*The battle in the Snake Pit continues as the Possessed Athena stared at Lane with a evil smile. Lane grins wickedly as his flare glowed to life with a low roar*

Demon Lane: So you resisted being absorbed.. how interesting! Now i'll go full power in this next battle and i'll destroy Adeona for good!

Possessed Athena: It would be wise to not get too overconfident, the only one getting destroyed here is you.

Computer: First Battle!!

*Both of their marks glow as they take their positions and the battle began*

Computer: Ready Set!!

3 2 1 GO SHOOT!!!

*Both beys land in the center and Lucifer takes the center immediately as Adeona rushes in for the attack at full speed*

Possessed Athena: Tear them apart!!

*Adeona strikes and unleashes a brutal assault on Lucifers barrier but none of them were able to break through. Lane smiles as he outstretched his hand and started to drain away Athenas Nexus Mark for himself and this time, there was no resisting it*

Possessed Athena: W-What is this..?

*Lane yanks his arm back as he pulls even more power out of her, Athena screams out in pain as the horn on her head was starting to shrink and the markings were starting to sparkle and fade. Adeona continued its attack on Lucifer was the former was starting to lose spin*

Demon Lane: Now break!!

*Lucifers barrier sends Adeona flying out of the stadium as Lane pulls the rest of the marks energy out of her and Athena screamed in a pained cry. Lane smiled with great satisfaction as the energy of her mark fused into his. Athena fell to one knee as she felt incredibly physically weak*

Computer: Emperor Lucifer with a Over Finish! Lane Valhalla earns 1 point!

Demon Lane: Is that all you've got? You're nothing now without that mark.

*Athena regained herself and got to her feet as she was completely back to normal*

Athena: That would be for the best, i don't need that mark to fight! I'll defeat you here with my own strength!

Lane: Your own strength you say? Don't even get started on that again, you know how hard i laughed when you mentioned your little bond you apparently have.

Athena: In that case, what kind of bond do you share with your bey.. if you even have a bond.

Lane: I don't need a bond, they're nothing more than a waste of time.

*Athena frowns and retakes her position once more as the last of her darkness faded away and the light within her was restored.*

Athena: You've had your chance so now i'm going to defeat you!

*Athena began to shine with a white flare as her eyes burned with a white surge of fire. Lane smiled in delight as he took his position too. Lanes devils mark activates as the markings began to cover his face but this time something was way different: Lanes skin began to turn pale gray and a black cross like marking covered the bridge of his nose, the back of his clothes ripped and teared as 2 wings began to sprout from his back and spread out completely and Lanes eyes were filled with darkness*

Demon Lane Lvl.2: How do you like us now?

Athena: I've never been more excited to battle you but i've also never been more disappointed in you in my life.

Computer: Second Battle!!

Athena: I'm gonna go with Left Spin attack mode! Attack is the way to go when it comes to breaking that barrier so that is what i'll be going with! once i break that barrier, i can't under any circumstance let it recover and put up its defenses again..

Computer: Ready Set!!

3 2 1 GO SHOOT!!!

*Both beys land in the stadium and Lucifer takes the center once again as its barrier expanded outward. Adeona rushes in as it tilts on its metal attachment and accelerates*

Athena: I'll break that barrier! Get in there Adeona!!!

*Adeona rushes in with all its might and attacks relentlessly as it hammers away at the barrier, its attacks graceful and fluid but also very strong as each one dented the barrier with each and every strike*

Demon Lane Lvl.2: That's useless! Shatter them with Emperor Wall!!

*Lucifers wall knocks Adeona back and it goes flying into the wall and its golden wings began to coil back and there was a loud snap. Adeona launched off the wall and rushed straight towards Lucifer with full speed and slams into it as it began to push the barrier back and then, Adeona clips one of the spikes on Lucifers ring and sent it flying due to the insane recoil caused by Adeonas new transformation!*

Athena: Yes!!

