Conquering His Cold Heart

To be honest Maya was not expecting the reason for her 'forced' wake-up call to be a duel with Indra, but it certainly qualified as a good one.

Indra was ranked roughly on par with Frost during the last family gathering and had been making quite a name for himself as an adventurer in the western reaches of the Yangmir continent i.e. the storm mountains. Unlike Frost who had to defend himself from waves and waves of berserk monsters during the stampede, Indra gradually increased his guild rank through a plethora of quests.

The young lightning based dungeon core was one of the hottest newcomers within the storm mountains and was just a couple quests away from becoming an official B-rank adventurer. He was worthy to be called Frost's rival.

After Frost gave her the details regarding the challenge Maya practically dragged his ass back to training space, leaving the kids in Daki's capable hands.

"You wanted to train then we're going to train. There's no way in hell you're going to lose to Indra, Izuna would never let me hear the end of it." While Frost and Indra had a rather friendly rivalry- at least at the moment- the one between their guardians was far more vicious. A long standing enmity between the two made them almost unbearably competitive at times.

Maya would see Frost's victory or loss as a personal reflection on her teaching ability, as would Izuna thus she would do everything within her power to make sure Frost won this duel of his.

Frost hadn't seen Maya pumped up with so much fighting spirit since the day he brought Daki back to the dungeon. His body instinctively trembled both out of fear and excitement.

"Use all your tricks cause I'm coming at you hard and I'm not going to stop." Maya summoned two massive hammers, far larger than her dainty frame, each easily weighing a tonne, yet she wielded them as if they were as light as feathers. She was serious.

Frost audibly gulped as goosebumps formed across his arms before covering himself in sturdy plates of ice chakra and readied his 4 star glaive. A silver coloured flame danced around the blade edge amplifying its lethal capabilities. To finish he coated his body and glaive in his royal aura, growing his presence and adding further protection. He was going all out.

"Hmph it'll have to do, try not to die my dear Frost." Maya smiled in an evil manner as she transitioned to demon instructor mode. A fraction of second later her lithe form vanished along with her hammers.

Boooooommmm!!!

Before he could even catch her shadow Frost was smashed into the air, large chunks of his chakra armour fragmenting apart as his aura dispersed into the air.

"Focus!" He managed to hear another order from behind before once again being smashed by her hammers. This was going to be some training experience.

Several hours later Frost exited the training space behind Maya, his gaze looking rather hollow and listless while Maya's looked anxious as though thinking that she may have gone too easy on him. She really didn't want him to lose this duel.

"Rest up for a couple hours, I'll prepare you a special meal before we're set to head off."

"Yes ma'am." Frost dragged himself towards his bed and collapsed onto without even removing his robes. A pained whisper escaped his lips before he slipped into unconsciousness.

Daki who was present in the room at the time looked at Frost full of worry.

"Don't you think you went a bit too far, normally after your training sessions he leaves in pain but with a smile on his face. This time however it's like you broke his spirit."

"He's fine, I just let him know some of the true depths of power this time around. He'll bounce back, it's not in his nature to cower before a wall." Maya was confident that Frost would be back to his normal self after a good rest and meal.

She did feel a little guilty about beating him black and blue, basically mocking his B-rank status but it was necessary. Indra wasn't a normal opponent, he was sure to have just as many tricks up his sleeves as Frost, perhaps even more. The lightning element was not only quick but rivalled the destruction of the fire element.

Though she was loathe to admit it, whenever she and Izuna clashed in battle she was usually on the losing side more often than not. That damn 'failure' of a celestial fox was no slouch when it came to combat strength after all.

"I hope so, seeing him like that just felt wrong." Frost was always confident in himself whenever she was with him.

"Where are the kids?"

"They're helping out at the Sleeping Fenrir" The Sleeping Fenrir was the largest and most popular inn run by Frost and his monsters in the Niflheim base camp. Nanna and Loki were too young and weak to help in the dungeon as fighters but there was nothing stopping them from putting their education to work as receptionists in the inns. Their adorable appearances also helped draw in wealthy visitors.

Maya was happy with such an arrangement as long as the security around the inn was doubled whenever they worked, that way she knew they'd be safe from those with less than savoury intentions.

"Good. I know they enjoy helping out whenever they can." Maya smiled and nodded her head, pleased with Daki's handling of the kids in her absence.

"Care to help me prepare his pregame meal?"

