Extra And MC-Chapter 39 - 37 - Progress And Growth II

Frank watched as Aiden dashed towards him with his greatsword in tow.

The butler stood his ground while locking eyes onto Aiden and as soon as he showed up in his field of vision, Aiden sidestepped to the right while swinging his greatsword in a straight horizontal slash before immediately transitioning into a smooth upwards diagonal slash.

-Clang!

Frank parried this easily with one of his daggers but immediately sensed Flynn coming from his left due to mana sense.

He then proceeded to use his right hand which was free, and was now moving at a blur, due to the immense speed at which he raised it to hit Flynn with an insanely powerful hand chop.

However, Flynn skillfully dodged Frank's arm by swiftly ducking while using the crouching position he now had as an advantage to attack with an upwards diagonal slash of his katana.

'Excellent mastery over mana sense…' Frank mused to himself as he watched Flynn effortlessly evade a strike that should have been impossible for him.

As the attack from Flynn's katana neared the butler, he immediately sidestepped, causing Flynn's attack to completely miss but Flynn who wasn't done yet, skillfully changed the trajectory of his katana once again into a horizontal slash.

Frank once again, evaded this sudden switch in attack pattern effortlessly by back-stepping, causing the attack from Flynn's katana to cut through the air and completely miss him. All of this happened within seconds.

After back-stepping, Frank grabbed Flynn's arm, in one swift motion and threw him backwards through the air while spinning and in double-quick time, also attacked Aiden with his dagger.

The force and mana put into the dagger was tremendous and Aiden who had sensed it using mana sense promptly blocked it with the body of his greatsword as the downward slash from Frank's dagger hit him with tremendous force.

This attack sent him skidding backwards, way faster than Flynn whom Frank had already flung away but thanks to his quick reaction to the attack from Frank's dagger, Aiden regained his grip on his balance and stance while still in the same blocking position he used to defend himself against Frank.

As Aiden came to a complete halt, he noticed that Flynn was already losing momentum and was already dropping to the ground. Flynn who had also realized this immediately called out to Aiden with a shout.

"Aiden! Send me back to him!"

"That's dangerous man! Wait, you're not planni-" Aiden replied

"Just do it!"

"Fine!"

Aiden watched as Flynn twisted his body unnaturally at mid-air and turned towards Frank even while losing his momentum and falling towards him.

Aiden realizing what his brother was trying to do, took a deep breath and readied himself.

The moment Flynn's legs came into his view, Aiden immediately chanted a spell inwardly and launched a palm strike towards it.

'[Gravity Series: Grav Boost]!!!'

Aiden's palm came into contact with the sole of Flynn's sneakers and as soon as they touched, the air around Flynn distorted and he was immediately propelled towards Frank at a ridiculous speed.

Aiden also immediately dashed after Flynn while staying behind him and although he was much slower than him, all of this was very much intentional.

Flynn appeared in Frank's field of view in the blink of an eye, almost like he phased through the air.

The butler upon seeing this, instantly chanted a wind spell inwardly with an outstretched palm to slow down Flynn's momentum.

'[Wind Series: Vacuum Cyclone]'

-Fwoosh!

Suddenly, Flynn watched himself lose momentum and fall to the ground due to a wide circular vacuum of wind created by Frank's hands which seemed to repel the speed he was moving at.

Having already expected this due to the distortion he felt when he was hurtling through the air towards Frank, Flynn swiftly ran after dropping to the ground towards Frank who still had his arm raised up from chanting his spell, and instead of attacking with his katana, he immediately vaulted over Frank's head with a front flip and landed behind him while facing him as he took a stance.

Frank upon realizing that Flynn was about to perform the first form of his weapon art knew that he had to stop it but right now, he really couldn't, because the moment Flynn vaulted over his head, Aiden came into his view, effectively using Flynn as a way to block himself from actually been seen, even with mana sense.

