Flashback

"Sir, the power. It's taking a toll on his body and mind, I'm afraid if he keeps going in this corrupted state then he may even start controlling the basement bladers and what worse is that he could be past gone further than all of them."

"I know, which is why I need to tighten my grip on him."

Brown Eye lashed out in Theodore's grip his resonance glowed black and his eyes glowed blue but just his iris's but his whole eyes.

Brown Eye desperately tried to escape Theodore's clutches as he screamed, kicked and cried. Valtryek wailed behind him as Brown Eye did the same, making inhumane sounds.

Theodore said nothing through all of this and only dragged him towards his operating table.

When they got to the table Brown Eyes resonance worsened creating cracks and electricity all over the place.

Strapping him down on the table, his screams and cries worsened taking a vile Theodore injected it into Brown Eye and his resonance dissipated and he relaxed into a heavily sedated sleep.

Theodore unbuckled the straps and lowered him into the pod putting a breathing mask over his face.

He dangled lifelessly as tubes injected into his arms and legs and the glowing green water dimmed.

Theodore sighed, covering his hand with his face.

At one point Brown Eye had been fully under his control and had been able to handle the dark power. Putting on a quiet and reserved mask with the occasional outlash at others he was perfect.

But lately the outlashes of power and anger had gotten worse making Theodore consider abandoning Brown Eye in the basement letting him succumb full time to the power.

But then because of his power he would be able to lead and mold the basement bladers on a whole other level that Theodore wouldn't be able to understand.

Leaving Theodore powerless in that area of power and thus giving those basement bladers a chance to escape along with Brown Eye.

He couldn't give up on him but at the same time he couldn't just let Brown Eye free in the condition he was in.

Which was why he was forced to tighten his grip on Brown Eye otherwise Theodore would be forced to give up on him.

But he preferred the quiet angry Brown Eye over the dangerous Brown Eye.

This one needed to be heavily sedated and to be kept away from the others.

Theodore looked down at Amaterios, sending him face to face with the majestic god.

Except the background was toned down more and Amaterios himself seemed different.

For Theodore he never really liked having a boss, he always thought it was useful being on his own schedule and being his own boss.

Amaterios however always seemed to steer him in the right direction and now standing or rather floating in front of his old friend something felt off.

"Amaterios, my blader Brown Eye is acting out again and his condition is worsening. What should I do?"

Amaterios was silent for a few minutes until he finally answered: "Keep him sedated Theodore, he'll come in handy later when we'll face our enemies."

"Yes Amaterios."

Theodore bowed his head and Amaterios did the same as Theodore returned back to the real world.

Turning back to the glowing green pod Theodore shut off the lights and walked off into the Snake Pit missing someone slip past him and into the requiem room.

******

Present day

Meanwhile, in the basement of the dungeons Shu Kuernai sat locked up and alone in the basement. Streaks of sunlight barely managed to escape into the room letting him see the other empty cells.

Rumbles of the air vents echoed throughout the facility and the chains lay discarded with some even still hanging from when bladers were recently in there. For three days now, he had expected Brown Eye and Theodore to come down and corrupt him but the dungeons had been dead silent with no activity or even a single blader.

A part of Shu almost wondered if they had forgotten about him, if he was no longer a player in this game but Shu also knew if Theodore hadn't let him go by now then he still wanted something from him.

So then why hadn't Theodore made his move? What was he waiting for? Or what was stopping him? He could've easily sent Brown Eye down there, corrupted him and been done with it but Shu couldn't help but feel like something was off.

There was a shift in the atmosphere and in the power, almost as if it had gotten colder and darker in the Snake Pit somehow. But whatever it was Shu didn't care, what he cared more about was escaping and getting through to Valt again.

So for the past three days that is what Shu had done, training, workouts and most importantly trying to figure out a way to get out. He knew he should've been turned by now, especially with how much dark energy was coursing through the Snake Pit but he was going to use every second he had.

Holding up Spryzen he launched again with the bars bending a little but absorbing his resonance. With the old version of Valtryek in his pocket, it only gave him strength to keep moving forward. He wasn't going to let Valt give into the same path he did.

Readying his launcher, he was about to let go of Spryzen when the air vent rumbled but louder this time echoing loud screaming.

Sasha and Count Nightfell fell onto the floor outside of Shu's cell, immediately he got up and ran over to the bars.

"Are you guys okay?"

Recovering from the fall, Nightfell and Sasha slowly got up.

"Yeah, wait Shu! You're still here? We figured Theodore and Valt would've gotten to you by now." Sasha said, feeling the bars of the cell looking happily at him.

She pulled on them with all her might but lost her balance and fell.

"But, how did you even escape?"

"We got lucky." Sasha said, looking away distantly pausing on readying her bey.

"But we lost everyone else, we were looking for a way out so we could tell Kris what's happening and we must've taken a wrong turn and somehow ended up here." She continued holding out her launcher to the bars.

She and Nightfell launched with everything they had bending the bars but eventually their beys gave up and fell to the floor.

"Why didn't you guys come and get me?" Shu asked, launching from his side of the cell.

"Because we thought you were corrupted but that's not all, we know why they haven't come down here." Nightfell said butting in.

Launching again Shu watched the bars bend more.

"There's something wrong with Theodore, he's been distant up there. Barely shows his face anymore and is sounding more and more like Phi."

"And Valt?"

"He's growing more cold and distant, barely speaking to anyone anymore, Theodore mentioned something, his transformation being permanent if he can corrupt you."

Shu was silent for a few minutes processing the situation, he wondered if he had gone as far as Valt had if Theodore had made him corrupt Valt when he was Red Eye.

Looking at the bars he picked up Spryzen off the ground.

"All of this launching isn't going to work, these bars will only suck up our power. We need a better way of doing this..."

But before Shu could coutine, Sasha and Nightfell summoned every little bit of power they had left and together, they launched at the door.

A white light blinded them all and when the dust cleared the door was wide open.

Shu cautiously stepped out and looked up at the mechanics of the cell.

"I knew we could do it. Now let's go before Theodore finds out we're here." Sasha said following Nightfell.

"Wait, I don't think we did." Shu said, turning to them looking worried.

"What do you mean?" Sasha asked.

"When I was Red Eye, I helped design these cells, they operate on air pressure and magnetism, not electricity and resonance. In order for the cell to be opened you'd either have to do it manually or you'd have to drop the air pressure enough to open the lock. But the only kind of blader that can do that is someone with heavy amounts dark power...." Shu said with his eyes widening.

"But who besides Theodore?"

"Someone like me."

Stepping out from the shadows, Brown Eye revealed himself under the weak light and cold atmosphere. The same purple resonance could be seen around him wild and uncontrollable. His eyes glowed purple and he smiled darkly.

The atmosphere grew cold sending chills up Shu's spine as Brown Eye's laughter haunted the dungeons.