Outside, no one knew what had specifically happened in the finals arena. Even the ultra-high-definition drones tracking them at all times had lost their targets and were now circling in place, searching for the two contestants.
After a short while.
Some of the spectators grew restless.
They had just reached the climax, witnessing the most unforgettable battle scene of their lives, and then... the drones went on strike?
The live comments on the video streaming sites were already filled with all sorts of profanities, cursing the organizers' entire families.
This feeling was even more infuriating than a sudden commercial break during an exciting part.
A commercial break is just an interruption; you can continue watching after it ends. Aside from wasting some time, there's no real loss. But this was different.
This was a live competition. There was no such thing as the contestants stopping their fight just because the drones couldn't find them, and then resuming once they were back on camera.
If you missed this, you *really* missed it. There wouldn't even be a replay.
No one knew how fierce the fight was.
One minute... two minutes.....
Time ticked by, second by second. For these spectators, every minute felt like a year. They wished they could split each minute into smaller pieces.
Some spectators began to curse.
"Damn it, organizers!! Where are the contestants?!! Why are your drones just spinning in mid-air?? I paid a fortune for this ticket, not to watch your drones dance!!"
One person's angry shout was followed by more and more people, emotionally joining in to curse the organizers.
At this moment, the organizers were also frantic.
It wasn't that they weren't broadcasting the contestants' feed, nor was it a drone malfunction.
It was... the contestants had really vanished....
To avoid the awkward situation of drones losing the contestants, both knights had been equipped with official drone positioning devices.
But....
The signals from both positioning devices had disappeared just now.
They vanished without any warning. Moreover, after the Nameless Knight was sent flying into that building, the drones couldn't find a trace of either of them. It was as if they had evaporated into thin air.
At this point, the finals director was so nervous and anxious that beads of sweat were streaming down his face.
There couldn't be another accident.
If there really was an accident, he would probably lose his job as director.
Finally, as if God had heard the director's prayers, the drones, which had lost their targets for a while, detected a positioner's signal and automatically flew toward it.
And on the screen, a figure walked out from within.
As the drone's camera gradually focused.
The little squirrel with fiery red hair, like a flame, appeared below the camera, walking out with the posture of a victor.
One second... two seconds.... three seconds....
The stadium was silent for nearly two minutes, but the other Nameless Knight never appeared.
Everyone had already guessed the final result. However, they didn't cheer; they were waiting for the host's announcement.
The host didn't know what to do now.
Having been a host for so many years, he knew perfectly well that this Nameless Knight had been arranged by the Chamber of Commerce to intercept the Flametail Knight, and the Chamber of Commerce would not allow the Flametail Knight to win the championship. And now, the host was caught between a rock and a hard place.
Anyone who wasn't blind could see that the Flametail Knight had won. But the other drone hadn't found the Nameless Knight. Even if he was injured or dead, a body should have been found. Yet, not only was there no body, there wasn't even a speck of blood at the battle site.
There was only one possibility.
The Nameless Knight had fled. Or he was annihilated, leaving nothing behind for the drones to find.
However, the host was more inclined to believe the Nameless Knight had fled early. After all, killing someone is simple, but making someone die without even scraps left behind was extremely difficult.
The Nameless Knight had fled.
In that case, he really should announce the Flametail Knight as the winner. But....
The host was a tangled mess of indecision. He didn't dare to make the announcement. He was terrified of taking the blame. What if he made the announcement and the higher-ups had a new plan? Moreover, the host was waiting for instructions from the Chamber of Commerce spokesman through his earpiece. However, the spokesman wasn't saying anything, telling him to handle it himself.
Handle it himself?
Isn't this just setting him up as the fall guy?
The host was now in a dilemma. If he didn't make the announcement, the audience would be dissatisfied and complain *en masse*. His job and reputation would be ruined. But if he did make the announcement, the higher-ups would be dissatisfied and would take it out on him. Although his reputation would be saved, he'd be offending the Chamber of Commerce. If he got fired, it meant he'd never find another job, at best becoming a wedding host or something.
In the end.
After thinking for a while, the host chose the former and just played dead. If the audience complained, let them complain. The audience could only complain and curse him for being unfair. What else could they do? After a few months or a year, these spectators would forget all about it. Even if he didn't host the Knight Major anymore, he could apply for a transfer to a TV station and still live comfortably. Kazimierz had plenty of public figures who had been flamed in the past, and aren't they all still working and living well, completely unaffected?
On the contrary, public figures who offended the Chamber of Commerce lived incredibly difficult lives, unable to find any decent work, forced to change careers just to get by.
It was obvious to anyone with eyes that the Flametail Knight had won, but the host continued to play dead and refused to announce it. Even after so much time had passed, there was no sign of an awards ceremony.
A large portion of the audience was already growing dissatisfied, including not only Flametail Knight fans but also many neutral spectators.
"Damn it, where's the host!! Our Flametail Knight has already won! She's the champion, why isn't he awarding the prize!!"
"When the f*ck are you gonna _ _!!"
"F*CK!! What kind of garbage organizer is this? The Flametail Knight won and you're playing dead and not awarding the trophy, huh?"
The act of playing dead and refusing to announce the champion or present the trophy was even more egregious than the Flametail Knight's victory. This behavior instantly shot to the top of the trending topics online. However, these media outlets all belonged to the Chamber of Commerce. These voices of protest couldn't be sent out at all; they were blocked during moderation.
