The sky over Soluna darkened long before Hellfire appeared.
Thick, suffocating smoke poured into the air as the temperature rose - streets cracking from the heat, rivers evaporating into steam.
Flames erupted across the outskirts of the capital, scorching the ground as Hellfire descended like a meteor - a living blaze.
His molten skin bubbled and hissed, and with every step, the earth beneath him blackened and melted.
"SOLUNA!" he roared, his voice echoing like a volcano's eruption. "I am HELLFIRE - your nightmare made flesh!"
Civilians screamed and fled - the once-praising crowd that had cheered for Rei days ago now scattered in fear.
Henry and Marie rallied the Solunar soldiers, trying to control the spreading inferno, but the flames refused to obey.
That's when...
Rei stepped out from the smoke, her Lunar hatchets glowing with a soft, bluish aura - a sharp contrast to the raging flames.
Her black hair clung to her sweat-drenched face, and her crimson eyes locked onto Hellfire.
She transformed into the Lunar Warrior immediately as she charged at Hellfire throwing her Hatchets aiming to use Lunar Boomerang.
"I won't let you destroy my home," Rei said, her voice cold and steady.
Hellfire's molten mouth twisted into a cruel smile.
"Good." His fists blazed even brighter. "Then let's end this instantly cuz I am in a hurry."
With that, her hatchets were blown away by the heat in his body before it even reached him.
His body then started transforming into a darker form until finally it exploded destroying every building nearby and sending the Black Lunar Warrior flying as a result of the impact, her hatchets following her.
And then — his form began to change.
The flames around him morphed into a terrifying new shape — his molten skin peeling away to reveal a more sinister figure beneath.
His true form —
A devil cursed by flames.
His horns grew longer, glowing like molten steel.
His eyes burned like twin suns.
His wings of fire unfolded, casting an ominous red glow across the battlefield.
_ _ _
As Hellfire's form stared into the city, the only thing he saw was flames, no presence of Rei or any citizens.
Hellfire now looked bored and went on crushing the city like a meteor, his darker molten body radiating waves of unbearable heat.
Buildings closest to the impact melted at the base, collapsing instantly. Streets cracked. Glass shattered.
He melted his way past the city leaving trails of cursed flames around.
"SOLUNA!" Hellfire's roar echoed as he walked like a volcanic eruption. "I was born in fire,I am not a man of flames — I AM FLAMES. Entertain me, isn't there anyone who wants to be part of my flames?"
Panic amplified through all the Solar and Lunar citizens as he was slowly inching closer to another neighboring city which still had a lot of innocent and peaceful population.
They started running in all directions.
While the Solunar soldiers led by Henry and Marie were somehow able to stealth there way through Hellfire's destruction and were tailing him.
They rushed to protect the civilians. Henry and Marie tried there best, coordinating firebreaks and shielding what little they could from the spreading inferno. It was there job- surviving and shielding as many lives as possible.
But the flames would not yield. They danced and spread like they had a will of their own — Hellfire's will.
As a massive fireball exploded through the central district, a young Solar man cradled his wife — a Lunar woman — who had been caught in the blast. Her body was motionless, eyes open but unseeing.
"No... Lily... No..." he sobbed, pressing her to his chest. "We promised to raise them all... together."
Hellfire's flaming eyes caught the scene. He stepped toward them casually.
"Such sentimentality... annoys me."
A single, casual flick of his molten finger.
The man screamed as fire consumed him alive.
The screams of four children — a solar boy, lunar girl, solar girl, lunar boy— four siblings pierced the chaos as they ran to their parents' burning remains.
"Mommy! Daddy!"
They barely had time to cry before Hellfire turned to them.
"Peace lies in silence."
A wave of molten flame surged from his body, incinerating them before they could take another step.
Screams echoed across the city as flames engultfed buildings, homes, temples — everything. Thousands died within moments.
Entire streets crumbled under the weight of lava and heat. The world looked like it was ending.
From the ashes and smoke, Rei finally emerged, a bit weakened from the recoil she had taken head on.
Her black hair clung to her scorched cheeks, her eyes glowing with determination. Her Lunar hatchets shimmered with pale blue light, casting cool glows through the smoke as she retransformed.
She then immediately stepped between the next group of terrified citizens and the monster of fire rage burning deep inside her for what she witnessed.
"Enough. This ends now."
Hellfire smiled with amusement. "You're just in time for the grand finale. Atleast you will keep me entertained."
With that the battle started.
_ _ _
Their clash was brutal.
Every strike from Rei was matched with fire and force.
Her Lunar Mirage illusions couldn't keep up with the chaos. The battlefield — once a proud capital — now resembled the underworld.
Civilians tried to escape, but falling buildings and waves of heat swallowed many.
Some begged for help. Some whispered prayers to Rei as she fought. Others clung to each other, preparing for death.
One Solar elder stood in the middle of a burning courtyard, raising his hands to the sky.
"Solunar Lords, please...please— protect outr new savior! Protect the black warrior!"
His prayer was taken up by others — a growing chorus amidst despair.
"Lunar Warrior! Lunar Warrior! Protect us!"
