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."

his feet, which were already turning into a flood of white sparks. These three Awakened attacked him as a group, and while their skill was not bad and even

for more than

shook the drops of blood off its blade and continued

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

possessed a unique Aspect. They were cunning, resourceful, and unpredictable. That was why he had

decided against it a long time ago, since being able to crush his

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 it had no

must have

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

Awakened reminded him of the inherent problem with the battle royale format of the qualifying rounds — as soon as true powerhouses revealed themselves, weaker participants were bound to band together

fighters launching a coordinated attack on him, or

but not to that degree. Even for a battle-hardened veteran like him, someone who had spent hundreds of days fighting for his

to be much more intense than I

into a cloud of splinters, and something sharp shot at him with incredible speed. Cursing, he dashed

the trunk

at the arrow, then lunged into a

'Curses! A sniper!'

second later, another giant arrow fell from the

his teeth and continued

***

was shown, drawing the string of an oversized bow. His mightly muscles strained, and when he released the string, a thunderous sound rolled down the slopes of a tall hill the archer

were not paying him

doubt that Mongrel is not, in fact, one of the Forgotten Shore survivors, but actually the son of the secret child of the legendary Nightwalker, the founder of the House of Night. Uh… well, this is my theory,

turned the conversation back to the skirmishes in the ancient forest, which were starting to happen more frequently and grow

challengers, now he seems to