The Ancient Genes

A silence enveloped the room.

The old man's declaration was very clear, once he chose the side. He wouldn't be budging it seemed.

"Do you have anything to say in your defense?" The Mage King said as he looked at Max. There was obviously no one to defend him here and he had to do it himself.

"He ended up in that condition because he failed to admit defeat. What happened was just an accident….but some people do like to exaggerate it…" Max said with a calm look.

Few of the people couldn't help but smile hearing his reply.

"You could have subdued him but you didn't? It seems that your intention was to kill to begin with…" The Lord of the Oven's house spoke calmly. The kid had potential. Was there any reason for him to let such a human go? No, definitely not…..not to mention he already had a tussle with his sons and side from that....it was rare occasion for his two sons to agree on something.

"I didn't know the Ovens had the ability to read minds…" the voice sounded in the hall and it came from the person in the bottom right of the screen.

It was a man with black bear and hairs. He had a rough build and a slightly darker skin tone.

It was the Lord of Zen House.

His words surprised everyone. He was one of the few docile Lords. The type to usually go with the flow. People were even starting to doubt whether he was a mute or not.

"I don't know about others but I don't find this unknown ability of yours to be reliable…" He was really grilling the man with a smile on his face.

"Then what are your thoughts, Lord Zen. I am sure you aren't speaking without any opinions right?" The Lord of Ovens House passed the ball onto him.

"Well, it indeed seems he has gone overboard. Intentional or not can not be determined….he should be faced with punishment but not something serious for us to interfere. It would be better for the Academy to look after their students…"

"That would be too light of a punishment, I think stricter measures have to be taken to see that such things will not be repeated in the future…." The Lord of the Tempest House who had been listening all along finally spoke as he looked at the Lord of Zen House with a smile.

"Aren't you being too lenient on him? The least he should get is an expulsion….no matter what the reason, he killed a fellow mate. Such kind of behavior has to be discouraged even if it wasn't meant to be, the students should have this matter engraved in their mind from the next time…and if it was intentional, then we have to set a good example out of him." The one to speak was the Lord of Frost House. He obviously wouldn't let it go this easily. He was sending his daughter to that place. He wouldn't be willing to let someone like Max to be present around her.

"Is it really a big deal to kill someone? Wasn't it a fair fight? Then why are you making such a big deal about it? Isn't it this behavior that has made the younger generation so weak? If you always try to protect them, when will they grow up?" The loud voice of the Lord of Blackwood House immediately shut everyone's mouth up.

It was true. Even though the younger generation had the celestials and a few other strong individuals, the overall strength of the younger generation had indeed decreased from the previous ones, not to mention that most of them didn't have much experience in terms of actual combat against the mana beasts.

"That doesn't mean that we can just let them kill each other…" The Lord of the Edwinson House spoke. He was the only one who would speak against this old man and if he didn't take a stand here, it would be odd considering this situation.

"Isn't there any footage from the Academy? There should be one?" The Lord of the Achilles House spoke with a calm look. Achilles was a neutral House as well, he didn't have any obligation to take side. His daughter was in the Academy as well and he would be taking his decision based on that.

The Mage King's face turned a bit dark. He would have deleted all the footage if possible but it was even broadcasted, there was no way to entirely get rid of it. It would still be lingering around some corner of the net.

The Assistant looked at the Mage King who just gave a nod. There was no way to hide it.

It was very clear from the footage where Max had aimed. At this point, it was hard to say that it wasn't intentional.

"What now, Lord Zen? Do you believe in my mind reading ability?" The Lord of the Ovens House said with a smile.

"I still doubt you Lord Ovens because all I can see is someone failing to defend himself…."  The Lord of Zen House was clear on his stand.

Max was a bit surprised. He was wondering if it was the Lord himself or did Bahamut ask him to help Max.

"I share the same opinion as Lord Zen. There is no obligation to hold back in a fight. If someone is to blame then it is his opponent for overestimating his ability…" the Mage King took the opportunity to speak out, the other Lords still seemed to be still thinking. It was better to influence them even a bit if possible.

The Lord of Barnes House was observing the situation calmly. It was all going well, it seemed that he wouldn't need to step in and just go with the flow.

"Well, isn't there a few other children who were involved during the incident? Why not call them in, we can see the incident from a broader perspective…and make the right decision..." the Lord of the Ovens House spoke and most of them seem to be in an agreement. He was not going to let them sway that easily to the opponent's side. 

In the ordinary situation, he wouldn't be this riled up. But this time, both of his sons had agreed first time on something and that was to get rid of this kid. He didn't know what was going on but seeing his two sons finally coming together was what he had always been wishing for. He would make sure to grant them their wish.

Within a minute, a few of the students who were brought in along with Max walked into the hall.

Max could feel their hateful gazes and it was very obvious what they were going to say.

The students bowed greeting the Lords after entering the hall and stood there with reverence in their eyes unlike Max who didn't seem to care about it at all.

"One of you come forward and say what happened the day before?" The Assistant of the Mage King spoke as he looked at the group.

One of the students walked ahead and spoke in a respectful tone, "I would like the Lords to do justice for my brother, Victor, he was a kind person and always cared for others. He didn't deserve to die like that."

The persons turned out to be from the Edwisnson family. 

"This person used some dirty means to kill him. Before the barrier was enacted, Victor was clearly on the winning end.  Something must have happened when no one could see inside, otherwise it is just impossible for him to not even voice out for admitting defeat. There was no reason for him to fight to death…."

Max's face turned sour. This guy had indeed given some strong points. But there was no way for him to explain this situation. It was true, unless they really believed that Victor fought to death, there was no other way to explain the situation.

The Lord of Roxley House has been observing the Lord of Barnes House all this time and finally he could tell something was going on here…..he didn't know why but it seemed that the b*stard wanted the kid to be safe.

Suddenly a smile leaked out in his face. He wasn't in favor of the kid to begin with. How could he let his sweet little girl to be present in the same place as that kid? He had already made the decision and wasn't interested in joining the conversation. But now his mood had changed.

"He is just too vicious, even if we go by the common criminal measure according to the Unions guideline, he should be faced with life imprisonment for killing a noble."

In this world, Nobles had special privileges. The commoners didn't. After all, the one's fighting the front line were the nobles mainly and the mages associated with them.

Lord Barnes's face turned dark. He looked at the guy and when he saw the corner of his lips curl, he knew that the b*stard had figured his intentions out. He was deliberately doing it.