Danso walked towards Takahashimi and jumped, scaring him from behind. He tried to make it seem like a prank so that he could get closer and know what was going on without any difficulty or suspicion. He also thought it might be something related to the Black Market, which could help him later on. Takahashimi was unfazed by the jumpscare; he probably saw much worse things than that and continued talking. Danso did not even have a chance to enquire about what was going on as Takahashimi and his colleagues kept on speaking without stopping. Danso did not even understand it since it was in a foreign language that he was not aware of.
Once the conversation was finally over, Danso finally thought he had an opportunity to speak, but Takahashimi just left without even considering Danso's existence. Danso, who was annoyed, went and stood in front of him, but Takahashimi just pushed him aside and continued to walk. Danso kept on walking and trying to annoy him, but there was no expression or noise.
"Something is off," thought Danso.
Danso unsheathed his sword and slashed at Takahashimi's hand. If it were Takahashimi, he would easily dodge him, kick him, lock him up, and then maybe laugh at him.
The blade moved at a rapid speed and quickly sliced off the arm. Then came the true shock. The arm was not bleeding. The body was empty, a hollow husk of the person. Only one person had an ability like that. The person was Xeno, of course, but could it be him here? What if one avatar went loose? No way he would break their deal right after all he needs Danso for his plan!
Danso quickly hid the dead husk and ran towards the other guards. Danso sliced a finger off, and all of their injuries did not appear. There was no blood, no bones, no muscle. It was like skin being held up, maybe reinforced with soul energy. This ruled out Xeno being the culprit since his avatars are like real human beings.
Danso quickly returned to the hotel and secured the perimeter of the place with his soul slimes. Takahashimi knew about his soul slimes in the report Chiro had given him, so Danso knew that the military would not do anything to the slimes.
Danso rushed inside and checked all the different rooms of the hospital. Nothing suspicious was there, and Natsuki, who came outside for a break, caught Danso looking worried.
"What's wrong?" asked Natsuki.
Danso tried to play it off by being calm.
"I lost my charger and I am looking for it," said Danso.
Natsuki gave Danso a side eye before he left. Natsuki did get suspicious, but pushed those thoughts aside as she had work, and her break was a short one. So she had to focus on the task at hand. Natsuki drank her tea and returned the cup to one of the workers in the hospital, and went inside Tensei's room for the first time.
She had been purposefully avoiding Tensei's room for hours. Whenever she glanced at his room, she always went the opposite direction, thinking that more skilled doctors were taking care of him. In reality, she just could not handle seeing him like that. Half dead due to the fatigue of fighting hordes of ninja, then a bomb exploded right afterwards. The head doctor of Rein said that it was a miracle that he made it out alive.
Tensei's heartbeat charts were a steady up and down, like a plain filled with hills. Natsuki glanced before keeping her mask on and starting to work on the surgery. Multiple pieces of bricks and rubble were injected deep into Tensei, so they removed it and then worked to try and heal him as much as possible, but they couldn't since the human soul energy was not as compatible as a demon's soul.
Danso checked the perimeter and every nook and cranny of the place before going to bed. He knew that his soul slimes were strong enough to take care of any basic threats that would occur at the place.
The next morning, Danso woke up and saw the red and black uniform near his desk. It had a note next to it which read 'Your new suit, hope you enjoy.' Danso threw the note in the trash and put the suit on, wearing it for the first time. He also wore his contact lenses in public for the first time and went out of the room to see Natsuki in her Green suit. Haruki was wearing the white and black suit, and Emily was wearing her Purple and Yellow suit. Everyone questioned Danso's contacts, but he just played it off, saying that it helps him to see more clearly, to which Haruki responded by calling him an oldie, which everyone laughed at.
Ozamu walked in and started clapping, clearly impressed by how perfectly it fit everyone. He was surprised about one thing, however, and that was why no one was particularly worried about Chiro. When he asked them, they all gave different answers.
