Conquering His Cold Heart

Don! Don!

He slammed his fists together causing a bright red mana to cover them and form strange runic shapes along his arms and back before he outstretched his left hand and beckoned or rather taunted the rindar to come at him.

The rindar nearly burst a blood vessel as his fury skyrocketed.

"Ahhhhhh!" He roared out before charging straight for Hamon, all four of his fists tightly clenched and reeled back. The leading rindar didn't have a weapon like his younger siblings instead relying on the strength and durability of his own body.

Scales extended along his arms and fists enhancing their size and power in a far less crude transformation than the youngest rindar.

Hamon was unphased by this transition, he took a defensive martial art stance ready to welcome the rindar's attack.

At a speed untraceable through a normal person's eyes the rindar arrived before Hamon and punched at his face with his second and third arm while his first and fourth aimed for his liver.

Hamon moved smoothly, wrapping his left hand around the rindar's second and fourth arm like a fluid snake all while rotating his body and taking a heavy step forward into the rindar's chest.

Booommm!

The rindar was smashed into by Hamon's shoulder knocking him back ending his attack and leaving him open for a counter.

"[Lightning axe kick]" Hamon leaped into the air activating a martial art skill as well as the runic inscriptions on his legs. Energy formed tendrils of electricity around his left leg while magic inscriptions enhanced the effects, doubling the intensity of the tendrils.

This lightning covered leg swiftly cleaved downwards onto the rindar's third shoulder.

Crack!

A loud crack could be heard as the rindar's shoulder socket fractured from the blow but the rindar fought through the pain to lash out with his second and fourth arm.

"[Raptor strike]" The rindar activated his own skill enhancing the speed and sharpness of his two fists and coating them in a dark violet energy.

Hamon skilfully guarded the targeted side with his arm and another runic inscription activated as he did covering his arm and side with a dense metal mana formed armour.

Booommm!

The rindar's strikes crashed against the metal and blew Hamon away.

Hamon spun in the air with intense speed before elegantly landing on the floor without so much as a stumble. The metal armour cracked and disappeared returning to natural mana while the defensive inscription began recharging for the next time it was needed. He didn't even look the slightest bit injured.

"Wow!" Frost couldn't help but say that as he watched the exchange unfold. Hamon was pretty much a living magic device, an intriguing concept.

"Frost, rindars are overly prideful and enjoy causing pain meaning they tend to attack areas that would cause high levels of damage and usually over estimate their defences." Hamon spoke up in explanation to the young warrior who was aiding him in this battle.

"Though in this case he's just simple outmatched hahahaha." Hamon laughed before quickly dashing forward, pressing his attack.

"Watch my movements and attack him whenever you feel safe to do so, this bastard is smarter than the other two and is focused on escaping. Don't give him that chance." Hamon punched out with a simple straight but even that wasn't something the rindar could take lightly.

It punched out with its own straight but found that once they made contact that the two of them were roughly equal in physical strength, a shocking realisation for the rindar who was easily twice Hamon's size. He didn't even sense any special magic or equipment effects enhancing his power, this was purely based on his own muscles.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Hamon and the rindar engaged in high speed clashes, knocking fists against one another with him clearly on the back foot. Speed wise he was faster, but Hamon was able to perfectly predict his every move and counter with incredibly vicious reprisals. The wounds on his body continued to build as did his fear.

Plus every time he looked to break off from the exchange and retreat back to the tree line Frost would appear and lash out with his glaive. Far less intimidating than facing Hamon's skill enhanced fists or feet but not something he could easily ignore either.

He briefly caught sight of his second brother who wasn't doing much better than him, being attacked by three B-rank fighters each emboldened by the situation.

His youngest tried to re-enter the battle but was fiercely targeted by Ryuu and the other magic based major. Things weren't looking good.

After 15 minutes of this the rindar was covered in its own blood, dozens of its scales were burst open and or littering the floor. Its breathing was erratic and eyes bloodshot as it stared at Hamon and Frost with unbridled fury.

