Shadow Slave

A triumphant sound of trumpets resounded above the ancient forest.

"Only three challengers remain!"

"These brave heroes are: Mongrel, one hundred and eleven kills; Fireshing, eighty-seven kills; Kim Saitoh, fifty-nine kills!"

"Dream of Glory awaits, heroes!"

Sunny dragged his tired body out of the forest, feeling the ground under his feet shift and tremble. At this point, the titan was almost fully awake, and no part of the arena was safe…

With the exception of the narrow strip of sand between the dark woods and the lake that he had just reached, of course.

Sunny walked into the shallow water and stopped, using the Soul Serpent to support himself. His breath was ragged and hoarse, and there were several dents on the onyx surface of the Mantle of the Underworld.

Almost at the same time, two more figures emerged from the darkness of the hungry forest.

One was an attractive young woman with broad shoulders and an athletic build, her long auburn hair gathered in a ponytail. She was wearing a modest red tunic, her torso protected by a leather cuirass, and wielded a light spear. Her blue eyes were tired, but clear, full of intensity and focus.

The other was a man in heavy armor, carrying a greatsword with its blade inscribed by a complicated weave of runes. His face was hidden behind the visor of a helmet, with only calm, cold eyes visible in the narrow slit. His steps were confident, but a little unsteady, betraying a dire level of exhaustion.

'This must be Fireshing and Saitoh.'

The mighty archer had not made it. Sunny could only guess what had happened to him, but the most likely scenario was pretty obvious. The powerful Legacy must have run into an ambush similar to those Sunny himself had encountered, only with a much less happy result.

Well, that was life. Dar of the Maharana clan had paid the price for daring to stand out too much without having enough power to answer for such audacity. On one hand, it was not very fair, as far as tournaments went. On the other hand, when was anything ever fair?

Sunny much preferred to stay in the shadows, even if this damned persona of his had somewhat failed to help him in that regard.

Coincidentally, none of those who had conspired to form a group had made it this far, as well. And with a good reason — the type of person who would resort to such methods did not have what it took to win this battle, to begin with.

So Sunny was not going to underestimate his last two opponents. They had already proven how formidable they were.

Awakened stood apart, looking at each other warily. The clear water of the tranquil lake splashed against their shins. The magnificent castle loomed in the distance, its ancient walls bathed in the

a suit of heavy plate armor turned to the fiery young woman and said

wins

Sunny rolled his eyes.

'Wow. How unexpected.'

Soul Serpent, preparing himself

the young woman shook her head a said simply, a clear expression of disdain appearing on her

"No."

He raised his eyebrows.

Such nobility… gods, what an idiot! What

laughed, and

care of the girl first, and then

had

"It is."

'Argh, curse it!'

Saitoh shook his head.

so naive. Have

the odachi and

"...It taught me everything."

he shifted his weight and

for words was

the next moment, the calmness of the

***

'What the!'

as Sunny moved, a powerful explosion thundered, and he was thrown into the air by the devastating shockwave. Landing in a roll, he hurriedly slotted the Memory of Fire into the Mantle and rose just in

damaged than it

burned skin visible through the tears. Just as Fireshing lunged at him, tongues of flame appearing on the blade of her spear, he suddenly moved with unexpected agility,

at the

'...Bad!'