"Chiro has a plan for sure, no way he would get outsmarted like that," said Natsuki.
"Chiro is enjoying his time, maybe he finally got a break sealed," laughed Emily.
"We all know Chiro. Of course, I dislike his tastes, mainly what he did rejecting the Sword God, but still, he is more than fine," said Danso.
"Do I need to speak to Uncle? He is the strongest! Any villain comes, he would just laser beam them in the face!" said Haruki while playing his video game, not even lifting his head to speak to Ozamu.
Danso smiled gently at everyone and left for his work. He was going to expand his Soul Slime army by adding a new nest to it. After Danso left, Natsuki glanced at Emily and asked her if Danso was acting weird. Emily did not say anything but smiled to herself, saying that 'It's just always how he is. Natsuki walked back to her work.
Danso hopped on Karkous's back and flew towards the location that Karkous told him. Rein as a city was surrounded by pillars and a wall, along with a retractable roof for military purposes and protection. Yet, that was only the outside part of the city. In the actual city, there were multiple houses and shopping malls, and districts that were a mixture of Akuza and Jale's second ring.
According to Karkous, the back of a monument of Commander Jail Noun was where the nest was. Danso was originally skeptical about going there since it was a historical site, but he decided to go anyway since he thought it would be important to build and grow stronger. He wanted to be so strong that one day, maybe he could join Xu atop that mountain and become strong enough to defeat Chiro and question his ideals himself.
Danso summoned a soul slime and made it phase through the ground to search for a more secretive entrance. Soon enough, Danso found the entrance through a cave not far from the monument. It was closed off, but Danso just walked through it by cutting the wood and using soul slimes to patch it up.
Danso ignited his blade and used it as a torch. He walked through the slightly bright cave, cutting down any moss or webs that came his way. Eventually, he reached a chamber which had slime covering the walls and nerves of the hivemind, all connecting to the main cube in the center of the altar. Danso walked towards the cube and felt his ring resonating. Then a beast awakened from the cube. It looked glorious, with green wings and a dragon and human hybrid appearance.
"You have finally appeared, O'great one," said the Hybrid Slime.
"Yes," replied Danso bluntly.
"Great one, we cannot just accept you as our king," said the Hybrid Slime.
"What do you mean? Vegiatous chose me, so that means you are in my control," explained Danso.
"While that is true, the previous Great One told the Rank One slimes of all the 5 major nests to hold a trial to prove the new Great One's worth in case his judgment is fatally wrong," said the Hybrid Slime.
"Darn you, Vegiatous!" thought Danso, looking towards the ceiling.
The Hybrid looked at the ceiling with Danso in confusion. He checked twice to see if there was something on the roof. He also noticed Danso's clearly annoyed face.
"Is there anything disturbing you?" asked the Hybrid.
Danso cleared his face and turned to the Hybrid and shook his head.
"Now, what is this trial?" asked Danso.
"The Trial of Zephyr's Nest is that you have to survive swarms of soul slime, but there is a twist: the floor underneath you will disappear and reappear randomly," said Zephyr.
Danso looked at the tiles underneath him, but there was a bigger dilemma in his mind.
"How did I pass the trial of Karkous's Nest?" thought Danso.
As soon as Danso was finished thinking and looked towards Zephyr, Karkous appeared out of the emerald ring and greeted Zephyr. Danso was startled, so Karkous apologised to Danso for interrupting the trial.
"Sire, the way you cleared my nest is by finding the main room and defeating all the soul slimes!" explained Karkous.
Danso's brain started to dust off the memories, and then he remembered. The Soul Slime maze was probably the trial of Karkous's Nest. Karkous returned to the ring.
"So when do we start?" asked Danso energetically.
"Whenever you want, Great One," said Zephyr.
"Then, let's not waste any time," said Danso.
The next second, multiple soul slimes swarmed Danso, and the tiles started to retract and contract. Danso smirked and unsheathed his sword and ignited it, and rushed towards the slimes.