Hurry back to the arena.

You and Niki pick up the pace. The town might not be as large as Avana, but you've been away for awhile now. There may be no time limit on these fights, but there's also no minimum. It's entirely possible for someone to lose in under a minute. If every fight has gone that way, you'll be late for sure. You have hope that Tom, Hedi, and Bek are more capable than that, but that doesn't mean you aren't going to hurry up.

As you reach the entrance, you spot Tom and Hedi chatting nearby. If you remember correctly, they had to fight, so either they haven't gone yet, or they've finished recently. They look a little messy and tired, so you're leaning towards the latter.

"You're back!" Tom calls out. "Bek is fighting some girl in there."

"What did we miss?" Niki asks.

"You won't believe it. Look," he says and points behind you.

There's a hulking mass of armour sitting against the wall of a shop not far away. He's easily eight-feet-tall, and you don't see a single bit of skin between the massive plates of his cobalt suit of armour. Stuck in the dirt beside him is a massive hammer. He has his head resting in his hands--not the image you'd expect from a winner.

"Crusher?" you ask.

"That's right. Umi, this catfolk, totally kicked his ass."

"Are you serious? Shit. I wish I saw."

"Sorry you were almost late, but our fight didn't last too long," Hedi says with a grin.

"You cheated!" Tom replies.

"How did I cheat? I knocked you out of the ring. That's the entire point of the fight." He turns his attention back towards the ring. "Speaking of which, that dwarf seems impossible to ring-out. Though, he's been struggling a lot already. You've missed a lot of it, but--"

"And the winner is... Falcon!" the announcer shouts.

"Huh?!" Niki pushes you aside and hurries forwards. "Bek lost?"

You wish you could have caught these fights. Soon, you're going to have to battle one of them, unless The Edge actually bests you in combat. As you peek through, you can see that Hedi was right. Bek is impossible to knock out of the ring. However, it may have been better if that wasn't the case. The poor dwarf is laying face-down in the dirt with a pool of blood forming around him. Healers have already been dispatched and are hurrying over to save his life.

Meanwhile, a figure is walking towards the exit.

She's short, like Eva, but is cloaked entirely by brown fabric wafting in the breeze. A hood rests over black pigtails that hang down past her shoulders. Her skin is dark, and you can make out a crimson gaze lurking beneath the shadow of her garb--one that's only halfway present. Her left eye is covered by a black patch. There's something familiar about her. You think back, and remember what it may have been. When you fell in the cave--when the ground gave away--you saw an extremely similar person looming above you.

Is this the girl that trapped us?

As she walks past, you see a smirk form on her face. She glances towards you with her visible eye, and then continues into the crowd.

"Hey!" Niki shouts. "Get back here! Is that who I think it is, Kyle? Is that the bitch that almost trapped us? I said come back!"

Though as much as she searches around the area, the girl is gone.

"Would Kyle Warren and The Edge please enter the arena? The fifth round of this year's Golden Sword tournament is about to begin! There will be a short intermission after, which will lead us into the second phase of battle. It won't be long before we see a final, exciting fight for the glorious, famous Golden Sword!"

The audience applauds. It's time.

You draw your sword, and the farther you stray from Niki, the less it glows, until it finally goes out. You walk through the entrance of the arena and step through stains of blood left behind by the dwarf who has since been taken away. You can only hope he'll be all right. You gaze up at all of the people in the bleachers cheering for your entry. It's thrilling. After you make your way through to the other side, you turn to the entrance, and that's when you see him yet again--The Edge, right on time.

Just like before, he draws a series of blades between his fingers like claws. A grin stretches across his face.

He looks down, and then back to you. "Blood," he whispers. "My favourite."