"Your armor has a cooldown period of six seconds before it cancels out the magic."


    "Alright, true, you''re sharp as expected from a professional killer."


    Michael drew his sword, ignited it with fire magic, and charged straight at Knight V, clashing with his axe at the same time.


    "Fire Slash"


    Michael attacked using his special fire cutting technique from multiple directions, while Knight V avoided them, blocking Michael''s sword strikes with his axe. He was dodging because Michael had discovered the cooldown period of the armor, meaning that once it canceled the magic, Michael could attack and exploit the opportunity to deal the maximum damage.


    Suddenly, Michael delivered a strike and swiftly backed off, causing an explosive fire attack to erupt from the ground beneath Knight V, forcing him to block with his shield. Immediately afterward, Michael moved at incredible speed without wasting any time, drawing two daggers for fast movement and enhancing them with explosive magic. He began attacking Knight V, who tried to dodge the special dagger strikes, but at the same time, Michael used his fire cutting techniques, making evasion nearly impossible. Knight V fell into the trap, getting hit by the first dagger in his upper arm, causing an explosion. He backed off a little, and then Michael closed in again, stabbing him in the abdomen, causing another explosion.


    Knight V rose from the smoke, his armor cracked, and blood covered his body. He was clearly losing patience and realized he had been too lenient with Michael. Continuing to make mistakes against such an opponent could lead to death.


    Knight V raised his axe.


    "You have explosive techniques, so it''s fine."


    Michael replied, "You better be careful."


    The Knight struck the ground with his axe, causing the entire arena to crack and an enormous earthquake to occur.


    The arena collapsed completely, turning into a heap of shattered rocks. A powerful aura appeared around Knight V, and he suddenly disappeared, reappearing with incredible speed right in front of Michael, who was trying to regain his balance, and received a tremendous punch to his chest. Before Michael could comprehend what happened, he took two more direct punches followed by a heavy kick to the abdomen.


    Michael tried to pull back, but his injuries slowed him down, allowing Knight V to catch up quickly and shatter him with a more powerful blow, knocking him to the ground.


    It seemed that, in addition to his overwhelming physical strength, Knight V was also fast and had an immense amount of magical energy.


    At that moment, Michael threw a smoke explosive, blinding Knight V, then got up, grabbing a dagger in his good arm and rushing towards Knight V’s neck. But the Knight''s reaction was faster, and he managed to avoid the strike.


    He then punched Michael forcefully in the face again, grabbed his head, and lifted it upwards.


    As the smoke cleared, the Knight appeared, crushing Michael''s head.


    Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    "Now, do you have any final words, or will you at least tell me what you know about the butcher Morgan? Then I might spare your life."


    Michael responded with difficulty, "Didn''t I tell you to be careful?"


    A small dagger fell from Michael’s clothing. While suspended in mid-air, Michael kicked the dagger, sending it directly toward Knight V. He was hit by the dagger because his arm was occupied.


    Flames ignited on Knight V from the magical technique stored in the dagger, buying Michael some time to escape from the Knight. However, Knight V’s shield negated the magic, and the damage was minimal.


    Just a second after, Michael signaled with his hand.


    "Ninth floor Hell Fox."


    A massive magical aura appeared in the shape of a fox''s head, emitting fire and flames that directly attacked the Knight. Due to the shield’s cooldown period, Knight V took full damage from the attack, which caused massive destruction in the arena.


    Magical energy surged in the area, and burning stones from the shattered arena were flung around, threatening the audience. Iliana rushed to the stands and deflected a huge rock that almost fell onto the spectators. Seraphina formed a water wall to block the remaining projectiles until the situation calmed down.


    "It almost got out of control," Iliana spoke.


    "Well, at least everyone is safe now. But what happened in the arena?"


    From the heart of the heat, which was engulfed in molten lava, Knight V emerged, his armor severely shattered, with massive burns and blood covering his body.


    Seraphina spoke, "It''s amazing that he''s still alive after an attack like that."


    Iliana responded, "Another person would have already been done for."


    The Knight grabbed his axe with difficulty and began moving toward Michael. Both their magical energies had significantly dropped due to injuries and overuse. It seemed that the final minutes of the battle had truly arrived.


    Michael gripped his sword and charged, and so did Knight V with his axe. They collided again, engaging in another fight with the remaining magical power they had.


    Knight V dropped a heavy attack on Michael, but Michael blocked it with his sword, which could not withstand such a blow, so he let go of it and fluidly slid out of the way, striking the axe into the ground.


    Knight V noticed Michael''s movement, but the attack had already come. Michael pulled out his dagger, focusing all the remaining fire and explosive magic he had into it, aiming for the Knight''s neck. At the last moment, Knight V moved and took the blow to his helmet, which shattered half of it. The strike penetrated his face just below his eye, and then Michael dragged the dagger downward, burning the exposed part of the Knight’s face. Michael stepped back a little.


    However, Knight V grabbed Michael’s arm before he could escape and punched him in the chest with the last of his strength, shattering his ribcage. Michael collapsed to the ground, unable to move.


    Knight V pulled his axe from the ground and swung it to strike the fallen Michael. However, just as the axe was about to fall, a whistle from above ended the match.


    The crowd was confused, wondering what had happened.


    Iliana spoke, "According to the magical field we set around the arena, Knight V’s leg is outside the ring, and according to the rules, he is out of the match. Therefore, the remaining contestant inside the arena wins. So, the winner is Michael. The championship ends with Michael becoming the Sixth Golden Knight. Congratulations!"


    Michael spoke weakly to Knight V, "You had the chance to kill me, why didn’t you?"


    Knight V placed his axe on his back and walked away.


    "The rules are the rules. You won fairly, so it''s over."


    "What about all the chasing and investigation you did?"


    "I’ll pretend I didn’t see you and continue my investigation from other places and clues."


    "So, meet me after the ceremony ends."


    "Hmm?"


    " you wanted informations about the Butcher''s case you''re investigating."


    Knight V heard Michael’s words and then left the arena.


    Meanwhile, in the Wind Kingdom, a whole army of modified beasts was being beaten and trained by instructors in a special facility that Shane had established underground.


    Shane spoke to his advisor, "So, what’s the news from the Golden Kingdom?"


    "We’ve received a few reports that they’ve noticed the escaped beasts there and are investigating them."


    "And what about the king?"


    "There’s been a major blackout. We haven’t been able to get any information."


    "Just as I expected. It seems like we’ll be starting the war in the next few days and our beasts will be at their gates "