Danso Narahara walked for what felt like hours or even days without a break when in reality it was for five minutes. Danso always carried his suit with him as a precaution to jump into action whenever it was necessary. In order to keep his brain in check and not get bored or jump into trouble that was not required to jump into, he kept his mind busy by reading the huge billboards. Then his phone rang. Danso checked his phone, which was a white phone with a samurai cover, which Hiroshi had called lame once. His alarm to remind him to write tomorrow's tasks rang. After standing still in a corner of the sidewalk and typing his tasks, he clicked the 'done button on his phone. His tasks tomorrow were:-
Try out for the Dark Mixed Military Squad, Save the city (again), Train to get stronger, Try to make new friends (Hiroshi is gone)
Danso stared at the last bullet point. Hiroshi was gone. His only friend or best friend of three years disappeared suddenly, with only three minutes of his time wasted to inform Danso. Danso recollected their first meeting. He had been The Red Samurai for a month and kept on sighting the blue silver silver-suited ninja, who sometimes would even help him to fight thugs or gangsters on the street. He had always wondered who the Ninja Knight was, but he could never get a definitive answer. On a random night, he saw a random man get beaten up by thugs, but he didn't have his suit, and he only had his sword, so he used his sword to help the man and proceeded to beat up the thugs. The man's name was Hiroshi Yamamoto, and they both became friends very quickly. During a fight with the corporate gang Devil Money, Danso's helmet broke due to the Overlord, the leader of the gang, attacking Danso's face. After the fight, they revealed both their secrets and continued being good friends and helped each other out when needed.
"Life is horrible," growled Danso. "Why did the blue steel ninja have to leave after three years?" contemplated Danso "I mean, there's no way that he could do that right? I mean, there has to be a secondary, more important motive he isn't telling me!" reassured Danso.
Danso continued talking to himself while walking with his umbrella, shaking with the rain with every step. He cut more alleys and used more shortcuts to reach the main road once again. He crossed the road and viewed his destination among the bright and gigantic malls, shopping complexes, and normal shops. His favorite restaurant, squeezed between all this chaos, is the battle restaurant.
The rules of the battle restaurant were quite simple, the rules were:-
You can either pay for your food or you can fight for your food in the Battleground.
If you win against your opponent, then you can order three items off the menu for free.
However if you lose you have to pay double your order, or if you decide not to order anything and you want to leave after losing, you have to have one more battle to which you win you can leave or if you lose you have to pay for double of 4 of the items of the menu and to enforce the rule there is the manager of the restaurant Sasha Kusakabe, who will kill you!
Danso walked into the restaurant and went directly to the ordering counter and talked to the receptionist, Kevin Nusarabe.
"Yollo Kevin" greeted Danso.
"Hello, Danso! How's it been?" asked Kevin.
"Life is average, but it can get better, you know?" responded Danso
"Alright! Good to see you doing fine! What would you like to order off our menu?" Kevin questioned.
"I'd like the Battle offer, Kevin," said Danso.
"I mean you're Danso after all," laughed Kevin.
"Okay, I want a cappuccino, fries, and some of the Battles Restaurant's signature chicken stri-" said Danso.
"Hold up. First win and then order, big guy," interrupted Kevin.
"Fine," shrugged Danso.
Kevin spun his fingers in a circular motion and summoned a greenish neon portal to appear. Danso carefully stepped into the portal and got transported to the lobby of the battleground, a queue of sorts or a waiting area for one person's match. Danso knew that his opponent would be Kevin, but he never faced him, not even once. Normally, when Danso goes to the lobby, he is sent by the teleporter in the staff restrooms, but this time, Kevin directly sent Danso to the lobby. Danso stared at Kevin while he was talking to the main lobby master, reserving a match. Kevin is shorter than him by a lot, but that can help since he might be more agile, his legs do seem very worked out and bulky, meaning that instead of brute force, Kevin will try to beat Danso in a battle of pace.
"The portals that Kevin can conjure must be his ability," thought Danso, as he was waiting for his turn.
Danso stared throughout the battleground and noticed the Alkanium steel that was protecting the stadium and seats. The steel absorbs Soul Energy and is indestructible by Samurai, Ninjas, or even sorcerers. This guarantees protection for the spectators and no escape for the fighters. After a while, the speaker blared a noise to declare a person's victory, as the crowd was cheering. The crowd cheered for a minute before the commentator picked up his microphone.
"ALL RIGHT, FOLKS! Are you ready for the undefeated Red Samurai?" screamed the commentator in the microphone.
Danso changed into his Red Samurai outfit and opened his suitcase to reveal his Holy Steel sword. He walked out of the arena with a confident smile to see that his hunch that Kevin would be his opponent was indeed correct.
"I guess I was right. You will be my opponent today Kevin" exclaimed Danso.
