Conquering His Cold Heart

"….Trust me that'll never happen LITTLE brother." Indra spoke with a fierce expression, his will to fight reaching beyond the limits of containment. Now it was time for the real battle to begin, no more testing the waters and holding back their trump cards.

The air around the arena shifted as though a breeze had entered the duelling space. An invisible storm slowly grew around Frost and Indra as they relinquished their restraints. Their auras flooded throughout their bodies before impacting their surroundings with devasting ferocity.

If Nanna or Loki were nearby their bodies would instantly collapse from their pressure, their hearts overwhelmed by primal fear. Thankfully the two duelling were actually the weakest in the space therefore the observers merely smiled with interest as their powers washed over them. At their level Frost and Indra were akin to children…..cute to watch but posed very little danger.

Maya couldn't help but develop a mad smile as she watched her charge grow his presence, his aura coming out in full swing, far more efficiently than ever before. She turned towards her own rival in a taunting manner only to see Izuna doing the exact same. Both were confident in their own charge's victory.

Both Frost and Indra waited until their power ups were complete until resuming the duel. Their chakra armours had been repaired and enhanced with their auras giving them presence and a slight alteration in colour, but it was their weapons that changed the most. There was an almost lifelike bloodlust attached to them as though they craved to rip apart one another.

The proceeding blows would be far heavier and sharper than earlier, one misstep could mean the loss of a limb.

"Be careful little brother, in this state I won't be able to stop mid-swing." Indra gave one last warning to Frost as his aura receded back into his body, further buffing his attributes.

In response Frost showed a wild smile and twirled his glaive as he entered a battle stance. "Do your worst Indra. That blade of yours won't ever get the chance to cut into my flesh." His charka armour hummed as though challenging Indra's attack power. Those of the ice element though proficient in attack were far more suited to amplifying their defence.

Indra would not only have to pierce through his weapon guard but also his many layers of dense armour.

"So be it, don't tell me I didn't warn you." The moment Indra finished speaking he vanished, leaving but a few tendrils of lighting in his place. He was even faster than before but Frost was ready.

DOOOONNNNN!!!

Indra appeared from his left with his katana swinging but his glaive was ready. The two weapons clashed, releasing sonic booms as blade edge met blade edge.

Don! Don! Don! Don!

The two clashed several times at far higher speeds and with far more ferocity than earlier. The solid stone arena that they stood on fractured with their steps and large gashes formed across its surface from their slashes.

Frost struggled to engage at such speeds, he was once again on the defensive but unlike Maya, Indra failed to break through his guard, leading to a pseudo stalemate. However this time Frost's use of cold flames failed to pierce Indra's body. His lighting armour violently reacted to such intrusions, fizzling the wisps out of existence, Indra had learned from his earlier mistakes.

Don! Don! Don! Don!

The two moved across the arena, exchanging blow after blow as Indra practically danced around his brother, assaulting from every known angle. But even so Frost did not let up, his mastery of the glaive was sufficient to block, guard and even occasionally parry Indra's blows with nothing more than the occasional brush against his armour.

To describe their battle as exciting would be a great understatement. The three observers were practically at their edge of their seats as they watched the two evenly matched opponents push themselves far beyond what they thought was possible for their level. Both Indra and Frost were learning and rapidly improving after every clash with no signs of stopping.

Their weapon mastery alone was sure to jump leaps and bounds thanks to this duel let alone their other combat abilities.

"[Thundering torrent]"

"[Earth's upheaval]" Since regular attacks weren't cutting it the two dungeon cores moved to using their skills however this time they attached their auras greatly improving their destructive and or protective powers. More and more of the stone arena blew up from their clashes, quickly altering the battlefield.

It was getting hard to stand on a flat surface, a fact that was putting pressure on Frost.

"[Lighting serpent]"

"[Wyvern's maw]" A change happened the moment Frost launched the massive wyvern's head at Indra's lightning serpent. The step he took landed on an uneven surface causing his balance to falter for just the briefest of moments but against Indra that was enough. Finally after wrecking the battlefield for the past 10 minutes the fruits of their labour finally paid off.

