
by Max.Ryder
401 souls. Eight trials. Only one will survive. For centuries, the Council hoarded magic, granting it only to their chosen few. Now magic is dying, and their answer is slaughter dressed as spectacle. Cast into the ruins of the Octaviary, a once-proud academy twisted into a labyrinth of death, the competitors must fight, bargain, and betray their way through trials designed to break them. The last survivor will be granted a wish and tutelage beneath the greatest mages alive. But the contestants are not the only ones playing. Each Councilor has chosen champions, and each will twist the rules to keep their pieces alive. They say the strongest will prevail. But in the shadows, every path is rigged. The road to power will be written in blood.The only question is: who’s holding the pen? What to Expect: – An ensemble, multiple-POV cast of flawed and dangerous characters– Magic that feels powerful, costly, and unpredictable– Tactical challenges where strength alone is rarely enough– Scheming Councilors pulling strings behind the scenes– Shifting alliances, betrayals, and desperate bargains– A completed first book with new chapters released every other day.
No streak history
One state-enhanced oracle order, filtered by each list. Observed Royal Road ranks remain separate ground truth.
Rank updated 2 Oct 2026, 06:28 UTC
Entry forecast updated 2 Oct 2026, 06:28 UTC
Ranking model: rs-public-oracle-state-v1
Forecast model: rs-model-entry-v1
Chart history contains only this ranking model's runs; legacy points are not spliced in.
Coupled 14-day outlook
rs-joint-entry-copula-v1
Any eligible RS entry
3%
Two or more lists
1%
Likely threshold order: Action → Fantasy → Adventure → Main.
Leading bundle: Action (2%).
Estimated from one fitted shared story path; category probabilities are not multiplied as if lists were independent.
Separate entry forecast; this probability does not enter the ranking score.
Overall Rising Stars Shadow RS rank
#4210 of 12,157 · 4160 below RS #50
By genre
beats 99% of similar stories
beats 82% of similar stories
beats 30% of similar stories
Hidden gem — exposure is the bottleneck
Readers who find this story follow it at a high rate; there just aren't enough of them. In our cohort data, near-daily posting lifted the odds of reaching 25 followers from ~0% to 17% — more chapters, shoutout swaps and ads buy the eyeballs this conversion deserves.
Benchmarks: 8,060 active Royal Road stories, percentiles within the 50–149 chapters band, cohort of 2026-07-02. Conversion is measured as followers gained per 1,000 views over the recent window.
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