Danso decided to wear his Red Samurai suit and explore the Frozen Everglades. At night it was especially cold so it would help him have some heat and it would be good protection against the dangers of the unknown.
After searching for any signs of civilization he decided to make a bed by himself. He killed a nearby sheep for some wool which he used to sleep on the grass. It was itchy but he had to do with what he had. Danso's body was shaking violently at night as his eyes started to twitch. It was dark. Almost too dark.
He opened his eyes and realised he had been kidnapped. He decided to make it not obvious that he had woken up, instead he quietly listened to the breathing and voices of the people who kidnapped him. He discreetly touched the floor to see it was wood and he heard horses neighing as the fresh air gave him a chilly shiver.
"Horses and wagons in this age?" thought Danso.
Danso wriggled in place trying to get a bit more comfortable but that was a bad decision as the other members realised he was awake. They hit him hard on the side of his head with the hilt of a large, heavy weapon. This knocked Danso to the floor with a thud but he managed to keep his consciousness awake.
"This kid could make a good slave," laughed one of the kidnappers.
Danso could not understand a word the kidnappers were saying since they were speaking in a village style Glaciassian.
Danso could not afford to sleep since he was worried something might happen to him. He did not feel his armor on him, instead he felt a light shirt on his shirt.
Soon the wagon stopped and the kidnappers descended the wagon with huge smiles on their faces. All of them were pale skinned and had scars on a part of their body. They had pale skin since they were living in the Frozen Everglades and the Aurora affected their skin's melanin. The scars were mainly because of the amount of battles and missions they had done.
A man grabbed Danso by the neck and picked him up. He was huge and buff and he threw Danso on the ground and he could smell the wet mud and rocks.
"Melted snow ugh," thought Danso.
"Are you sure he is alive?" asked another voice as the man laid his grubby hands on Danso's hair and then face.
Danso exclaimed in his brain in joy. "They finally speak something I understand!"
"Yes he moved in the wagon and tried to get comfortable," said the huge kidnapper.
The man had multiple men on white with black dots like a cheetah or jaguar soul beasts as their ride. Meanwhile the kidnappers had a similar amount of men as they all carried swords and daggers with a brown mask over their mouths. The horses and wagon rested behind the kidnappers.
"How much?" asked the man.
"Depends on the currency," responded the main kidnapper.
"150 snowflakes," said the man.
One of the kidnappers growled when he heard the price. The main kidnapper extended his hand and calmed down his men.
"Do you think this is a joke?" asked the main brute kidnapper.
Danso's thoughts were spiraling. He knew about the currencies of all the countries in Laxaxis but only 150 snowflakes for him? It was truly salt to the wound for him.
Around 300 snowflakes is one silver coin. The Snow Kingdom does not do trade or barter with the other nations since they are always trapped inside the Aurora. They rarely go to Security Conferences too.
"Remove the slave's mask. I want to inspect him," said the man.
"Fine," said the kidnapper as he ordered one of the henchmen to remove the mask.
Danso's eyes opened as they quickly got used to the beautiful sight of the Aurora's lights shining brighter than the stars. Too bad that his current state was him being sold but otherwise he would've loved to stay and relax for sometime. Surrounding him were a bunch of flowers and grass all wet from the melted snow.
The chilly air swept past Danso's face as he took a nice deep breath.
Danso had a good look at his kidnappers and the men who were about to buy him.The kidnappers had brown shirts with yellow stripes with tanned long pants. They also had masks. Meanwhile the men were dressed in soul beast fur almost like some villagers living in the Frozen Everglades. They had teeth and claws as their necklace and fashion.
The Soul Beast that the leader of the tribe or villagers was riding stared at Danso with his deep blue eyes.
Then Danso realised his own predicament. He had his bag with his armor and DMMS clothes and he was wearing a white cloth that extended all the way to his ankles. His wrists were cuffed with alkanium.
"Remove the cuffs," said the main man.
"Fine," replied the brute kidnapper who was wielding a giant battle axe.
Danso started to twist his wrists glad that he was finally free from those tight cufflinks. He knew this was his chance. He could easily defeat all of them with a dance of sword strikes. Danso instantly stood up which got all the henchmen on guard and extended his hand, calling for his sword.
