Henry called out:
"Everyone, don't give in to fear! We've come too far for that!"
Marie followed:
"This is our home! We will fight for it, no matter what!"
The survivors looked at each other
and tightened their grips on each other.
They weren't just Solar or Lunar anymore.
They were one people-Solunars.
They would not let their world fall!
_ _ _
Dark Void finally reached Solarae with the group failing to make a dent, not even Tim and Rei could stop him.
He thrust his hand forward, aiming to absorb him.
But-
Solarae raised his palm.
And in an instant, the entire battlefield froze.
The air trembled.
Dark Void's hand stopped inches from Solarae's chest.
"W-What...?"
Solarae's aura expanded, wrapping around Dark Void like unbreakable chains.
His voice was calm, yet absolute.
"You are mistaken, Dark Void. You cannot absorb a god. You cannot become a god."
Dark Void screamed, trying to break free.
But Solarae's divine presence intensified.
"This battle ends now."
With a single gesture, Solarae prepared to deliver judgment.
The world held its breath.
Solarae launched his divine sphere on Dark Void seeming to annhilate him.
Dark Void laughed maniacally, his body trembling from the force of Solarae's divine blast.
Despite taking the full brunt of it, he stood tall, his crimson eyes burning with obsession.
"YES... THIS IS THE POWER OF A GOD! A POWER WORTHY OF ME!"
He stretched his arms wide, his energy twisting and convulsing, as if defying reality itself.
A massive, swirling sphere of dark energy-vast as a planet-formed above him.
"IF I CAN'T ABSORB YOU NORMALLY..."
The sphere began to warp space, pulling everything towards it.
"THEN I'LL DEVOUR YOU WITHIN MY VOID!"
The battlefield erupted into chaos.
Rocks, debris, even the clouds above-all were sucked into the abyssal sphere.
Solarae's divine glow wavered, his form slowly being drawn toward it.
Tim and Rei, struggling to stand, immediately charged forward.
"WE CAN'T LET THIS HAPPEN!" Tim roared, pushing against the force.
Rei followed, launching a Lunar Wave, hoping to break Dark Void's concentration.
But Dark Void, without even turning, swatted them away with an invisible force.
Tim and Rei crashed into the ruined ground, coughing up blood, detransformed.
Jim, still weak, watched in horror as Solarae's body was slowly being pulled into the dark abyss.
"NO... WE CAN'T LOSE HIM!"
Everyone rushed forward.
The Resistance and Celestic Justice warriors fired everything they had.
Sheila slashed at the gravitational pull with her twin sabers.
Jeromy threw energy slashes using his Plasma Whip, trying to destabilize the sphere.
Henry and Marie pushed their Solar-Lunar barrier to the limits, preventing the survivors from getting caught in the pull.
Even Gravik, normally one to complain, gritted his teeth and hurled powerful slashes at the void using his Greatsword.
BUT NOTHING WORKED.
Dark Void's pull was too strong.
Solarae's divine energy was being consumed.
The sky turned black, the light of Soluna fading.
Dark Void grinned.
"NOW, GOD SOLARAE, YOUR POWER IS MINE!"
Solarae's radiance flickered-
And then... he was gone.
Silence.
The battlefield stood still.
Dark Void... had absorbed Solarae.
True fear now spread through the hearts of every warrior, every survivor.
The air felt... empty.
Tim clenched his fists, his body trembling in rage.
Rei fell to her knees, her eyes wide in disbelief.
Jim, exhausted beyond limits, could barely process what had just happened.
Sheila's eyes burned with fury and grief.
"No... how could this happen...?"
Darren and Maria hugged her tightly as if letting go of her would separate them forever.
Aron stood near them and Sheila, trying to comfort the children even in that situation.
The once-unified army, so filled with hope, now stood frozen in despair.
A new terrifying energy surged through Dark Void.
His body shifted, evolving.
Black cracks spread across his skin, glowing with Solarae's stolen divine light.
His voice echoed with cosmic power.
"I... AM... GOD."
He opened his newly transformed eyes-
And all of existence trembled.
As Dark Void's new godly form pulsed with Solarae's stolen power, he laughed, his voice shaking the heavens.
"THIS UNIVERSE IS MINE!"
But then, his expression twisted in pain.
A green radiance fought back from within him.
From deep inside, Solarae's voice echoed through the battlefield, his divine will refusing to be consumed.
"You will not control me, Dark Void!"
Dark Void clenched his head, his energy surging violently as he struggled to suppress Solarae's defiance.
"STAY DOWN!"
