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“I don’t know if the information I’m asking for is worth risking a fight against Morgunov,” said Caster.

“Nothing less than that will convince the lords of Sair that you are not their enemy,” said Darksteel.

Driving a hard bargain, as expected. Caster had to consciously avoid frowning.

But of course, there was a good chance that such a fight with Morgunov was inevitable, regardless. Caster wasn’t yet sure if he genuinely believed that himself, but Ettol certainly had.

Unfortunately, even now, it was difficult to gauge how that line of thinking had worked out for the pompous bastard. He’d wanted a fight with the Mad Demon, and he’d gotten it alright. So was his fate his own fault? Or had this actually been inevitable, just like he’d said? Was Morgunov always going to come for them, sooner or later?

Without more details about how everything had unfolded, Caster was still undecided.

One thing was clear, though: the Beast of Ardora was now free. The Prime Hunt, therefore, was back on--and worse than ever, seemingly, if both Sai-hee and Dozer had been laid low by it.

That was another part that Caster didn’t know if he believed yet. Zirat clearly did, but in this case, it was Caster Egmond who was the one with personal memories and experiences to pull from. The Peacemaker and the Living Void had been unflappable fixtures on the world stage for hundreds of years. The idea that they had both been killed was almost unfathomable to him.

Surely not. Surely, they were just gravely wounded and having trouble recovering. Or running some kind of scheme, perhaps. Politicking, as usual. To what end, though? To draw out Sermung? Where was the Crystal Titan during all of this, anyway?

And even stranger still, Zirat had no idea who that was. How could that be possible when he seemed to know about so many other big figures in the world? How could the biggest have escaped his notice?

So many things were not adding up. They needed to meet with their contemporaries and exchange intel, but that, too, was a major risk. The more of them that gathered, the easier it would be for the Beast to find them. At least this Darksteel fellow didn’t appear to be an incarnation. That shouldn’t attract the Beast’s attention.

Theoretically, anyway.

Perhaps the old rules no longer applied. The Beast had clearly changed in some significant way.