For generations, the Death Match had been a grim tradition, a way for the royals to assert their dominance and entertain the masses. Each year, thirty-two boys were chosen from the surrounding villages to compete in a brutal contest where only one would emerge victorious. The prize? Fame, fortune, and the chance to serve the royal family as a knight. But for the boys torn from their homes in the dead of night, the promise of glory meant little. All they could think of was the uncertainty that lay ahead, the bloodshed and carnage that awaited them in the arena. As they trudged onwards, their footsteps echoing in the darkness, they knew that their lives would never be the same again.