The Ancient Genes

'Please not the first one…' Axel prayed inwardly as he put his hand inside the box, and picked a ball. He then slowly turned it around to look at the number, and it was….

..1

'F*ck!'

Axel cursed, he almost wanted to scream in anger. But his current position wasn't allowing him to do so. He was representing the Academy, and it possibly wasn't the best idea to scream in such a situation.

'Well, who is our opponent?' Axel turned his head around to see who had the same number ball. And his face twitched when he saw who it was.

It was actually West Gale Academy.

Bayu stood there looking at Lear with a smile on his face. A second later, he walked up to him and put his hand out, "Let's do our best."

The audience erupted in cheers seeing the sportsmanship, but Axel wasn't feeling any of it.

"Yeah, let's do our best." There was nothing he could do but play along and shake his hands.

It was decided now, they were going to have a hard time.

….

Axel returned to Arcane's stand where their team was stationed.

"You guys saw it, right?" He looked at Eren and Terry who were going to be participating with him.

The two took a deep breath in and then nodded.

"We will be counting on you," Riser slapped Terry's back and cheered him up. Terry was an archer as well. So, you could say that it was going to be his ground today, if things were as simple as they seemed.

"Bayu is strong, we can't let that guy come too close to us…" Axel spoked with a serious tone, but for some reason everyone's face changed as they looked above at the giant screen hanging from the Airship.

"Hmmn?" Axel frowned seeing the look of surprise on their face and turned around to give it a look as well.

"What's going on?" He couldn't help but mutter in surprise as well.

The screen was currently showing the people who would be participating in the match. There was no problem with Arcane's squad but on the side of West Gale Academy, their strongest was missing.

It was true that Bayu wasn't an Archer, but he could still play a melee role. After all, only a foolish team would enter the match without even a single melee.

"The rest of their players are also not their best. Something seems off.." Lisa muttered in confusion. She couldn't understand it at all. They had paid a special attention to West Gale due to some obvious reason and studied each of their participants in detail. So, she could tell this was definitely their weakest line up.

"Well either they have something in their mind, or they have decided to go easy on us for some reason." Axel muttered with a strange look on his face. To be honest, he felt it should be the former one but something seemed off to him. Bayu didn't come to him as the type who would leave his job to others.

According to what he had seen until now, the guy was prideful and not the scheming type. Axel didn't think he would use other people to crush his target when he had the choice to do it himself.

"Let's go, it's time.." Axel muttered seeing the staff arriving to pick them up.

….

On the other side…

There seemed to be a chill surrounding the city. There was an undercurrent going on and those with sensitive noses had sniffed it out already; that something was about to happen.

The Southern district was currently being evacuated as the people had been warned of a leaking gas pipe underground. It was being said that there was a chance of an explosion. So, they would have to leave the place until it was fixed.

And, the fire last night had apparently been due to the same reason.

Normal citizens sure had bought the story, but the mages weren't buying it.

….

Dark Society, Southern District, Trinity.

"Sir, the news about gas pipe leaking is fake. There are no such accidents from our sources."

A bald man stood at the balcony of his room, looking at the chaos in the district as people around were rushing to leave the place.

He could see a few people of the Fire Department guiding the people out of the place. There were already very few people in the district, as the majority had gone to attend the Competition's first day. After all, it was like a festival. Something that one would definitely want to enjoy.

And, to be honest, this is what they had planned for. The authorities wanted to calm the citizens as there had been a lot of incidents recently. So, it was a good thing to let them know that everything was still in control by allowing them to enjoy the Competitions.

It was definitely working and the success was obvious from Orca's competition.

"These people are not from the fire department…" The bald man shook his head. He could sense that they were all mages, and not a single one was below expert tier. If the Fired Department had such strong people than what about the main force of the Union and Association.

What a joke…

There people were obviously some kind of impostors. And their intentions were very obvious. They were emptying the place to prevent any harm to the people. It meant that something about to go down in the district, something so large that it might change it's entire face.

"Prepare our forces and inform the headquarters. It seemed the Roxley's have lost their patience," The Bald man said with a frown and the man behind him immediately disappeared.

"What's going on? Are they really willing to take such a big risk?" He muttered to himself.

Even if they couldn't be there match as they were only a branch, they sure had more than enough to put a dent in their strength. The damage would take a very long time to heal.

'There is no way that this is a joint effort led by all houses. If it was, we would have been informed earlier…' The Bald man's frown deepened as he wasn't able to figure out what was going on at all.

In the end, he just shook his head and looked at the people below.

"Whoosh!"

An aura of a Grandmaster Tier mage leaked out of him and it swept across the entire district.

…

"Once the people are out of here, we will move in. Tr-" Max suddenly paused as a strange sensation rubbed across his body., while the other guys immediately felt a pressure on their bodies forcing them to lower themselves. It lasted only for a second before disappearing.

"What was that?" Synthia asked with a frown.

"A warning signal.." Max replied with calm. "He is warning us to turn around and return."

"Does he think we are afraid of him?" Ragnar snorted with a fearless expression on his face.

"It's a good thing that he warned us though.." Max looked in the directions of that surge with a calm look in his eyes.

"Why?" Rihanna asked in confusion.

"Well, if they wanted to warn us. I bet they would ask the strongest person to do so. If that was their strongest, then I believe we won't be having any problem this time around.." Max answered.

He then directed the people and according to plan, they formed a barricade around the district to make sure no one was able to get out of the place and mix in the city with the common populace.

"Are you going to play this the easy and safe way kid?" A voice rang in Max's ear. And, he instantly recognized it.

It was the Progenitor of the Storm Family.

"Why are you here Old man? Worried about us?"

"Hahaha!! I already gave you so many people. If I still need to worry about you, then forget it. You people are not worth it." A mocking voice rang in Max's ears. and the old man further added, "I am just here to watch the fun.."

Max couldn't even spot a single hint of hesitation or lie in that voice. He was sure that this man would let them die as long as it was within the conditions that he had made available for them.

"What do you think I will choose?" Max asked him in return.

"Well, after seeing how your friend was affected with Typhon's poison, I doubt you would select the easy way out."

Max's eyes turned wide when the old man mentioned Lear's situation. And, it surely seemed that he had some idea about it.

"Do you know something about his condition?" He couldn't help, but ask him with a grim tone.

"Oops! My bad! My tongue slipped young man.." A laughter rang in Max's ears and his face instantly turned ugly. The old man was there last night, but he surely hadn't come to help.

What a ruthless old geezer..

"What do you want in return for the information?" Max finally decided to bring it to the bargaining table.

"Hmmn…how about this. You slice off the enemy leader's head and I will tell you about it."

Max clenched his fist.

'This old geezer….'

He had basically asked for the impossible!