Shadow Slave

The golden wreath disappeared, and Sunny found himself facing two new images. On one, a knight in a suit of polished armor was depicted holding a bloodied sword. On the other, a warrior in an archaic armor was shown standing back to back with the knight, a slender huntress drawing her bow behind them.

The pleasant voice announced:

"Challenger, select your dream."

Several words appeared above the images.

"Dream of Glory", "Dream of Camaraderie".

'What's with the bells and whistles…'

Sunny rolled his eyes.

The choice was very simple — one image was going to send him into the individual competition, while the other was meant for cohorts.

The Dream Tournament was basically two separate tournaments happening at the same time. This way, those Awakened who didn't have combat Aspects could also participate and earn rewards. It was a good system.

Sunny had no intention of searching for a cohort, so he simply chose the image of the lonely knight and closed his eyes.

Unlike the usual Dreamscape duels, the tournament included various battle modes. They were also broadcasted and happened at a schedule, so he had to wait for the first qualifier round to start.

Standing in the darkness, Sunny couldn't help but feel a little excited.

***

"Challenger! Draw your weapon and prepare! Only the best will survive!"

shone from above, and he found himself in the middle of a lush forest. All around him,

away, a tranquil lake glistened in the sunlight, and from its clear waters, a breathtakingly beautiful castle rose into the sky. The castle was built out of grey stone and was as large as a city, its ancient walls scarred by a thousand sieges that it had withstood. Still, those scars could not diminish

was vast, and encompassed all of the forest. There was no

Dream Tournament were held in the form of a grand battle royale. A thousand challengers were sent into a large environment,

but the only concrete method to qualify was to be the sole survivor. This was a necessary measure implemented

very practical… or profitable… especially considering that most of these Awakened were not very skilled. The battle royale was meant to weed out the weak and create an exciting

had done some research

didn't need the research to recognize

even more beautiful in

Who didn't know Bastion?

so the arena was designed to resemble the seat of their power, great

but its image was ubiquitous in popular culture. He

this must be the

the ancient, cursed forest that Anvil of Valor had

was surrounded by a sea of ash and charred remains of the dreaded titan, with human forts built here and

thanks to the Dreamscape, Sunny got to enjoy the way this place had looked before, vibrant and pristine. The only difference was that there was no harrowing darkness hiding

'Ah. How nice.'

to the Chained Isles, it was

the voice of the Dreamscape

Mongrel #19 was

Sunny tilted his head.

was fast. Also… what's up with that

to assume the form of the odachi and

time to start

***

image of an eliminated player was shown briefly.