Shadow Slave

The peculiar man had an excellent technique, but it seemed as though anger was clouding his judgment. Sunny spent several minutes dodging and blocking his attacks, carefully observing both the enemy and the enemy's shadow. It wasn't long before he was able to grasp the essence of the enemy's style.

'There… I understand now…'

After more than nine hundred duels in the Dreamscape, his ability to comprehend different battle styles had considerably improved. And this guy wasn't using anything he had never seen before — his technique was polished, but unoriginal. Not that there was anything wrong with that, except that it was also too straightforward and inflexible.

'How did he even get so far?'

Since there was nothing else for Sunny to learn, he switched from defense to attack and delivered a swift strike, leaving a shallow wound on the opponent's shoulder. A few drops of blood landed on the Mantle of the Underworld… and in the next moment, Sunny learned just how the man was able to climb so high on the tournament ladder.

Suddenly, the blood shone with menacing crimson light and exploded, throwing Sunny back and tearing the Soul Serpent from his hand. At the same time, his enemy's wound ignited with dim red radiance, and in the next second, his movements became much faster, his blow carrying much more weight.

'...What the hell?'

Sunny barely dodged a devastating downward slash, rolled away, and grabbed the hilt of the odachi — just in time to block another strike and be thrown back a few steps again.

'How is he suddenly so strong?!'

He struggled desperately to keep up with the man in rusted armor, who had somehow instantly become utterly overbearing. In the process, another drop of blood landed on him.

'Crap…'

The Mantle withstood another explosion. Its surface did not crack, but Sunny could tell that the armor was weakened. Jumping back to his feet, he gritted his teeth and continued to fight.

Pretty soon, his suspicion was confirmed. The enemy seemed to possess an Aspect related to blood. His first Ability allowed him to ignite it, and the second increased his strength and speed the more he bled. So every time Sunny managed to perform a successful attack, the man grew much more formidable, while Sunny himself had to either dodge the drops of blood or somehow survive another explosion.

…But he wasn't worried.

were four types of challengers who tended to do well in this tournament. The first type relied on skill, the second type relied on a powerful Aspect, and the third type relied

latter two were tricky to deal with, only the

and powerful

type, and relied too much on his bizarre Aspect. To defeat

his enemy stronger, he just had to finish the

truly develop his technique, that was not

light a feather and dashed

man into doing exactly what

weight and suddenly changed the direction of the attack, sidestepping as he pushed his sword forward. The Soul Serpent scraped against the

dismissed the Shadow and jumped as far back

just

body of the man in rusted armor shuddered… and then violently exploded, causing the whole courtyard to tremble. If Sunny was just a tiny bit slower, he would have been pulverized by the explosion, too,

beyond being eliminated from the

an Aspect is that?! Phew... I guess this is why Awakened are so dangerous. You just never know what kind of weird crap

with applause, the voice of

No, Wait!

didn't pay it

same time, the Spell whispered into his

have received a

***

black void, staring

'Huh… that's crazy!'

it was possible to exchange Memories in the Dreamscape. This illusion was a mystical space created by a Saint's Aspect Ability, after

in physical contact — even if that contact was illusory

he had received