Conquering His Cold Heart

"Criiiii!!" The semi-corporal Luan cried out as it moved in concert with Frost's upward slash, the sound attempting to shake Bella's soul, to freeze her for a moment so as to deal maximum damage. Alas Bella was strong and a very experienced fighter.

Frost's initial attempts to overcome her senses were nothing but childish attempts in her eyes. She abolished his freezing fireballs with minimal movement and locked her gaze almost instantly beneath her chin, predicating his movements with frightening accuracy.

Though his glaive skill was rather impressive and his aura quite distinct it was nothing she hadn't faced before.

The high pitched cry of the Luan didn't faze her in the slightest. The moment Frost's slash moved upwards in an attempt to carve up her face she deftly used the head of her hammer to partially redirect the blow and took a single step backwards.

Schwing!

The sharp slash cut through the air, splitting it apart with a trail of frost. A mighty blow that completely missed its intended target.

Frost was internally surprised, not expecting such skilled and quick movements from the muscle bound giant but he didn't let it distract him.

Using the residual force of his upward swing he flipped his body and lashed out with a brutal kick. With his right leg covered in dense, multilayered ice chakra he aimed for Bella's solar plexus, not aiming to deal much damage but to use her as a springboard. Unfortunately this too was predicted by the scar covered woman.

Crunch!

Bella's left hand was silently placed before her chest and the moment Frost's leg made contact she grabbed him and squeezed hard.

"Quick little bastard aren't you!" Said Bella with a smile that stretched from ear to ear and filled those watching with trepidation. She wasn't expecting her prey to be quite so nimble as well as physically strong. Her massive hand felt numbed from his kick, and she barely managed to catch him despite predicating his moves. Frost was strong, far stronger than her son.

Crack!

As she started to get excited by the potential of her prey and thought on how lucky her son was she clamped down on Frost's caught leg, crushing layer after layer of his dense ice chakra as if it was brittle glass.

Frost grimaced as the pressure increased, he tried to pull himself free but failed to even move a single millimetre from her grip. He was locked in tight; Bella wasn't going to let him go until his foot had become mush.

He attempted to kick with his other leg but still her grip tightened, he was starting to really feel it now, just a few more kilograms of force and his bones would start trembling.

"Let go!" He roared while swinging out with his glaive but was unfortunately met with Bella's massive hammer, his only other recourse now was to freeze burn her off.

When another layer of ice chakra was crushed silver flames burst forth from the cracks engulfing Bella's hand. The ice fire chakra chilled the surface of her hand and attempted to invade her flesh, but it was a rather slow process. The massive B-rank frost giant was clearly resistant to his flames.

Just when his ankle bone was about to succumb to the pressure a redness filled Frost's eyes as desperation set in.

"[Black ice guillotine]" Since his glaive was repeatedly rebuffed by his opponent's hammer, his ice armour unable to endure her physical strength and his flames too slow to force her off his only recourse was magic.

Frost cast a 4th circle ice spell that summoned a guillotine of ice so transparent that it was invisible to the naked eye. This invisible guillotine wasn't all that thick and if struck by a half decent blow, was likely to fracture but it was razor blade sharp, even Bella's dense musculature would likely struggle to endure against its edge.

Finally there was something that made the frost giant wince. The woman almost immediately reeled back her hand, releasing Frost from her iron grip.

[Black ice guillotine] was a very lopsided spell, giving up all forms of defence, speed and robustness for pure cutting power. Even someone like Bella who was resistant to ice magic and sported a thick musclebound form would see her flesh severed if she wasn't careful.

Her position made letting Frost go her only choice if she wished to retain full functionality of her left arm.

Not waiting to give the woman another chance to take hold Frost immediately moved backward the moment his feet touched the ground. The two stared at one another silently for a few seconds, reevaluating their opponent's strengths.

