Shadow Slave

As soon as the commentator mentioned Mongrel, the feed changed to the image of a menacing figure in black armor calmly walking through the forest, the blade of the infamous odachi resting on its shoulder. The lightless pits of the demonic mask's eyes stared directly into the camera, as if there was nothing but darkness beneath it.

As soon as Mongrel appeared on the screens, the chat exploded.

"YES! It's Mongrel!"

"Hail to the Lord!"

"Huh? Who is Mongrel?"

"...You mean hail to the LADY?"

Dimi laughed.

"Ah, yes. This guy. Well, Mongrel is a really impressive fighter, but the results may not be as predictable as everyone thinks. Every year, the same thing happens — at the later stages of the tournament, two distinct groups clash. One is the Dreamscape elites, and the other is newcomers attracted by the rewards. Historically, the newcomers tend to do better."

He sighed and shook his head.

"Plus, we don't really know a lot about Mongrel. Sure, he has a very impressive track record, but most of his wins were achieved against random opponents. Who knows what will happen when he faces the best of the best? If I were to bet, my money is still on Queen Bee. If anyone has a chance against the newcomers, it should be her."

Syclus nodded a few times, expressing his enthusiastic agreement.

"Sure! But, still, returning to Mongrel. Everyone is dying to know who he really is under that scary mask. And if anyone knows anything about you, Dimi, they'll know that you must have your guesses…"

The older man smiled, his eyes suddenly gleaming with excitement.

"Funny you should ask! Actually, I do have a theory…"

***

"Challenger Lord Corvus was eliminated."

"Challenger Fry was eliminated."

"Challenger Erax was eliminated."

Sunny stared at the three corpses at his feet, which were already turning into a flood of white sparks. These three Awakened attacked him as a group, and while their skill was not bad and even admirable, he had no problem dispatching the trio in the span of a minute.

The fact that they had managed to remain alive for more than several seconds was already an excellent result, considering who their enemy was.

Flourishing the odachi in the air, Sunny shook the drops of blood off its blade and continued walking.

...Technically, he didn't have to clean his blade, since the blood was bound to turn into sparks of light and disappear, too. But that was already a habit of his... not to mention being extremely cool.

Truth be told, that short skirmish was not as easy as he had made it look. The Awakened were dangerous enemies, since each of them possessed a unique Aspect. They were cunning, resourceful, and unpredictable. That was why he had to act swiftly, making the fight appear much more brutal than it should have been.

Currently, Sunny wasn't using any of his shadows to augment himself. He had decided against it a long time ago, since being able to crush his opponents with brute force was detrimental to his main goal — polishing his battle technique and learning various styles.

So, the gloomy shadow was currently behaving like any normal shadow would, while the other two were wrapped around the Autumn Leaf — the Memory he used to change the color of his hair. Since it had no other purpose, the augmentation did not give him any advantage.

…His hair must have looked gorgeous, though.

Snickering under the mask, Sunny jogged forward. He was in a rush to eliminate as many other players as he could before the first leaderboard announcement was made.

Meeting the group of three allied Awakened reminded him of the inherent problem with the battle royale format of the qualifying rounds — as soon as true powerhouses revealed themselves, weaker participants were bound to band together and start hunting them down.

Very soon, there could be a dozen fighters launching a coordinated attack on him, or even more.

Sunny was confident of his skill, but not to that degree. Even for a battle-hardened veteran like him, someone who had spent hundreds of days fighting for his life in the darkest depths of the Dream Realm, such a fight would not be easy.

'This battle royale is going to be much more intense than I have expected…'

Before Sunny could finish this thought, an ancient tree next to him suddenly exploded into a cloud of splinters, and something sharp shot at him with incredible speed. Cursing, he dashed to the side and barely dodged out of the way.

The next moment, a giant arrow whistled past him and embedded itself into the trunk of another tree, its trembling shaft as long as he was tall.

Sunny rolled over his shoulder and glanced at the arrow, then lunged into a sprint.

'Curses! A sniper!'

A second later, another giant arrow fell from the sky, almost skewering him to the ground.

Sunny gritted his teeth and continued running.

***

On the countless screen, an image of a broad-shouldered young man was shown, drawing the string of an oversized bow. His mightly muscles strained, and when he released the string, a thunderous sound rolled down the slopes of a tall hill the archer was standing on.

Meanwhile, the two commentators were not paying him attention:

"...And so, I can say without a shadow of a doubt that Mongrel is not, in fact, one of the Forgotten Shore survivors, but actually the son of the secret child of the legendary Nightwalker, the founder of the House of Night. Uh… well, this is my theory, anyway."

Syclus glanced at Dimi with a wide smile, and then turned the conversation back to the skirmishes in the ancient forest, which were starting to happen more frequently and grow in intensity.

"Is that so! Well, that secret grandchild seems to be in big trouble! Despite Mongrel's savage victory over the three other challengers, now he seems to be in the crosshairs of one of the newcomers you spoke about earlier. Let's take a look!"

The feed changed to the image of Mongrel running swiftly through the woods, dodging one giant arrow after another. His movements seemed steady and precise, as though he had a second pair of eyes at the back of his head.

Syclus glanced at the indifferent black mask and involuntary shivered.

"Wow! Look at that… what a commendable feat, to maintain calm and composure in such a tricky situation! It is almost as if Mongrel is not afraid of anything, not even being bombarded by a rain of enchanted arrows, each of them powerful enough to pierce a Fallen monster through! Truly, that man has nerves of steel. I wonder what he is thinking about right now…"

***

'What the hell?! How is this fair?! Crap! This is bad, this is so bad! I don't want to die so soon! What the Spell am I even supposed to do?!'

Panicking and sweating under the mask, Sunny dodged one arrow after another and cursed non-stop.

He had no idea who was shooting him, how they were able to aim through the thick canopy of the ancient trees, and where they were. All he could do was run, dodge, and pray to the dead gods that he survives this devastating barrage.

Luckily, a few moments later, he noticed a rock outcropping not too far away, with a deep ravine hiding behind it.

Dashing forward, he evaded another giant arrow and slid down the slope of the ravine. Reaching its bottom, he waded through the thick carpet of fallen leaves and pressed his back against the rocks, finally safe from the relentless sniper.

Only then could Sunny finally catch his breath and look around.

However, as soon as he did, a dark grimace appeared on his face.

'...Damnation!'

As fate would have it, he was not alone in the ravine.

Growling in frustration, Sunny gripped the hilt of the odachi and once again dodged.

A few moments later, the pleasant voice resounded over the ancient forest:

"...Challenger Agick was eliminated."