Meanwhile Fubuki stood onstage ready to battle but his mind seemed far away. It was sad in a way seeing Valerie and Vincent leaving but he knew it was time.

Things were getting serious and whether he chose to believe it this was the midpoint of the battles.

The midpoint of this whole competition, it was hard to believe they were already there already.

Standing on stage would've been Wakiya for Fubuki's next opponent but instead Suoh stood before him.

"Hey Fubuki, long time no see."

"Suoh, it's been a while hasn't it?"

"Indeed Fubuki but things will be different now."

Suoh got into his launching stance letting the dark power sweep over him. A large purple Phoenix was barely visible as Suoh switched sides.

"Prepare to be destroyed Fubuki."

Fubuki did the same, getting into his own launching stance.

"3...2...1...Let it Rip!"

Forenous sped around the outside while Salamander did the same. They copied each other's trajectory spiraling and fighting over the middle.

"You can't win Fubuki, Phi is too powerful."

"Like I haven't heard that one before."

Salamander hit Forenous sending it flying at the wall.

"Hang in there!"

Hitting the wall it recovered but it started speeding up.

"Forenous now!"

Glowing Fubuki felt great, there was no more dark power instead there was only peace. Fubuki still kept in mind what he learned from the Snake Pit but there was no longer this pain or strain on his body.

"Ultra Emperor Drift!"

Colliding into Salamander it flew into the air bursting.

"Not bad Fubuki even I'll admit you've gotten stronger but it's my turn now."

Moving his hair Suoh got serious and his eye starting glowing purple.

Is that what I looked like before Valt freed me?

"Just because Theodore or Phi liked you better than me doesn't mean you're special!"

Fubuki stepped back in surprise as he got into his launching stance.

Is this Phi or Suoh?

"3...2...1...Let it Rip!"

This time Salamander was rogue going all over the place while Forenous was doing its own thing.

"Poor misguided Fubuki you could've been powerful but instead you choose to be with the enemy."

At the word enemy Suoh's voice echoed, sounding like a demonic version of Phi's.

Everytime Salamander would get close Forenous would barely miss it.

"Get him Salamander!"

This time Salamander managed to land a hit making Forenous lose its balance.

"Hang in there Forenous!"

Just as Fubuki thought he could maybe recover Salamander collided, bursting Forenous.

"I'll crush you and your pathetic bey and then it's Valt's turn."

"How far are you willing to go Suoh? I know you and I know you wouldn't go this far..."

"I can go as far as I want."

Fubuki let out a sigh getting into his launching stance.

"3...2...1...Let it Rip!"

Salamander took the center while Forenous went on attacking.

"Last chance Fubuki, you can rejoin us or you're finished."

"I'm not afraid of you Suoh you can threaten me all you want but I know Valt can beat Phi."

"What about Free then?"

Fubuki didn't know how to respond to that.

"Forenous let's end this now!"

"I don't think so Fubuki, like I said either you join us or... you're finished!"

Colliding with Forenous, an electric power unleashed over the stadium, it was so unstable that neither of them could control it.

Just then everything slowed down and the sound of a burst was heard. But looking down at the stadium the broken pieces of Forenous only remained.

"Don't get in my way again Fubuki."

This time Suoh no longer sounded like himself and instead like a demonic version of Phi.

"Phi leave him alone!"

"I don't think so Fubuki, instead I have a message for you to deliver to Valt."

******

Valt followed Theodore feeling like he was in trouble. Whenever they passed bladers in the hallway everyone ran off but looking up at Theodore he didn't seem to care.

"Now as I was saying... Phi's power is all about Shadows and Darkness. Every blader has their own special power: like Diago's is Fear related or how Fubuki's has to do with Water and Mimicry."

"But what does this have to do with Phi?"

"I was getting to that, but for every power there is an opposite: take Shu Kurenai for instance his power represents fire while Lui Shirosagi is the opposite: ice. But not every blader understands that power and some don't know what their powers are. Not every Snake Pit blader needed that power though..."

"Then who's Phi's opposite?"

"That's the thing about Phi, his power is mainly Shadow and Darkness but it is also partially fire too. Which maybe explains why Fubuki was able to defeat him. But..."

Opening the door Theodore led Valt back to his private seats.

"Phi's power is mainly Darkness and Corruption but I don't know which blader would be light. You see Darkness can blind and warp perspective while the light can reveal the truth. Which is why I think you may be Phi's opposite."

"First off there are a few ways to stop Phi..."

Theodore brought up Phi's specs on the computer along with his picture.

"Umm Theodore I still have one question: Why did Phi let us have Fubuki? I mean he could've easily gotten Toko and Shu but he didn't..."

"The reason Phi let us have Fubuki is because he's more confident than ever he is slowly losing his humanity and becoming more like Phoenix."

There was a long pause between the two.

"But to answer your first question there are a couple of ways to stop him: The first being someone with a power like Phi's."

"If someone else had Phi's power they could potentially cancel each other out but the only other blader that could do that is Fubuki but based on how he lost to Suoh I don't think he'll be in the finals."

"So then what's the other ways?"

"Another way would be distracting Phi, as you've seen firsthand you've been able to save your friends from Phi getting them."

"The best way is to stop Phi is to have a strong will, and unconvinced mind. A determination that Phi can't break..."

"Where's Free in all of this?"

"Free plays a bigger part in this then you even know. His power is absorption, draining the power of others. Free could in theory stop Phi if he wasn't under his control..."

"Is this why he was your first target?"

"That was Phi's idea he could always...sense something different about Free..."

Valt nodded his head.

"But I didn't come to talk to Free we came here to talk about Phi. Now I know you may not necessarily be Phi's opposite but you just need to distract or fight Phi long enough to show him the light."

"What do you mean by, "Show him the light"

"That is something only you can answer Valt, but when the time comes you'll know what to do."

There was long pause until the sound of the door knob turning broke the silence.

Opening the door was Fubuki.

"Fubuki? What are you doing here?"

"It's Phi, he broke another."

Fubuki slowly held out his hand holding the broken pieces of Forenous.

"But that's not all, he also broke Diago's and he tried to break Aigers."

There was pause of silence from Valt.

"But I didn't just come up here to tell you news about the tournament, Phi sent me up here."

"Why?"

"He told me to tell you that he knows what you're up to and he knows you're working with Theodore. He also said that even though you may have a strong power Phoenix will beat you. Because Phi has turned lots of bladers and Darkness will consume all."

"That's not ominous or anything." Valt mumbled.

"He's getting more impatient." Theodore said looking out the window.

"Oh and Raul says he's waiting on us, the next battle is about to begin."Fubuki added.

"Right, I'll be there in sec."

Fubuki closed the door once again leaving Valt alone with Theodore.

"You should probably..."

"You know Theodore..."

Valt started walking over to the door.

"There's another way to stop Theodore besides showing him the light."

"And what is that Valt?"

"I could always break Phoenix..."

"Listen Valt..."

Theodore let out a sigh and got on his knee. He put his hand on Valt's shoulder.

"Sometimes the easy way and the hard way aren't always the same way but when the time comes Valt I think you'll know which way is the right way."

Getting up Valt watched him run down the hallway.

Right as Valt left Theodore's seats thought to himself: Theodore never told me what his power was...