Conquering His Cold Heart

It was quite the sight for Nanna and Loki to see upon their return to the private space. Their master who they loved and adored was being physically restrained by Maya and Daki while they force fed him some sort of blue coloured stew that smelled absolutely divine. However his tears and the bright red tint strewn across his face obviously meant that this wasn't some sort of romantic situation.

"Uhm?" Nanna being the older of the two spoke up.

"Mmhmmnnnn." Frost tried to garble a request for help but was quickly silenced by another spoonful from Daki.

"Be quiet and finish your meal." Maya ordered as she repositioned herself to better restrain him. If he wasn't being force fed such an evil concoction he would have probably relished in having her and Daki wrapped around him but that was not the case.

"Relax Nanna he's just being made to eat something spicy that's all." Maya attempted to lighten the situation with a friendly expression, but her sadistic side was in full swing, and Daki wasn't any better. It was clear to the siblings that their master was on the receiving end of their antics but then again he probably deserved it to some degree.

Plus as far as Nanna could tell Frost wasn't in any real danger or pain, the meal was simply a bit spicier than his liking. Therefore using all of her learned knowledge she wisely took hold of her brother's hand and bowed.

"Sorry for disturbing you." After saying that the two of them teleported outside of the private space, allowing Maya and Daki to finish what they started.

"Mmnhmhmmmm!" Frost garbled some more words in desperation, his heart aching from being betrayed by them.

"Come on now just a few more bites and you'll be finished hehehehehe." The two women laughed evilly as they force fed Frost the last of the powerful stew, completely ignoring the death glares he was giving them. If he was to let something like this go unavenged he wouldn't be Frost.

'Just you wait, I'll have the two of begging me for mercy in the coming days.'

The kids returned 10 minutes later after being called back. This time Frost was no longer restrained by Maya and Daki nor was he tearing up, instead the three sat on opposite sides of the living room with one side feeling proud of what they accomplished while the other plotted his revenge.

The moment Nanna and Loki materialised in the private space they were met with a frightening grimace to which they instantly shivered and moved to apologise for their earlier actions. Abandoning their master in his time of need and wilfully ignoring a plea for aid was unbecoming of a slave regardless of whether or not they were treated as such.

Thankfully due to Frost not really holding any true animosity towards them and being unable give a coherent voice command their collars didn't act up, but they still felt rather guilty.

"Oi! Stop looking at them like that it's not as though they could have helped you." Maya quickly rose up in their defence, successfully drawing Frost's ire back to her. The two faced off against each in silence for a few seconds before he gave up.

"I suppose you're right the two of 'THEM' are innocent." He emphasized the difference in parties. Maya and Daki were certainly not going to be let off.

"It worked didn't it." Maya retorted completely showing no remorse for her antics.

To this Frost struggled to argue. Though his tongue was still stinging his body was brimming with power. He felt as though he could challenge a giant to an arm wrestle and win. Ymir's stew of might was certainly impressive, the most beneficial meal he'd ever had by a longshot…if only it wasn't so damn spicy.

"Hmph!" He loudly hmphed, unable to get over his earlier treatment. Surely there was some other way to go about boosting his attributes. His behaviour only seemed to fuel the girls' smug giggles.

'We'll see who has the last laugh.' Frost clenched his fists and internally promised before refocusing on the matter at hand. 6pm was just a short 15 minutes away, enough time for him to mentally prepare himself, double check his gear and digest the majority of his meal.

"Armour check, glaives check, soon to be begging for mercy guardian check." A minute before they were set to leave Frost sent another glare Maya's way to which she proudly arched out her chest as if taunting him.

"Alright everything's ready, Nanna you're in charge of monitoring the dungeon while Loki you're in charge of the camp. Findlay and Khuno will be available to take care of any problems that crop up while we're away so don't be afraid to use them. Daki please supervise the kids and help them out if they need you."

"Of course."

""Understood master"" The kids and Daki all took his orders seriously.

"Well then I guess we should head on over." Frost felt his heart pump with anticipation as the notification he was informed of earlier appeared on his screen. "Wish me luck."

"Good luck Frost."

"Kick his butt master."

"Good hunting master." With his family's support Frost clicked the accept button shown on the screen. Both he and Maya were then  encapsulated in a spatial warp and vanished from the private space.

A couple seconds later Frost and Maya appeared within the dimension that would serve as host for the duel. The entire room was roughly 3 to 5 times larger than their training room and was awash with interesting architecture.

