The Ancient Genes

With the major incidents over, a calm took over Trinity.

The destruction of the southern district was blamed all on the internal leakage of the gas pipeline. It was obviously unbelievable if people went up and gave that place a look.

But, the Roxley's had cleverly sealed the place. So, no one could go even if they wanted to.

And, hence, the next three days passed with ease.

There was not much noise around the city unlike the previous day where explosions were getting common all around.

In the three days, the competition went on with the same enthusiasm and all the first round of matches were all over.

The five teams which won would go ahead to be in the upper back while the one who lost would be grouped together in the lower bracket.

They would have to fight amongst each other to further climb up, and at the same time face the teams who had fallen down from the upper bracket. And, this would continue until a team would finally be left to face the champions in the upper bracket.

"Ready for it?" Axel asked as he looked at Eren and Terry.

They were about to pick their next match.

"Yeah, let's do this." Eren gave a confident nod.

"Well, then I will go and pick our opponents up." Axel left with a smile, and climbed onto the stage with the other leaders.

The five teams who had won the matches were.

Arcane, Ethera, Vienna, Zealand and Orca.

Now, they would be taking each other out.

Since there were five teams here, one would be lucky and draw an empty lot. That would mean that they would automatically advance.

It wasn't something that could be helped, you could only blame your own rotten luck for it.

Axel slowly put his hand inside the box, hoping that his luck would work this time.

He then grabbed one of the balls, and as he was about to pull it out, a message popped up in front of him.

<<Ruler: Let that go.>>

His hand immediately froze and he turned his head to look at Max seating in the stands with the rest of the guys.

When their eyes met, he understood what this was all about.

Axel immediately let that ball go and one by one grabbed all the five balls inside the box. And, Max carefully directed him through all of it.

<<Ruler: Yes, pick that up..>>

Everyone was looking at the Axel who had his eyes closed with hands inside the box. They couldn't understand what he was trying to do. But, it sure was taking a whole lot of time.

"Does he think he can differentiate the ball?" Faryl asked with a smile on his face.

The other guy couldn't help but shake their heads as well.

They couldn't sense anything within the box as it had formations around it. Even though Axel was a formation master, he surely wasn't at a level where he could do anything to that. Not to mention, if he tried to alter the formation it would instantly be detected. So, the only option left was to use their senses. And hell, even they couldn't sense anything from that box.

So, how could this guy who was weaker than them possibly could?

Suddenly, Axel opened his eyes, and the next moment, he pulled the ball out.

Everyone's eyes immediately widened in surprise.

It was the Blank ball.

He really did it!!

For a second, everyone found it hard to believe.

But, then realization hit them. Someone was supposed to draw that ball, so it wasn't odd that he succeeded. It was just plain luck.

Everyone had the same thought in their head.

But, there was someone who thought differently.

"Can't believe this guy.." Beli, who was among the West Gale's stands, shook her head.

She wasn't going to appear in Arcane's stand in Trinity.

She just had an important conversation with Max. If she just appeared there like it was any other day, it sure would be odd.

Not to mention, it was going to be risky before she heard anything further from Max.

…

"You are the best!!" Terry jumped over Axle in happiness.

And, everyone had a smile on their faces.

After all, who didn't like free lunches?

They basically speed run through one of the matches without doing anything.

This gave them an advantage over others.

Soon, the game began.

The first game was between Trinity and Blue City.

Trinity was the home team. And, they were actually quite strong considering that they had the home advantage. But, unfortunately for them, they ended up bumping into Orca in the first match.

That sure changed things for them.

But, Orca sure didn't have it easy.

Trinity had actually given Orca a run for their money. It was a neck to neck competition. But, Orca took it in the end.

.

"Woooah!!"

People cheered in excitement as the members of the two teams gathered on the stage and headed for the competition site.

Max who was in the back turned his head towards the West Gales stand. That girl had deliberately revealed her energy. He could sense her presence there.

Well, he was here to meet her as well.

Hence, he slowly stood up and without anyone's notice, sneaked out of the place heading towards the West Gales stands.

…

"Why are you here?" A student suddenly noticed Max coming towards them and frowned.

Only their Academy students and staff were allowed in this place.

"It's fine, allow him." Beli's voice came from inside, and the person stopped.

The same was for the other guys who were glaring at Max. They were actually ready to fight at any moment.

Max just smiled at the people and proceeded inside.

"You came earlier than I thought.." Beli smiled looking at him.

"Then do you want me to return for now?" Max asked her in return.

"Well, if your decision is negative, then sure. You can return and give it a bit more thought," She said with a smile.

"Hmmn..what if it isn't either positive or negative?" Max questioned her before taking the empty seat in front of her.

"Well, that certainly allows us to have further discussion I guess. I just hope that you won't push us into the corner. After all, it won't end up good for either of us that way."

She was right. If this cooperation didn't work for them, then both of them would turn into enemies. It was not worth it. If there was a chance for them to turn allies and work together against a common enemy, then the chance should be made use of. If not, both sides would have an extra enemy force to deal with.

"Don't worry as long as you people don't do anything that you shouldn't, there wouldn't be any problem." Max calmly looked at her.

"So, what brings you here?" Beli finally asked him.

"We still can't trust you people."

A frown immediately appeared on Beli's face, 'Is it not going to work? Is it still not enough?'

She definitely didn't think that these people would want to make an enemy out of them when it could be avoided.

She had been dealing with the Von family all this while, this might be the reason that she was too confident in her thinking.

It seems the relationship between humans and demons has gone beyond the point of recovery.

"But.." Max looked at her, and Beli suddenly realized that the decision wasn't negative.

"We would like to work on it."

"Work on it? Beli asked with scrunched brows. "How?"

"I want you to help my people and let them into the Demon society as spies," Max said with a serious look on his face.

Beli's face immediately turned dark. "Do you realize what you are saying?"

"I do."

Beli shook her head, "If they are found, and it is traced back to me, they would lose their life for sure and even I would be dragged into trouble."

"You don't seem sincere to me." Max looked at her with a doubtful gaze.

"I am being sincere by saving your people's life and opposing this stupid idea."

"Are you sure you want to drop this cooperation?" Max asked her in return. "You said that your people were innocent. In that case, let me see and decide if what you say is true or not."

"I told you not to push me into a corner." Beli snorted, "If you people fail, it would be a disaster for me and my tribe. And, even if you succeed, there is no guarantee by your side that you will agree to our partnership. But, you will still end up taking benefits."

Max's brows tightened.

She was smart.

Even though her people were in a poor situation, she wasn't losing her calm.

'If we delay, Lear might be in trouble..' Max frowned. To be honest, he was not against this idea of cooperation. They were getting a force which was right at the heart of Demon Society. It could be used to deal a devastating blow in times of need.

There was only one problem of trust.

He thought about it for a while, and then finally came to a decision.

"Fine, I will help you."

Beli's eyes lit up, but she didn't celebrate it. She knew that there must be a reason behind this sudden change.

"But, I have two conditions."