Conquering His Cold Heart

Frost's brow was raised as he caught sight of Avira's illusionary rapier fiercely thrusting towards his gut without much warning.

'So fast….and deadly.' The wild smile on his lips grew as his battle lust kicked into high gear, Avira was truly skilled.

"[Ice shield]" Milliseconds before the blade was set to meet with his armour Frost conjured a shield of ice and covered his gut in a dense layer of ice chakra.

Crack!

The ice shield swiftly cracked and shattered into a million pieces, but the dense chakra armour held up, preventing Avira's blade from penetrating his flesh.

"Tsk" A loud tongue clicking was heard before Avira once again tried to vanish into fog, but this time Frost was ready for her.

"Ut ant un, not this time little kitty cat." The moment her feet started dancing upon the snow and her body began to fade away Frost reached out and grabbed her right wrist, locking her in place.

He pulled Avira close, her face inches from his own as he stared into her eyes with a predatory grin. "To think that the beloved Princess of Northrend preferred the fairer sex, a definite scoop indeed….but if that's the case then why would she drool with desire when in my presence?" He proceeded to tease the young woman, bringing his body close to her own and threatening to kiss her fair lips.

His skilful manoeuvres and teasing words instantly made Avira blush. She tried to look away from those enchanting eyes of his but only managed to move down towards his inviting lips. As if driven by instinct, she hungrily leaned forward, eager for a taste.

Frost's smile stretched to the limit as his teasing found its mark. Just when their lips were about to touch he immediately pulled back with a mocking expression.

"Sorry my dear Princess but I'm already taken." He playfully teased, increasing the shade of red sprawled across the young woman's cheeks.

"Oh you're drooling again V, how unbecoming." The young woman was like putty in his hands, so fun to mess with.

"Ahhhhh!!! YOU ASSHOLE!!!!" His last remark however was the last straw, her embarrassment completely transitioned into pure rage. Avira tensed up her free arm causing her biceps to bulge as she formed a fist and ruthlessly punched Frost in the face.

Frost not expecting such a sudden attack received a solid blow. His vision shook for a second and the grip he had on Avira's wrist loosened, allowing her to escape and once again fade into the fog.

Frost quickly scanned the vicinity but failed to find even the slightest trace of her, she had become a ghost.

The hairs on the back of his neck stood erect and he gripped his glaive hard realising that the real fight was set to begin, he had truly angered the little demon.

Whoosh!

Again a sharp dagger aimed straight for his groin, intending to deal him a significant blow. He managed to block the dagger with the shaft of his glaive once again but the moment he did two more daggers flew through the fog targeting blind spots.

Frost craned his neck to the left dodging one of them while he summoned a shield of ice to handle the second.

"[Wind spike]" However the moment he moved to dodge, affecting his balance, a green magic crest appeared beneath his feet.

"Shit!" He cursed before leaping to the side, a moment later a spike made of wind pierced upwards from where he was just standing, once again his groin being the prime target.

'So vicious.' Though he could feel an imaginary breeze blowing down there his excitement was growing, this battle was so much fun.

For the next twenty minutes or so Frost endured Avira's quick and deadly onslaught that was akin to the movements of an assassin. She was strong, incredibly strong.

"Very impressive V, your strength can be considered at the mid stages of C-rank but with your timing and burst lethality you'd likely be able to handle those in the upper stages.

A triple threat like myself, flexible, multi skilled and resourceful with nary a weakness." In his view for her rank Avira was perfect, her attack power, speed, reactions, battle instincts and defence capabilities were all at a high level. She was even able to endure sudden bursts of his aura without missing a step, she was well trained.

"Tsk! You say that but I failed to land even a single scratch on you." Avira pouted as she sat on the cold snow floor, drinking from a flask of water. She went over the whole battle in her head and couldn't help but feel irritated, she was completely at Frost's mercy.

In her mind he wasn't that much older than her, yet he was able to handle her like an adult does a child.

'Is the difference between C-rank and B-rank just that great or is Frost a perverse anomaly.' She thought to herself.

"I'd be more surprised if you did land a clean blow -the punch not counting. Once you reach B-rank you'll understand, plus your fighting style is rather poorly matched against my own." Avira was strong yes but the difference between C-rank and B-rank was a qualitive shift rather than a quantitative one.

Plus Frost was particularly skilled at dealing with fast opponents due his training with Maya as well as his battle with Indra who was the personification of lightning.

Avira grumbled in response, her mood rather sour because of her pitiful display. No matter what Frost said she still failed in her opinion, her pride took a hit.

'Avira's strength should allow us to take a more treacherous path if speed is key, Borris can simply rely on his plate armour to endure.' With their strengths revealed Frost was more certain of what routes they could now take. All that mattered now was their preference as well as one last test.

Frost eyed up Borris and assumed he wouldn't be a problem but when he looked at Avira he frowned. She was strong that's for sure and clearly had good instincts but….she's likely never killed before.

"Once V's rested for a spell we'll head deeper into the snow fields, I want to see how you handle a true life or death situation."

"Alright but don't pick something too strong, I'm old remember." Borris grunted as he got up from leaning against Kiba's soft fur.

'Only when it's annoying to do something does he call himself old.' Frost bit his tongue to stop a fierce retort from escaping his lips.

Avira visibly trembled when she heard the term life or death situation. She gazed a Frost and bit her lip knowing that her inexperience in killing had been revealed.

She remembered the teachings of her mother as well as Dartanan who taught her how to fight.

"Princess you may be incredibly talented when it comes to battle, you're skilled with both weapons and magic but never forget that unless you have the will to kill an enemy that talent is useless. If you hesitate to kill, it will be your undoing."

"My dear daughter I hoped that you would remain as my little flower, unmarred by the world but it's clear that that is no longer possible. There will come a day when your training will no longer be training, you will have to use your skills to end the life of another." Avira remembered the sudden shift in her mother's demeanour as she spoke.

The woman that was soft and approachable, always with a lovely smile on her face shifted to someone with an icy expression who emitted a deep bloodlust.

"Never hesitate Avira, never." She quickly returned to the mother she knew after that, but Avira never forgot the stark contrast between the two states.

'I guess that time has come.'  She suddenly felt nervous and anxious, she had never killed anyone or anything before. She'd seen death especially during the night of her escape, but it was always someone else doing the deed.

Avira look at her hands that had begun to tremble, she was afraid….but such a time was inevitable. The moment she decided to pick up the sword and train her magical capabilities she was prepared.

'I won't hesitate mother.' She internally promised before storing away her flask and looking at Frost and Borris with clear determination.

"Let's go."

Frost looked over Avira and smiled, he liked the look in her eyes.

"Very well."

The group continued their journey deeper into the mountains, Frost scanned the horizon and used his senses to search for appropriate opponents.

Finding one for Borris was rather easy, the area was plentiful with upper E-rank and even D-rank monsters. They quickly came across a lone D-rank yeti.

Frost, Kiba and Avira surrounded the monster to prevent it from escaping while Borris was sent up to challenge it by himself. The goal wasn't necessarily for Borris to kill the creature but rather to test how well he handled a non-human target and if he had the stomach to go for the kill.

The battle was anything but glamourous in fact calling it a comedy routine may have been more appropriate. Borris was outmatched when it came to speed and his reach was far shorter than that of his opponent's.

The Yeti practically toyed with him, launching flurried blows before moving out of harm's way but gradually it started to grow cocky and make mistakes. Borris was naturally patient thanks to his profession, so he simply waited and waited until a perfect opportunity knocked on his door.