of my hesitation, Jade was able to retreat by flipping back to the other end of the platform.

"*huff*... *huff*... *huff*..." I gasped, exhausted.

Jade gasped as well, "*huff*... *huff*... *huff*..."

"Jade... *huff*... come on... *huff*... let's... finish this..." I managed to call out.

Jade nods, "Y-yes... let's finish this..."

We both slowly got to our feet and charged at each other for the last final time. We both slashed at each other, spinning into our attack. We both came to a screeching halt. I felt the top of my chest rip open, blood flowing from it. I felt like I was about to pass out at any moment. Did... I... lose? I thought weakly before falling to the ground and falling unconscious.