'She's fast, strong and far more experienced than I am….I can't let her catch me again.' Frost was rather confident in his acrobatics even Maya praised him on his manoeuvrability but against Bella such flexible attacks were just pointless movements asking to be countered. The size difference between them was revealing significant advantages and disadvantages.

'Slow and steady, don't go for a flashy attack, chip away at her.' Frost steadied his breathing, shook his throbbing leg and fixed his chakra armour before readying himself for round two.

Bella who wasn't hurt in the slightest also changed her attitude. Frost was stronger and more dangerous than she first thought, an opponent she couldn't let herself relax around.

A glint flashed in her eyes as she licked her lips, curious to know how succulent his flesh was. The stronger and more talented Frost was the better. Not only would he be tastier the chances of her son ascending after eating his flesh would be higher plus she could actually enjoy herself.

It'd been years since she last had a good fight, spars and matches with her fellow frost giants just weren't the same as fighting a being with their life on the line.

She gripped her hammer with both hands, dug her feet into the snow and gestured for her cohorts to stay back, to only move if the tiger did.

The pressure continued to build between the two fighters, the suspense weighing heavily on the observers' hearts, Kiba and Avira especially.

Just when the suspense couldn't get any greater a small hill of snow collapsed under the wind and Frost vanished, appearing a moment later behind Bella, his glaive thrusting at her back like a spear.

Ding!

As if she had eyes on the back of her head Bella used the butt of her hammer to deflect his glaive while at the same time spun round with her left hand in an attempt to smash Frost like a pumpkin. Her movements were seamless and incredibly quick, but Frost had learned from his earlier mistake.

He took no chances, the moment his thrust was deflected he moved. Utilising his powerful legs he manoeuvred around Bella and started peppering her with quick jabs and slashes, only very rarely activating a skill like [flight of the Luan].

Skills were generally finishing moves or moves used in a pinch, no one not even Frost could continually use skill after skill in a fight, the drain in stamina being way too high. Add on the fact that he was using his aura throughout his entire body as a boost to his physical strength, he really couldn't afford to squander his reserves.

He had very little hope in winning this battle, even if he somehow broke through to the mid stages of B-rank he still wouldn't be a match for Bella. Her strength was likely just a level lower than that demon from the monster stampede. The one that took an A-rank general to subdue.

No his aim was to buy time and hopefully create an opportunity for Avira, Borris and Kiba to flee to Icethorne. Without them being around he could fight harder, more recklessly and hopefully endure until aid arrived. Unfortunately after several minutes there was no such opportunity cropping up.

Bella was taking his entire focus while she was manhandling him with concentration to spare. Every so often she'd tease moving towards Kiba or have her cohorts make some noise, pressuring them all, Frost especially.

She was wise enough to know of his plans and loved siphoning off the hope he held one tendril at a time, it greatly improved the flavour of the meat.

"Hoh almost got you that time."

"Come on be more aggressive or I might just decided to end you all at once."

"Maybe I should kill one of them to motivate you a little more."

"If the tiger moves even slightly pierce his hide with javelins."

The taunts came one after another, wounding Frost's psyche and gradually pressuring him to change his tactics. The more he slowly peppered her with attacks, playing mouse the more aggressive the taunts became and the more danger Kiba, Borris and Avira were in.

This was just a game to her, Frost was an interesting opponent but if he wasn't going to face her head on she'd rather just decimate them all with their number advantage.

Don!

"Urgh!" Finally after being repeatedly taunted Frost moved in for a deadlier blow and left himself open for a fierce reprisal.

Bella smashed her massive hammer against his left side after taking a minor slash to her clavicle, another scar for her remarkable temple of a body.

Frost wasn't as prepared for this one and was sent flying through the air, one of his ribs making a loud cracking sound as he crashed against the snow. Blood drained from his face as pain radiated from his ribs, one was broken while another two were cracked. He could still move well but the force behind his glaive wouldn't be the same.

The trade-off in their exchange was too lopsided.