Shadow Slave: Riftwalker

Aeona's eyes shot open along with a deep breath of fresh air. Her lungs were dry, but that was the least of her concerns. She won the battle but passed out directly after. In fact, she was surprised that she was still breathing, considering the nature of this tournament. Aeona assumed that the tournament would continue despite her state, but she was wrong.

When her eyelids separated, a beam of gleaming light burnt her eyes, and she felt faint prickles on her back as if laying in sand. As her sight adjusted to her surroundings, she noticed what that prickly feeling truly was. It wasn't sand, it was gravel. She was lying face up in the center of the stadium! They literally left her there! Right in the middle!

"Ugh..." She groaned as she lifted herself from the floor. The crowd—which was oddly silent—erupted into the same old chant as if congratulating her for the win. 

"Glory! Glory! Glory!" At this point, the word 'glory' had to have been made just to piss her off. It took everything in her to not yell at the audience to shut the hell up, but alas, it wouldn't contribute anything.

Her back ached, likely from the horrid sleeping position mixed with the hard, gravelly wood. Not that it mattered, the moment she woke up from the First Nightmare, every pain or discomfort would be eased.

"As you can see, our star challenger has awoken which marks the end of the duel! One after another, gladiators faced each other! One would always emerge victorious while the other would fall short! Despite each match holding emotion, effort, and unique characteristics, none had the quality of this one!

"Even with the Grounded Counter showcasing his abilities and battle intellect, the Battle Maiden struck back! She countered the man known for countering! In such a vile way as well!

"She even finished him with an axe-kick! Is this her new special move, or was she doing so to mock the man? Who really knows... but enough of this! Battle Maiden, please retreat to your station so the Tournament of Glory shall continue!"

So loud... my ears hurt. She complained inwardly as she gradually inched towards her station. She recalled her fight and analyzed each moment of it.

She was overconfident at the beginning. Perhaps the previous win got to her head, or maybe she believed she was stronger than she really was due to her aspect. Despite that, winning against an Awakened as a Dormant Human was absolutely incredible. She would surely receive a good mark from the Spell. Unfortunately, that wasn't enough for what she wanted. She wanted more than just 'good' she wanted something 'extraordinary'.

She still had a plan, and that Muscle Freak would have to serve his purpose, if not, she'd be restricted to her own abilities...

...and she wasn't quite capable of fighting an Ascended.

Returning to the previous subject, rather than using anything in her arsenal to win, she was holding herself back. She was scared of the disgusted feeling of regurgitating food, and this fear almost got her killed. If she hadn't changed, she wouldn't be having these thoughts.

Her brother was right, change was absolutely necessary.

As she entered her station, she took a seat and rested her back against the wall. Glancing forward, runes wove themselves from strings into words in front of her. They read:

Memory: [Fang of Serpentine]

Memory Rank: Awakened.

Memory Type: Weapon.

Memory Description: [The fang of a poisonous serpent. The toxic reptile was carved for its blood and sacrificed for its scales. The fang bears sharpness of a blade forged by professionals, and length that—while not long—is deadly from close-range, inflicting lethality into its prey.]

Wow, it tells me what the Memory does? I'm either lucky, or the stories were wrong...

Memory Enchantments: [Sharp-Edged Bone]

Unfortunately, while the Memory Description was relatively expansive about what the item did, the attribute had no explanation. Fortunately, the name implied most of it. It was sharper than that of a normal fang, which meant that whatever this memory was, could penetrate deeper or cut things easier.

She was hesitant to summon it because if people saw it, it could be disastrous—she might even be sentenced to death. Cheating in a tournament of this scale—especially one led by an Ascended was an accusation she wasn't willing to be accused of.

Without surprise, curiosity got the best of her, so she turned towards the wall and used her body to block the crowds view before summoning it. Similar to that of her status, strings of... something wove into existence in the form of particles before converging and forming the shape of a blade. 

While the blade wasn't long—around the length of a kitchen knife—she cut herself by merely grazing the flat part of the blade with her pointer finger. She chuckled before running the peak of the blade along the hard wall. As the bone dragged across, it penetrated the wall with ease. 

She found it difficult to contain her excitement. It was her first memory, and it was a good one as well! Perhaps that attribute of hers wasn't terrible after all...

...then again, it may have been the reason that fight was so difficult in the first place.

She shook her head and dematerialized it before resting against the wall once again. Beyond the gates, a battle was taking place. This one was between two fighters she wasn't familiar with. During their first fights, she spaced out, contained by her own thoughts. That being said, she wasn't all that impressed. Neither were Awakened like the Grounded Counter or the Muscle Freak, nor were they strong like herself. They were pitiful and destined to lose the tournament, and whoever emerged victorious was destined to be felled by her fists.

However, she planned on being merciful, as there was no need to go overkill. Besides, she preferred ending it as quickly as possible, and the quicker the kill, the less it'd hurt.

In front of her, the battle wrapped up and the winner was a contender as young as herself. He appeared to use his own shirt as a substitution of a rope, perhaps it was a fighting style the poor boy used before the tournament. Unfortunately, that would only work against opponents as weak as the old man he was set against. She could snap the fabric with her neck, let alone her hands.

She vaguely listened as the boy was led back to his station. Remembering the chart which displayed their nicknames, she assumed the winner's title was: "Snake" This was because her opponent had one eye—similar to herself—and the Snake was the only other option.

As for the current bids for who was most likely to win:

Number One: The Battle Maiden

Number Two: The Muscle Freak

Number Three: The Snake

Number Four: The Goblin of Pity

"I guess they really enjoyed my match...? What about me vomiting was satisfying to them?" She shook her head in distaste, Meh, no matter, it'll just make my inevitable escape more daunting, therefore increasing the reward. It seems my Attribute will work in my favor for receiving an Aspect as well... at least maybe it will.

---> Feedback Please! <---

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Authors Note: 

- Did you enjoy the chapter? Also, the option for the series being in the same universe as the main story is winning, which means I will build my future plans knowing that. If it suddenly changes before I introduce members from the main story, I'll simply take a break in order to plan for the dream realm then continue.

- As stated in the last chapter, if this chapter was too fast paced or terrible to read, please let me know so I can fix it.

Now—assuming that it's the main universe—pick between the three options below (Respond with a comment):

1: Should Aeona follow or lead the main cohort?

2: Should Aeona be entirely independent from them?

3: Should Aeona be related to the cohort, participating in things with them, but also being relatively independent in her activities? (Sort of like Sunny, and how he was a part of the cohort, but did his own stuff like the Chained Isles or becoming "Mongrel".)

- Anyways, I hope you enjoyed! This was made at 2-4 am, so I gotta sleep.