Once the recording ended, the room didn't even get a chance to breathe.
Another soldier burst through the doorway, out of breath, his face pale. "Sir, more outposts are being destroyed. You need to see the map."
The group moved immediately.
Boomer led the way into the intelligence room, where operators were already pulling up a holographic battle map of Merchant Valley and the surrounding sectors. Red markers were appearing one after another, blinking across the projection like a spreading infection.
Stark stepped closer, eyes narrowing. "It's moving fast."
Another outpost marker went dark.
Then another.
And another.
Steel's expression sharpened. "Not just fast. Lightning fast. It's moving straight toward us."
Boomer folded his arms, his voice turning hard. "Then we don't wait for it to show up at our front door. Launch air units now. Intercept it before it reaches the base."
Orders were shouted across the room. Pilots scrambled. Operators relayed commands. On the holographic display, friendly air units lifted off from Fort Vanguard and nearby sectors, moving to cut off the incoming threat.
For a few tense moments, everyone watched the blue markers close in.
Then,
One by one, they vanished.
No drawn-out battle.
No warning.
No retreat signal.
Just gone.
Stark stared at the dead space on the map, jaw tightening. "That's it. Lock down the base."
His voice rose, carrying across the room.
"And get ready to lock down the capital. This thing is already on our planet."
The alarms began almost instantly.
Fort Vanguard shifted from inspection mode to full war readiness in seconds. Sirens screamed through the halls. Blast doors started sealing. Soldiers ran for defensive positions. On the upper airbase, engines roared as crews tried to pull back aircraft before it was too late.
Then the world outside turned red.
A massive beam of crimson light tore down from the sky over Merchant Valley, so bright it painted the desert and the base in blood-colored fire. It struck the top of Fort Vanguard with a detonation so violent the entire structure shook.
The quake hit like a hammer blow.
Walls rattled. Lights flickered. Dust fell from the ceiling.
Steel and Stark were already moving before the tremor fully settled. They sprinted from the building and onto the airstrip. Behind them, White Flash and Boomer split off to help the injured, dragging wounded soldiers clear of wreckage and shouting for medics to move faster.
The air outside was chaos.
Smoke rolled across the runway. A section of the airstrip had caved inward. Soldiers were everywhere—some rushing to weapons, some helping the fallen, some frozen for half a second as they stared at what had landed in the middle of the base.
Steel and Stark slowed as they approached it.
Not because they were afraid.
Because even for them, the thing in front of them demanded a moment.
The demon stood nearly thirteen feet tall.
Massive.
Broad.
Built like a living siege weapon.
Its body looked carved from black-red stone, rough and jagged, with deep cracks glowing from within like molten veins. Red energy pulsed through those fissures, throbbing brighter with every breath it took. Giant spikes of glowing rock jutted from its shoulders, and its fists looked heavy enough to cave in bunkers.
Heat rolled off it in waves.
Power rolled off it harder.
Steel rolled his shoulders, loosening up. Stark bounced slightly on his feet beside him, warming himself up for the fight. Neither of them looked away.
Above them, jets and attack helicopters circled into firing position. Missiles launched. Rotary cannons opened up. The sky erupted with tracer fire and explosions.
The demon didn't even flinch.
Then it moved.
With terrifying speed for something that size, it launched into the air. One second it was standing on the ruined airstrip, then it was among the aircraft. It tore through the first helicopter with one swing, spun through the smoke, and smashed a jet from the sky before it could peel away. Another helicopter tried to pull up, only for the demon to grab it midair and hurl it into the side of the base.
Flaming wreckage rained down across the runway.
Anti-air cannon emplacements opened fire from the upper platforms, heavy rounds slamming into the demon's body.
It tanked them.
The shells burst against its rocky hide, but the creature barely reacted. It dropped back onto the airstrip in a storm of dust and broken concrete, landing hard enough to shake the whole platform again.
Then it turned.
Slowly.
Deliberately.
Its glowing red gaze settled on Steel and Stark.
The air seemed to tighten around them.
Stark let out a slow breath. "Yeah… this one's serious."
Steel cracked his neck and stepped forward. "Good. I was hoping inspection duty wouldn't be boring."
The demon's shoulders rose as red energy flared brighter through the cracks in its body.
Somewhere behind them, White Flash shouted for more medics. Boomer barked orders to the remaining soldiers. Sirens wailed. Fire burned. Fort Vanguard shook under the weight of what had just arrived.
And standing in the middle of it all, facing the monster head-on, Steel and Stark finally understood what kind of threat had been tearing through the outposts.
This wasn't just a demon.
This was a disaster in flesh and stone.
And it had come for Fort Vanguard.