The battlefield was silent for a moment.
Jim's breathing was ragged, his body barely able to stand after launching the Solar-Lunar Finale as he was detransformed.
The explosion still flickered in the sky, yet-
Goblin still stood.
His body was battered, black blood dripping from his mouth.
His left arm was barely attached, his chest was torn open, revealing a monstrous, pulsing core within-
And yet, he grinned.
"Hah... hah... so this is all you had, kid?"
Jim's heart pounded.
This was impossible. The Solar-Lunar Finale should have obliterated him.
Goblin coughed up more blood but steadied himself.
"You are still... imperfect."
He lifted his trembling hand, dark energy surging around him, forming a massive, pulsing sphere of destruction.
"You couldn't even kill me with your greatest attack."
The air became heavy, the ground trembling beneath their feet.
Goblin let out a breathless chuckle.
"That is why I am Goblin the Terrible."
Jim tried to move, but his body wouldn't respond.
His vision blurred from exhaustion.
He felt powerless.
Goblin laughed coldly.
"Let me show you what true despair feels like."
He hurled the enormous black sphere directly at Jim.
It was fast-too fast.
Jim's eyes widened.
I can't move-
I can't dodge-
Is this... the end?
The sphere of destruction rushed toward him, seconds away from impact.
"NOT TODAY!"
A sudden force slammed into Jim's back.
Edward.
With one final push, Edward used the last of his strength to launch Jim miles away-
Directly out of the blast's range.
Jim crashed onto the distant ground, coughing violently.
His mind barely processed what just happened-
Until he looked back.
Edward stood right where he had pushed Jim from.
And the massive sphere of destruction was seconds away from him.
"E-Edward!" Jim screamed, his voice hoarse.
Edward grinned, despite his beaten and exhausted state.
"Atleast...Jim gets...to...live."
The sphere engulfed him.
BOOOOOOOM!
The explosion tore through the battlefield, a black void swallowing everything in its radius.
The sky itself shook.
The earth split apart.
A deafening silence followed.
After a few tense moments...
Jim could only stare.
His body trembled violently.
The smoke cleared-
And Edward was gone.
There was nothing left.
No body.
No remains.
Just... empty, scorched ground.
Jim's breathing was erratic, his hands digging into the dirt.
His vision blurred, tears mixing with blood.
"No... no, no, no..."
Sheila staggered forward, her eyes wide with disbelief.
Jeromy fell to his knees.
The Resistance and Celestic Justice warriors were frozen in horror.
Edward-
The man who had trained Jim.
The man who called him his greatest student.
The man who said he would always protect him.
Was gone.
Jim's entire body shook.
His mind screamed in denial.
"EDWARD!!!!"
His voice echoed across the battlefield.
Goblin watched the scene unfold, his bloodied form towering over the battlefield.
He wiped the blood from his lips, then grinned.
"How fragile."
Jim's hands clenched into fists, his nails digging into his skin.
Goblin stood tall, his crimson eyes gleaming with cold certainty.
He gestured at the battlefield, littered with thousands of lifeless bodies-Resistance fighters, Celestic Justice warriors, fallen comrades who had fought so desperately.
"This... is what emotions bring, Jim," Goblin said, his tone eerily calm.
Jim couldn't breathe.
Everywhere he looked, he saw death.
His comrades. His allies. People who had fought alongside him, believed in him- gone one by one.
Goblin continued, stepping forward.
"I do not mock you. I merely show you the truth."
His remaining claw pointed to Edward's final resting place-an empty, scorched patch of ground.
"Bonds are fragile. Meant to be broken. You could not even protect the man who saw you as his greatest student."
Jim felt something inside him twist-
A deep, unbearable pain.
Goblin's voice remained steady, unwavering.
"The ones you love... they will always fall."
Sheila and Jeromy stood frozen, their expressions pale with horror.
Jeromy clenched his fists, his voice trembling.
"How dare you... How dare you kill Edward!"
Goblin turned to him without a word.
Sheila tried to stay calm, stepping forward cautiously.
Goblin watched her carefully, then spoke again, his words sharp as blades.
"You cannot protect them, Jim. Accept reality. Let go of your weakness. Become independent-free yourself from this pain."
Jim barely heard him.
His mind was drowning in a storm of grief, anger, and despair.
Then, without hesitation-
Goblin raised his hand.
A wave of black energy burst from his fingertips-
And blasted Sheila and Jeromy away.
They crashed into the ruins of the battlefield, coughing up blood.
Jim screamed.
"STOP!!"
Goblin ignored him.
Instead, he turned his focus back to the battlefield.
Resistance soldiers. Celestic Justice warriors. Those who were still standing, barely clinging to life-
Goblin lifted his clawed hand.
Dark energy began raining down like a storm.
"The more I kill, the more I free you from your burdens, Jim."
Bodies fell one after another.
Blasts of black energy tore through soldiers, their final screams echoing across the ruins.
Jim could only watch.
His heart pounded violently in his chest.
Tears blurred his vision.
"STOP!" he begged, his voice shaking.
But Goblin kept going.
