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

"Challenger Fry was eliminated."

"Challenger Erax was eliminated."

feet, which were already turning into a flood of white sparks. These three Awakened attacked him as a group,

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

the

his blade, since the blood was bound to turn into sparks of light and disappear, too. But that was already a

he had made it look. The Awakened were dangerous enemies, since each of them possessed a unique Aspect. They were cunning, resourceful, and

a long time ago, since being able to crush his opponents with brute force was detrimental to his main goal — polishing

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

hair must have looked

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

reminded him of the inherent problem with the battle royale format of the qualifying rounds — as soon as true powerhouses revealed

dozen fighters launching a coordinated attack on him, or even

battle-hardened veteran like him, someone who had spent hundreds of days fighting for his

is going to be much more

a cloud of splinters, and something sharp shot at him with incredible speed. Cursing, he dashed to the side and barely dodged out of

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

over his shoulder and glanced at the arrow, then lunged into

'Curses! A sniper!'

giant arrow fell from the sky, almost

his teeth

***

drawing the string of an oversized bow. His mightly muscles strained, and

commentators were not paying him

a doubt that Mongrel is not, in fact, one of the Forgotten Shore survivors, but actually the son of the

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

trouble! Despite Mongrel's savage victory over the three other challengers, now he seems to be in the