Mongrel #1 Sympathiser: "Wait. Shoe… are you Mongrel's son?"
"User Random Shoe changed their name to Mongrel's Son"
Mongrel's Son: "Aren't we all Mongrel's children?"
Sunny closed the link and went to another page.
"Silence is Gold. One strike of a sword is worth more than a thousand words: an in-depth analysis of the postneonihilist philosophy of Mongrel."
'Postneo… what?'
Stupefied, he opened another link.
"Reacting to Mongrel's 70 wins! You gasp you lose!"
And another:
"Mongrel does not believe in styles. Styles only separate men..."
And another:
"I spent a night with Mongrel: a candid confession of a former idol trainee."
Deactivating the communicator, he sat quietly for a while, and then groaned again.
"Oh, no!"
***
The new recording of Mongrel's stunning performance in the Colosseum flew around the globe in no time at all. Starved for new information about the mysterious demonic fighter, people became glued to the screens of their communicators…
They were not disappointed by what they saw, to say the least.
Mongrel's already considerable renown — or infamy, depending on who you asked — became even more widespread.
Sunny had grown up in the outskirts, so he had never been really exposed both to the network culture and to the peculiar fanbase of the Dreamscape. That was why he had severely underestimated the effect his recent visit to the amateur arena would have on the people interested in these things.
He had only wanted to reach the number of victories required to access the professional duels as fast as possible, but failed to take into account how outstanding the feat of defeating seventy opponents in just one hour would look from the side.
…Especially considering the fact that he had killed the last half a dozen or so with his bare hands, not even bothering to use a weapon. These last few duels looked especially striking, impressive, and gruesome.
If before people called Mongrel a sword demon, now he had become just a demon in their eyes.
What's worse, even though it took all of his power and lots of effort for Sunny to achieve these victories, due to the fact that his face was always hidden behind the fearsome mask, he appeared to be completely calm and indifferent, as if defeating so many people in a row was nothing to him.
A walk in the park.
Added to the fact that he had dismissed his sword near the end of the hour and then left after shaking his head, it seemed as though Mongrel was not only a demon, but also held all the rest of the duelists in utter contempt.
Mongrel was disappointed in them…
That disappointment ignited a fire in the hearts of many duelists of the Dreamscape, pushing them to train harder, reach higher, become stronger.
Mongrel's status was always in front of them, reminding these young men and women what they were striving to achieve:
"Mongrel"
"Victories: 100"
Defeats: 0"
And of course, all of them continued to wonder about his true identity.
Very soon, someone made a logical connection: an incredibly talented young warrior appeared in the Dreamscape soon after the hundred survivors of the Forgotten Shore returned to the real world, putting every Awakened there to shame.
Obviously, Mongrel was one of these hundred heroes!
But which one?
It didn't take people a lot of time to solve the mystery.
On one of the discussion boards on the network, an anonymous user wrote:
"Guys, isn't it obvious? Who is among the best of the best of the Forgotten Shore warriors, and also has a big reason to keep his identity a secret?"
Another answered:
"Wait… wait. You're right! It was right in front of us the whole time!"
And then, the shocking piece of news spread through the network as wildfire:
"Mongrel's true identity is…"
Kai of Nightingale!