Before Red could process the massive tactical advantage, a jarring burst of static erupted across his secondary communication terminal.

A system prompt flashed over the console.

[ System Notification: Incoming Secure Video Transmission Request from Rank 19 Summit Warlord (The Iron Arbiter). ]

Red tapped the glowing rune to accept the connection. The holographic projection shifted, opening a separate window alongside the live feed of the desert. The Iron Arbiter’s mechanical visage appeared on the screen, transmitting directly from his own distant sanctuary. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

[ Rubedo, ] the Iron Arbiter spoke. The metallic grinding of his voice echoed through the sanctuary of invisible speakers. [ I felt the detonation from across the ocean. The Radiant Monarch executed his own pieces. ]

"He did," Red replied, leaning forward on his throne. "We lost the captives. We did secure their entire continental map in the process. The Vanguard remains intact."

[ You need to move your army immediately, ] the Iron Arbiter warned. [ That explosion served a secondary purpose. It acted as a macro-server targeting beacon. I have seen the same thing happen a decade ago in one of the kingdoms of the second continent, and the god ruling over that lost her most important followers and was later forced to leave. ]

Red narrowed his eyes. "Explain."

[ The Radiant Monarch specializes in orbital saturation strikes, ] the Arbiter stated. [ He sacrificed those Heralds to paint your exact coordinates on the global map. The main pantheon of the Fourth Continent is locking onto that residual energy signature right now. An absolute bombardment is already falling toward your Vanguard. ]

Red looked back at the live feed of the glass crater. Krax, Gulag, Iron-Scale, and Syra stood completely exposed in the center of the desert basin alongside the rest of the surviving infantry.

’They are sitting directly in the crosshairs,’ Red realized.

"Thank you for the information," Red nodded. "I will handle the rest."

Red couldn’t see any sign of attack, but he didn’t have the liberty to give any benefit to his doubt. Iron-Arbiter had warned him, so he had to make sure all risks and dangers were avoided.

’What can I do, though? I don’t know what kind of attack it is, so I can’t really prepare for a perfect counter. I can always use my other skills and integrate them with a 100x multiplier to make it powerful. And spending DP is not even a concern anymore.’ Red said to himself.

Just then, Red received a message from Ignisar. He opened it and chuckled after reading it.

[ They cannot outrun a Summit Warlord’s wrath, Sovereign! Allow me to move your pieces! Your army is on my ground, and it is my duty to take care of them. I can’t help you with the monsters and enemies, but leave the rest to me. ]

Down in the desert basin, the sky directly above the crater fractured. A blinding pillar of hyper-condensed radiant energy pierced the upper atmosphere and descended at a terrifying velocity.

The extreme heat instantly began melting the edges of the fused glass beneath the army.

Iron-Scale looked up at the descending apocalypse. He gripped his star-iron dagger, knowing his wind magic could never deflect an attack of this magnitude. Krax planted his boots firmly against the glass to prepare for the end.

Suddenly, the solid ground beneath their feet reverted to loose sand. Ignisar slammed his divine authority into the crust of the Third Continent. The Sand God bypassed standard teleportation entirely and initiated an elemental assimilation.

Iron-Scale watched his scaled hands dissolve into flowing grains of golden sand. Krax, Gulag, Syra, and the surviving infantry lost their physical cohesion in a matter of seconds. Their consciousness remained entirely intact while their bodies merged completely with the fundamental essence of the desert.

Once the army transformed into a massive mirage of living earth, the basin floor violently split open. A subterranean leyline roared to life beneath the blast zone. The high-speed current of elemental sand forcefully swallowed the dissolved Vanguard deep underground.

The orbital strike slammed into the basin an instant later.

The Radiant Monarch’s payload triggered absolute destruction. It vaporized the surface and melted miles of surrounding dunes into a massive canyon of boiling bedrock.

Fortunately, the Vanguard was no longer there to burn. The subterranean leyline flushed the living sand hundreds of miles west through the planetary crust at incredible speeds. The army rode the violent current far beyond the lethal blast radius.

Far away from the molten impact zone, the desert floor churned. The leyline spat the elemental mass onto a stretch of stabilized dunes. Ignisar systematically reversed the miracle to return the soldiers to reality. The grains of sand condensed rapidly to reform the physical bodies of the Vanguard commanders and their infantry.

Krax hit the ground coughing. He immediately grabbed his greataxe from the dirt. Iron-Scale landed beside the Orc general and checked his limbs to ensure everything had reattached properly. They looked toward the eastern horizon to see a towering mushroom cloud of molten bedrock illuminating the sky.

Up in the orbital sanctuary, Red leaned back against his throne. He watched the planetary sensory grid update in real-time. The red target zone was completely erased, and the green life signatures of his entire army safely reappeared in the western dunes.

’Merging their physical forms into the environment to bypass the vaporization completely,’ Red calculated. ’Ignisar possesses incredible utility for planetary defense.’

He opened the terminal to the Third Continent deities.

"Flawless extraction," Red noted. "I appreciate the intervention."

[ We protect the assets of the Spiral, Sovereign, ] Ignisar responded through the transmission. [ Sadly, this trait has a cooldown so I reserve it only for such emergencies. ]

Red pulled up the floating crimson grid generated by the stolen cartographic engine. The map detailed every Aethelgard holding on the continent. He pinpointed a massive cluster of enemy signals located on the southern coastline.

[ Iron-Scale, ] Red called out through the Vanguard comms. [ Check your equipment and get the army moving again. We have a clear target. Move to the next stop and let the army rest. Wait for my next order. ]

"As you wish, Sovereign."

The vanguard reached their next destination by night. They ate and slept, and awaited the next orders.