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…"

***

Lord Corvus was

"Challenger Fry was eliminated."

"Challenger Erax was eliminated."

him as

that they had managed to remain alive for more than several seconds was

in the air, Sunny shook the drops of blood off its blade and continued

the blood was bound to turn into sparks of light and disappear, too. But

of them possessed a unique Aspect. They were cunning,

being able to crush his opponents with brute force was detrimental to his main goal — polishing his battle technique and

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

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

qualifying

a dozen fighters launching

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

battle royale is going to be much more intense than

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

whistled past him and embedded itself into the trunk of another tree, its trembling

glanced at the arrow, then lunged into a

'Curses! A sniper!'

from the

his teeth and continued

***

image of a broad-shouldered young man was shown, drawing the string of an oversized bow. His mightly muscles strained,

were not paying him

Mongrel is not, in fact, one of the Forgotten Shore survivors, but actually the son of the secret child of the legendary Nightwalker,

turned the conversation back to the skirmishes in the ancient forest, which were

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