Conquering His Cold Heart

"Tsk." Out of respect and a small amount of fear both Fafnir and Leviathan stopped their antics. They listened to his orders, and silently watched the screen above, no longer bickering.

\'They might not get you Pyro, but I do. I know that you\'ll reach that fabled level and fulfil your heart\'s desire.\' Though she was made silent Fafnir internally acknowledged Pyro\'s efforts. He was a man that was hard to understand, hard to see beyond his stubborn and arrogant crap riddled exterior but since she bore a similar nature it allowed her to see through his outer shell.

To her Pyro was a man full of insecurities, heavy expectations and….fear. While his siblings slowly developed, grew and explored the world of Nova he was desperately improving his own strength, to be acknowledged as the older brother that he was, as a dutiful son and most importantly a shelter, a shield which could protect his weaker siblings from the reckoning that was yet to come.

He wanted to be the beacon, the man who held up the sky as the Light God\'s condemnation struck them down. He wasn\'t good with words and quite frankly was hardly friendly, but he cared, he cared deeply about their survival. Unfortunately the only method his muscle brain could understand, was force.

The audience watched the rest of the duel in silence, afraid to upset Diablos in anyway. And as predicted after a determined slugfest, Terra\'s blows gradually lost their weight, his rock armour crumbling faster and faster while his opponent Pyro seemed to only grow stronger and more vicious, his flames refusing to be snuffed out.

The difference between the two of them in regards to power wasn\'t all that large but the difference in battle experience and sheer determination to win was what granted Pyro victory today.

"Puahhh!" Finally Terra was blown off his feet, his body sent flying backwards as blood surged up his throat and violently passed through his lips. With his complexion ashen and his body filled with pain he craned his head up with great difficulty in an attempt to get up from the floor.

"Enough Terra, you\'ve lost accept it." Pyro released the flames surrounding his body and lowered his axe. His breaths were laboured but he still held more than enough strength to continue his attack.

"Ughhh….ahnnn." Terra groaned as he tried to move his limbs but eventually passed out from exhaustion.

"….Father." With a strange expression on his face Pyro looked upwards and called out for Dark.

"The winner is Pyro, well done." In response Dark\'s voice reverberated throughout the duelling space, bringing an official end to the duel. Following that two magic crests appeared beneath the brothers and whisked them back to the ball room. Pyro was deposited next to his guardian Fafnir while Terra appeared next Dark who proceeded to personally heal his injuries before handing him over to Geb.

With Pyro back among his siblings everyone seemed to view him differently, there was less distain, less fear and more respect. Pyro\'s personality may not be appreciated hell perhaps even hated but his strength was the real deal.

"Terra!" While Pyro was regulating his breathing and receiving a few words of praise from Fafnir, Geb called out, his voice filled with concern as he held the brown giant that was Terra in his arms. .net

"I…I lost." Though his injuries were healed by Dark he was still exhausted, simply forming a few words took a great deal of effort.

Geb gently stroked Terra\'s cheek and firmly grasped his right hand before answering "yeah, you did."

A frustrated expression grew across Terra\'s face and his left hand audibly cracked as he tightly clenched. He then looked over at Frost, Indra and also Queek as if apologising for his failure. He was supposed to put Pyro in his place, to show him that the livelihoods of his siblings mattered, that he was wrong to dismiss, insult and criticise their efforts.

In response his siblings smiled and shook their heads in an attempt to ease his worries, there was nothing for him to be sorry about.

"You were strong." While Terra was slinking into a depressed state three words entered his ears from a voice that he recognised but really didn\'t expect to hear at least not giving out compliments.

Pyro gave Terra a brief glance along with a simple compliment before turning away. Upon hearing his words Terra felt a rush of peace and a strange sense of acknowledgement. A smile grew on his lips as he leaned back and allowed his body to rest. His efforts weren\'t completely wasted it seems.