The prayers filled the air like a hymn.
Rei was Overwhelmed
Hellfire, in his full demonic form, was unstoppable.
His Chains gripped Rei, dragging her across molten debris, her skin blistering. She screamed, the sound drowned by the flames.
He slammed her into a crater. Blood trickled from her mouth even though she was in her transformed state.
Her Lunar Shield cracked before she even used it.
Her vision blurred.
She coughed and choked, crawling forward.
"I'm not... done yet..."
From above, Mighty Fighter stood silently on a crumbling rooftop.
He watched her struggle. He watched her crawl. But something about her — the refusal to quit — the stubborn will — made his eyes narrow.
"She seems to be struggling. Hmm, but unfortunately if she can't handle him, this is definitely not the Lunar Warrior who once achieved a draw in the clash against the Solar Warrior." he murmured.
He didn't interfere though his hands were somehow uncontrollably shaking.
He didn't smile.
He simply observed.
Rei's eyes then met a child — trembling behind wreckage, watching her with wide eyes.
That child was the next generation of Soluna so he... needed hope.
Rei gritted her teeth, pushing herself upright.
"I won't let him take any more."
With her body broken and her spirit hanging by threads — Rei raised her hatchets once more.
The Lunar aura surrounded her.
Not blinding — but steady.
Like a moon still shining through storm clouds.
Hellfire launched his Infernal Blazing Storm.
Rei countered with LUNAR PHANTOM STRIKES, each step guided by her people's hopes.
She struck — again and again — slicing through fire, through darkness, through pain her resolve flaring as her aura grew darker.
The people Solar and Lunar both immediately started shouting in between as encouragement. "Lunar Warrior, you can do it!"
"Avenge the sacrificed."
"We believe in you."
Hellfire grinned as she was not stopping her a. "How long can you keep up?"
But Black Lunar Warrior didn't stop.
She kept on charging.
The people didn't give up on there cheers and continued without catching breath.
This encouragement somehow was something foreign to her.
She was used to getting insulted but this...it was total opposite.
She was getting a new type of energy like there cheers acting as the light to support the Moon like Sun.
It was the only thing she lacked all her life which amplified her attacks and energy making her stronger and unstoppable than ever.
Hellfire was still gradually shaking her attacks with his heated blasts.
But as time was passing, he noticed she wasn't really slowing. Rather her attacks were only getting stronger and stronger.
Hellfire was shocked." HOW... HOW COULD A LITTLE PEST LIKE YOU NOT BURN LIKE THE OTHERS."
But Rei didn't respond and kept going.
The people's cheer grew even louder. "Lunar Warrior! You are our last hope."
"You can do it!"
"We are ready to sacrifice ourselves believing in you."
Her attacks now were reaching a far different level as she got the highest level of encouragement being loyalty.
That itself made her aura overwhelming.
It scared Hellfire as he slowly was able to recognise the gap.
He hesitated and that was the opening she needed.
She landed 5 more phantom strikes causing serious bruises on the beast's lava body.
"AAAAHHH!" Hellfire the Devil screamed in pain as his body was constantly getting scared by incremented strikes.
After a few more unbearable strikes,
the crowds cheers became overwhelmingly loud as if to end his suffering faster.
The Black Aura now took a gigantic shape as her final attack shattered Hellfire's molten core.
The flaming devil let out a roar that shook the heavens — and then crumbled into glowing embers.
Her gaze remained fixed towards Hellfire's dissipating embers like a demon.
Until after he was purely extinguished, she turned towards the crowd and detransformed as she limped trying to support herself via her hatchets.
She was purely exhausted and was burning barely able to stand after the toll of the strikes.
Silence fell.
The smoke drifted fully.
And then — cheers.
Tears and cheers.
Rei finally collapsed not able to take it anymore— her body broken.
Henry and Marie appeared immediately with advanced medical gear in hand. They started treating her as people surrounded them worry clear in there faces.
The people cheered. "The Lunar Warrior did it!"
"I can't believe she took down that devil"
"She is truly our savior, our God!"
Rei was hearing everything as she was getting healed.
Henry and Marie noticed a slight smile from her face.
Henry muttered. "It seems you got the real taste of being seen as a Saviour."
Marie giggled. "Though it would have taken you a month to heal, thanks to the medical equipments, you could be healed within a day."
Henry added. "And it's also thanks to your Lunar powers."
Rei barely raised her lips as she calmly replied. "It was a great practice to have a spar with that Devil. Now I have pretty much adapted myself to there power levels. I won't be struggling against the other Commanders. I will definitely win with some practice."
Henry's was shocked. "I made a wrong prediction. She is not Tim. She is totally opposite and um...her practice? She would guarantee train for a day without taking rest and still call it some practice."
Marie just patted him. "But if it's her way of doing things, we cannot stop her."
The crowd announced that they will also stay by her side all throughout her treatment giving her extra motivation deep inside.
The horror had ended it came in the cost of mass sacrifice.
From the rooftop...
Mighty Fighter nodded once.
"Woah! That was unexpected? I got it all wrong. I shouldn't have doubted you, Rei."
And disappeared into shadow.