Frank had of course sensed Aiden coming with mana sense but due to the overlapping of their colors, it had made it quite hard for him to spot what Aiden was planning to do.

The two brothers had realized over the past year that if they wanted to have any chance of even attacking Frank properly, their teamwork had to be top notch.

This was one of the very many plans they had come up with to use against their master while using mana sense's weird flaw to their advantage.

Added to that, they had kept one of the advices Frank had given them very closely to their minds from the very first time he had started training them.

'Do not use a move that will put you at a disadvantage, especially if your opponent is stronger or faster than you'.

That was why both of them had never attacked with their weapon arts unless they were very sure it wasn't going to miss over the period of the past one year that he had been training them.

Frank now realized that he had been cornered as he watched Aiden also take his own stance to perform the first form of his own weapon art.

"{Moonveil Art – First Form: Severance}!!!"

The air around Flynn immediately crackled with energy and increased in pressure by multiple folds as he raised his katana upwards and in one swift motion, immediately slashed down, a bluish white hue surrounding him as he did so.

"{Berserker Art – First Form: Whirlwind Slash}!!!"

Aiden immediately raised his greatsword and swung it at an inhuman speed in three omnidirectional slashes by rotating his body in circular motion which caused a massive whirlwind to occur with him as the point of origin and pull in the air around him, a reddish black hue surrounding him as he did.

-Clang! Clang!

The two attacks were stopped by Frank but it could be seen just how devastating those two attacks were, especially considering how the grass beneath all three of them had been uprooted and all that was left beneath was a dry patch of land that had formed a large oval-shaped crater.

Frank had what seemed to be a circular shield made of wind covering him and was left unscathed by their attack, but what made both Aiden and Flynn smile was that instead of one dagger, Frank was now holding two.

"Woooooooooooo!!!" Anna shouted with both of her hands up while smiling proudly.

Ivar and Ivelia could also be seen clapping their hands while also smiling.

Leopold would have given a proud smile if he was here but he had to go to The Tower and he was not back yet even though it was inching close into the late evening.

The fight may have mostly seemed like a blur to the twins but they knew that Frank bringing out his second dagger was an amazing achievement for both brothers.

Anna however, being an S-ranker had seen it all and that was exactly why she was so proud of how her sons had performed.

They had all been watching their fights occasionally at different intervals over the course of the past year and they had all seen firsthand how Aiden and Flynn had gone from having their asses beaten all the time to improving and then, to finally holding their ground against Frank.

Now although Frank was still holding back a lot, it was still impressive that they managed to corner him to use his second dagger and even his spells.

They had gone from Frank using his bare palms to pummel them to forcing him to use one dagger and the occasional spell. But now, finally, they cornered him into using his two daggers and his spells, TWICE, in a single spar.

"I must say, that was most impressive of both of you. Well done young masters!"

Frank's expression held a warm smile as he spoke, his hands returning his daggers into his spatial bracelet.

"Thank you very much Master!" Aiden and Flynn replied in unison, excitement present on their faces.

Butler Frank just shook his head once again in resignation at this.

He had asked them so many times not to refer to him as that and that he was just a mere butler but the two brothers had stubbornly refused and insisted on calling him that as long as he kept training them.

Frank had eventually come to accept it once he realized that no matter what he said, the two would never back down.

Aiden and Flynn just kept smiling while beaming at the compliment Frank gave them.

He had not complimented them once over the past one year so they were really happy right now. They were practically over the moon.

'It really is impressive' Frank thought to himself while watching the beaming faces of the two brothers.

Considering the rapid growth they had both displayed in all aspects of combat over the past one year, it really was immensely impressive to him.

'The young masters will continue to get stronger, and I will be here to guide them through that process' Frank said to himself with resolution.

He then watched Aiden grab onto Flynn while ruffling his hair and complimenting him, the latter quite visibly and slightly uncomfortable by the gesture but still smiling from the compliment his brother was giving him.