Conquering His Cold Heart

Blood continued to leak from Findlay's body, faster and faster as the energy became more and more wild. This was an endurance race between the protection barrier placed by Dark and Findlay's own body seeing which one would give out first. A brutal process that caused all those watching to frown and clench their fists as they were powerless to help him.

"You can do it Findlay!"

"Fight! Fight! Fight!" Nanna and Loki resorted to cheering him on despite being advised to keep quiet. They couldn't help themselves; Findlay was part of their extended family; they didn't want anything bad to happen to him.

Frost initially wanted to tell them to stop and remain quiet lest they interrupt Findlay's focus, but Maya tugged his sleeve before he could speak. She then gestured with her chin towards Findlay, telling Frost to look at him.

Findlay's groaning and painful roars as well as his trembling all lessened the moment he heard Nanna and Loki's adorable cheering. Their words impacted him positively.

Frost's eyes opened up wide as he realised this before he too cheered Findlay on. Khuno and Kiba swiftly followed and soon the entire room was filled with people cheering on Findlay as his body was devastated by the rampant energy.

Minutes passed with Findlay in this deplorable state that intensified every second. He was exhausted and was struggling to keep his eyes focused; his breathing was heavily laboured, and every single millimetre of his body was in agony. For him this ordeal felt as though it lasted hours not minutes.

Every time he felt that he couldn't go on he'd hear the cheering from his family granting him another extension of willpower, but their cheers were quickly falling on deaf ears. All his senses were overloaded by the intense pain that he struggled to make out their voices and even see properly. He was truly on his last legs, this protection set up by Dark was not an easy thing to surpass.

The rampant energy continued to cycle through his body at immense speed, forcibly expanding his mana veins and body without care for the damage and pain it caused.

Suddenly when his vision was beginning to darken the energy violently slammed against something causing him to spurt a serious amount of blood and radically tremble.

But before he could get his bearings the energy slammed against this thing once again, resulting in another fierce tremble throughout his body.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Loud bangs could be repeatedly heard and felt by Findlay as well as those observing.

What the rampant energy was striking against couldn't be seen but the aftershocks could certainly be observed, it was definitely hitting something.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

'It must the protective barrier father placed' Frost surmised what was causing the obstruction. The energy within Findlay's body was gaining enough speed and momentum to strike against this barrier and now the true fight had begun.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Findlay was violently knocked up and down, side to side, back to front in pretty much all directions as the energy slammed itself against this invisible barrier. Each successive slam caused Findlay to spurt blood and violently tremble. His mind was completely overloaded, he didn't know which way was up or down and his vision was nothing but a blurry mess.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The attacks grew more and more frequent causing more and more splits across Findlay's body before finally there was a loud crack. This was followed by another and another before he felt something completely shatter and was granted a sudden sense of freedom with an absence of pain. The barrier was down.

Around 70% of the rampant energy was expended during this violent exchange, thus there was no longer that horrible bloated and intense burning sensation in his veins.

That remaining 30% coagulated together and seeped into his pores, revitalising every inch of his body before gradually transforming it at the atomic level.

A bright glow arose from Findlay. It grew every second until he was encapsulated in a dense sphere of light, hidden from the eyes of everyone else in the room.

The next phase of his transition had begun. The hard part was over, but this thing still wasn't set in stone. Findlay could fail at any time.

The energy levels could be insufficient to complete the transformation, he could lose consciousness midway or fail for a possible 100 other reasons. This was the step that relied solely on his luck.

Minutes passed and everyone waited on baited breaths, they weren't cheering anymore. Just staring silently at the sphere of light that occasionally undulated to show that something was still happening. Nervousness gripped each and every one of them, Frost especially who stood with clenched fists and bloodshot eyes.

After another ten minutes of this patient agony the large shining sphere starting to shrink and dim. Its form altered from spherical to that of a humanoid. Two arms, two legs and a head, Findlay was clearly not becoming some unrecognisable monstrosity.

His humanoid form of light appeared to be a fair bit shorter than Findlay was previously. Where he was originally around 4 metres tall this form was likely between 3 and 3.5 metres. Rather strange considering he was moving up in rank, a strangeness that didn't go unnoticed.

'Is this going to be a fail?' Frost questioned silently in his mind before shaking his head, refusing to jump to conclusions so early in the game. All he could see right now was the outline of his possible shape, no energy, aura or even presence could be felt as of yet. Behind the light form the inside was nothing but rapidly transforming cells, still in their transformation period.

After another minute or so Findlay's new form appeared in greater detail. The light almost completely faded starting from the bottom. His skin appeared to still be blue but of a lighter shade and his leg muscles were smaller, matching his overall shortened frame. But they were very toned, and Frost could immediately tell that they contained far more power that their appearance suggested.

He was the same way, despite being B-rank he wasn't buffed up the wazoo. The inner workings of his and now Findlay's muscles were categorically different from those of standard muscles.

The rest of Findlay's body was much the same, but unlike before when he was simply donned in the bare minimum of clothes he was now equipped with a full set of shiny gear. His chest and arms were protected by a thin silverly scale mail that was clearly of high quality, peak 3 star at the very least.

His groin and upper legs were covered in some sort of toughened monster leather that was decorated with blue lining that screamed of the ice element. The colour scheme and quality of the armour and even the light clothes hidden underneath portrayed elegance, nobility. This was enhanced by the changes to Findlay's face.

Though it was evident that he was still the same person his face was far more refined and clean cut, less wild, more intelligent as if he took after a certain someone he was close too.

A beautiful silver coloured oval gem could be seen embedded within his forehead, reflecting the light in the room and adding to his new impressive visage.

Sharp gasps escaped the lips of many in the room as the light completely faded and revealed Findlay in his entirety. His presence arrived at the same time, his aura naturally overflowing.

Kiba and Khuno both fell to their knees, visibly trembling out of primal fear. Whereas Nanna and Loki felt nothing thanks to the swift actions of Maya who enveloped them in her own aura before narrowing her eyes and clenching her fists, ready to move out a moment's notice.

Frost was forced to take a step back as Findlay's full blown aura permeated his body. His arms grew goosebumps, and he felt a stifling weight on his heart and lungs. Findlay was strong, stronger than himself.

At this realisation Frost's lips turned upwards into a wild smile before he started laughing, a mad glint glowing in his eyes. Findlay had succeeded, he had beat the odds and entered the realm of B-rank.

Gradually Findlay's aura receded, falling back within the confines of his new body allowing Kiba and Khuno to catch their breaths. His eyes were still closed but his eyelids started to flicker, he was coming to.

Findlay slowly opened up his eyes revealing their ice blue hue. He groggily looked around the training room, blinking on occasion as though he was waking from a deep sleep.

Eventually he focused upon Frost, his eyes opened wide, and a large smile grew on his lips. His aura then once again enveloped the surrounding area, Frost most of all, as though he was eliciting a challenge.

Maya's frown deepened at this action, she clicked her tongue and started moving towards Findlay, but she was stopped.

Frost outstretched his hand stopping Maya from interfering, he knew Findlay through and through, this was not a challenge but simply him displaying his abilities to him. Like a child showing off to his father.

Frost unleashed his own aura and despite it being weaker than Findlay's. Findlay's aura showed subservience, allowing his to take the dominant role.

Findlay then fell to his right knee and crossed his left arm over his chest like a knight prostrating himself before his king.

"I hope I've met your expectations master."

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