In the desert capital, night swallowed the scorching dunes. The extreme daytime heat vanished entirely, replaced by a biting chill that swept across the sprawling sandstone courtyards.

Fortunately, the native gods had routed deep subterranean springs directly through the palace architecture. Clear water flowed rapidly through carved aqueducts, filling the massive stone basins in the center of the Vanguard encampment.

Krax sat on a wide limestone bench. He dunked his entire head into the freezing water. He surfaced a moment later, shaking the droplets from his green face with a loud exhale. The massive general grabbed a woven cloth to dry his tusks.

"That washes the dust out," Krax muttered. He set the cloth aside and pulled his greataxe across his lap. He grabbed a whetstone to carefully grind the nicks out of the enormous curved blade. The embedded violet Ley-Crystal pulsed with a bright glow near the hilt.

While Krax worked on his weapon, Gulag leaned against a nearby pillar. She held a roasted leg of desert game in one hand. She tore a large chunk of meat from the bone, chewing quietly as she watched the campfires flicker across the courtyard. Her armor bore deep scorch marks from the earlier battles, but she ignored the cosmetic damage entirely.

"I could eat three more of these," Gulag commented. She tossed the bare bone into a passing fire pit. "Building trenches while dodging sunlight burns an absurd amount of calories."

Syra sat cross-legged on the roof of a nearby pavilion. She blended perfectly into the dark corner, tossing a small throwing knife into the air and catching it by the handle.

"We fought four anomalies back-to-back," Syra said from the shadows. She caught the blade and slipped it into her bracer. "The Earthlings broke the geography. You are allowed to be hungry."

Iron-Scale walked out from the main hall. He carried a stack of fresh linen bandages and a large wooden jug of purified water. He set the supplies onto the stone table near Krax.

"The prisoners are secured in the lower vaults," Iron-Scale reported. He unbuckled his heavily dented chest plate and dropped it onto the floor. "Ignisar placed an elemental seal over the doors. They will not see the sun again until the Sovereign demands it."

Krax stopped grinding his whetstone. He looked over at the dented armor. "You took a direct hit from that light blast. Have the medics look at your ribs."

"I will heal," Iron-Scale replied. He poured a cup of water and drank it in a single gulp. He rested his hands flat against the stone table, staring at the flickering flames of the campfires.

The Vanguard commanders fell into silence. Thousands of soldiers rested in the surrounding rings of the city. Elite infantrymen swapped rations and shared stories of the flying valley.

The Kingdom Knights polished their shields under the starlight. For the first time since they arrived in the desert, the army simply stopped moving.

’We have the crystals,’ Iron-Scale thought, tracing the rim of his wooden cup. ’We have the map. Tomorrow, we plan the invasion.’

The quiet respite of the night vanished the moment the desert sun crested the golden palace. Iron-Scale stood at the edge of the grand colonnade, holding the rolled-up map he intended to use for the morning war council.

His plan to map out the invasion route was immediately delayed by a loud crash of shattered stone echoing from the central plaza.

Krax swung his greataxe downward in a devastating arc. The embedded violet Ley-Crystal flared brightly near the hilt. The space immediately surrounding the blade warped, multiplying the downward force of the strike entirely beyond natural physics.

Gulag raised her palms toward the incoming weapon. A massive slab of dark volcanic rock erupted from the courtyard floor to intercept the blow.

The collision shattered the stone shield into hundreds of broken shards. The concussive blast kicked up a massive cloud of golden dust across the sparring ring. Krax grinned broadly, adjusting his grip on the weapon as the resulting shockwave pushed him back a single step.

"The weight manipulation is incredible," Krax laughed, resting the axe against his shoulder. "I barely put any muscle into that swing. The crystal did all the work."

Gulag wiped a streak of sweat from her forehead. She dropped her hands, letting the remaining rock crumble back into the floor.

"You hit like a falling meteor," Gulag replied. She stretched her fingers to keep her joints loose. "I had to pull stone directly from the deep bedrock to stop that edge. Surface sand shatters instantly under that kind of density."

The commanders’ explosive duel served as an unofficial wake-up call for the rest of the army. Thousands of allied soldiers capitalized on the morning downtime to run mock battles and integrate their fighting styles.

A battalion of Kingdom Knights locked their steel shields together to form an impenetrable phalanx. Ignisar’s desert warriors charged the defensive line, wielding curved scimitars wreathed in bright orange flames. The fire splashed harmlessly against the disciplined human wall.

While the desert warriors fell back to regroup, Nyxara’s elite mystics launched their counterattack. They channeled subterranean water to conjure spinning spheres of dark, venomous liquid. The mystics hurled the spheres over the knights’ shield wall.

Fortunately, the Vanguard infantry possessed immense battle experience. A squad of shock troops vaulted directly off the knights’ shoulders to intercept the magic. They swung their bone clubs to bat the venomous water spheres out of the sky, scattering the liquid harmlessly across the stone tiles.

The combined military branches cheered loudly, completely enjoying the chaotic exchange of tactics.

Iron-Scale leaned against a polished sandstone pillar on the sidelines. He crossed his arms and watched his soldiers seamlessly integrate with the native forces.

"The knights hold the line, and our infantry breaks the magic," Iron-Scale observed. He nodded in approval as a human soldier helped a fallen desert warrior back to his feet. "They are building trust before we cross the continental divide."