A large stone circle arena was placed in the centre of the space with one half being white and silver in colour and the other being cobalt, a homage to Frost and Indra. A small amount of scenery foliage surrounded the edges of the space to make it appear more natural and pleasant. It wasn't his best work, but it was evident that their father put some effort into designing the arena.

As well as the large arena itself and the rather beautiful background foliage three seating areas were in place around the arena. Two were on opposing sides of the stone circle to serve as waiting areas for the guardian's while the last was floating in the air in a grandiose fashion. Dark showed no restraint when it came to outfitting his own viewing platform.

Golden pillows, high quality food and wine as well as self-fanning leaves adorned this masterpiece allowing the Dark God to enjoy maximum comfort as he watched the proceedings.

Indra appeared a moment after Frost with Izuna trailing behind him with a confident expression. Her and Maya's eyes narrowed the moment they laid eyes on each other.

"Rabbit fenrir."

"Washboard fox." They greeted each other as per usual, generating invisible sparks which Frost and Indra wisely distanced themselves from whereas Dark who was already lounging against his many pillows chuckled with glee, finding the competitiveness between guardians amusing.

"Good to finally meet in the flesh again right, little brother." Indra smiled in a friendly manner as he stretched out his arm.

"Yeah, contact through the dungeon menu just isn't the same as being able to touch and interact in person." Frost grasped hold of his brother's hand and pulled him into a hug, only realising in that moment how good it felt to make proper contact.

"Hahahaha well I'm sure we'll get the chance for more contact soon. You ready to become my punching bag Frost?" Once the hug broke Indra immediately taunted his brother. He could barely control his excitement, finally after that disaster of a war he was going to get the chance to really test his mettle.

Sparks of lightning flashed in his eyes and his aura that was no weaker than Frost's started to leak out, pressing down on the air around them.

Frost not being one to behave passively responded in a similar fashion. Wisps of cold fire formed around his body, lowering the surrounding temperature while his own aura clashed against Indra's, refusing to cower from the provocation. From the initial tests the two of them were roughly on par, neither gained any ground over the other despite their difference in makeup.

Frost's was heavier, denser and more defensive in nature while Indra's aura was shaper, more destructive and better suited to relentless aggression.

"Alright I think that's enough showing off. Maya, Izuna I know the two of you go way back and have been rivals since young but as beings at the S-rank level and guardians you should set a better example for your charges."

""Apologies Dark God-sama" The fenrir and celestial fox both bowed with cold sweat dripping down their backs. How could they act so childishly before the Dark God. Of course internally they simply placed the fault on each other.

Both Frost and Indra quietly sniggered at the two women who were busted for their actions. It wasn't very often that they got to see their guardians being so submissive.

"We're here today because Indra demanded a chance for dungeon cores to interact with one another on an individual basis rather than through dungeon wars."

"'Demanded' is a bit harsh old man, I merely requested it." Indra immediately took offence with the word 'demanded'.

"When you bitch, moan and send the same request but with different wording several times a day I think the word demanded suits just fine son." Dark glared at his sixth child. He had a whole long term plan set up so he wouldn't need to do too much work, but Indra just had to keep bugging him.

Indra held his tongue at this point causing the other three to snigger under their breath.

"Anyway because of his DEMAND I've agreed to facilitate this type of challenge along with the regular war challenge after today's test match with the rest of your siblings albeit with some conditions. First, there will be a DP cost to do so, something I'm waving this time.

Second, wagering will not only be allowed but encouraged between those involved as well as those invited to either watch or bet on the duel. Third, duels can only be requested by a dungeon core once every 3 months and can be rejected without any penalty." Dark didn't want to promote this kind of duel since it didn't test their dungeon mastery or involve their management of DP.

But he did understand the desire to test personal skills against one another as well as the difficulty his children had in meeting one another outside of the family gatherings.

"There will be other rules and conditions in the future, but most can be decided between those actually duelling i.e. magic only, no magic, low tier equipment only etc… For this match however the only rule is no killing, anything else goes.

Both of you can use your weapons, artifacts, armour sets, magic, skills whatever you have you can use…except potions they'll only extend the battle unnecessarily. Do the two of you agree to these terms?"

""Yes father."" The two responded loudly and nodded in agreement.

"Very well, consent has been given so the match will go ahead and since this is an exhibition match I'll reward the victor with 10,000DP while the loser will get a consolation gatcha pull. Do either of you wish to put any further skin in the game?"

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