Danso decided to defeat one enemy by one therefore he decided to go towards the brute kidnapper. He lifted his sword and fainted left before quickly slicing the right side of the brute's stomach. The brute lifted his axe and reinforced his wound with soul energy. Then he pulled out a black orb from his pocket and inserted it to the center of the hilt of his axe.
The black orb radiated dark soul energy that Danso could not detect since his well was broken, but he could see the sparks of soul energy colliding and diffusing with each other.
Leonard slammed his palm to the ground once more but this time the kidnapper summoned a black beam with a swing of his axe that directed towards him. Leonard dodged and the incomplete incantation exploded causing some recoil damage to him. Danso used this opportunity to get closer to Leonard but he lifted his staff upwards and created ice walls preventing Danso from breaking through.
Danso switched to Water Stance to break through the wall but he could only crack it. Then he glanced towards the brute, who was getting ready for a massive attack. Danso ran towards him and the brute also rushed towards him but there was a massive opening underneath his legs. Danso slid down that hole and managed to go through his legs to the other side. Then he pushed the brute with all his force causing him to go tumbling down and crashing the wall.
Beyond the wall, Leonard was nowhere to be found so Danso quickly glanced around the battlefield to check where he was. A storm of ice shards rained upon Danso as he dodged all of them or deflected them with his sword. He caught the last ice shard with ease and stared at Leonard, who was perched up a tree.
"Leonard can use Ice Ritualistic Magic, and the brute can use some dark energy," thought Danso.
He redirected his thoughts and rushed the brute, he was not going to play around anymore. If he had his Sword Art he would have beaten both of them a long time ago but he did not. Even he knew this was good practice and that he was growing rusty in his techniques.
The brute already charged an attack and Danso tried to block it with Earth Stance and failed. Leonard casted another one of his rituals and created an avalanche on top of Danso. He could not dodge it and took the damage head on. Danso got up with his scars and wiped off the snow and blood off his face and attacked the brute. He quickly finished him off with a sword strike to the abdomen and to the arm disabling his ability to attack.
He merely disarmed the brute and did not mean to kill him. He stared at Leonard and Leonard stayed perched on top of the tree looking wary and cautious.
Then King Everlin chanted some magic and shot Leonard with an ice shard on the head causing his body to fall down to the ground. Danso glanced at Everlin in shock before rushing to see if Leonard was fine. Danso realised that the attack scraped his left ear and that he would live if he got medication.
"Leave him," said Everlin.
"Why should I?" asked Danso.
"He is mine," said Everlin.
"Human's aren't pets that could be turned into slaves," said Danso.
"You seem to be speaking out of turn, foreigner," said Everlin.
As the tensions rose Danso knew he was in no state for another fight especially with his soul energy well dried up and broken.
Suddenly a huge explosion was heard. It was the brute again but this time his skin turned grey and his eyes turned into a black void.
"What is happening?" thought Danso.
The brute rushed towards Everlin and Danso attempted to block the attack but failed and got thrown aside. Everlin did not even blink as his medium sized white hair that was done into a ponytail did not even shake as he opened his palm and the attack did not touch the palm.
Danso was shocked. "It's like Chiro's Taurus Wall,"
Everlin charged his left fist, even though Danso could not sense soul energy as of now he felt the bloodlust and the power of the attack that was about to occur. Danso quickly used Wind Stance and twisted through the gaps of the ongoing clash before pushing the brute away from danger.
Since he did this, the attack would definitely hit him. Danso knew he could not survive an attack of this size yet he accepted his fate. He just smiled in the face of death.
Suddenly a bright green light appeared from the wagon that was toppled over. A lightning bolt and a black shadow bomb both collided and neutralised the attack causing a large explosion that pushed Danso far back near to the wagon, while the soul beast Everlin was riding was growling and he did not even budge.
Danso checked to see who it was and to his shock it was Zephyr and Karkous.
"Oh Great One you are truly in a dire state," said Zephyr.
"I shall eliminate this fool for you," said Karkous glaring at Everlin.
"No I shall!" exclaimed Zephyr, glancing at Karkous.
Danso rubbed his temples before sighing. "They are at it again,"
Danso did not want to show his soul slime abilities in the time he was in the Frozen Everglades but it was too late now. Therefore he stood up with Karkous healing his wounds quickly. Karkous took his right hand side and Zephyr took his left hand side. Several dozen soul slimes also were summoned behind Danso as half of them were dark in color and half of them were green and had wings.