"You knew? That's crazy. Even if you knew I'd be your opponent, I don't think you'll know where your money went after you lose this match Danso" riled Kevin.
With Kevin's words, the crowd became ecstatic and went into a minute of madness, with the screaming becoming unbearable for Danso.
"He sure does know how to make a crowd excited and happy" chuckled Danso to himself.
The commentator, without wasting time, after the exchange of words, started counting down from three.
"Three, Two, One! Fight!" declared the commentator.
Instantly, Kevin opened one of his portals and lunged at Danso from behind, attacking first. He proceeded to open two more and leaped at Danso once again, with Danso unable to dodge all the attacks and getting hurt. Kevin opened multiple more portals to confuse Danso, as he doesn't know which one Kevin will come out of. Danso then proceeds to lock into the portal behind him and turns and slashes the portal, then Kevin leaps behind Danso, going in for another attack, which Danso already predicted, and he dodges majestically. Kevin fell into another portal to ease his landing. Danso then proceeded to cut all the portals, which forced Kevin to strike again in the back, which Danso had already adapted to.
"The ordinary sneak attack on the back plan, Kevin?" mocked Danso
Danso continued to dodge all of Kevin's attacks with ease, with a mix of elegance and creativity, trying to push Kevin to his limits. From what Danso could see, he could get an idea of how his ability works. Danso while dodging, recollected his thoughts.
Portal ability (Sorcery)
He can create portals and store things in them while also being able to release things out of the portals.
He can teleport efficiently by linking two portals and can be stopped by slashing one portal before being fully linked.
It seems incredibly versatile, helping Kevin both in offense and in defense.
He can create blasts by storing Soul Energy as objects and unleashing it, which might be his trump card. (P.S. This can only happen when two portals are linked.
Kevin dodged backwards, creating a storm of dust in his path. Then he proceeded to charge but halted midway, creating a portal in his path and teleporting above Danso. Danso dodged it with ease and slashed the previous portal to remove the chance of a link. Kevin proceeded to create another portal roughly eight hundred kilometers away to link. Danso feared it might happen from the beginning itself, therefore, he had time to prepare. Danso sprinted towards the portal furthest away from him, but Kevin predicted that and linked the portals closest to Danso. Kevin then proceeded to leap into the linked portals and start storing energy. After ten seconds, Danso sliced the furthest portal. Dread started creeping over his face when he realised that he was wrong. Right behind him, the linked portals were about to blast. Danso stared at the white beams of light blasting towards him. The ground exploded and dust rose, covering the view of the battlefield. No one knew what happened, and the entire crowd became silent. The commentator broke the silence
"Will the revered Red Samurai finally register his first loss?" questioned the commentator.
A moment of silence filled the air. One second later, still nothing. A few more passes, still no sound except the dust clouds grazing each other. The silence grew and grew, but it broke when the dust clouds separated. A silhouette was visible, and it was Danso's. His body hasn't taken a scratch, and he was just standing there, scratching his head and sweating.
"Thank god I used my blade and sword art to block the blast on time. I predicted it fast enough. The enhanced first-stage Soul Energy manipulation is definitely what helped me, though.", thought Danso.
The crowd erupted into cheers, the undefeated Red Samurai will not fall today, many of them thought.
"Even after a massive blast from the Portal Master, Kevin, the Red Samurai is still standing!" screamed the commentator in excitement.
"Kevin…you did great, but I need my free food, man, don't get mad at me, alright?" applauded Danso.
Danso's shiny blade started to emit smoke and fire as he uttered the executionary action words from his mouth.
"Sword Art of the Dragon:- Dragon's Claw"
Danso leaped towards Kevin, breaking the sound barrier and making a sound that echoed through the alkanium walls. He moved at a split second, not wasting any time, straight towards Kevin, who stood there smiling, almost accepting his defeat. The blade slashed Kevin as he fell straight to the ground, while Danso picked him up and carried him on his back.
"The Red Samurai wins again!" applauded the commentator, while the crowd erupted in cheers.
Meanwhile, Danso stared at the projector screen that showed his rankings. In his past five matches, he has gotten five victories, and in his whole battle restaurant journey, he has gotten only one draw, and that is with the manager of the Battle Restaurant, Nicole Albaria. Danso left the battlefield with Kevin on his back and took the teleporter back to the actual restaurant. Kevin got healed by his co-worker, Sasha Nitsuke, whose sorcery ability is to heal wounds by creating blood and fixing small veins and arteries, and basically regrowing the broken organs or tissues.
"Why did you beat him to near death, Danso?" yelled Sasha
"What I'd do for free food, Sasha" sighed Danso while drinking his cappuccino.
The two bickered for hours before something caught Danso's eyes through the window. It was a woman, near his age, followed by two men with aluminum guns in an alley. Danso rushed out of the restaurant to try and save the woman.