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…"

***

Corvus

"Challenger Fry was eliminated."

"Challenger Erax was eliminated."

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

more than several seconds was already an excellent result,

the odachi in the air, Sunny shook the drops

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

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

augment himself. He had decided against it a long time ago, since being able to crush his opponents with brute

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

have looked gorgeous,

in a rush to eliminate as many other players as he could before the first leaderboard

the qualifying rounds — as soon as true

launching a coordinated

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

is going to be

splinters, and something sharp shot at

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

shoulder and glanced at

'Curses! A sniper!'

later, another giant arrow fell from the sky,

teeth and

***

was shown, drawing the string of an oversized bow. His mightly muscles strained, and when he released the string, a

commentators were not paying

is not, in fact, one of the Forgotten Shore survivors, but actually the son of

back to the skirmishes in the ancient forest, which were starting to happen more

Despite Mongrel's savage victory over the three other challengers, now he seems to be in the crosshairs of one of