Talk to The Edge.

You, Eva, Niki, Amara, and Catherine venture through the gates of Castle Phoenix's grand stone walls. Instead of proceeding farther, you all take a seat on benches set up around the snaking cobblestone path between lush grass and a rainbow of flowers. It's a beautiful area, like the most well-maintained park, and it's mostly thanks to Peony. It pays to have a dryad around. Though after you all rest back with a sigh, The Edge continues to stand, and he looks around uncomfortably.

"Can't we have this meeting somewhere... cooler?" he asks.

You place your hands behind your head and lean back as far as you can. "Nope."

"Fine! You win this round, rival. But I'm staying on my feet."

Eva raises her hand. "You didn't stay on your feet very well at the Sports Festival."

The rest of the girls snicker.

You actually start to see blush appear across the shadowy man's pale complexion. He crosses his arms and grumbles under his breath. "L-Listen, Kyle Warren. I've come to deliver an important message. Do you want to hear it or not?"

You wave your hand. "All right, all right. Settle down everyone. Let's hear him out."

Instantly, the man recovers and points a finger aggressively in your direction. "It all started when I was a child!"

"Oh no. Here we go," you mutter.

"I'm the third son of a noble lineage, but my father's line has had a checkered past. I grew up far southwest of here, and it was a glorious upbringing. My family had money, power, our very own harem of beautiful men and women, and as I grew older, I made a name for myself. They called me a hero. Though of course, I was far too humble to accept such a title. I didn't feel like I deserved it. And then it happened. I can still hear the screams to this day. When my town was raided, and everybody was slain. Most of the attackers were orcs, but there were other monsters as well."

"Wait. All that stuff you were telling me back at the Golden Sword was real? I thought you were just trying to sound cool."

"Of course it's all real!" he barks. "Don't you remember anything I said? I even revealed to you my darkest secret."

"Uh..."

"My father. Demon blood ran in his veins, as it does mine. This darkness is why I don't deserve the title of hero."

"Sorry. Back where I'm from, all that kinda stuff is what people make up just to make a character sound all badass, but it always ends up making them sound edgy instead. Like, the bad kind though. My bad."

Niki shakes her head. "No. It's like that here too."

"Really?"

"Yeah. I wouldn't have believed him either."

"Listen!" The Edge shouts in an attempt to regain everyone's attention. "My point is that my grandfather assisted Demon King Muian."

"And he was an actual demon," you add.

"No. My grandfather was human. My grandmother, however, was a beautiful demoness. Together they served Muian, up until their deaths. I'm not even sure if people discovered my father's identity before he was slain in that raid. I'm the only surviving member of my family. A woman found me, and she took care of me. Ever since then, I've been in debt to the lovely Breiah."

"Of course. That makes sense. So you serve Elok because they saved your life?"

"I don't serve anybody." He whips his long, raven hair to the side. "I'm my own man."

"All right, buddy. If you say so."

"I only entered the Sports Festival to compete, especially with you."

"Why me?"

He crosses his arms and closes his eyes. "I, ah... Well, reading storybooks and... Breiah also told me about their experiments and..." After mumbling for a second, he starts blushing again, but takes a deep breath and shakes his head. "Because we're sworn rivals!"

I don't think he really knows me. Not really. I sense something strange from him. Like, a child happy to play with a friend. He's spoken so much to me about drinking blood, and he wields daggers like claws while wearing dark clothes, but I don't get the feeling of true hostility. I can't put my finger on it. Either way, I think he's more like a lost kid. Poor guy might only be the way he is because of who found him. He seems all sorts of messed up.

"Was all that what you wanted to tell me?" you ask.

"No. You see, there was another at the Sports Festival serving under Elok Daven you likely questioned."

"Malakae?"

"That's right. Malakae Vraelion is the daughter of a very powerful, important dragon. She may be mighty herself, but her father is old, wise, and stronger than any dragon I've faced. And I have reasons to believe he's allied with Elok Daven."

"And you think she was **** to compete?"

"While she is a pretty competitive woman already, yes I do. She actually didn't know anyone else on the team."

"Poor Malakae," Eva says with a frown. But then she glances around and shrugs. "I mean uhm... serves that bully right!"

You put your hand on Eva's shoulder. "No. You're right. She doesn't deserve this fate. I know she picked on you, but after everything you both went through together back at Redbloom Academy, I understand you having empathy for her. Imagine if your father **** you to fight for a Demon King."

"I simply wouldn't do it."

"All right. Well, that's fair, but she probably doesn't have a choice."

"I know. You're right. Can we do anything about it?"

The queen speaks up. "Lord Vraelion is an exceptionally dangerous man to anger. If you were to take his daughter away from him, he would certainly rain fire down upon these walls. And if you were to slay him, people wouldn't look too kindly on the **** of one of the most influential noblemen in Tivera."

"We're already wanted anyway, right?" Niki asks.

"We need to learn more," you say. "Let's not shoot the cloaked man in the chest before even hearing his name."

"I agree!" The Edge exclaims loudly.

You raise up your fingers as you count. "Elok Daven. Meti. Breiah. Anastasia. Ariusia. And then however many ALICEs, but those almost don't count since he made those himself. Basically what I'm saying is that he needed to pull in both Edgy here and Malakae, so maybe that means his number of allies is rather small. Otherwise there's Lord Vraelion, and maybe nothing else when it comes to actual fighters."

"His army consists almost entirely of constructs," Amara says. "While his team may be small, he has potentially hundreds of warriors he made himself to fill in the gaps. And the ALICEs are far more intelligent and capable than the other creations we have seen."

Catherine nods. "It makes sense. The fewer actual people he has with him, the lower the chance of betrayal, or word getting out of his plans before he's ready."

The Edge crosses his arms. "I don't even know where he lives. I know where I was brought to when rescued, but we moved more than once, and now I have no idea. Though I do believe his plans are dangerously close to ready anyway. I also have reason to believe he's been able to gather some of the scattered resources of Demon King Muian, which means he may also have insectrin on his side."

"Yeah. We've seen the ants. That's how he made the tunnel," you add.

"A tunnel?"

"You don't know? Elok Daven dug a passageway all the way beneath Tivera."

He looks down and raises up a foot uncomfortably. "Creepy."

"You can find something creepy?"

Then he turns swiftly. He brings his hood back over his head and takes a step away. "But we must depart for now. I've said what I could, so I bid you farewell."

"Hey. Thanks for everything. I know we've had a weird relationship, but I do appreciate you coming here to tell me all this. If you want to stand against Elok Daven, you're welcome to stand with us."

He's quiet for a moment. With a hand to his face, he turns back to glance at you between his fingers. "A betrayal? No... I couldn't." Then he turns again. "We'll see each other again, Kyle Warren, but next time, it may be on the battlefield. As rivals." And with a swing of his cloak, he walks his big leather boots down along the cobblestone path towards the exit.

You watch him go and think, You know what? Hot Topic really did sometimes have cool stuff too.