[Now, contestants, an audience is awaiting your performance ahead—please demonstrate your greatest skills, your wisest minds, your most exclusive talents...for an _unforgettable_ show.]

[Ingrain yourselves in the minds of your audience, so they may continue supporting you in your future endeavors.]

[The system wishes all contestants the best of luck.]

One by one, contestants of all shapes and sizes moved out of the archway in a single-file line, crossing the threshold into a bright, resplendent world filled with screaming and cheering and crying.

_Clink, clink, clink!_

The line moved in a robotic rhythm, walking in measured steps to make their way across the vast stage, and with each step, the manacles fastened around their wrists and ankles banged noisily against the thick chains that linked them together. A hundred people passed under radiant spotlights and flashing lights, which only did well to incapacitate their eyes and quicken their drumming hearts.

Soon, those one hundred of people stood upon the stage, backs straight and heads held high. Innumerable, horrendously-deformed faces entrenched their hazy vision, glowing, serpentine eyes drilled deep into their souls, and wicked, sinister grins crawled up their spines to scream madness into their ears.

In that moment, all the contestants knew—_never_ again would there be another instance that could solidify true, primal fear into their being like this.

_This axiom was engraved into their minds like the numbers carved into their neck._