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."

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 admirable, he had no problem

for more than several seconds was

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

of light and disappear, too. But that was already a habit of his...

them possessed a unique Aspect. They were

long time ago, since being able to crush his opponents with

the Autumn Leaf — the Memory he used to change the color of his hair. Since it had no other purpose, the augmentation did

hair must have looked

eliminate

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

soon, there could be a dozen fighters launching a coordinated

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

to be much more

something sharp shot at him with incredible speed. Cursing, he dashed to the side

a giant arrow whistled past him and embedded itself into the trunk of another tree, its

his shoulder and glanced at the arrow,

'Curses! A sniper!'

later, another giant arrow fell from the sky, almost skewering him

gritted his teeth and

***

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

two commentators were not

say without a shadow of a 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

smile, and then turned the conversation back to the skirmishes in the ancient forest,

the three other challengers, now he seems to be in the crosshairs of one of the newcomers you