Shadow Slave

Sunny salvaged some food from the destroyed fridge, had a very late supper, and went down to the basement again, this time to travel to the Chained Isles.

By then, all shadow essence he had spent during the duels and to keep the Mantle of the Underworld from turning back to stone had already been restored.

Wearing the onyx armor required a constant flow of essence to maintain the [Leaving Stone] enchantment active, and with the Soul Serpent assuming its weapon form, Sunny couldn’t use the Shadow to keep the expenditure to a minimum. Wearing the Mantle for prolonged periods of time was rather draining… however, it was also a perfect way to train himself on how to manage essence most efficiently. He had no complaints.

…It was funny, though, that the Dreamscape required a person to expend real essence despite being just an illusion.

‘Oh well.’

Climbing into his new, state-of-the-art sleeping pod, Sunny lay comfortably in the soft cradle and smiled.

‘No more sore muscles! Finally.’

With that, he closed his eyes, and very quickly fell asleep.

While his soul wandered the Dream Realm and his body slept, locked in an underground bunker behind multiple layers of protection, though… several things happened in the real world.

The clip of his short duel against Leo Striker had unexpectedly gone viral.

All around the planet, countless people watched it with a wide range of reactions. Some found it funny, some fascinating, while some simply scrolled past it as they watched their feeds.

Even those who did not have any interest in the Awakened duels found it striking, though. The image of an infernal wraith clad in black onyx armor defeating a charming, noble human warrior with one swift and ruthless strike was, indeed, very cinematic… just how Leo had predicted. Even if, to his dismay, the roles had ended up being switched.

What’s more, even though Sunny had not even known that their fight was being broadcasted, he accidentally looked directly at the invisible camera right after cruelly putting the tip of his odachi through the opponent’s eye.

The image of the fearsome black mask staring emotionlessly directly at them, two pools of darkness hiding the eyes of the human being behind it, sent shivers down the spines of people watching the clip.

It was chilling, arresting, and strangely hypnotic.

Many of them had the same question after watching the clip on repeat several times…

Was there even a human there, behind the scary mask?

People who followed the Dreamscape leagues, however, had an entirely different reaction. Although they, too, appreciated the undeniable aesthetic value of the short and striking duel, they paid more attention to the actual meaning of it.

How could a completely unknown novice defeat an established and well-regarded duelist, someone as famous as Leo Striker… in just one strike? The exact moment when Sunny delivered the deadly blow was analyzed, disassembled, and put under the microscope. Was it skill or pure luck? Was it intentional or accidental? Did Leo make a mistake, or was his mysterious adversary just that much better?

The answer was rather confusing: no one had the slightest idea.

Obviously, once people became curious, they didn’t stop on just that one viral clip.

Rather swiftly, every fight and every word that Sunny had uttered during his infuriating visit to the Dreamscape were found and published for everyone to see.

…Once people saw the contents of those recordings, the whole duelist circle was violently shaken. One shock was followed by another, and then by yet another, still.

The first thing that people found during their investigation was two more short clips.

One showed Mongrel killing Daoist Saifer in the span of a single second.

The other showed Mongrel killing the Fool… once again, with a single ruthless strike.

All in all, it took him less than a minute to easily crush three of the most renowned young duelists in the world. They weren’t the absolute elite, but still some of the best the Dreamscape had to offer.

The conclusion was obvious: his victory over Leo Striker was neither lucky nor accidental. Mongrel was, indeed… just that much better.

But how could that be?!

Was he some other famous duelist in disguise?

People continued to dig, coming to a bewildering conclusion: the man who called himself Mongrel had never entered Dreamscape before that day. His profile showed only two pieces of information:

“Victories: 30.”

“Defeats: 0.”

And:

“Status: Offline.”

After that, many theories appeared postulating that Mongrel was, in fact, a Master who had visited the Dreamscape to have fun. There weren’t that many Masters in the world, and all of them had much more crucial things to do than spend their time having illusory duels. Even if they did, however, those duels transpired in private arenas that were created specifically for the occasion, away from the public eye.

Still, if Mongrel was a Master, that would explain it all. He was just much stronger…

But he wasn’t.

That theory was debunked when the recordings of his other twenty-seven duels were unearthed. After watching them, the investigating enthusiasts became truly shaken — and for a very strange reason.

It was because those recordings showed Mongrel actually struggling against much weaker opponents.

Now wait a minute… what the hell did that mean?!

How could a man struggle against novices, fighting them for an average of five to ten minutes, and then kill three experienced professionals in three seconds?

The answer was simply mind-boggling. While people who did not know much about combat techniques assumed that Mongrel had been just pretending to be weak, more knowledgeable experts came to a stunning conclusion…

Mongrel only used the styles of his opponents to fight against them.

He came into the Colosseum not knowing anything about the popular Roaring Lion Strike style, and mastered it in the span of a single evening to such degree that even the Fool, Daoist Saifer, and Leo Striker himself — the three fighters who had popularized the style in the first place — couldn’t resist him even for a couple of seconds.

Now, it was the experts’ turn to shiver.

Ironically, after understanding what exactly had transpired, they were left with the same question that the people who knew knowing about Awakened duels had after watching the viral clip.

…Was the being wearing the black wooden mask even human?

And all of them, regardless of their interests and level of knowledge about battle arts, were now wondering the same:

“…Who the hell is Mongrel?”