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.

Mongrel is a Legacy. Or an actual demon! Who else

to give him time to get away. He's so cordial! So noble! What an

mean an actual DEMONESS,

comments, hurriedly scrolled past these videos to start

will help me advance to the next

"Librarians" and, weirdly, consisted of only two people. Their aliases were Unorganized Laundry and Iza, which

the Dream Tournament to reap the alluring rewards, so he had not thought much of it. But now, he was starting to suspect that it was going to be a

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, so he had almost forgotten to always

how dangerous it was to underestimate

of the Awakened world would never reveal their

these hidden tigers himself, after all, so he would

head and concentrated on the screen of

***

he was back in the arena. Sunny had skipped all the theatrics again and only entered the

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

grim and full of dark apprehension. He was in his early thirties, and looked like someone who had led a rough

has joined

What? No, wait! Has joined the

behind the mask, Sunny raised

with that alias? Wait... why does

bizarre name, the man summoned a shield and an arming sword, glanced

the new guy everyone is talking