Shadow Slave

Sunny climbed out of the pod and stretched, lamenting the fact that Dreamscape capsules weren't as sophisticated as the sleeping pods used to enter the actual Dream Realm. Due to his luxurious metal sarcophagus, he had almost forgotten the rusty feeling of spending too much time inside one of these things.

Despite the fact that the duels themselves had not lasted too long, an entire day already passed. Sunny was somewhat tired, but instead of resting, he commanded the Soul Serpent to shape itself into a weapon and walked to the middle of the dojo. He was impatient to cement the knowledge of the battle styles he had absorbed today.

Sunny started to perform various katas, executing each one slowly at first, and then quicker, and quicker, and quicker still. Soon, he moved with incredible speed, his lithe and flexible body almost leaving afterimages behind. Lean muscles were rolling under his pale skin, which soon glistened with sweat.

Sunny fluidly shifted from one style to another, his movements simultaneously firm and flowing, sharp and gentle, clear and unpredictable. The Soul Serpent flowed from one form to another, too, as insidious and shapeless as the person who wielded it. It was as though Sunny was performing a strange, graceful, viciously complicated dance.

…His three shadows danced with him, moving swiftly on the ceramic plates of the armored floor.

If Sunny could look at himself right now, he would be surprised to see that his movements were eerily similar to the dance that the young slave girl had once performed in his dream. But while her movements were beautiful and smooth, his were deadly and sharp. Hers were flawless, while his were slightly crude… as if he had not mastered his art yet.

'I can feel it… the second step. I can feel it, but why can't I reach it? Something is missing…'

After a long time, Sunny tiredly fell on the cold ceramic floor and remained motionless for several minutes, his chest moving heavily. There was a tired, but determined expression on his face.

'More, I need more. More and better…'

***

In the morning, Sunny had some free time before he had to enter the Dreamscape again. Making himself a cup of tea, he relaxed in a comfortable chair and took out his communicator.

After yesterday, the number of duelists remaining in the tournament had drastically reduced. Now, there were only thirty-two of them left. Each one was a formidable opponent, so Sunny decided to study their previous fights a bit. Luckily, all the recordings were readily available on the network.

…His were, too.

a Legacy. Or an actual demon! Who

even offered to give him time to get away. He's

mean an

even trying to look at the comments, hurriedly scrolled past these videos to

me advance to

at the cohort competition leaderboard. The team that was currently in the first place was called "Librarians" and, weirdly, consisted of only two people. Their aliases were Unorganized Laundry and Iza, which didn't tell him anything. But considering that these two were currently dominating much larger cohorts, they must have been a truly fearsome

thought much

that earned his reluctant acknowledgment, and things would only get exponentially harder from here. Due to his recent progress, Sunny had allowed himself to become a little vain. He was stronger and more experienced than most of the Awakened he met,

powerful Awakened helped him remember how dangerous it

Real powerhouses of the Awakened world would never reveal their might in a public

of these hidden tigers himself, after all,

dark expression, he shook his head

***

theatrics again and only entered the Dreamscape

couldn't avoid his opponents, and if they wanted to talk,

rusted metal, their face grim and full of dark apprehension. He was

Mongrel has

No, wait! Has

mask,

with that alias? Wait... why does

was trying to remember where he had heard this bizarre name, the man summoned a shield and an arming sword, glanced at him

new guy everyone