Apart from Terra\'s and Pyro\'s duel another 10 of their siblings were competing against each other, 4 of which had already finished and were already sitting back on the stands before Pyro and Terra, but no one seemed to notice them. Their duels just didn\'t have as much flare, or dramatic attraction as the clash between two single digit cores.

However now that the big draw had ended everyone was forced to take notice of who was left.

"Liana and Wukong seem pretty evenly matched, neither of them has managed to get the upper hand."

"That staff style of Wukong\'s is pretty strong but also very orthodox in its movements, making it predictable and lacking in flexibility against moves such as Liana\'s. Her utilisation of the whip is fairly unconventional and wild thus making it an unusual match up wherein neither can make much sense of the others technique."

Wukong\'s and Liana\'s duel may not have been as flashy or explosive as Terra\'s and Pyro\'s but there was a certain grace present that made Frost and Indra appreciate it. They focused more on their weapon mastery and personal fighting styles rather than energy consuming skills thus both Wukong and Liana still held a great deal of stamina and sported only superficial injuries.

"Have you checked out Dalan and Shira?" Indra inquired as he brought up their duel on his personal viewing screen.

"No why?" Frost recognised the names but not much else. Dalan and Shira were both low ranking Dungeon cores and thus they tended to mingle with those who were similarly ranked. Frost being one of the top ranked cores was therefore excluded from this group in fact he\'d only met them both once and very briefly at that during the last family gathering.

"They\'re both mages."

"Hoh, interesting." Frost\'s curiosity was officially peaked. He and Indra were both capable of using high level magic but despite this they couldn\'t be classified as mages. Why because they fought with their weapons and chakra, mainly engaging in close combat, the antithesis of the standard mage caste.

Dalan and Shira however were your typical mages, their bodies were bursting with mana, they bore magical staffs as their weapons and stood a solid 20 metres or more apart as they engaged in battle. This was a long distance clash in a very different style compared to what they were used to. Frost had fought alongside mages before, but this was his first time seeing a duel between two of their kind.

Dalan and Shira would launch spell after spell at each other which would compete for dominance in the centre of the stage. A few spells would occasionally make it through only to be avoided or to strike against a prepared defensive spell. The battle appeared to be slower in nature, more attrition focused, chipping away at their mana reserves one spell at a time.

The loser would be the one who failed to keep up with the mana drain and or who lost their casting focus.

It was different and perhaps less interesting to watch but very educational. While Frost and Indra perhaps used two or three spells on rotation as battle aids for Dalan and Shira this was their bread and butter. Their repertoire of spells easily exceeded theirs multiple times over granting them a great deal of flexibility and options in battle.

And unlike the two of them they were not bound by their inherent element, further increasing their range of spells.

Seeing them and their battle brought back memories for Frost, memories of the night he aided Leo in taking down his uncle. There was an opportunity there to see Ryuu fight as a mage but unfortunately he was needed elsewhere and his strength at the time was lacking, making him nothing more than a hindrance.

\'Perhaps I should spar with Ryuu next time I get a chance.\' It was clear that his experience against true mages was sorely lacking and needed to be rectified.

Time passed and eventually all 6 duels were brought to a close, the victors decided and rewarded for their efforts as were those who came in second and gambled on the results. Both Frost and Indra managed to make another 10,000DP each from their bets thus happy smiles adorned their lips.

Once the last of the rewards were dished out Dark walked to the centre of the room and faced his children with a large grin on his face.

"We\'ve had our family meal, discussed the guardian situation, enjoyed a Dungeon war between Void and Queek and now we\'ve concluded a total of 6 duels…now it\'s time for what you\'ve all been waiting for…." Suddenly the sound of a drum roll filled the room before Dark raised his right hand and summoned a massive board with all of his children\'s name\'s on it.

"The Dungeon core DP rankings!" Flashing lights went off behind Dark as announced it, assisting his dramatic fanfare.

\'Haaaaa he really doesn\'t change does he.\' Frost shook his head and internally sighed but still smiled, despite it being a bit much at times he enjoyed this side of his father.