The Ancient Genes

Residential District

The district with most residential areas. People of different income levels lived in different areas in that district. It was located next to the Arcane Magic Academy and many of the teachers and staff of the Academy had personal Quarters in that district.

A white cab entered the district and moved towards the residential area meant for middle-class folks.

After a while, the cab stopped in front of the gate of a society and a person dressed stepped out of the car.

He was covered from head to toe. A black cloak covered most of his body, while his face was covered with a white demonic mask.

He had on black jeans with boots of matching colour.

The thing which caught the most attention after his attire was definitely the old broken hammer hanging around his waist.

After paying the driver, he walked toward the guard cabin before taking out an identity card and speaking in a hoarse voice.

…

"I am a Mercenary and am here to meet Mr. Pearson for some issues. Can you tell me the way to his quarters?"

Hearing Max, the guard looked at the ID card and then sized him up from the corner of his crooked eyes before replying.

"Sir, it's the third house from here and he lives on the second floor."

That ID card really does wonders, it looked like the association was really trusted by the people.

Getting the information he needed, Max turned around before heading towards his destination.

.....

Finally, after a couple of minutes of walking by foot, he reached the house of the mercenary, Mr. Pearson.

Ringing the doorbell, he waited for a response.

..

..

..

But even after a minute, there was no one to ask him in.

So, he rang the bell once more.

...

...

...

Sigh

It looked like he wasn't home. He even wasted his meagre pocket money on this trip.

'Where is this guy?' When he looked at his account, it showed that he was currently idle.

'Wait.. is this guy asleep?' he couldn't rule out that possibility. So, he decided to give a strong knock on his door this time.

If he knew what that knock would lead him to, he definitely would have given it a second thought.

…

Shopping District

Currently, if one were to see, he/she would find a bunch of SUVs racing down the street under the darkness of night as the lights of the cars lightened the dim streets.

The vehicles stopped before a shopping mall and a bunch of guys in black outfits walked out of the cars.

The person leading those guys had long brown hair which was meticulously tied up and his face had a scar which ran horizontally across his nose. He looked young and seemingly hasn't even reached his 20s yet.

He had sword-shaped brows and there was a fierce look on his face. Looking at that guy, one would definitely not want to mess with him.

He patted the sword on his waist before speaking in his menacing voice.

"Master just said to get the ingredients. He didn't give any other direction, right? Since, it's the last batch of ingredients, I finally can let loose. I just hope they offer a bit of resistance. I haven't had a good fight in a while."

"Let's go, we will beat the sh*t out of anyone who dares to interfere with our work." He commanded his men, directing them towards the mall.

But before he could take a step forward, another voice interrupted him.

"Derek, I knew you were a fool, but there has to be a limit to your foolishness." A guy stepped out of the car.

He had blue hair and a fair face, he was wearing a wizard's robe and had a wand in his hand.

"Alciel, you bastard, why are you here?" The guy called Derek spoke with a frown.

"Because I don't want any trouble for my master. How can I be at ease by leaving everything to you? And hearing you, I think I was not wrong at all. You would definitely alert the higher level of the Association." Alciel spoke with a light smile and a helpless expression.

"Y..You-."

Before Derek could speak any further, Alciel interrupted him.

"I have taken the Master's permission. So, all of you listen to me, I will be in charge of this mission."

...

"Now, half of you, including the formation masters, will stay back and prepare the jamming formation. All forms of communication should be blocked and don't let anyone get inside. While the other half of you will follow me in to capture the girls."

With that, Alciel moved towards the entrance, and Derek followed him with a gloomy face.

…

"Whoa! Elly, look at this black dress, it's so pretty. Why don't you try it? It would definitely look pretty on you." Lisa couldn't help but urged Elly to give it a try. After all, it would go well with Elly's hair color.

"I have already tried so many dresses. And look at the amount of purchases you made. Isn't that enough? Look, it's already dark outside. If we don't reach the dorms by 8, I will let you take all the blame." Hearing her, Elly spoke with a trace of helplessness in her eyes.

"Oh come on! It's the last one. I promise. We will return immediately after trying this one out."

Lisa forcefully put the dress in Elly's hands and pushed her towards the changing room.

As she entered the changing room, she heard a loud crashing sound and the windows of the mall shattered and a heavy pressure descended inside the mall forcing all the people onto their knees.

Feeling her knees giving in as the weight on her shoulders increased, sweat started to form on my forehead.

It was a Mid level Mage.

She was very close to the halfway through the Low level category. Only a Mid level Mage could force her onto her knees.

'What's going on?'

'It definitely does not look friendly. I gotta do something. '

she pulled her smart phone out and tried to make a call. But her phone had blacked out.

Formation Masters!

That was not looking good.

"Hey Lisa, what's going on?"

she heard Elly's uneasy voice from the changing room.

It looked like she felt the pressure too.

Lisa slowly moved towards the door knob of the dressing room, resisting the pressure on her.

Reaching the door, she twisted the knob, locking the door.

"Huh.. Why isn't the door opening? Why did you lock the door, Lisa? Don't do anything foolish. Open the door." Hearing her worried voice, she felt happiness swelling within her.

"I know it very well, Elly. If you were in my place, you would have done the same thing." she spoke in a determined tone.

she pulled out her pendant, a 7 ★ Artefact and stuck that to the door's surface before pouring all her mana into it.

Receiving all her mana, runes started to appear from the pendant, forming a complex formation.

"What are you doing? Stop it, I said sto-."

Before Elly could even complete her sentence, her voice abruptly disappeared and she felt the world around her turned blurry before darkness enveloped her vision.