"I'm not that skilled when it comes to cooking." Daki embarrassingly admitted. She could prepare simple things, enough for a person to enjoy a little variety but that was it. Even Nanna could be considered a better chef than her.

"That's fine, I can take the lead role while you can be my assistant like Nanna." Maya tried to convince Daki, but she really wasn't sold on the idea.

"Food always tastes better when filled love Daki." That final cheesy statement won her over, she'd do pretty much anything for Frost.

Frost woke up a couple hours later feeling light as rain. The aches in his body and strain on his organs had dissipated. He squirmed and wriggled on the bed relishing in the comfort of the mattress as well as the lingering scent left by his darling girlfriends. Maya's scent in particular sparked a strong reaction within him.

Memories of the brutal beating he received resurfaced to the front of his mind conjuring feelings of being helpless and powerless against an unbeatable foe. Every time he felt that he closed the gap between them Maya would show him just how foolish that notion was. There was still an unsurmountable chasm between them.

"Haaaaaa well just gotta keep improving then." He wallowed in misery for only brief period before getting fired up again. The fact that she used even more power meant that he was better than when they first started. Slowly but surely he'd surpass her, nothing would stop him being strong enough to be the one doing the protecting rather than being the protected.

"Oh something smells good." The breakfast they had in the morning was great, but this was different, clearly high ranking ingredients were being used.

"Take a seat we'll be finished a in a few minutes." Maya briefly turned her head and smiled at him before focusing back on the food, humming a pleasant tune as she stirred. Frost did as requested and sat down at the table. He leaned his hands against his chin and admired the backs of Maya and Daki as they cooked, finding the moment heartwarming, this was life.

"So what have you girls decided to cook?" The smell was absolutely divine, and his patience was wearing thin.

"Don't ask me I just followed her instructions." Daki waved her hands in dismissal.

"It's a dish eaten by mighty gladiators before important matches, a famous dish in the core and inner regions of the Glacial mountains known as Ymir's stew of might. With it you'll be able to summon incredible strength far beyond what you were previously capable of." Maya added what looked like an azure chilli causing the stew to bubble and writhe as it sank beneath the surface.

"I hope you like it spicy." She nefariously warned while stirring in the azure coloured chilli commonly known as 'blue rage'.

"Gulp I will admit that sounds tantalising, but wouldn't it be cheating?" The stirring stopped as Maya slowly rotated her neck.

"You think that stupid fox won't try the same thing. I bet she's feeding Indra her damn grandmother's secret recipe. Only Ymir's stew of might can possibly compete with what she has access too." She quickly returned to stirring the stew. There was no doubt in her mind that Izuna would try to buff up Indra just as much as she buffed up Frost. Their pride was on the line after all.

"Alright but I'm warning Indra beforehand. I don't want to win with an unfair advantage." Unlike Maya he didn't have some sort of long standing and deep seated rivalry with Indra in which they'd stoop to any level to get ahead. The only reason he didn't confront Maya about her actions was because deep down he knew that beneath their rivalry she and Izuna were actually very close.

As long as they weren't competing or felt the need to insult one another they behaved rather cordially.

"Suit yourself." Maya didn't argue, Frost was free to warn Indra if he wanted.

After a few minutes of agonising waiting Frost was served a steaming bowl full of Ymir's stew of might.

Frost stared down into the bowl his mouth salivating from the scent alone.

"Before I eat do I want to know how much DP it cost to purchase the ingredients?"

"No you do not." Maya bluntly answered causing him to wince slightly.

"Well I better savour every bite then." Choosing to ignore the price of the dish that was sure to ruin his appetite he picked up the nearby spoon and retrieved a generous mouthful.

"MNNNNNN!" The moment the stew touched his tongue he was assaulted by an intense meaty flavour followed by a red hot heat that threatened to sear his tastebuds.

"H…H…Hot, hot."

"Don't be a wuss you gotta finish it in one go if you want to get the most benefits. Daki help me out."

"Ehh!"

"Come on we need to make sure he eats every bite."

"Stop it's too spicy!"

"No excuses bottoms up." Maya forcibly restrained him and pried open his jaw while Daki funnelled spoonful after spoonful into his waiting maw.

The two women actually felt some sort of sadistic pleasure from their actions. Seeing Frost tearing up and begging them to stop reminded them of their own trials. How many times did they ask him to stop or at least slow down during their intimate activities. Did he ever listen… no he did not.