The sky darkened, and the planet itself trembled under the intensity of their internal battle.
At that moment, Tim and Rei's minds filled with Solarae's presence.
His voice, though strained, carried unwavering authority.
"There is a way to defeat him."
Tim and Rei stood frozen, their battle-worn bodies pulsing with anticipation.
"Dark Void has two weaknesses...
The first is his greatest fear-Unity of people."
Tim's eyes widened.
"He sees unity as a weakness, but deep inside... he fears it."
Rei's breath hitched.
"Unity...?"
Solarae's voice deepened.
"If all your emotions connect and you stand as one, you will generate power beyond his reach."
A vision flashed before them-two divine warriors, one of the Sun, the other of the Moon, fusing into a single, radiant being.
Solarae's voice carried a sacred truth:
"That power... will give rise to the Solunar Warrior."
Rei's hands trembled.
"Tim... if this is true... then we..."
Tim's grip on his Solar Saber tightened.
"Then we have to do it. Now!"
Dark Void, still locked in battle with Solarae's resistance, noticed their rising energy.
"NO... IMPOSSIBLE!" he roared, but he was too preoccupied to stop them.
Tim and Rei turned to each other.
Their hands reached out-grasping each other's hand with unshakable trust.
Their minds connected.
Their hearts synchronized.
Solar and Lunar energy intertwined-Light and Dark, Yin and Yang.
A blinding explosion of white and black erupted around them, sending shockwaves across the battlefield.
Dark Void stepped back, his godly form shuddering.
"NO... THIS CAN'T BE!"
Tim and Rei stood in the heart of the blinding energy, their bodies glowing. The transformation had begun... but something was wrong.
The fusion wasn't complete.
Rei panted, struggling to maintain the energy flow.
"Tim... Something's missing!"
Tim gritted his teeth.
The vision had been clear-the Solunar Warrior could only be born when the Solar and Lunar people truly stood together.
He looked past Dark Void, toward the Solunar survivors...
Where some Solar and Lunar people fought separately.
"You Lunars should have perished on that war. Why do you have to cling to us?"
"You, Solars should be grateful you all are alive thanks to our mercy."
Even in the face of absolute destruction, even as their entire race was on the brink of extinction, many of them still hesitated to fight as one.
Tim's eyes darkened.
"It's not just about us. It's about all of them!"
Rei followed his gaze, her heart aching.
"They're still divided..."
Solarae's voice echoed in their souls.
"You must awaken their unity... or the Solunar Warrior will never be born."
The battlefield was split-not just between the warriors and Dark Void, but between old grudges and a chance at survival.
Among the survivors, a deep divide remained.
Some of the Solar people refused to trust the Lunar people, and vice versa.
They clung to their ancestors' hatred, believing that Solarae's curse had been an eternal punishment meant to keep them apart.
The only ones who truly stood united were:
Solar-Lunar and Lunar-Solar married couples
Solar-Lunar twin siblings
Some individuals who believed in unity over the past
Despite the Resistance and Celestic Justice standing together, this internal division among the Soluna people was their greatest weakness.
Tim and Rei, glowing with unrealized potential, turned to the divided crowd.
Tim stepped forward, his voice powerful.
"Listen! If we don't unite, we all die! That's what Dark Void wants!"
Rei's eyes burned with urgency as she added, "Can't you see? This is exactly why he fears us. Because together, we are stronger than him!"
But the stubborn Solar and Lunar people shook their heads.
Solar Elder: "The Lunars have always been deceivers. How do we trust them?"
Lunar Elder: "And how do we trust Solars when they always think they are superior?"
The arguing resumed.
That argument made the opposition and the Solar-Lunar couples tremble as their Solar and Lunar children clutched to them asking if they should hate each other even though they are siblings.
One lunar boy even asked his parents(Lunar Mom and Solar Dad) tearfully. "Then does that mean Mom and Dad are meant to hate each other and stay separate?"
He even pointed to his biological sister who was Solar saying. "Does that also mean...I should never see my sister."
His sister and parents just gripped him tensely unsure.
While his sister just muttered nervously. "But...I don't want to live in the absence of any one of you? Am I selfish for thinking like that?"
The resistance and Celestic Justice squads tensed, not sure what to do.
Tim gritted his teeth. "DAMN IT! WAKE UP!"
Rei's hands balled into fists. "We don't have time for this!"
The children-Darren and Maria-held onto their parents, scared.
Dr. Aron's eyes darkened. "If we don't stop this, we lose everything."
Jeromy grinned. "Heh... a challenge."
