In the secret room, somewhere in Mount Picu.
After fixing the VR Headset, and the laptop, Arthur noticed the Legacy Company's peril, making him remember his secretary, Emilia. Knowing how hard it was to run the world's most successful company, he knew that Emilia wasn't having a good time.
The laptop showed the Legacy Company's servers. One of them allowed connecting to News Station's Broadcast frequency, allowing to make their own announcement whenever. Under normal circumstances, it would be impossible.
However, Arthur's influence broke boundaries between countries, allowing him to do anything.
Seeing the war on the Internet, he couldn't allow Legacy Company to be under fire because of him. He started the Tournament of Champions sneakily when he changed the date between Isaac's and Kalzer's fight.
It was supposed to be a private event. But, he was constrained currently; living in this dust-clustered place made dealing with any White Online incidents difficult. Thus, many managed to reveal the existence of the event.
Without choice left, Arthur decided to compromise to calm the public's outrage. The Third Stage, which was also the Final Stage, would place all the survivors of the Second Stage in the same arena.
The arena was in Moon City.
That would be a spectacle like no other, and it was created as a source of entertainment for Gods and Moon City denizens. Thus, only they would be able to watch the last event.
However, now his compromise was to Livestream the event for everyone.
The problem was that he didn't know how Gods would react to it. Most of them liked the privacy and never liked humans. They called the Moon City residents Inhumans, the superior version of Humans.
While they didn't mind the presence of Inhumans, ordinary Humans were different even though they would only be able to watch from the World of Four Seasons.
However, Arthur decided to strain his relationship with Gods to help Emilia and his other employees.
Tap, tap, tap.
His slender and long fingers danced across the keyboard. The announcement pop-up appeared on the screen, only one click away from starting his Broadcast.
There was another problem with this.
Souldeath Family could lock into his signal and find his current location. Thus, there was only one way to prevent that.
"Ahem…" Arthur cleared his throat and prepared to start the Broadcast. He'd to explain everything clearly, and precisely in less than a minute. The Broadcast, if lasting over a minute, would reveal his current position.
His finger gently landed on the mouse, a click resounding in the cramped space. The screen showed his handsome, slightly fatigued face.
Opening his mouth, he spoke calmly and confidently.
"My name is Arthur Welhenheim, Creator of White Online and Legacy Company. My sudden unannounced announcement is regarding the Tournament of Champions."
The Broadcast echoed in every household. This was Arthur's first public appearance since a year ago. The days didn't seem to be pleasant for him, with his ragged hair and dirtied skin.
Emilia and the employees of Legacy Company watched in silence, their eyes turning slightly moist at the appearance of their glorious leader. They all knew about what happened over a year ago, the sudden disappearance of the Board of Directors.
However, they didn't think Arthur was a murderer since they knew him on a personal level. And several days after, a man in a suit started visiting them, pressuring them about Arthur. Their appearance rang proper red flags, making them even surer that Arthur wasn't a bad person.
The men in suits continued following them in silence everywhere they went. However, the employees weren't amateurs like the men in suit thought. They all went under harsh training under Emilia's council while they were still at the peak of their popularity.
They managed to see when they followed them, and after they stopped following, the employees pressured Emilia to reveal the truth.
And the truth was something unexpected, and their respect for Arthur only grew.
Emilia watched as Arthur's dry lips moved up and down, making her feel thrilled that he was alive but also saddened at his obvious crude circumstances.
Arthur's announcement continued.
"To blame my company for the unannounced Tournament of Champions is wrong since it was I who created it, without knowledge of others. It was supposed to be Beta Tournament, also to give the Gods some source of entertainment.
"After the tournament was over, I prepared to make all the Players and New-Gen Humans to write a contract that forbids them from saying anything about it.
"However, because of lack of time, I didn't have enough manpower or time to do such a thing. Thus the knowledge about Tournament was leaked to the public.
The public listened closely. They felt a mix of emotions. Anger was a common emotion shared by many. However, those emotions lessened after seeing Arthur's state. They could only imagine how busy he'd been.
Then, Arthur showed a slightly tired smile, "To keep the fire from spreading, I decided to do compromise. The last stage of the tournament will be live-streamed. Also, as I mentioned, this was Beta Tournament. The real one has yet to come…"
Following that, the Broadcast suddenly shut down, and Arthur's face disappeared from every TV screen.
The public looked at the blank screen with shock. However, as soon as the first sounds entered their ears, they reacted positively. Knowing that the last stage would be live streamed caused a wave of happiness.
They knew that only the best players entered the final stage. While some felt dissatisfied knowing that the current stage was unwatchable, it didn't matter as the most important stage would be streamed.
Then, the knowledge about the 'Real' tournament caused beating hearts and sweaty palms. The excitement and nervousness couldn't be contained. Knowing that there would be an even bigger tournament in the future made everyone desperate to grow stronger, and maybe one day, they would be fighting there.
Emilia and the Legacy Company's employees continued staying silent. They couldn't even imagine how their Boss managed to host such an enormous tournament while being on the verge of death.
This made them again remember why Arthur Welhenheim was chosen as Legacy Carrier of Legendary King Arthur.