"We can take them all," said the soul beast.
"Can it talk?" questioned Danso in shock.
"The soul beast I have is the Alpha of the Wyrmtigers," said Everlin.
Danso nodded before standing there awkwardly. The brute started to get up after shaking his head. Danso glanced at the brute and then at Karkous.
"Understood I shall defeat him in an instant," said Karkous.
Karkous teased Zephyr with a sly smile before Danso added.
"You will stay here for my protection Zephyr don't worry," said Danso trying to ease up the rivalry.
"You are the King of the Soul Slimes?" asked Everlin.
"Yes, how did you know?" asked Danso.
"I personally knew Vegiatous around a hundred years ago," said Everlin.
Danso's face was frozen like the snow on top of the trees.
"Pardon me?" asked Danso.
"It might be a surprise but I have been the Calamity of the Snow Kingdom for over a hundred years now," said Everlin.
Danso took a step back. He knew if he angered Everlin even a tiny bit he would die in an instant. Yet he had an idea, since he was a calamity he should have some idea on what happened to his soul energy well.
Karkous was easily defeating the mercenary brute and just as he was about to finish him off Danso threw his blade at the attack Karkous fired.
"Don't kill, throw him near his fellow peers," said Danso.
Karkous hesitantly nodded and after he was done all the soul slimes returned to the ring. Danso went and picked up his supplies and wore his ring.
"A samurai in the Frozen Everglades? Isn't that trespassing?" asked Everlin.
"I did not want to end up here. I need to go back and I need to fix my soul energy well," said Danso.
Everlin moved a foot forward. Then he appeared right in front of Danso. It looked as if he teleported as dust rose from the place he originally stood. His arm started to glow in a palish blue color as he started to chant in Ancient Glassician and he extended his arm and touched Danso's chest with his palm. He closed his eyes and started to recite more quickly.
Danso was weirded out at first but he decided to let the calamity do his work. He hoped that it would help him in a way.
After a minute Everlin slowly opened his eyes and rubbed his palm after which he exhaled into them and placed them over his eyes. Then he gestured to Danso to sit and Danso looked puzzled since there was no place to sit. The ground was wet and the wagon had toppled over. Everlin sat on top of his wyrmtiger while he chopped a tree down and Danso dusted the log off before sitting on it.
"Your soul well has been damaged due to you seeing something you weren't supposed to see," said Everlin.
"What do you mean?" asked Danso.
"A being of higher existence destroyed it in exchange for something, if you had any unusual meetings please tell me," said Everlin.
Danso thought for a minute. The meeting he had with the God of Sages was probably the reason why his soul well was broken.
"No, I have been fine, is there any way to fix it?" asked Danso.
"Yes, but I need you to do me a favor first," said Everlin.
"A calamity needs me to do a favor?" asked Danso.
"This time, yes, Fort Fjord near the bordering the Endless sea has been captured by the Republic of the Snow Kingdom," said Everlin.
"Republic of the Snow Kingdom?" asked Danso.
"The Snow Kingdom is currently facing many political tensions as of now. The Kingdom once occupied the Frozen Everglades kicking out the natives for industrial purposes with my help I managed to keep the natives of the Everglades, The Tribe of Neige, to continue living peacefully," said Everlin.
Danso knew that there were political tensions but he never knew there was an all-out Civil War occurring in the place. He decided that if he needed to get his soul well fixed he needed to help Everlin but he also knew that he could not get more caught up in political tensions since his situation in Lukia was already tense.
"So what do I need to do?" asked Danso.
"You need to free the fort," said Everlin.
"Fine, in return you need to do some ritualistic magic to fix my soul energy well since I cannot fight so many people with only swordsmanship," said Danso.
"Many samurai can…But consider it done," said Everlin.
Danso was angry at the remark but decided to stay calm and added to his request.
"You have to guarantee that no one finds out about the soul slimes as well," said Danso.
"That should be relatively easy," said Everlin.
"Then I guess I will accept your offer," said Danso.
"One last thing," said Everlin. "What is your name?"
"I am Lance Shire, a Red Samurai," said Danso Narahara.