Fate's Slave - Shadow Slave X Honkai Star Rail

The golden wreath disappeared, and Sunny found himself facing two new images. On one, a knight in a suit of polished armor was depicted holding a bloodied sword. On the other, a warrior in an archaic armor was shown standing back to back with the knight, a slender huntress drawing her bow behind them.

The pleasant voice announced:

"Challenger, select your dream."

Several words appeared above the images.

"Dream of Glory", "Dream of Camaraderie".

’What’s with the bells and whistles...’

Sunny rolled his eyes.

The choice was very simple — one image was going to send him into the individual competition, while the other was meant for cohorts.

The Dream Tournament was basically two separate tournaments happening at the same time. This way, those Awakened who didn’t have combat Aspects could also participate and earn rewards. It was a good system.

Sunny had no intention of searching for a cohort, so he simply chose the image of the lonely knight and closed his eyes.

Unlike the usual Dreamscape duels, the tournament included various battle modes. They were also broadcasted and happened at a schedule, so he had to wait for the first qualifier round to start.

Standing in the darkness, Sunny couldn’t help but feel a little excited.

***

"Challenger! Draw your weapon and prepare! Only the best will survive!"

A bright light suddenly shone from above, and he found himself in the middle of a lush forest. All around him, ancient trees swayed lightly, their leaves rustling in the gentle wind.

Some distance away, a tranquil lake glistened in the sunlight, and from its clear waters, a breathtakingly beautiful castle rose into the sky. The castle was built out of grey stone and was as large as a city, its ancient walls scarred by a thousand sieges that it had withstood. Still, those scars could not diminish the ethereal beauty of the great fortress.

The arena was vast, and encompassed all of the forest. There was no other Awakened near Sunny, and for a good reason.

The qualifying rounds of the Dream Tournament were held in the form of a grand battle royale. A thousand challengers were sent into a large environment, and only the last one standing would be allowed to move on.

Depending on their performance, a few more people could also gain entry into the tournament... but the only concrete method to qualify was to be the sole survivor. This was a necessary measure implemented in the last few years because of the sheer amount of participants.

Arranging and broadcasting so many individual duels was not very practical... or profitable... especially considering that most of these Awakened were not very skilled. The battle royale was meant to weed out the weak and create an exciting show for the viewers.

Sunny knew this, of course, because he had done some research in the past couple of days.

...He didn’t need the research to recognize where he was, though.

’Wow... it’s even more beautiful in real life...’

Who didn’t know Bastion?

This year, clan Valor sponsored the tournament, so the arena was designed to resemble the seat of their power, great Bastion — one of the three most populous human Citadels in the Dream Realm.

Sunny had never been to the ancient castle, but its image was ubiquitous in popular culture. He recognized it instantly.

’So... this must be the Lake of Bones, then.’

And all around him was the ancient, cursed forest that Anvil of Valor had destroyed.

These days, of course, the landscape surrounding Bastion was very different. Instead of a lush forest, it was surrounded by a sea of ash and charred remains of the dreaded titan, with human forts built here and there to repel powerful Nightmare Creatures from wandering close to the Citadel.

But thanks to the Dreamscape, Sunny got to enjoy the way this place had looked before, vibrant and pristine. The only difference was that there was no harrowing darkness hiding behind the veil of false tranquility.

’Ah. How nice.’

Compared to the Chained Isles, it was a nice change of pace.

Just as he thought that, the voice of the Dreamscape suddenly announced:

"Challenger Mongrel #19 was eliminated."

Sunny tilted his head.

’Well, that was fast. Also... what’s up with that alias?"

Shaking his head, he commanded the Soul Serpent to assume the form of the odachi and calmly headed deeper into the forest.

It was time to start hunting...

***

"Challenger Lord Corvus was eliminated."

"Challenger Fry was eliminated."

"Challenger Erax was eliminated."

Sunny stared at the three corpses at his feet, which were already turning into a flood of white sparks. These three Awakened attacked him as a group, and while their skill was not bad and even admirable, he had no problem dispatching the trio in the span of a minute.

The fact that they had managed to remain alive for more than several seconds was already an excellent result, considering who their enemy was.

Flourishing the odachi in the air, Sunny shook the drops of blood off its blade and continued walking.

...Technically, he didn’t have to clean his blade, since the blood was bound to turn into sparks of light and disappear, too. But that was already a habit of his... not to mention being extremely cool.

Truth be told, that short skirmish was not as easy as he had made it look. The Awakened were dangerous enemies, since each of them possessed a unique Aspect. They were cunning, resourceful, and unpredictable. That was why he had to act swiftly, making the fight appear much more brutal than it should have been.

Currently, Sunny wasn’t using any of his shadows to augment himself. He had decided against it a long time ago, since being able to crush his opponents with brute force was detrimental to his main goal — polishing his battle technique and learning various styles.

So, the Gloomy shadow was currently behaving like any normal shadow would, while the other two were wrapped around the Autumn Leaf — the Memory he used to change the color of his hair. Since it had no other purpose, the augmentation did not give him any advantage.

...His hair must have looked gorgeous, though.

Snickering under the mask, Sunny jogged forward. He was in a rush to eliminate as many other players as he could before the first leaderboard announcement was made.

Meeting the group of three allied Awakened reminded him of the inherent problem with the battle royale format of the qualifying rounds — as soon as true powerhouses revealed themselves, weaker participants were bound to band together and start hunting them down.

Very soon, there could be a dozen fighters launching a coordinated attack on him, or even more.

Sunny was confident of his skill, but not to that degree. Even for a battle-hardened veteran like him, someone who had spent days fighting for his life in the darkest depths of the Dream Realm, such a fight would not be easy.

’This battle royale is going to be much more intense than I have expected...’

Before Sunny could finish this thought, an ancient tree next to him suddenly exploded into a cloud of splinters, and something sharp shot at him with incredible speed. Cursing, he dashed to the side and barely dodged out of the way.

The next moment, a giant arrow whistled past him and embedded itself into the trunk of another tree, its trembling shaft as long as he was tall.

Sunny rolled over his shoulder and glanced at the arrow, then lunged into a sprint.

’Curses! A sniper!’

A second later, another giant arrow fell from the sky, almost skewering him to the ground.

Sunny gritted his teeth and continued running.

***

’What the hell?! How is this fair?! Crap! This is bad, this is so bad! I don’t want to die so soon! What the Spell am I even supposed to do?!’

Panicking and sweating under the mask, Sunny dodged one arrow after another and cursed non-stop.

He had no idea who was shooting him, how they were able to aim through the thick canopy of the ancient trees, and where they were. All he could do was run, dodge, and pray to the dead gods that he survives this devastating barrage.

Luckily, a few moments later, he noticed a rock outcropping not too far away, with a deep ravine hiding behind it.

Dashing forward, he evaded another giant arrow and slid down the slope of the ravine. Reaching it’s bottom, he waded through the thick carpet of fallen leaves and pressed his back against the rocks, finally safe from the relentless sniper.

Only then could Sunny finally catch his breath and look around.

However, as soon as he did, a dark grimace appeared on his face.

’...Damnation!’

As fate would have it, he was not alone in the ravine.

Growling in frustration, Sunny gripped the hilt of the odachi and once again dodged.

A few moments later, the pleasant voice resounded over the ancient forest:

"...Challenger Agick was eliminated."