The Ancient Genes

"You lose.."

"What was that?" Naze frowned at Max. He knew something weird had happened in between.

"What? Are you going to be a sore loser now?" Max asked him with raised brows, and a disdainful smile.

Naze looked at Max with an ugly face, there was no way he was going to believe that Max hadn't something to him which had distracted him from the battle.

"You really are…" Naze just sighed leaving his sentence there as he turned around to leave.

"Are you not going to keep your words?" Max looked at his back with a calm look on his face.

"I will meet him before he leaves Trinity. And, what kind of encounter it would be is for me to decide. You better hope that you don't come to regret it?"

Max shook his head. He was sure that no matter what the outcome was, he wasn't going to regret it. Axel after all only had a brother for his real family, if he knew that Naze was alive then he would surely want to meet him once no matter what the cost was.

Soon, Naze's figure disappeared from the alley, leaving behind only Max and another guy around.

"How long are you going to pretend to be unconscious?" Max kicked the dustbin, and spilled the trash out of it.

"Ouch! How can you be so merciless to me?" Eren groaned in pain as he crawled out of the dustbin holding his broken arm with the other hand.

"Since when have you been up and listening to us?" Max asked as he looked at him with a serious look on his face.

"Umn...a little while after you came," Eren forced a smile on his face.

"Since when exactly?" Max frowned.

"Umn….since you got angry at him for beating me?" Eren smiled.

"Isn't that front the very beginning then?"

Max looked at the guy as his expression turned dark. Not only had he listened everything but was even watching the show quietly from there.

"You were cool! You won in the end!" Eren gave Max a thumbs up with a painful look on his face when he saw that he was about get angry.

"Let's get you treated first," Max shook his head with a sigh as he helped the guy, and took him to the one of the Edwinsons owned Hospital. It was really easy for him to handle things nowadays as long as he used his identity.

It was another matter if he wanted to be secretive.

…

"Who was he and what in hell were you guys talking about?" Eren asked Max in confusion. He remembered them talking about some strange things, operations etc.

And, what was the connection between that person and Axel?

"He is Axel's brother," Max said as he looked at Eren, and the guy didn't seem to be much surprised about it. Nobody probably would be. It was obvious, a look alike would automatically make a person think of the two people as siblings at first sight.

"He has been missing for a while, and was declared dead." Max further added, and it finally made Eren's eyes widen a bit in surprise.

"Don't tell Axel about it. His brother said that he would contact Axel himself about it."

"I see.." Eren nodded. "But, why did he refuse to meet Axel? I mean you had to defeat him into a battle for him to agree, right? And, what was that thing that you blackmailed him with?"

Max forced a smile on his face. This guy sure wasn't taking a hint and reading the air. It was very obvious that Max avoided the topic because he didn't want to talk about it, and this guy had to bring it out.

"There is a bit of family drama. I can't go into detail about it as it's Axel's private matter." Max gave him a helpless look on his face. "And, yeah, I knew the guy as I had met him before, and had previously tried to convince him to meet Axel too. So, we are kind of acquainted."

Eren looked at Max. To be honest, he was a bit suspicious here. Something didn't seem right. The thing Max and Naze were talking about definitely seemed to be much more intense, it didn't seem like an ordinary matter.

Then the matter that Axel's brother had taken Eren as an assassin was bizarre in itself. What was even more bizarre was the fact that he specified him as a 'human' assassin.

The last thing which made Eren frown was Max. He didn't look injured at all. There was no way that the guy had been engaged into such a heavy brawl with serious injuries, and came out of it without breaking a sweat or even releasing a little squeak.

The question now stood strong, why would Max opt out of the competition? Was it related to the operation that Max had talked about with Axel's brother?

Was it so important that Max was willing to abandon the competition for it?

Everything seemed bizarre for some reason.

He just couldn't understand what was going around.

….

It turned pretty dark soon…

Max had returned to the Roxley Mansion.

Eren had decided to return to the Academy. Mages weren't weak like normal humans after all. He could take that much pain. And with his healing capabilities, it shouldn't take much long for him to return back to good health.

'Tomorrow is the Welcoming Party at Academy, and the game begins the day after that.'

Max had no intention of going to the party. They would be making a move the day after tomorrow. So, he wanted to take it easy, and adjust himself to his best.

Until now, everything looked calm on the Dark Society's side. Max hadn't received any reports about irregularities on their side.

He just hoped that it would end without any trouble.

Suddenly, Max's phone rang. He looked at the caller, and it turned out to be Lear.

He shook his head with a smile before picking the phone call.

…

Lorenz Mansion, Trinity.

"I have something to talk about with you tomorrow. I really didn't imagine things turning so bad between Lear and Ander. Please, don't tell father about it yet. I think the two of us should be the one to talk to first."

Lesia frowned looking at the message from Arnold.

"What's going on?" Lesia texted him back. She wanted to call him, but it wasn't possible with everyone around.

"Let's meet in person tomorrow, I will explain it to you. But, make sure father doesn't follow you behind. You know how he is when he gets angry." A reply came back

Lesia had already told him that Ander had found her. Even if she didn't, Arnold would be suspicious about it as Ander was near her as well. Not to mention, there was no way for Ander to concentrate on other matters when his wife was missing.

"I will see you tomorrow…"