That's when...
Jim stepped between the arguing factions.
His eyes burned with frustration.
"Enough!"
The argument fell silent.
Jim: "I've been hated by both of you. All my life, I was treated like I didn't belong. Why? Because I was different?"
Every Solar and Lunar people stiffened.
Jim pointed at them all.
"You people call each other enemies, but do you even understand what real enemies are? Dark Void-he's our enemy! Not each other!"
Some people looked down, conflicted.
Jim took a deep breath.
"My father... Heatsun... and my mother... Moonsalt... were one of the biggest proof that Solars and Lunars could love each other. They protected all of you with their lives!"
His voice cracked, but he continued.
"And they died... protecting YOU! And now you still refuse to stand together?"
The married Solar-Lunar couples hesitantly but eventually embraced each other to signify unity to the ones against.
The Solar-Lunar twin siblings held each other's hands finally getting the confidence.
Jim's aura flared weakly.
"Look at Tim and Rei!" he pointed at them, their hands still clasped. "They're proof of what unity can do! But they can't do this alone!"
His eyes sharpened.
"If you still refuse to work together... then leave. Because the ones who stay and fight together-THEY are the ones who will save Soluna!"
The battlefield was silent.
The stubborn survivors hesitated.
Then-
One Solar man stepped forward.
Solar man: "...The Grey Warrior is right."
A Lunar woman stepped beside him.
Lunar Woman: "I... I don't want my children to grow up in hate."
Then, one by one, the stubborn survivors lowered their weapons.
A Solar man walked to a Lunar man-two who had been enemies in past feuds-and extended his hand.
"Let's finish this together."
The Lunar man hesitated... then took his hand.
Similarly another Lunar Woman and another Solar Woman joined hands.
Even a Solar Woman and Lunar Man alongside a Lunar Woman and Solar Man.
Everyone united together.
Like falling dominoes, Solar and Lunar warriors embraced unity.
The divide shattered gradually as they saw it as more reasonable action especially when their planet was in stake.
Tim and Rei's aura flared wildly.
Rei gasped. "Jim... he did it!"
Jim, exhausted, let out a small, tired grin.
Tim's eyes burned with pride.
"Of course, he did. He's our brother."
With unity restored, a new energy surged through the battlefield.
A colossal surge of energy erupted.
The moment Solar and Lunar warriors united, their combined will created an overwhelming force.
A yellow-blue radiance expanded from them, spreading like a tidal wave.
Everyone felt it.
Jim felt warmth return to his soul. He had once felt alone, but now, he had a family bigger than he ever imagined.
Sheila, gripping her twin sabers, felt her strength renewed. She shouted, "We fight together!"
Dr. Aron felt a divine presence he had never sensed before. He clutched his chest, whispering, "This... this is beyond anything I could ever heal. This is the power of unity itself."
Jeromy, always the strategist, grinned. "Heh... Looks like we just turned the tide of war."
Darren and Maria, the young children, watched in awe as their parents stood beside their rainbow allies, no longer divided.
The Resistance and Celestic Justice members jumped in excitement feeling the energy.
Even Gravik, the reluctant fighter, felt compelled to stand firm. He muttered, "Damn, I hate tension... but this? This is... something else."
Tim and Rei, still clasping hands, felt the universe bend around them.
They stepped closer.
Their energies intertwined.
Their thoughts connected.
Their emotions synchronized.
The process was excruciating.
Tim and Rei felt their individuality slip away, yet neither resisted.
Their bodies began to merge, their forms glowing with blinding Solar and Lunar light.
Dark Void, for the first time, felt fear.
His eyes widened in horror.
"NO! THIS CANNOT BE!"
He charged, his godly form cracking with unstable energy.
He swung a devastating Void Requiem Slash, right at Tim and Rei.
BOOM!
The attack landed-but something happened.
A shockwave blasted out, sending dust and debris into the air.
As the dust settled, a new figure stood in place of Tim and Rei.
Neither male nor female.
Neither Solar nor Lunar.
But a perfect fusion of both.
A genderless warrior clad in radiant white-and-black armor, a celestial aura pulsing with infinite energy.
Their eyes-one golden, one dark blue-pierced through the battlefield with divine authority.
They spoke with a voice that echoed across dimensions-both Tim and Rei's voices combined, yet something entirely new.
"We... are Solunar Warrior."
Dark Void staggered back.
His entire body trembled.
"No... NO! YOU SHOULD NOT EXIST!"
The Solunar Warrior took their first step forward.
The final battle was about to begin.