SHADOW SLAVE

“Today, a terrible tragedy almost happened in a peaceful and prosperous part of the city. It was a day like any other, until a sudden notification alerted the citizens that a Gate was about to open nearby.

With no time to evacuate, numerous people were going to die… but then, a courageous Awakened placed himself in the way of Nightmare Creatures, holding off the entire advancing hoard by himself and refusing to give ground until the government forces arrived!

This hero then disappeared without demanding any reward, not leaving even his name behind — only scores of slaughtered monsters and numerous saved lives. Who is this brave and modest savior? Where did he come from, and what is his true identity? Well, some readers might recognize him as the viral Dreamscape sensation, Mongrel…”

Sunny stared at the communicator, which had water dripping from it, with a dark expression on his face.

‘An official newspaper… this is a damn published article, not a random network thread!’

Previously, Sunny had only gone really viral among the people who were interested in the Dreamscape and dueling. Even though the recording of his performance in the Colosseum reached a wider audience, most of the people who had seen it did not pay Mongrel a lot of attention, since they didn’t understand the details of his achievements.

This one, however… this one was different. Everyone could relate to a Gate opening and knew how terrifying and calamitous such an event could be. So, the new video showed Mongrel in a context that revealed just how bizarre and exceptional his deeds were to everyone.

Add to that the fact that the combination of the Mantle of the Underworld, the Soul Serpent, and Weaver’s Mask looked really striking and menacing, and that — miraculously — no civilian had died despite the late warning by the government, and Sunny found himself in a sea of trouble.

Suddenly, he was happy with the fact that he had not been able to augment himself with both of his shadows. At least his physical prowess did not seem too out of the realm of humanly possible… or rather, possible for an Awakened.

The other good news was that there, thankfully, was no recording of Saint. The cameras in the school had been properly damaged, and for that reason, people only knew of her by verbal description.

…Which caused its own share of problems because of how similar the Mantle of the Underworld was to her armor. Due to that and the nature of how rumors distorted the truth the more they were shared, soon, many people were convinced that Mongrel had protected the children in the school personally.

And that led some to become convinced that Mongrel… was a woman.

Sunny tiredly covered his face with a hand.

His worst fears had not come true, though. Despite the fact that the recording showed him using Shadow Step, no one learned the true nature of his Ability from the grainy image, and no one connected him and Mongrel together.

Maybe because of the ridiculous way A Song of Light and Darkness portrayed Sunny, but no one even tried to assume that Changing Star’s bumbling sidekick was actually the dark, deadly, demonic swordsman Mongrel.

Instead, there were countless discussions like this:

Mongrail_Seeker: “New information on Mongrel’s Aspect! Previously, we all thought that his Ability had to do with physical enhancement or perception, right? But we were all wrong! The new video clearly shows that his Aspect is actually spatial sorcery!”

Spirit of the Colosseum: “Do you realize what that means? It means that he didn’t even use his Aspect in the Dreamscape duels! That was all just pure skill. Crazy!”

Anonymous User: “…You mean HER Aspect?”

Mongrail_Seeker: “Heresy! Lord Mongrel is not a her!”

Anonymous User: “…You mean LADY Mongrel?”

Spirit of the Colosseum: “I better ping @Mongrel’s Son. He should know who his dad is!”

Anonymous User: “… You mean his MOM?”

Sunny let out an infuriated sigh.

‘Well, at least no one is mentioning me. If you think about it, the more people think that Mongrel is a lady, the better. Yes, this is good! No, seriously… so good… curse them all…’

And of course, there were a lot of nonsensical threads assigning some deep and profound meaning to every stupid lie he had said.

Like: “I am just a human: Mongrel reminds us of the only truth. There are no mundanes or Awakened, only humans and the Nightmare Creatures. He knows that everyone is equal before the Spell…”

Or: “Make them bleed! Wow, I have no words. So cool… how can anyone be so cool? At the end of the day, that is all that any of us can do. Repay each drop of human blood the Nightmare Creatures spill with a river of their own…”

But mostly, it was the damned idiotic advice he had given to one of the six Awakened near the end: “Stand and fight… am I the only one who got shivers after hearing that? Such simple, but all-encompassing adage. Lord Mongrel, he is a true Awakened…”

Everywhere he looked, it was the same three words. So many people were repeating, praising, and adding them to their bios that Sunny wanted to vomit.

‘What is happening…’

As people continued to watch the recording and discuss it, the truth got hazier and hazier. Pretty soon, everyone seemed to have forgotten that Sunny had not actually contained the Gate by his lonesome self.

No one mentioned Master Jet, who had literally saved his skin and took on the Guardian alone, eventually defeating the Fallen Tyrant without a cohort of Masters supporting her. No one mentioned the six Awakened who had helped him, and a literal army of government soldiers who had done the really heavy lifting and wiped out the entire horde, which he had only stalled until their arrival.

It was all Mongrel and his courageous, selfless, heroic stand against numerous Nightmare Creatures, as if he was some sort of a fearless, slaughtering demigod.

‘It’s almost like no one even cares about the truth!’

Sunny threw the communicator on the pile of clothes and closed his eyes in frustration.

…It was a very strange sentiment. The irony was not lost on him one bit.

‘Curses… who knew that I would be lamenting a lack of truth one day? Me, of all people! What is this situation?!’

Indeed, making Sunny care about the truth was not easy.

It was no simple trick…