Second Option

Jonas grinned as he watched the movement in the Royal Academy building, he didn't expect that they would be so fast. He took out the odd metal piece and smiled. " Well... I didn't want to use this thing, but, it looks like I don't have any other option." He made a small cut on his hand and smeared his blood on the metal plate before dropping.

Jonas dashed in Orlando's direction, and he constantly looked back, anxiously waiting for the spectacle to commence. It took quite a while for the metal plate to react, but, after a few minutes, the sand surrounding it began to change color to pure white.

The area where Jonas dropped the metal plate wasn't that far away from the Royal Academy Building, so before long some of the tournament staffers began to notice the transformation of the sand dunes.

-" What is happening?" One of the squadron's leaders saw the mysterious phenomenon and instantly activated his medal, in hopes of contacting Mister Hugh.

-" Let's go take a look! Maybe this is the cause of the signal stopping!" Another one of the squadron's leaders quickly ordered his group to move in direction of the mysterious white sand.

-" Mark! Stop being so dumb! It isn't smart to rush in like this." Another one of the squadron leaders tried to warn the man.

-" Stop being so cowardly! We are in one of the Royal Academy Buildings!" The man showed no care for their warnings. " If something dangerous happens we just have to hide behind the defensive formation." A tremor shook the entire area just as the man finished speaking.

Everyone looked at the ground as they felt the force of the earthquake, they all knew that this wasn't good news and prepared for whatever was coming next.

-" Get ready! Activate the formation!" One of the squadron's leaders shouted in fear.

-" Call Mister Hugh now!" Another one of them prepares his sword and began to search around for whatever was causing the earthquakes.

The tremors were so strong, that they could be felt all throughout the Magyar Desert, from inside the Central Room of the building, to the caves where Makayla and Isabella were sleeping.

-" What is this? Don't tell me that there is a monster?" Isabella woke up in fear, dust and small pieces of rock fell on her from the cave's ceiling.

-" An Earthquake?" Makayla remembered when the sandworms were unburrowing, causing small tremors. " Sandoworms?"

-" How big does it have to be cause such a big earthquake?" Isabella got up and looked at the cave's entrance, she wanted to know what was happening, but, she was too fearful of going out. " What should we do?"

Makayla used the wall as a clutch and got up, she was still pretty weary and could barely stand up alone. -" The cave may collapse if this continues." She wasn't happy about losing her hideout, but, there was little they could do.

The two of them stared at the trembling cave in silence, completely unsure about what they should do when the stone blocking the cave entrance began to shake.

-" Sigh... It looks like we can't even have a rest." Isabella took out her wand and prepared for combat. " Can you fight?"

Makayla retrieved another two potions and drank them straight away. " Do we even have any chance?" She mustered every single bit of strength she had left and held her dagger.

The big boulder on the entrance began to crumble as small black tendrils began to permeate the cave slowly. Isabella and Makayla observed the strange tentacles in a mixture of astonishment and fear.

-" What is this?" Isabella couldn't think of any monster that had this characteristic, and after a bit of thought, she quickly conjured a small spell and threw it on the tendrils.

The black tendrils retreated a few meters after they were hit by the spell, but, it didn't seem that they were affected much, and soon continued to make their way deeper into the cave.

Isabella cast another spell and threw it on the tendrils again, yet, this time the spell had little to no effect on the tentacles, who continued to move towards them.

Makayla grinned, it looked like they would have to deal with the owner of the tentacles. -" The monster outside the cave, let's try to deal with him." Makayla spread her arms, and two small fireballs quickly ignited on each of her hands.

Isabella nodded and firmly held her wand, strands of water suddenly surged from the ground and formed a barrage of water arrows in front of her.

The two of them ignored the black tendrils completely and focused on the bolder, which finally cracked and made way for the strange monster at the cave entrance,

Isabella and Makayla immediately released their spells, bombarding the monster with a barrage of magic attacks. They kept conjuring spells without any rest, and only stopped their attack when they ran out of breath.

-" Did it work?" Isabella held her bracelet in preparation and sighed, she could barely cast another spell, so their only safety mechanism was calling for help.

-" I don't think so." Makayla's vision was burly, and she felt a tingling sensation of danger coming from the entrance. " Break the bracelet." She didn't understand why she was so fearful, but, her intuition kept telling her that only death waited for them if they didn't forfeit.

-" Are you sure about this?" Isabella grabbed the small stone in her bracelet and was about to crush it when the black tendrils shook and flew toward her. "Ahrggg! Help!" The black tendrils latched on Isabella's arms and threw her to the side.

Isabella screamed in pain as she smashed into the walls, the impact so great that she was even out of breath.

-" Isabella!" Makayla tried to run in her direction, but, her steps faltered and she wobbled to the floor. " Leave her alone!" Makayla bit her lips as she watched the tendrils lift her friend once again, and threw her dagger into the black tendrils, hoping that it would be enough to make them drop her.

Makayla's dagger ignited in flames, and easily cut through one of the black tendrils, but, unfortunately, this wasn't enough to save Isabella, who was thrown to the walls once again, this time with even more force.

Isabella coughed blood as she smashed into the other side of the wall, she was in so much pain that she couldn't even think.

Makayla saw her friends state, and crushed the stone on her bracelet, she hoped that the tournament staffers wouldn't take too long to reach them, or Isabella would be in danger. -" Fuck! Get up!" Makayla shouted at herself and mustered whatever was left of strength.