Frost's claws of ice were swiftly obliterated by the vicious swirl of lightning and sharp katanas.
Clang!
A loud earth shattering clanging of metal striking metal burst out the moment his glaive met with Indra's katana. He was forced back from the residual force but kept his feet firmly on the ground, preparing to strike back against his brother at the next opportunity. However,
Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!
Indra didn't let up on his offensive even after the effect of his skill [spark storm] had ran out. His blows may not be as heavy as Frost's, but he could attack at double possibly even triple the speed therefore Frost was quickly overwhelmed by the aggression and forced to focus solely on defence. For a moment Frost felt as though he was fighting against Maya.
Drowning in an endless cycle of deadly strikes, unable to even come up for air, forever on the backfoot. But Indra was not Maya, in fact he was miles from reaching her level.
Frost continued to act like a turtle as Indra stabbed, slashed and sliced from all manner of angles and positions, as if desperate to break open his brother's shell which he was in a way. Attacking in such a manner not only required specialised breathing and focus to completely isolate Frost within an endless cycle but a hell of a lot of stamina.
It wasn't easy to keep up such an exhaustive measure and normally his opponents would be felled rather quickly or at least expose some sort of weak point. Not Frost, however. The damn bastard switched completely to defence without a moment's hesitation and even buffed up the more exposed areas of his chakra armour, using them to deflect some of the off angle blows.
After over 60 seconds of getting nowhere Indra was getting annoyed.
"God dammit stop cowering like a turtle Frost! Fight like a ma....." Indra's taunt was cut short by a vicious stabbing from Frost's glaive that scratched the side of his neck, drawing blood.
"Guess we're even now." Frost replied with a viscous expression as he pulled back his glaive and took a deep breath before going on the offensive.
"Shit!" Indra realised too late that he had been drawn into a trap. His stamina was greatly expended during his onslaught, slowing down his reactions and overall speed but that wasn't all. The area around him and even his body felt...cold. It was only now that he noticed tendrils of silver flames wrapping themselves around his katana and body, silently encroaching upon the lightning chakra armour.
The chill slowly developed and invaded his body as he continued to attack Frost in close combat, like a poison. He needed to make some distance and fast.
"[Cage of lightning]" While parrying a heavy slash from Frost, Indra used magic for the first time in the duel. Just like Frost he could easily use up to 3rd circle magic.
"[Call lightning]" Wanting to regain the advantage Indra activated the 3rd circle offensive spell [call lightning]. Frost looked up and clicked his tongue as the massive yellow crest formed above his head. This spell was one of the lightning elements most powerful 3rd circle spells. Simple in its action but incredibly deadly.
A thick pillar of lightning would be summoned directly on top of the target, striking them from on high. Not only was the spell destructive, it was fast, very fast.
He could always attempt to dodge the blast or endure it with his weapon, but they were competing in magic right now. Doing so would be like admitting his loss, his inability to compete. Thankfully he had a spell that suited the situation perfectly. Through his study of the magic tomes left by Leo's ancestor his control and knowledge over ice fire magic had improved considerably.
That, along with his frequent interactions with the high earth rank cold flame increased the repertoire of spells available for purchase in the dungeon menu. [Freezing fire burst] was one such spell as was this one.
"[Flaming ice shield]." This was Frost's only defence oriented 3rd circle spell and what a spell it was, more than enough to rival the mana cost and complexity of Indra's [call lightning]. In response to his aria an ice shield -similar to that of the 2nd circle spell, though more detailed- formed above his head before being encased in silver cold flames.
A rather beautiful image that only became more pronounced the moment Indra's lightning was summoned and crashed down against its surface.
Boooooommm!!!
As you would expect from a powerful pillar of lightning, the sound it created when making impact with the shield was tremendous in of itself but even with all that power and ferocity the pillar failed to breach the shield. The cold flames sapped away much of the lightning's magical strength while the ice layer, which was enhanced by the flames endured the physical blow.
Two sides working in tandem to completely block Indra's mighty [call lightning].
"You've got to be fucking kidding!" Indra loudly screeched while pointing at the still hovering shield above Frost's head. Though seriously damaged from the attack it was obvious who won the bout. "How the hell did that measly shield survive my [call lightning]?"
"Cause it's stronger idiot." Frost smirked and arched out his chest in a taunting manner, feeling proud of his achievement. Indra however was twitching at the mouth, his fury about to overwhelm him.
"Alright that's enough for a warmup don't you think!" Really irritated by the results of their magic bout Indra glared at his brother with clenched fists.
"Sure, sounds good to me. Just don't come crying when I knock you flat on your ass!" Frost twirled his glaive and readied his stance.
"....Trust me that'll never happen LITTLE brother."