Shadow Slave

Sunny had received generous rewards for these three duels… well, for two of them, at least.

One was an Ascended Memory of the second tier, which was an arrow. The second was an Ascended shield of the second tier. Both had pretty great enchantments, but he had no time to study them in detail. All he had determined was that the Memories were good enough to not be fed to Saint.

The third reward, though… was a bitter disappointment. It would have been rather amazing, actually, for anyone else — a hundred soul shards, no less! In the waking world, this was a precious resource. Even lesser Legacy clans would not scoff at that amount.

But since Sunny couldn't claim it, he was left with nothing.

'Curses…'

His disappointment didn't last long, however. In the end, it didn't really matter. The real boon was the prizes those in second and first place would receive — and Sunny had already cemented his position in the final duel.

The winner and the runner-up were going to receive Memories from clan Valor's personal armory. And this was something every Awakened desired, because the Great Clan was renowned not only for its knights.

It was also famous for its forgers.

Members of the Valor family often received Aspects tied to forging and creation. Some of them could even create Memories, tailor-made for destroying Nightmare Creatures and conquering the dangerous expanses of the Dream Realm. Sunny doubted that they would put something really unique as a prize for a public tournament, but anything from their vault was going to be precious.

What's more, he had already enriched his mastery of Shadow Dance a lot. The last three duels especially had pushed him even closer to grasping its second step. Now, he felt as though it was almost within his reach.

So, participating in the tournament was a pretty good idea, after all.

'I should really thank Rain… no, wait… she doesn't know that I am participating. Also, I am not participating in the tournament… Mongrel is! Damn, why is everything so convoluted… I should really rest for a bit.'

After the battle with Dynisor, he wasn't in the best shape. That fight was nothing short of brutal… even Sunny, who usually thrived in brutality, was a bit stunned by how violent it ended up being. His wounds had disappeared as soon as the duel ended, but mental exhaustion remained. His essence was also really spent, since that was how the Dreamscape functioned.

enough to not schedule the final fight anytime soon. First, there would be the duel for the third and

Sunny left the Dreamscape, climbed out of the pod, and

***

Sunny studied

were not powerful newcomers who entered the Dreamscape to win the tournament rewards, but habitual duelists —

heard about the woman he was going to

and she was almost as enigmatic as Sunny himself. Unlike other popular duelists, she didn't broadcast or promote her fights, preferring instead to remain anonymous and under the radar. It seemed as though she was only interested in dueling itself, and nothing else. From what he knew, Queen Bee had never lost a duel.

judge, since he

maybe it was just

a rumor that she was not human at all, but instead an artificial construct created to keep the players from reaching the top spot and to remind them to always strive for greater mastery. Which was complete

it was, Awakened wouldn't waste time fighting each other and train against simulated Nightmare

people believed what they

people were also

'What the hell…'

the communicator with a weird

had her own army of unreasonable fans — even though she didn't want any. And currently, that army was engaged in an all-out

back when he's King Mongrel, you tasteless

not want to be a king! Mongrel is one of us, common people! Wanna follow a

sheep?! That shady Mongrel guy has literal horns, so think

arguing? Isn't it obvious that Mongrel

is insane! Mongrel can't compare

pathetic wannabe princess can't compare

agree that the previous

"You're an idiot!"