Another wave of destruction.
More lives stolen in an instant.
The stench of blood filled the air.
Jim's body trembled uncontrollably.
"STOP IT!!!"
Yet-
The slaughter continued.
And then-
Something inside Jim snapped.
The grief. The sorrow. The pain.
It all collapsed-
And left behind something else.
A rage unlike anything he had ever felt before.
"STOP!!!!"
His voice roared across the battlefield.
A miraculous aura burst from his body, exploding outward in a violent shockwave.
The ground trembled beneath him.
His body shimmered as he transformed-
Then shifted.
A new power surged through him.
Sheila and Jeromy, despite their injuries, looked at Jim-
And saw something they had never seen before.
Jim, standing there, engulfed in an aura so powerful that even space itself seemed to distort around him.
His breathing was heavy, his fists clenched-
And his eyes burned with fury.
Goblin stopped.
For the first time, he watched Jim with slight hesitation.
Jeromy whispered in disbelief.
"What... what is this power?"
Sheila stared at Jim, unable to look away.
A golden light exploded from Jim's body.
His once-grey Celestic Suit shifted and transformed-gleaming with radiant golden armor.
His aura surged violently, shaking the battlefield. The air hummed with power, a force so overwhelming that even Goblin hesitated.
Sheila and Jeromy watched in stunned silence.
Then-
A voice from the Celestic Justice ranks broke the silence.
"I... I remember! Edward spoke of this!"
Sheila whipped her head toward the soldier.
"What are you talking about?"
The Celestic Justice member's voice shook with disbelief.
"Edward once spoke of a legend... a power that could only awaken in someone who truly embodied unity."
Jeromy's eyes narrowed.
"A legend? What legend?!"
The soldier took a deep breath.
"Edward saw a rare potential in Jim."
Everyone listened in shock.
"Jim has always believed in unity-since he was only five years old. Even when the world rejected him, even when he was called cursed, he never stopped believing in a paradise where every race could live together in harmony."
Sheila's eyes widened.
The soldier continued, voice heavy with revelation.
"When Edward created the Grey Warrior Suit, he made it specifically for Jim."
Jeromy's breath caught.
"Then... that means-"
The soldier nodded.
"The suit had a hidden feature, one that Edward never revealed. It was directly connected to Jim's emotions."
"Edward once said that if Jim's belief in unity was ever defied on a massive scale-if he was ever pushed beyond his limits-his unity of Sun and Moon would resonate, trying to unite every element in the universe into one."
He swallowed hard.
"And that would give rise to-"
The ground shook violently as golden energy spiraled around Jim.
Jeromy's eyes widened as he finally understood.
"The Warrior of Unity..."
Goblin stared at Jim.
He didn't understand what he was looking at.
This power. This presence.
It was unlike anything he had ever faced.
Jim slowly raised his head.
His eyes, once filled with grief, now glowed with golden fury.
Goblin took a step forward, his voice deepening.
"What... are you?"
Jim didn't answer immediately.
Instead, he gripped his fists.
The very air around him rippled, filled with power beyond reason.
Then, finally-
Jim spoke.
His voice was steady. Strong. Unshaken.
"I am the Warrior of Unity."
Goblin's expression twisted with rage.
"Ridiculous. There is no such thing as unity! There is only power!"
Jim locked eyes with him.
And for the first time-
Goblin felt something he had never felt before.
Doubt.
Jim-the Warrior of Unity-gripped his Lance of Unity, its golden radiance shining with the combined essence of Sun, Moon, and every Celestic element.
He leveled it at Goblin.
"This is your last chance."
Goblin snarled.
Jim's eyes didn't waver.
"Abandon your goal. Live in harmony."
He spoke not with arrogance, but with genuine conviction.
"I don't want to kill you."
Goblin's jaw clenched.
Then-he roared.
"NEVER!"
A gigantic sphere of black energy erupted from his hands-far larger than anything before-aimed directly at Sheila and Jeromy.
Jeromy cursed. Sheila's eyes widened.
But before the blast could reach them-
BOOM!
Jim countered it with a golden blast of equal force, his energy spiraling with Celestic elements, rooted in Sun and Moon.
The two attacks collided. The battlefield shook violently.
Jim stood firm.
His golden aura flared.
His voice cut through the chaos.
"Don't you dare kill more."
Goblin's eyes burned with fury.
"Then try and stop me!"
Jim gritted his teeth.
"Fine. I will."
Jim turned to Sheila.
"Get everyone out of here. Now."
Sheila stiffened.
"What? We can still-"
Jim's gaze hardened.
"No. This battle is beyond anything they can handle. If they stay, they'll only end up as casualties."
Sheila hesitated.
But Jim's eyes held a quiet authority.
"Trust me."
Sheila exhaled sharply-then nodded.
"ALL FORCES, RETREAT!" she commanded.
The Resistance and Celestic Justice forces immediately began boarding their spaceships. Injured warriors were rushed onto medical wards inside the spaceships.
Jeromy retreated too.
"Jim... be careful."
Jim smiled faintly.
"I will."