-" It looks like they won't follow us." Makayla was relieved to notice that the strange group of cacti had stopped pursuing them. " I kinda feel bad for that group..."
-" Don't mind it, I'm sure that nothing bad will happen to them." Isabela grinned, she would never think of doing something like this. " It looks like one of them was able to escape." Isabela saw a boy rushing towards her.
-" Hey! Wait for me!" The blonde boy ran through the desert like a madman, he constantly looked behind him fearing that the monster would catch up." Thank god I caught up to you two." He looked at the two girls and smiled. he was especially charmed by Isabella's beauty. " Don't you two have a group? If so why not join me?"
-"Join you? Shouldn't you be asking to join our group?" Isabella laughed as she looked at the boy.
-" Huh? You two are just at the beginning stage of the third circle, going around alone isn't safe." The boy had a prideful smile on his face as he got closer to Isabella and held her arms." Just follow me, it will safer this way."
-" Hey! Get your hands off me!" Isabella shook the boy away and looked at him warily.
-" Knock it off! We won't join you." Makayla gripped her dagger as she pushed the boy away. " Especially since you already abandoned your companions one time."
-" Tsk! They were a bunch of deadweights!" The boy was annoyed by the way the girls treated him, he was stronger than them, and felt like they should be importing to be in his company." Just don't come crying to join me later." The boy gave Isabella and Makayla a menacing stare and left.
-" It okay to let him leave like that?" Isabella sighed, it was clear from his eyes that he wasn't up to no good.
-" What more could we do? Fighting now will just make matters worse." Makayla turned around and decided on a new direction to go. "Let's go, the further away we are from him the better."
The two girls departed, the tournament had just begun had they still had much to accomplish, however, little did they know that the blonde boy hadn't left, and stayed around watching them.
-" I will teach a damn thing to you two..." The blonde boy bit his lips as he saw the two girls heading north.
He followed them, always making sure of staying far enough so that they don't notice him. He wanted to find a good opportunity to strike, but, he wasn't sure if he could handle the two of them together.
However, the boy's eyes flashed as he passed near a group of Jackals with bright red fur that was sleeping in a nearby dune. " Oh?! Why not use the same method?" The boy approached the group of monsters and threw a stone at them.
The Jackals were awakened by the stone and immediately pounced toward the boy, who dashed away in the direction of the girls.
Henry watched as the boy led the monsters to Makayla in rage, he felt the urge to go out and rip his head.
-" It looks like he is going to repay them in the same coin." Hugh had a smile on his face, the boy was arrogant and prideful, but, he had one of the best cultivations realms of the tournament to back it off. " Maybe you will lose the bet sooner than expected Venerable H.
-" Who knows?" Henry sighed, he wondered how Makayla was going to deal with the Jackals.
-" It looks like the girl with black hair is a fire element user, so she won't have an easy time again." One of the nobles sighed as he looked at the masked man. " This boy is quite vengeful, isn't he?"
Hugh couldn't take his eyes off the mirror screen, he didn't like the boy very much, but, he felt the urge to choose him as his bet, after all, the boy was antagonizing the participant that Venerable H and Abel had chosen. -" I made my decision! I will bet on this boy!" Hugh cared little for the treasures he could gain, all he wanted was a bit more emotion and excitement.
-" Hum...." Lilia looked at the screens with an anxious gaze, some time had already passed, and the potions she asked for hadn't arrived. " Sigh.., I wish I could bet already." She had numerous participants in mind, but, her master would never agree for her to bet without showing her items first.
She quickly activated the stone she used to communicate with her father again, but, this time no one picked it up, so she could only sulk it up and continue to watch the tournament.
Even the tournament staff were focusing on Makayla's situation, they all expected the two girls to quickly forfeit the tournament and destroy the stone in their bracelet.
-" It looks like another two people will be out already." Dennis had a worried look on his face, the number of participants in the tournament was around one hundred and twenty, but, many of them were already out. " How many people got disqualified?"
- "Around twenty-eight." Jonas looked closely at the screens. "Well, about to be thirty students now." He was getting anxious, his master had put much importance on this mission, so he needed to kidnap a good amount of students, but, moving so soon wasn't feasible.
-" It's best for someone to go to them already, I don't want any students to become monster food." Dennis sighed, he expected the rate of students being disqualified to diminish after a few hours.
Jonas nodded and asked one of the Royal Academy Adjunct teachers to go keep an eye on the girl's situation before leaving the staff room and heading to the bathroom.
He quickly ensured no one was present and switched off the illuminating stones that lightened up the bathroom. -" Orlando... Where are you now?" Jonas whispered to his shadow, who now had two pairs of red eyes in it.
-" Jonas? Can I finally start?" Orlando's voice had a tinge of excitement in it.
-" Don't even think about it, moving now isn't feasible." Jonas sighed, Hugh's unexpected presence caused quite a bit of trouble for them. " Hugh and the nobles will grow bored of this game sooner than later, and only then will we move."
-" Jonas! Won't it be too late?" Orlando grew outraged, he had been hiding in the desert for two days now, and he could barely contain himself any longer. " We need to get almost forty people to compensate for the loss from the hideout in the Thundering Willow Timberland."
-" Don't worry... many students are participants this time." Jonas grinned as he played around with a strange piece of metal. " Master also gave me something to help us... so when the time is right you will swoop in and kidnap everyone who is left in the desert."
-" Okay.." Orlando lowered his voice, he was excited to hunt the students, but, not to the point of endangering the mission.
-" It's best if we don't talk much, there are too many people here." Jonas quickly reactivated the stones that lightened the room. " All we need is to be careful, and no one will be able to stop Master's plan." He was confident that everything would go according to his plans.
With Jonas's position as a tournament supervisor, he could switch the monitoring of the students off and even pass their locations to Orlando. -" The only thing we need to be careful about is Hugh and his mysterious friend..." Jonas looked at the odd piece of metal he was holding and smiled. " But, even if he doesn't go back to the Royal Academy main quarters, this thing will surely give us some time." He put the metal plack back in his spatial ring and returned to the staff room to watch how the girls were fairing against the group of Jackals.
Makayla and Isabella picked up their speed as they noticed the blond boy and the pack of Jackals behind them.
-" Good Lord! I can't believe that he is trying that with us." Isabella's face darkened as she looked back and saw the boy was slowly approaching them. " And that fucker is quite fast too!"
-" Just keep running, even if he reaches us, the monster will lose their interest after some time." Makayla gnashed her teeth and used all of her strength to run. " He got a higher cultivation than us, so we can't outspeed him, but, the Jackals are completely different."
Isabella was about to look back again when a sudden gust of wind blew toward her and created a whirlwind of sand. "Fuck! Don't tell me that this is a tornado." Isabella grew frightened as her vision was blocked off by the cloud of sand.
-" This isn't a tornado!" Makayla grinned as she noticed a black dot hovering over them. " It looks like we have no choice other than to fight the monster." Makayla clenched her fist as she gazed at the blond youth flying over them.
-" Oh? Do you regret not joining me yet?" A pair of wings made of winds fluttered on the boy's back.