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."

three corpses at 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 admirable, he had no problem dispatching

alive for more than

shook the drops

to clean his blade, since the blood was bound to turn into sparks of light and

short skirmish was not as easy as 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

any of his shadows to augment himself. He had decided against it a long time ago, since being able to crush his opponents with brute force was detrimental to his main goal — polishing his

shadow would, while the other two were wrapped around the Autumn Leaf — the

have looked

forward. He was in a rush to eliminate as many other players as he could before the first leaderboard

problem with the battle royale format of the qualifying rounds — as

soon, there could be a dozen fighters launching a coordinated

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

to be much

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

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

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

'Curses! A sniper!'

later, another giant arrow fell from

gritted his teeth

***

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

the two commentators were not

Forgotten Shore survivors, but actually the son of the secret child of the

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

over the three other challengers, now he seems to be in the crosshairs of one of the newcomers you spoke about earlier. Let's