The Ancient Genes

Competition Ground, Trinity Academy.

"What the hell are they doing?" Axel frowned as he looked through the scope of his rifle. He could clearly see that the people around were moving in an erratic manner.

And, it was actually not helping if you asked Axel.

In a normal situation, they should have taken cover to avoid getting sniped. But, this really was not the thing they were doing. If it wasn't for the fact that his current equipment didn't allow him to snipe at that range, he could have taken down the other two with ease.

They were just jumping around like monkeys.

Their way of avoiding might have worked if the person was using normal equipment, but Axel's was a bit different. He was a formation master after all. He had more than enough things in his arsenal.

The only pity was range.

'"Hmmn?" Axel's expression suddenly changed when he noticed that the two remaining guys had finally gotten out of the base and were making their way towards their base in the heavy rain.

"Eren! Terry! Incoming!" He spoke into his transmitter and two responded to him with confirmation.

Axel soon saw Eren rushing out in the rain. He was a Water Element user so, it was not that bad for him even if it was raining.

"Is this the line they are travelling in?" Eren's voice came through the transmitter.

"Yes," Axel replied after confirming it once again.

"Am I visible to you from here? Can you provide cover if I need it?"

"Yup, it's clear. Just lie in ambush there," Axel said with a nod.

Eren put the axe in his hands into the carrier on his back, and climbed onto one of the trees. He then carefully hid in the leaves and waited in silence for the enemy to show themselves.

"Terry, take the lead. I will adjust and shoot after you." Axel passed the instruction and Terry confirmed it.

The wait continued for a while before the two figures finally closed in. By now, Axel could make their figure through his mana scope instead of just seeing two dots.

"Target is in my sight.." Terry reported as he took his aim.

"Wait for Eren to make a move. We need to finish this in one fell swoop. If the remaining one runs away, we never know what would happen." Axel spoke in a calm tone. The forest was very big. If someone ran away, it would be one heck of a job to chase and hunt him down. It was even entirely possible for the game to be reversed as well if the opponent used the opportunity and the natural terrain well.

So, it was better to finish them all at once if possible. And, that was what Axel planned to do now.

…

Eren calmly sat on the top of one of the branches lying in wait for the moment of the enemy's arrival. A minute later, he finally heard footsteps and soon two figures entered his vision. One of them was luckily moving right below him, and the other was a few meters aways.

As soon as the guy came to the spot beneath the tree which Eren was waiting on, he jumped down with the axe in his hand.

"Whoosh!"

Mana busted out of his body, and the rain droplet paused in mid air before spinning around his axe forming an arch as he hacked his axe down.

The person below seemed to have realized it as well, and he immediately raised his hand forming a wind blade to counter the attack from above. But, he was too late.

"Boom!"

A thunderous noise rang out as Eren's axe came crashing down. And, before anyone could see, the guy had already disappeared in thin air as if he was there never to begin with. But, the traces of white light around was more than enough to signify that he was pulled out of the competition.

"Shnk!"

On the other side, the person who was about to attack Eren was interrupted as an arrow came and pierced into his thigh making him scream in pain. This disrupted his flow and his spell broke. But, it definitely wasn't enough to make him retire.

The guy tried to run, but he had barely taken a step when a gunshot rang and he was consumed in a white light before being transported outside.

The match was over.

"Woah!!!'

"Clap!!"

Thunderous cheers rang outside in the arena as people roared in joy. It was the first match, and it was sure fun to watch Arcane dominating the game that easily.

Axle, Eren and Terry came together as they were transported outside as well.

"We won!" Eren clenched his fist in excitement. He finally felt that he had done something worthy. He had performed in the last competition as well, but with the main monsters of their team shining like that, he was surely consumed somewhere.

"Yeah!" Terry was excited as well, most probably due to the same reason.

Axel just shook his head as he looked towards the stand of the West Gale Academy. The win sure had come very easily. It was as if those guys had no plan prepared at all. Axel still was feeling that something was going. It was really hard to accept that Bayu's team would lose so badly. This definitely was not like him.

'Am I thinking too much?' Axel muttered inwardly, but for some reason, he couldn't shake that feeling off.

The three of them finally walked onto the arena in front of the crowd and then proceeded towards their stands with the people still cheering for them.

Axel suddenly looked towards Terry after remembering something, "Don't hesitate to shoot in the head. It's the Competition Committee's responsibility to keep them safe. So, don't hold back."

Terry forced a smile on his face before nodding.

It was true, he had hesitated at the aim moment. Feeling that he might actually kill the guy with his arrow if shot in the head, he aimed for his leg. But, it sure hadn't gone as he expected. It actually instead caused more pain for that fellow.

The injury to the thigh was not judged as fatal and hence the the guy was not pulled out. If the arrow was instead aimed for the head. The guy would have been instantly pulled out the competition without any injury.

On the other side, Bayu looked at the scene with a calm look in his eyes.

"Are you sure this was a good idea?" He asked, looking at the person in a cloak behind.

"It is…even if we end up on different sides, there is no problem if they are the ones to go to the Ancient Cemetery." A feminine voice came out of the person's mouth. "Even if we aren't allies, they will be the enemy of our enemies. There is nothing wrong if they become stronger."

"If we are not allies, then we can be considered as enemies as well. I am not sure if it's a good idea to power up our enemies." Bayu shook his head.

"You have to look at the bigger picture here. Who do you think is a bigger threat?"

Bayu couldn't retort to that. There was nothing he could say when she was straight spitting out facts here.

"Still, I just hope they win the Competitions and end up dead in the Ancient Cemeteries." Bayu snorted as he looked at the three the guys laughing and smiling on the stage.

….

South District, Trinity.

"You are back" Naze asked Max with a weird look on his face. He had no idea what Max was trying to achieve by meditating here right in the middle of a warzone. It definitely seemed like he had a screw or two loose.

"Did you come with a plan?" Max asked, looking at him.

"How many minutes has it even been?" Naze frowned. "It's not an ant that you want to kill. It's actually a Grandmaster Tier Mage."

"Well, then we will work according to my plan."

"You have one?" Naze asked in surprise. He thought that a plan to kill a Grandmaster Tier mage didn't exist for people like them.

"Yeah, but do you know photography?" Max asked with a smile as he turned around to look at the building that they were about to infiltrate in.

"Well, I am not that bad. I actually love travelling places. So, I am good at it." Naze said as he rubbed his nose, he was clearly a bit prideful about his accomplishments.

Max shook his head, looking at the guy. "Anyway, let's infiltrate that place first. We will check your skills later on."

"I was waiting for you to say that," Naze smiled, he had already found a safe way in.

Max looked at him as the guy started to move. He followed Naze's lead and the two of them finally ended up in a place that Max was very familiar with. It was a path that was one of Max's old friends.

Sewers!