Seeing that these social media companies were directly blocking comments and preventing netizens from speaking out, it further incited the netizens' fight against the corporations. It was at this moment that someone suddenly discovered that a social media app developed by Raythean Industries didn't restrict this. In fact, it was reporting heavily on what happened today. Even though the organizers hadn't announced the winner, Raythean Industries's own social app had already declared the Flametail Knight the champion of the 1025 Spring Knight Major.
This move instantly caused the originally lukewarm social app to be flooded with countless users. Its registered user count skyrocketed.
Raythean Industries was once an arms company, then an integrated arms and industry company, and now it was gradually developing into a comprehensive, diversified corporation. Although it still made most of its money from military contracts, it had already begun to try various derivatives and expansions, such as real estate, financial investment, the internet industry... a series of businesses in different directions.
Although most of these lost more than they earned, who could blame Raythean Industries for being rich? Burning a little money was nothing to them.
In fact.
The chairman of Raythean Industries' Kazimierz branch had been watching the whole time. Especially when he saw the Chamber of Commerce resort to playing dead and doing nothing, he chuckled and chose to jump into the fray.
The Chamber of Commerce had always thought Raythean Industries... would have some scruples, seeing as this was Kazimierz. After all, their branch had been in Kazimierz for so many years, only making money and always acting as a transparent nobody. This led the Chamber of Commerce to mistakenly believe Raythean Industries didn't want to cause trouble.
However, the truth was.
The president of the Kazimierz branch didn't care about the Chamber of Commerce at all. The only reason he had focused on making money before was that he was unsure of the attitude of the higher-ups. If he caused some trouble, his position would be in jeopardy. Now that the chairman from headquarters had personally given his approval, this president's attitude did a complete 180.
The big shot from headquarters had asked him to take care of this Miss Sona, which meant Miss Sona was very important to the big shot from headquarters. And now, Miss Sona had won the championship, but the Chamber of Commerce was playing dead. Isn't this a classic case of bullying? It was tantamount to bullying Raythean Industries, bullying poor, weak, and helpless Raythean Industries.
When someone was bullying you right at your doorstep, how could you just hold it in?
The vice president of the Kazimierz branch even personally issued a statement, using a very severe tone to condemn the Chamber of Commerce's unfair and unjust behavior. Publicly bullying the number one little knight under Raythean Industries... Are you completely disregarding Raythean Industries? We gave you an inch and you took a mile, huh?!!
They even went all out.
They directly exposed what had happened earlier.
The general content was this.
According to the rules of the Knight Major, if a contestant withdraws or fails to compete for any reason, their opponent will win by default. But you, the Chamber of Commerce, directly added someone mid-competition. As for whether this person's strength was comparable to the previous two knights, I think all the spectators know the answer in their hearts. Let's not talk about the big guy, who was one-shot by our Raythean Industries' little squirrel anyway. How do you explain that Nameless Knight?
That Nameless Knight has no knight codename on the official Knight Major website and no ranking. And all the spectators should have seen the kind of attacks he could use. You call that 'comparable strength'?
If it weren't for our little squirrel's own solid strength, she would have been killed by you on the spot!
Because Raythean Industries's reputation was too high, and its corporate body was too large, and this was an official statement jumping into the fray.
Words from others might be a small pebble tossed into the sea, not making a single splash. But words from Raythean Industries were like a giant meteor from space smashing into the ocean. The wave of public opinion it stirred up couldn't be suppressed even if the Chamber of Commerce wanted to.
While public opinion raged outside, in the nearby arena, Lucas Reeve didn't leave. Even though half an hour had passed, Lucas Reeve trusted Raythean Industries's ability to stir up trouble. He wouldn't leave until the award was presented on the spot. And since Lucas Reeve didn't leave, almost all the spectators in the audience refused to leave either. On one hand, they cursed the organizers and the Chamber of Commerce, calling them assholes, on the other, they shouted loudly that the Flametail Knight was the champion.
Meanwhile, the host and the backstage staff were sweating bullets.
Especially the host.
It seemed that after today, he might be able to keep his job, but the reputation he had worked so hard to build was about to stink.
As for the Chamber of Commerce's conference room.
It was completely different from the chaos outside.
The Chamber of Commerce was dead silent.
This time, it wasn't just the directors. The three Chairmans had also arrived. Not only the three Chairmans, but the Armorless Union's two Darksteel Azurites, two Lazurites, and one Platinum Azurite were all gathered in the conference room.
Half an hour had passed.
But there was still no news from that Darksteel Azurite.
This basically confirmed one thing.
He was dead...
After all, if he were alive, he would have made contact immediately. But there was a confusing point: if the Darksteel Azurite was dead, where was the body? Dozens of drones, and even forensic specialists, had gone to investigate the scene, but not a single trace was found. It was as if he had vanished from the world.
The Armorless Union had three Darksteel Azurites in total. He wasn't the strongest, nor was he the original Darksteel, but one who had joined later.
Suddenly....
The Lazurite Roy, standing in the back, suddenly thought of a tricky question.
"Big Boss, Second Boss, I have a feeling... Third Boss's sudden disappearance is somewhat similar to the deaths of those two directors earlier."
Within the Armorless Union, Roy preferred to call the Darksteels "Boss."
With Roy's reminder, a sharp glint flashed in the eyes of everyone present.
"It really is her!!"
One of the Darksteels, known as "Big Boss," narrowed his eyes.
In fact, they had also been suspecting the Flametail Knight. But it was only suspicion; they had no definitive proof. And now... they had locked onto her as the culprit!
With this kind of power... killing a few directors with no difficulty would be easy. If that's the case... she might also have...