Frozen Everglades

"Blessings that stem from the God of Sages,"

"Curses that stem from the God of Demons,"

"Motivation that stems from the God of Swords,"

"Vengeance that stems from the God of Ninjas,"

"Joy that stems from the God of Angels," 

These sentences were hammering inside Danso's mind, repeating over and over again until Danso held his head, trying to calm the never ending headache. The bright light had long disappeared and now it was just him in the lonely dark void.

He decided it was best to start moving from the dark void instead of just laying down there like a lazy brat, so he got up and started moving. He looked at his hands and clothes and they were the same clothes he wore when he was just a student in the Narahara Complex.

Danso walked for what seemed like an hour and grew tired. Where was he? Was he in the dimension of the Gods? Or was he somewhere else?

He walked and walked searching for an answer until he found something. A sword that was stabbed deep to the heart of the Earth. There, holding the sword with two knees to the ground and weeping was a young Danso Narahara. He looked the same with the black hair yet this time there were no muscles it was just a skinny, lean kid. 

"What is this?" asked Danso.

Danso looked at the kid in pity. Was he meant to do something? His morality was forcing him to walk up to himself and tell him everything would be okay. He would do that if this was any other kid but this was a young Danso Narahara. He did not want to give any false hope. And so he ran and ran far away from the boy like a coward. 

Eventually he reached the foot of a mountain. He gasped for some air and rested there. He knew that atop the mountain there could be the second seal or Xu but for some reason he did not want to meet him. Not yet.

Danso just closed his eyes by the foot of the mountain trying to make himself as comfortable as possible. He knew that this might be the best rest he could get in a long time. 

"I wonder how the city is doing without the Red Samurai?" thought Danso.

"There is probably no crime since the city is being reconstructed but evil always exists; it's just lurking and waiting. I have to be back in Akuza by the city's reconstruction until then I can finally not focus on Red Samurai. Nothing will happen to the city since Nicole, Sasha, and Kevin are all there," reassured Danso.

When Danso woke up he found himself in the middle of a greenish white plains drenched in snow. There were beautiful cherry blossoms covering the place and Black Panthers hunting the White Deers. The Black Panther looked at Danso for a minute and his heart stopped. Then the panther ran towards the deer and bit on its neck and started eating it enjoying its dinner.

Danso got up and started to look at the surroundings. He wanted to get away from the panther first therefore he walked to a nearby group of cherry blossoms to rest.

Danso was wearing the same set of clothes he was wearing in the Black Market and the only difference was that the hole in his stomach disappeared but not in his shirt. His pants were also torn near the thigh and shin but he did not think much of it. His red and black backpack was also there. 

It contained his sword, red samurai armor, and a neatly folded set of DMMS suits.

"I wonder how my bag can fit all this! This is because of Kevin's portal technology I believe," said Danso looking up to the sky.

The grass was greenish white and the snow had started to melt since it was nearing sunrise. The fresh morning dew dripped from the saplings to the ground as Danso took a breath of fresh air. The weather was a perfect mix of cold and warm as Danso felt he was lucky to end up in the Everglades instead of the Barren Wastelands.

A couple of villagers passed by speaking in their native language on their horses with straw hats on their heads. 

"Language might be a problem, they might realise I am from Lukia from my accent," thought Danso.

There were six main languages in the east, human populated side of Laxasis. Lukian, which was what people from Lukia spoke and what Danso was most fluent in, West Lukian which was like a dialect or a branch of Lukian that the people of Ninjaro spoke, Indiese, which was what the people of Indus spoke, Los, or the Language of the Stars is what the inhabitants of the Starry Kingdom spoke and Glaciassian was what the citizens of the Snowy Kingdom spoke. The people in the Frozen Everglades probably spoke a dialect of Glaciassian. The final language was the universal language of Lukia. It was made by the Fishmen, Dwarves, and Humans all working together to make it, therefore human schools and even the Narahara Complex had to teach it. It was Laxian.

Danso knew Lukian, West Lukian, due to Hiroshi teaching him, and Laxasian fluently. It would prove to be a language barrier speaking wise therefore he decided to mainly speak in Laxasian with a deep voice to hide his nationality.

Danso checked the rest of the contents in his bag with a blank face, it quickly turned into a frown as he was scratching the back of his head.

"I have no money too," thought Danso.

Natsuki had just finished her dinner and went to sleep and woke up the next day. She walked around the hospital for some exercise before she went back to her work. By the time she came out of her work for a break, she did not see Danso. After he work concluded and her fellow doctors confirmed Tensei can be discharged after two days, Danso still was nowhere to be seen.

Natsuki opened the shiny knob and laid on her bed. She thought and pondered until she thought it was useless. She slept while thinking.

The next day Haruki and Emily were playing badminton near the courtyard before taking a break. In this break Natsuki went to check on Haruki and Emily.

"Where is Danso?" asked Natsuki.

"Emily spent the most time with him so she would know," said Haruki with a cheeky side-eye.

Emily looked at Haruki with a death glare and Natsuki laughed.

"Don't worry about him, no matter what happens he will return unscathed," said Emily.

That was the ironic part. This time, Emily's words would not be true. 

Natsuki glanced at the tall, lean, and transparent shadow companion that was standing near the hinge of the door. She was startled and was at first worried so she threw the handheld console at the companion. The shadow companion quickly dodged and grabbed the console and safely returned it to Haruki. 

Haruki's heart nearly stopped and it was so sudden he could not scream. After the companion returned it to Haruki he looked at Natsuki.

"What was that for? Why are you hitting Illuder?" asked Haruki.

"What is that thing?" asked Natsuki.

"Oh right you weren't there right?" replied Emily.

"Huh? What do you mean?" asked Natsuki.

"Well to the family of Shadow Companions we have a new member! Now I have World Serpent, Demon Bull, Lightning Bird, and Illuder as my main summons!" exclaimed Haruki.

"How did you even meet it?" asked Natsuki.

Emily explained the incident from the beginning. After they were done cleaning up a mess in the outskirts of the city that was made by Baltrax, they went to the rundown headquarters for some leftover supplies there they met Illuder and Haruki befriended him as his shadow companion. Natsuki looked at Haruki in shock and amazement while Haruki enjoyed the praise.

"But while Haruki tamed Illuder, Tensei was the one who made a deal with him," said Emily.

Natsuki's face lost its brightness with the mention of Tensei. He was going to be fine but the poor boy must have been through a lot. She was not entirely sure if he would be the same after waking up. Would he be the same moody Tensei or would he be more colder and power hungry to make sure a loss like that never occurs again?

Emily and Haruki noticed this and placed their hands on Natsuki's shoulder.

"You've been busy for a while," said Emily.

"Yeah even adults and aunties have to get some rest," said Haruki with a grin.

Natsuki gently smiled before standing up and stretching.

"Well I am off to go sleep for a hundred hours now!" exclaimed Natsuki before leaving the room. 

Tensei's eyes were rapidly moving. They were not opening but they were moving on their own.

After a second of the movement he regained consciousness yet he could not move his body. It was an empty red void with nothing but dead bodies across the place. Was this truly his mind? Has he always been like this? Did he join the DMMS to forget this part of him? 

Atop the red mountain with the dead bodies stacked up and the surroundings in fire. A young Tensei sat on the backs of the dead with his sword resting while being stabbed into the back of the dead.