Hamon didn't come out of the exchange completely unharmed, but he was certainly better off that the rindar. Frost however had a fair few deep gashes and nasty looking bruises, a rib was even cracked after he was forced to block a clean strike from the rindar.

The blow pierced straight through his ice armour and the armour Daki made for him. Frost was forced to realise at that point that he wasn't simply fighting another strong foe but one that was B-rank and stronger than himself.

The only reason he could take part in this battle and land more than a few decent blows was simply because of Hamon's overwhelming strength and experience that kept the rindar on the back foot and under his thumb.

"Hu hu hu hu hu" Frost was breathing rapidly, the pain in his rib starting to affect his movements.

"You alright lad?" Hamon asked with a weary expression in his eyes. He may not be that injured but he had to go above and beyond stamina wise keep the rindar from breaking away.

"Yeah nothing to worry about, nothing extreme just sore." Frost answered back while holding his rib and wincing from the pain. He didn't dare take a potion out lest the rindar take advantage of his diverted focus.

Hamon's eyes narrowed as he analysed the situation as a whole.

"This bastard's more tricky than I initially estimated, the wounds he suffered are all nasty looking but none are fatal or even severely limiting his battle capability….he's good." Hamon couldn't help but praise the rindar before them, he was truly a tough opponent.

Frost was of the same mind, he realised that though the rindar was losing he was still able to limit/control the damage he received.

"That's about to change however." Hamon covered himself in red coloured mana and runic inscriptions glowed all over his body.

"He's finished weighing his options, the bastard's going to make his move regardless of the cost." Hamon looked over at Frost.

"He'll be charging through you lad."

Frost trembled at the thought before a wild smile grew on his lips and he tightened his grip around his glaive while slowing his breaths.

"Make him pay a nasty price got it." Hamon placed his hand on Frost's shoulder before moving forward.

"Got it." Frost added another layer to his ice chakra armour and adorned his glaive in cold flames as well as activated the wind engraving, preparing to go all out.

The rindar acted like Frost, he slowed his breathing and showed a determined glint in his eyes. He couldn't continue this fight any longer, to do so would be suicide, something that would net him zero gains.

With a clenched jaw the rindar tensed his entire body extending what scales he had left over his vital areas before charging ahead straight for Hamon. He crossed his arms before him further covering his vital areas.

Even Hamon would struggle to effectively get through this blockade of armour, but he'd still try his best.

"[Focused trigram palm]" Hamon activated a skill unique to his martial art style. His right palm glowed golden and generated an image of a shining golden hexagonal behind him.

The rindar frowned from the light but didn't stop his charge, he lowered his head down and activated his own skill.

"[Scaled bulwark]" A dark violet energy covered his already durable scales and arms; this was going to be a contest between a mighty spear and a great shield.

Boooooommmmm!!!

With an air shattering clash Hamon's palm struck against the rindar's arms. The golden energy and purple energy clashed against one another generating splintering sparks, neither willing to give way.

"Raaaaahhhhhhhh!!!!"

"Raaaaaaghhhhhhh!!!" Both Hamon and the rindar roared out as they pushed against one another.

The sparks intensified before eventually the rindar and Hamon's energy shields shattered with a violent explosion.

Hamon was blown back but the rindar pushed through at an angle, desperately fleeing past him at the cost of his defences.

But Frost was ready, Hamon knew the rindar would do anything to escape regardless of the cost and Frost was the weakest point in this triad.

"Frost make it count!" Hamon roared as he crashed hard against the ground.

"On it!" Frost replied back with a booming voice before charging at the rindar with his enhanced glaive, aiming to take a decent chunk from the currently fleeing rindar.

The rindar didn't think much of Frost, the level of hurt he could deal out paled in comparison to Hamon. He continued to run at full speed despite seeing Frost barring his path with his weapon. Though many of his scales were damaged and or missing he was confident his body could withstand a blow from Frost.

Frost had one chance to attack before the rindar rushed through him and he planned to make it count.