Underling: The Trial Begins

Richerton is not a school. It is a proving ground. You are an underling—first year, expendable, and conscripted into a system designed to break the weak and glorify the strong. The war demands bodies, and Richerton decides which ones are worth keeping. Today is the trials. You were never meant to fight alone. Paired with your older brother Derek—one of Richerton’s most respected students—you enter the arena believing teamwork might be enough to survive. The rules are simple: incapacitate your opponents. When one falls, the fight ends. But something goes wrong. Blood is spilled where it never should have been. The crowd that once roared now watches in stunned silence. You stand in the arena with a blade in your hand, the weight of loss pressing heavier than any armor. Richerton has taken something from you. What it gives back—power, purpose, or ruin—will depend on the choices you make next.