539 Out of Reach

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.

"Now I am even more sure that Mongrel is a Legacy. Or an actual demon! Who else could have defeated that monster, Dar?"

"Aww... Mongrel knew that this guy was an archer, so he even offered to give him time to get away. He's so cordial! So noble! What an inspiration!"

"You mean an actual DEMONESS, right?"

Sunny shivered and, not even trying to look at the comments, hurriedly scrolled past these videos to start doing his research.

'Maybe one of these guys will help me advance to the next level of Shadow Dance…'

Out of curiosity, he also glanced at the cohort competition leaderboard. The team that was currently in the first place was called "Librarians" and, weirdly, consisted of only two people. Their aliases were Unorganized Laundry and Iza, which didn't tell him anything. But considering that these two were currently dominating much larger cohorts, they must have been a truly fearsome duo.

Initially, Sunny had only joined 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 humbling experience.

He had already faced several troublesome opponents that earned his reluctant acknowledgment, and things would only get exponentially harder 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 expect the worst.

Seeing these powerful Awakened helped him remember how dangerous it was to underestimate the enemy.

And these weren't even the true elites. Real powerhouses of the Awakened world would never reveal their might in a public tournament.

…Sunny was one of these hidden tigers himself, after all, so he would know.

With a dark expression, he shook his head and concentrated on the screen of the communicator.

***

Very soon, he was back in the arena. Sunny had skipped all the theatrics again and only entered the Dreamscape at the last minute, hoping to avoid any situation that could lead to him being asked questions.

Sadly, he couldn't avoid his opponents, and if they wanted to talk, he had to answer.

Currently, he was facing a man wearing a peculiar armor made out of rusted metal, their face grim and full of dark apprehension. He was in his early thirties, and looked like someone who had led a rough life.

"Challenger Mongrel has joined the fight!"

"Challenger What? No, wait! Has joined the fight!"

Hidden behind the mask, Sunny raised his eyebrows.

'What's up with that alias? Wait... why does it sound familiar?'

While he was trying to remember where he had heard this bizarre name, the man summoned a shield and an arming sword, glanced at him darkly, and asked:

"You're the new guy everyone is talking about?"

Sunny sighed, knowing what would follow.

"No."

His opponent frowned.

"Why are you lying?"

Sunny rolled his eyes, exasperated by all the talk. However, he didn't want to attack the older man recklessly. His opponent had to be quite powerful to get this far.

"I am not lying."

The man sneered.

"That's exactly what a liar would say! Do you think I'm an idiot?"

'Gods! Can you just attack already!'

He took a step forward and said:

"Yes."

The older man stared at him for a few moments, his face full of anger and confusion. After a while, he hissed:

"Brat, you must be courting death..."