The Ancient Genes

Mage Association, Capital.

"The Competition this time has been organised for recruiting young geniuses. I am sure you are already aware of it…" the Zatch Lord looked at the Lords of Noble Houses and they obviously knew about it.

"It isn't just stopping that. We will nurture these geniuses with our full capability and aside from that we are even willing to give out resources to nurture all the members of the younger generation…"

The Lord of the Noble Houses were surprised. Even though no one showed it on their faces, the were obviously very skeptical about it. 

After all, when did these people become so generous?

"Would you stop beating around the bush and get to the matter?" Blackwood Lord said calmly and a few Noble Lords glared at him.

"In that case, the deadline has been set. It can be considered that the war with the Demons has begun..." Zatch Lord said looking at their surprised faces.

"I am sure most of you here are aware about the situation with the Demons. Even if we have sealed the information to not cause any panic among the masses, I know you all have your sources and after dealing with us for so long, you guys even bribed a few members of our Family, I am sure they have given some information out…" 

A few people's faces twitched upon hearing that.

"But still, considering that some of you don't know about Demons.I will give you brief information on them…."

And so, he did give them a brief introduction about them.

But all these people already knew about it. They had always been pretending to be ignorant and even their one son and daughter weren't aware about it now.

"What do you mean when you say that the deadline is set?" Lorenz Lord suddenly asked, looking at the Lords of the Ancient Families.

"Recently, the Demons had made the biggest move in the last millennium and were close to slaughtering the entire Capital city. But after being found out, they were obviously stopped and we retaliated." 

People's expressions changed again. 

Something like that happened?

Why were they not aware of it?

Zatch Lord looked at the old Lords of Ovens House. He was already aware of their identity after Max's words were passed to him through Stark.

But no matter how he looked, this person was a human. After all, just how many people were capable of maintaining their disguise in front of his eyes.

"Now that situation has come to this, the Demons have given us a deadline of 5 years. Either to surrender or die…" Zatch Lord continued to talk.

"It's probably because they need time and so do we…that's just a conjecture though, it's entirely possible that they just want us to lower our guard….whatever it is we can only make assumptions, but one thing is for sure, it will definitely not remain peaceful during these times..."

"In these five years, we will raise our power as much as we can…"

"Will five years be enough for us to fight with them.." The old Lord of Frost family who was attending the meeting through long distance communication asked.

"Only those above Master Tier Can be qualified to be the main force in this fight. As for the ones below. We just need to raise them enough to defend themselves and the common people by their side…" the Lord of Von House calmly replied.

"In other words, we are asking you to just defend yourself and not come crying for us to help…" The Lord of Storm family said with a smile.

"Mind your language, Erwin. I doubt your Progenitor will be happy to see you behave like this.." Zatch Lord said with a stern face.

"Mind your own business, Zatch. My Progenitor has taught us to be overbearing and not cowards like you…." The Lord of Storm family sneered before shifting his eyes at Lord of Von family,  "Especially, not to be like someone who tries to sign a peace agreement with the Demons." 

The moment he said that, Zatch Lord sneered inwardly as he glanced at the roof and then back at him, 'This guy is done for…'

"Bang!"

The table suddenly turned into dust as the Lord of the Von Family stood up. As soon as his aura came out everyone felt a pressure mounting on them.

Only one word could describe him.

Strong!

"Stop being a Hypocrite! Didn't you throw peace out now that they have made a move on your son?" the Lord of Storm Family laughed.

"You are crossing the line, Erwin…" The Lord of Kingsman family frowned. 

Erwin snorted but he had realised that he might have gone a bit too far and hence turned quite.

As the situation turned calm, the discussion further began...

"In the end, we will need your help. Because this war will affect your lives as well. The top experts have to come out of the House and the young selected geniuses from the competition will have to accompany us. They will be given an opportunity to enter our Ancestral ground to unlock their hidden potential.."

"Obviously, the choice to accept the chance entirely depends on the children as the Ancestral grounds are not free from dangers. But you should remind them that in the times to come, power will be necessary to not only guarantee their survival of the ones beside them as well…" Zatch Lord said with a serious face.

The Lady of Leviathan House didn't seem pleased with his words. If he said it up front that there were dangers, it was very likely that some people would refuse.

But Zatch didn't pay attention to her gaze. The people who were afraid to take risks would be the first to end up dead in the Ancestral Grounds. So, hiding it was useless.

Not to mention, last year a bunch of their top geniuses had entered the Ancestral grounds and even after repeated warning, they took the risk and entered the Ancient Cemetery gate which was a forbidden location in the Ancestral Grounds.

No one could have blamed them for it. War was drawing near, the need for the wielder of the Artifacts was high.

Some wanted glory while some genuinely wanted to protect the people. Among them were even those who were part of the experiment subjects raised to wield the Artifact. To them being able to wield the artifact was a very important matter.

No one wanted to give up the opportunity to awakening their true gene abilities through the Ancient Cemetery.

Even the Elder Council of Ancient Families decided to not intervene with children's judgments. After all, if one wanted power, they had to strive for it.

Not to mention at their level of strength, they would barely be able to participate in war. But if they really were able to awaken and wield the Artifacts, things would definitely change.

The Two Saints who were the only people to ever survive the Ancient Cemetery warned the younger generation not to be foolish but they didn't listen.

When one of them decided to step ahead, it definitely affected others. Whether it was due to friendship or pride or confidence or for the urge to protect or the desire for strength.

Most of them entered the cemetery. It has now been six months and there was no news of them….

Those who had taken a step back at that time and just returned after completing the trial in Ancestral Ground had obtained benefits and were now the top youth experts of the Ancient Families.

It was indeed a pity that so many geniuses had just perished like that….

The discussion continued with a few more points being raised and strategies being discussed on how to handle the problems and manage duties as well as topic of distribution of resources to the different families.

Since it wasn't something that any one of them could avoid, everyone had decided to cooperate for now.

"Now that things are over, shouldn't we discuss the issue of the wielder that you were hiding?" It seemed that the Lord of Storm family wasn't going to let it go.

And why would he? Last time, he had lost a few of his men at Supreme Tier in the Capital and was later stopped by Zatch and Kingsman from taking revenge. Now that he had a chance, he had to get some payback here..

"I don't know what issue you are talking about. But I see a different problem here…" the Lady of Leviathan House suddenly spoke. 

''His power has surpassed our expectations, at this rate he would destroy the balance of the competitions…." She further added 

Lord Zatch had to agree with it. He didn't think that Max had grown up to this point already. He could no longer be called someone from the younger generation based on his power level.

And indeed he had disrupted their plans. Even though the team's had the liberty to decide rules and stuff for the competition. For them not to make it entirely absurd, the committee would suggest changes and things….

Even this Commanding Beast was their suggestion. 

They knew that these people were underestimating a Mythic Beast. Once it went mad, all the Academy had to come together to fight it.

These would have been a good experience for them and a preparation for the future as well.

But now looking at Max who was going solo with the commanding beast, it had indeed failed their plan.

If Max was left in the competition like that, there wouldn't be a need for a competition at all. Just crowning him the winner straightforwardly wouldn't be unfair.