He waited a second.
Then another second.
"Are you sure he is alright?" asked one of the tribals.
"I honestly don't know anymore," said the giant man with an axe.
The sword did not reply. He could not feel his soul energy radiate with power anymore. Almost as if it's broken. Danso knew that this was an unfortunate thing and he knew a situation like this would happen someday. So he made the obvious choice.
He ran as quickly as he could straight to the wagon trying to get his sword. He dodged all the henchmen with his quick feet and punched a man with his bare knuckles and grabbed his sword.
Danso wanted to test for sure if his soul energy was working or not. Since he does not have sorcery he should not completely rely on soul energy. Yet, his sword art was not responding.
Danso grabbed his sword and took a deep breath. Memories of rigorous training at the Narahara Complex ran through his brain. The sting of his instructor's cactus stick, the pain of the others laughing at his birth.
Danso decided to use the Water Stance. He placed his sword above his head while keeping a moderate, normal space between his legs. He also bent his left wrist and hips to make sure he was as smooth as water with his attacks.
The first two henchmen ran towards him with their swords. They all grunted but Danso danced through them. He sliced the first one upwards with blood drenching from his chest. He did it lightly to make sure it was not a fatal wound. Then as the other henchmen attempted to attack Danso extended his hand fully and moved his hips to dodge the strike then attacked, slicing the air and the man with a sword strike that went right to left.
They both fell down with a thud as Danso walked out his white cloth drenched in blood.
The kidnapper got aggravated and kicked the wagon with his leg tearing the rope that connected the wagon to the horses and stunned Danso.
He lost his balance and fell down. Surprisingly instead of attacking Danso the kidnapper went straight to his men.
"A true leader. I respect him," said Danso.
Then the leader of the tribe did not flinch at all. It was almost as if he was expecting this to happen. He shouted a few words in a foreign language and a long white haired man walked in front of the leader with a staff with an orb embedded in it.
"Leonard, I believe you can handle this man," said the leader.
Leonard nodded before chanting a few phrases in an ancient language. It sounded like a dialect of Glassician but a few syllables were twisted and the grammar was not that great.
Then Danso felt a huge radiating aura that screamed bloodlust. He turned around to see the kidnapper, who was clearly grieving.
"I don't care what happens to you, you hurt my men, you will die," said the kidnapper.
Danso was hesitant to talk since he was worried that it might give away his nationality but he decided to take a risk and say his sentences in the most Glassician and Laxian accent he could.
"It's not my fault, you kidnapped me when I was sleeping," said Danso.
The kidnapper slammed his axe to the ground shaking the ground as the Earth cracked. The soul beasts were startled and started to bark and growl viciously at the kidnapper and the leader of the tribe raised his hand and they all quit making noise.
"Kill both of them, I don't want any evidence," said the leader.
"As you say King Everlin," said Leonard.
The kidnapper grabbed his axe and swung it, Danso barely managed to dodge the attack and he was sure if he was hit by it he would have lost his head, especially without first stage sorcery.
Leonard tapped the ground gently with the pale blue staff as the bright blue orb started to glow. Ice shards formed around the circumference of the staff's head and Leonard directed them towards Danso.
Danso quickly changed into Earth Stance to block the attack by closing his legs and fixing his posture up straight and planting his foot with accuracy and strength so he would not budge and tensing all his muscles. He broke the ice shards one by one before changing into Water Stance to attempt to end the fight, but the kidnapper hit Danso with his left arm, slapping him away. Danso flung and hit a nearby tree causing all the snow from the leaves to fall on his face.
Danso shook his head and ran towards the kidnapper. He dodged the circular axe swing by ducking and sliced the arm to make sure he could not use his axe. Then Leonard jumped in the fray. He slammed his hand on the ground creating a divine circle that was light blue and white in color. A geyser of ice appeared and the kidnapper and Danso quickly dodged the geyser that appeared in between their fighting. Leonard split the snowstorm in two and directed it towards both of them.
Danso could not dodge so he used his Earth Stance to withstand the snow and the kidnapper slammed his axe's hilt down causing all the snow to disperse.
"This is a fun battle," said Danso, wiping off the snow near his mouth and smiling.
Meanwhile the leader of the tribe was just watching, not acting.