Sunny crawled out of the simulation pod and lay on the cold floor for a while, breathing heavily.
'How come an illusory arena is so exhausting?'
The designers of the Dreamscape were really weird. The people who frequented the Colosseum were even weirder, though. Sunny couldn't even begin to understand the quirks of their behavior.
'That's how subcultures are, I guess?'
After a while, he stood up and went upstairs to make himself some food and replenish all the energy he had spent during this intense and taxing hour.
Sunny made himself a light dinner, devoured it with wolfish hunger, and then relaxed in a chair while drinking a cup of delicious tea.
As he rested, his communicator buzzed.
He took a sip of tea, then opened the message Effie had sent him.
"Hey doofus! Have you seen this? I think I found a new boyfriend for your girlfriend!"
The message ended with a winking emote and an attached video link.
Perplexed, Sunny clicked on the link… and spit out all of his tea.
Forgetting to wipe his chin, he stared at the holographic screen in front of him with wide eyes.
"What… what the hell is this?!"
The video was… of him.
Of his duel in the Dreamscape, to be precise.
***
Caught in stunning quality, the recording of his short duel against the young man in azure armor was playing on a loop, set to menacing and epic music. The caption read "Mongrel Victorious". Sunny stared at it for a while, then slowly lowered his gaze and looked at the view count beneath the video.
'S—seven… seven zeroes?!'
Was that Leo Striker guy someone famous?
Sunny only came to his senses because of the pressure of his Flaw. Gritting his teeth, he sent Effie a short message:
"I have not seen this."
'What the hell is happening?'
Feeling apprehensive, he went on the network and typed "Mongrel, Dreamscape" in the search bar. Immediately, thousands upon thousands of results showed, all featuring the fearsome image of Weaver's Mask.
Sunny gulped.
"Oh, no. Oh, no."
first link, and almost spat
defeats Leo Striker, Daoist Saifer, and
montage of a bunch of his
two famous as well?! What three
panic, Sunny scrolled through
duels, his identity, and the hidden meaning of his words. It seemed as if they had somehow become convinced that he was some sort of a profound sage,
boards dedicated to
"Oh, no…"
grabbed his head, realizing that the buffoon he had heard being discussed in the cafe… was
this garbage
He groaned.
idea about who Mongrel was. His
was still
the mess he had made, new notifications started appearing in
"Mongrel returns!"
"Mongrel decimates the Colosseum!"
victories in sixty minutes: Lord Mongrel's shocking
[REDACTED]'s
He closed his eyes.
What is this
random link, he read in
there, guys! It was incredible! He was like
Shoe: "Did you
worthless, silence is gold! So profound. My whole outlook
Shoe: "Wow, my dad used to say me the same thing when I tried to talk to him after
#1 Sympathiser: "Wait. Shoe… are you
their name to Mongrel's
"Aren't we
the link and went
than a
'Postneo… what?'
he opened another
to Mongrel's 70 wins! You
And another:
not believe in
And another:
a candid confession of
quietly for a
"Oh, no!"
***
the globe in no time at all. Starved for
were not disappointed by what they saw, to say the
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