Milo stood in the arena of Bastion. The battle royal was by no means easy. At least for the others, Milo, meanwhile, had a variety of options to keep himself safe. Especially his coil gun, of course, he preferred to keep his secrets for the actual duels, but the battle royal had proven harder than expected.
Once the battle royal was over, it was time for the duels. The ceremony and celebration for the many who had made it to the duel portion was nearly ending, and the brackets were nearing completion. Only then did Mongrel appear, his menacing mask scanned the room, and then they landed on Milo.
Milo stared at Mongrel, and Mongrel stared back, his head tilting in confusion. Then Milo observed his armor more closely… it looked like a much better version of Eva's own armor.
Unbeknownst to the two of them, their misinterpreted stare off was being broadcast for all to see. Milo's family watched with differing opinions, from his dad and little sister cheering him on, to his mom and older brother wondering if his fate had been sealed.
Eva herself watched with a large smile on her face
'Gods… this is too funny.'
You really couldn't make this situation up. She could practically read the two's thoughts. Eva was curious to see who would win between Milo and Sunny; she could only hope that Milo would last long enough to find out.
****
Sunny stared at Milo with confusion. What the hell was he doing here? Actually, thinking back on it, Milo did mention loving the Dreamscape and wanting to be a famous figure in it. Not only that, but why was Milo staring back at him? Eventually, the two disappeared into their respective fights.
****
Milo looked ahead. Before his very eyes was the Queen Bee. One of the biggest and baddest of the Dream Realm. Milo would've collapsed to his knees if he wasn't about to begin a fight.
As Milo stepped forward, he added.
"Queen Bee. I have to admit, I'm a huge fan."
Queen Bee did not respond. However, she raised her estoc with purpose, and Milo watched with great interest. He could hold back his augmentations; he really wanted to fight his idol.
Milo stepped forward, bladed segments of his metal whip dragged against the ground. His left hand grasped the hilt of the Prototype. Queen Bee gracefully moved forward; everyone else might've been fooled, but Milo was not. His optics saw all.
'So that was your trick all along? Floating so minuscule off the ground. I'm honestly surprised.'
Milo expected the fight to be easy. He held a divine aspect, and it was a powerful one at that. Carmen's Masterpiece was also very powerful, not to mention the Prototype and its fluid metal prosthetic. In fact, his entire body was now considered technology, and this was augmented by Overclock, along with being seamlessly fluid.
Milo was surprised when Queen Bee nearly took him out on the first hit. He had barely managed to catch the estoc in the tight grips of his now interconnected bladed segments. The metal screeched as it scraped against the slender length of the estoc.
Milo yanked his right arm down, the segments wrangling Queen Bee's estoc from her grip. That did not discourage her; in fact, she did not struggle against it. She let go of the hilt and moved forward, her armored boot raised and struck Milo square in the chin. Small sparks flew, and a scratch was left on the helmet of Carmen's Masterpiece.
Milo grunted, stumbling back. Regaining his focus, Milo allowed his prosthetic to detach from his body. The right arm detached, and Milo grasped it with his left. Then he chucked it at Queen Bee.
Queen Bee assumed it was just a desperate attempt to cause a distraction, so she deflected it. Only for the arm to not go flying, instead, it was vehemently focused on holding her wrist in a tight grip.
Queen Bee could not mald over her new confusion as Milo surged forward. Jumping into the air, his right leg threw a devastating roundhouse boosted by thrusters. Queen Bee ducked under it. Expecting Milo to still be in the air, she thrust her estoc upward, but Milo was no longer there. If it was not above, then he must be below. Queen Bee looked down. Milo's left hand was no longer a hand, but the barrel of a gun.
"Sorry, Queen Bee, I really want to fight Mongrel."
A subsonic boom rang throughout the arena as Queen Bee's head was blown to bits, her body turning to white sparks. Milo looked down at his left arm; the entire thing had jerked back from the recoil and had nearly broken itself.
***
Milo's next opponents weren't really of note. Milo didn't know them, so he simply killed them with trickery. In the second half of the tournament, however, Milo was not so lucky. His opponents could see through his tricks, leading to some rather tedious fights. However, Milo was just too damn unpredictable.
His fluidness was despicable at times. You think you caught him in a trap? Incorrect, that arm you tried to sever just separated and reattached. There was one pattern, though, he always protected his head. He would sacrifice limbs to protect his head. He threw his arm into the jaws of a dinosaur for the sake of making sure it could not clamp down on his head. Sunny took note of this before the final battle.
***
Sunny stood across from Milo; he honestly would've pitied Milo if he could. Milo had barely anyone's support in the online discussions. Most online forums did not even know who Milo was, besides a few loyal fans that he had built up beforehand. However, there was one account that vehemently cheered on Milo, whose account name was familiar; in fact, Sunny knew exactly who it was
Destiny'sHeir2026: "I wouldn't give up on the Nameless Vagabond just yet. Who knows, he might surprise you."
Mongrelfan456: "That Nameless Vagabond doesn't have shit on Lord Mongrel. He won't even bother copying his dishonorable battle art."
Anonymous User: "You mean LADY Mongrel."
Charlie_8483: "I mean the coil gun is pretty cool"
karr_knight: "Hi"
Regardless, Sunny couldn't exactly do much in terms of copying Milo. Milo was more than human now, a fluid machine. However, so was Sunny; shadows could be fluid as well.
***
Milo was finally facing him down, Lord Mongrel himself. His hair was looking extra fabulous for some reason.
"So you are the infamous Lord Mongrel."
"I'm not, and I certainly don't know who you are."
"You aren't? Well, color me surprised, we have a fake here." Milo paused, then added. "Since the fans of Mongrel are so adamant on calling me so, I'm just a Nameless Vagabond. Tell me, if you aren't Lord Mongrel, then who are you?"
Mongrel stared at Milo, then stated in a chillingly frustrated voice, "Just a tenacious Mongrel."
Milo let out a disbelieving laugh. "Didn't you just say you weren't Lord Mongrel? He seems pretty tenacious to me."
Mongrel growled, the darkness in his mask seemed to grow darker, his shadow slightly deeper.
"Shut up and fight."
Milo sighed, "If you say so."
Both of them entered their respective stances. Milo raised the Prototype; his left arm was the same bladed whip. Meanwhile, Mongrel had a long and dark Odachi raised into a defensive stance.
Not so long after, the two disappeared into a blur of after-images. Meeting in the center with a deadly clash of steel and darkness