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."

as a group, and while their skill was not bad and even admirable, he had no

alive for more than several seconds was already an excellent result, considering who their enemy

shook the drops of blood

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

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,

He had decided against it a long time ago, since being able to crush his opponents with brute force was

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

must have looked gorgeous,

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

of the qualifying rounds

dozen fighters launching a coordinated attack on

degree. Even for a battle-hardened veteran like him, someone who had spent hundreds of days fighting for

going to be much more intense than I have

this thought, an ancient tree next to him suddenly exploded into a cloud of splinters, and something

and embedded itself into the trunk of another tree, its trembling shaft as long as he

rolled over his shoulder and glanced at the arrow, then

'Curses! A sniper!'

second later, another giant arrow fell from the

gritted his teeth and

***

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

two commentators were

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

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