Demon Lane Lvl.2: What?!

*Lucifer hits the ground with a clang, resulting in Athenas first point!*

Computer: Guardian Adeona with an Over Finish! Athena Valhalla earns 1 point!

*Athena smiles brightly as Lane was starting to get very angry, his flare growing even more as the markings on his body began to glow a bright red*

Demon Lane Lvl.2: W-Why you little..

Athena: Hehe! Looks like your barrier isn't so strong after all!!

*Lane puts his bey back on the launcher and he takes his position once again as he deactivated his mark*

Lane: I've had enough of your games, prepare to fall to your death! I don't even need to go full power to break you!!

*Athena takes her launch position too as a fearless look entered her eyes and Lane stared at her with a bit of surprise*

Computer: Third Battle!!

Athena: This time i'll go with Right Spin! i can counter whatever Lucifer throws at me like this..

Computer: Ready Set!!

3 2 1 GO SHOOT!!!

*Both beys land in the stadium and Lucifer took the center immediately once again as its barrier crackled and hissed. Adeona rushes in and unleashes a major bound attack which sent Lucifer flying away*

Lane: So that's its new ability... Since it awakened a third time, it's bound attack is much stronger and it even managed to break through my defenses.. i'll give her some credit for that but it still won't be enough!

*Lucifer slams into the wall as its barrier began to grind against it and was getting smaller and smaller. Lucifer was awakening as well!!*

Athena: W-What the hell!?!

*Lucifers barrier disappeared as purple particles from the rubber lingered in the air! Lucifer recovered from Adeonas attack and began to speed up*

Athena: Let's go Adeona! Show them what we've got!!

*Adeona and Lucifer come in for the attack and both beys clash head on as a fierce explosion erupts from the stadium as both bladers yell out with all their might. Adeonas bound wing began to coil back as it began to unleash a new move*

Athena: Release your Bound Crush!

*Adeonas bound wing sends Lucifer flying but it simply recovered as it came back around for it's attack too*

Lane: Die. Tear them apart!!

*Lucifer entered its flare as did Adeona as both of them came in for the final attack*

Athena: Once more! Bound Crush!!

*Lanes eyes narrowed as this was his chance*

Lane: True Emperor Disaster!!

*Lucifers blades glowed as it clashed into Adeona in slow motion and burst it almost instantly! Athena watched in shock as the pieces of her bey fell to her feet and almost fell of the platform. her friends watch in shock as Athena stood there frozen and shocked*

Athena: I-Impossible..

Lane: The weak have no place here, only the strong survive! You had a good run but it is time for you to leave.

*Athena gasped in shocking realization as she knew what that meant*

Athena: LANE!! DON'T YOU DARE!!!

*The trapdoor beneath her and her friends opened and all of them except Lane fell through it and they went falling into the dark chasm below as they were later ejected from the Snake Pit. When they wake up, they woke up in the forest and everyone was there including Rantaro who had been ejected long before they had*

Rantaro: About time you guys got here!

Valt: Well, Athena fought Lane and we all won our matches against the copycats. Athena unfortunately lost against Lane but at least she got what she came here for.

*Athena looked down at her left hand and the Nexus Mark was no longer there, there was no trace of it at all*

Athena: It's gone..

Aiga: You gonna miss it?

Athena: Maybe, i mean it gave me a boost of power but i understand now that's not how i should go about getting stronger. i want to fight using my own strength and i want to fuel my Flare so i can take on his. i guess i should also apologize to Wakiya and the Asahi brothers.

*Shu smiled as the team began to start walking but Athena trailed behind as she looked down sadly*

Athena: Another thing, i'm sorry.. for everything i did. I didn't want to break Wyvern or Helios or Hyperion, i swear on the world i didn't...!!