Frost barely managed to blink before he was met with the vicious expression of his brother bearing down on him with his katana raised high, ready to chop off his right hand. He had no time to defend the only option was to relinquish his weapon, a practical death sentence but one that needed to be done.

In milliseconds Frost released his grip, dropping his glaive and pulled back his right hand.

Schwing!

The katana moved faster than the human eye could follow but thanks to Frost's quick reactions it didn't manage to sever its intended target but nonetheless blood was drawn. A smooth cut was made across the back of his hand, easily slicing through the thin layer of chakra armour and light gauntlets fashioned by Daki.

Blood streamed down his forearm; the cut was quite deep but thankfully not debilitating. His fingers were still fully responsive as was his grip, it just hurt.

Frost completely ignored the pain and used this opportunity to enact some revenge. At practically the same moment Indra's katana was slicing the back of his right hand, his left hand aimed directly for Indra's face.

"[Freezing fireball]" a small sphere of silver cold fire was instantly created before his left hand and hurled directly at Indra's face, catching the lightning speedster by surprise, forcing him to quickly protect his face and back away. His sudden attack was thus brought to a halt, preventing any further damage but Frost wasn't about to let him go that easily.

The still falling glaive was caught by his foot and kicked back into his hands. Catching it stung but Frost ignored the pain as he activated one of his weapon skills.

"[Ice piercer]" With the activation words Frost kicked off from his position, dashing straight for the retreating Indra with his glaive wrenched back, building up its penetration strength. A spear head of ice formed at the tip of the glaive as he drew near. Indra was now the one being surprised by his opponent's speed.

'Fuck!' He internally cursed as he rotated his body to avoid the majority of blow, but he wasn't quite fast enough.

Squelch!

The head of the glaive cut into Indra's left thigh, drawing enough blood to dye the tip red. Indra rapidly escaped into the distance after kicking away with right foot. The two brothers then stared at one another as they dripped blood onto the arena.

Frost's right hand was injured which was sure to affect his ability to swing his glaive at least somewhat while Indra received a cut across his left thigh which would likely dampen his terrifying speed. Though Indra was bleeding more due to the location of the wound it was hard to guess who received more damage. This fight was still anyone's game.

Drip Drip Drip Drip

A few seconds of silence passed between the two of them as their wounds dripped blood onto the arena. A million thoughts and simulations ran through their minds as they analysed their previous exchanges and tried to think of ways to take the other down. The pain in their hand and thigh respectively made the danger of this duel all the more real and…..exciting.

Wild almost maddened smiles formed on their lips as their hearts started thumping away, demanding more onslaught.

As if in sync both Frost and Indra activated their chakra over their wounds at the same, one freezing the area to stop the blood and the other cauterising it before charging towards each other with their weapons drawn. A terrifying exchange of blows followed with more and more wounds being opened across their bodies.

30 minutes later puddles of blood littered the battlefield, and the two duellists were practically dyed red. Their robes torn to shreds and their armour obliterated thanks the swings of their weapons and destructive magic. Their upper bodies were thus laid bare thanks to the battle, their clearly defined physiques on full display for their observers to ogle at … which they did with gusto.

Izuna and Maya had their eyes wrenched open as wide as they could go, allowing them to fully take in the fabulous sight before them. If this wasn't beauty then what was. Even the red blood dripping down their chests was mesmerising to them. A few wolf whistles could occasionally be heard from the spectators along with demands to cut off more clothing and armour.

The girls were probably having just as much if not more fun than their charges.

Dark who was sitting high up in his floating palanquin smiled with pride as he witnessed the fire between his children and the admiration in the eyes of their guardians. This liveliness was exactly what he wanted for them. It was the dream of every father, for their children to be happy and enjoy their lives to the fullest.

Of course he was occasionally on the edge of seat at times whenever the duel grew perilous, but the 'innocent' smiles plastered across his sons' lips whenever they clashed eased his worries. Though bloody and even outright vicious the duel was still fun in their eyes, so he saw no reason to end it prematurely.