*Athena fell to her knees as she began to break down into tears, Shu comes over kneels down to her*

Shu: I understand very well how you feel. When i went by the name of Red Eye, i destroyed other bladers simply for power. If it weren't for my best friend in the world, i probably wouldn't have the honor of training somebody like you.

*Athena looks up at Shu who had taken her hand*

Shu: Sometimes my days of being Red Eye still haunt me too but in the end, we must learn to move one. I'm sure Wakiya and the Asahi brothers will willingly accept your apology.

*Athena breathes heavily and throws herself into Shus arms and hugged him tightly*

Shu: You'll never be alone ever. You have all of our support until the end.

*Athena and her friends head back to the plane and they head to their next destination: Home*

---About 10+ Hours later---

*The plane landed and everyone got off the plane and they headed to the Sparking Arena as there was a pretty nice surprise waiting for them. They got to the harbor next to the Arena and there was a massive cruise ship waiting for them*

Athena: W-Wow.. is this-?

Wakiya: Yep. This is the cruise ship we'll be holding the Sparking Legend Tour on.

*Athena, Valt, Aiga and Rantaros eyes all sparkled in excitement at the ship, Shu and Wakiya simply just looked at them and sweatdropped. Wakiya simply sighed*

Wakiya: Ok fine, you can explore the ship but don't get lost alright!? They're still doing maintenance on b-!

*Athena bolted off and she raced up the ramp to get on the ship*

Athena: Yeah yeah yeah! We'll be fine!!

Wakiya: H-hey!!

Valt: She'll be fine, if anyone can maneuver a ship this big it's Athena.

*Wakiya sighed and they all followed her on board. Meanwhile, Athena walked throughout the halls of the ship and she hears noise coming from one of the rooms. She takes a quick peek and she sees Phi training*

Athena: Phi?!

*Phi looks up and smiles when he sees Athena*

Phi: Oh it's you again. What do you want?

Athena: You're training for the Sparking Legend Tour too huh? Can i join you?!

*Phi simply smiles as held up his Phoenix*

Phi: Alright then, i'm down for a battle or two.

*Both bladers smiled and took position as their showdown was about to begin*

3 2 1 GO SHOOT!!!

*Both beys land in the stadium and Phoenix went for the center immediately*

Athena: Get in there and knock it out of there!!

*Adeona rushes in and starts dealing a relentless barrage of attacks on Phoenix as each one was knocking it around*

Phi: Hold on tight!

Athena: This will end it!!

*Adeona knocks Phoenix away using its bound wing and Phoenix reclaimed the center almost immediately. Adeona comes back in and knocks Phoenixs armor off and it went flying into the air*

Athena: Yes!

Phi: You have no idea how perfect that is.

*The armor began to fall back down as i glowed with a fiery aura*

Phi: It's time! Eternal Armor Press!!

*Phoenix and the Armor slam into Adeona at the same time and a ball of fire explodes from the arena as both bladers shield their faces*

Athena: Hang in there Adeona, you've got this!!

*Adeona manages to escape and speed up and race around the stadium at top speed*

Phi: It withstood the attack..?!

*Phi simply smiled as Athenas Flare began to glow*

Phi: It's time! Go Phoenix!!

Phi: Phoenix Break!!

Athena: I knew you were gonna do that! Adeona!!

Athena: Bound Crush!!

*Both beys race around the center and they ultimately clash and they instantly go flying and Phoenix burst and Adeona hit the ground shortly after. Phi watches in shock but he simply smiles in the end with an impressed expression*

Athena: I-I won.. I actually won!

*Phi nods and he picks up his bey*

Phi: That was impressive, i can't wait to see how well you do in the future.

*Phi walks out of the training room and Athena smiles as she advanced on to find other legends. She smiled as she knew that this tournament was going to be the best*

[TBC]

Next Chapter: Explosive Clash! Cruise Ship Showdown!!

With the Sparking Legend Tour only a few weeks away, the wbba holds exhibition battles on the Cruise Ship to get used to the new environment.