One rank deeper into the enemy ranks is all it would take for them to slip into the villa.

Zan saw a siege tower with a simple elevator installed. It was crashed against the sides of the villa estate. Still in use by the offending forces, Zan made the split decision to attack. "Follow me, team! We're going to break through the line!"

"I see your intent!" Jiehong said. "That elevator would be perfect. Let's give it everything we have!"

"Switching to blades," Whiskey said. Dropping down from her horse, Whiskey sent the creature on its way. It knew the way back to camp.

Bounding ahead of the boys, Whiskey strode ahead taking war steps which mimicked the gods themselves. Whiskey met the enemy in a flurry of blows, her twin blades expertly sent through and into at the perfect angle for a quick kill.

Jiehong next hit the enemy rank and file. His large body again proved its worth as he rolled himself as a human cannonball into the enemy, though not as so exaggeratedly. With a swing of the axe, Jiehong handled his foes lives after crashing into them and unbalancing them. An easy thing to do with creations like the automotrons, bulky as they are.

Feeling the Slipstream fade completely, Zan shouted, "Gotta restore my magic! Final chance at restoration!"

Zan chanted as quickly as he could. But with enemies all around him, he panicked a couple of times, causing him to stutter. When his prayer finished and he made brief visual contact with the Slipstream, Zan felt himself restored some of his magical reserves. How much? He didn't really know. He had a vague idea but nothing concrete. Nothing like hos the Command Center System might look at him. Regardless, the System notification popped up: [Mana Reserves: 75% Full].

Three-quarters? Zan said, quickly doing some mental math. I can work with that.

Then another surprising thing happened: the System gave Zan notifications about his team and their spirits.

[Whiskey Mana Reserves: 60%] [Jiehong Mana Reserves: 75%]

He couldn't believe it. Why didn't his teammates restore their mana? Or maybe they had but they didn't have time to fully restore it?

Zan had to find out. "Guys! Why didn't you get to the Slipstream? It's gone for the day!"

"Sorry Zan! Busy fighting the bad guys!" Jiehong said.

"Ditto," Whiskey grunted, laying into the enemy with acrobatic precision.

Next, one of Whiskey's scouts replied to Zan. Zan reasoned the scout had to be close to the echo-beetle. They said, "Zan! Listen to me! Acting with leadership means thinking of your team's needs before your convictions as a warrior! Instead of charging off into action, you should have removed yourself from the battle, restored yourself, and re-entered the fray. It only would have taken a few minutes! But you're doing great so far! Really!"

The scout's seemingly random critique of his leadership aside, Zan felt elated someone outside of his relations thought he was doing his job well. "Thank you, scout! I'm sorry I did not get your name. I will try and improve!"

He and the scout had a curt exchange of pleasantries as the battle continued to rage around them. While Zan unleashed another 'sweeping flame' attack, he learned the name of the critical scout. Pim.

[Mana Reserves: 50%] The notification surprised Zan for the simple sake if it was an accurate representation of his reserves, then a single 'sweeping fire' incantation cost a whopping fifteen percent of his total mana.

For some time, Zan settled into his usual combat style. Three-hits. One automotron.

[Energy Reserves: 70%] Zan believed that notification. His rumbling stomach told him truth. He should be fine for the battle, he told himself. Once they were back at camp, they would need a fine meal to compensate for the overconsumption of calories now. And so, a voice in the back of Zan's head told him to conserve energy. Play the long game. For, he had to remind himself: he had no clue when the battle would end. He had to be efficient in his use of resources and magic. He had to be analytical. He had to be a commander.

"Whiskey. Jiehong. Back to me. Bike formation. Whiskey, ride with Jiehong! Time for a grenade run!" Zan shouted as his allies returned to him, riding hot on their scorching pieces of exotic metal.

Zan swooped wide on his bike to build up speed, peddling with an amount of effort. Whiskey and Jiehong met with him and together, they used a sum of magical energy to boost their ramming speed. With enough force built, Zan and Jiehong's bikes acted more as 'cruise missiles' than transportation vehicles as the aura which emanated from the bikes set aflame to several automotrons. As the bikes themselves careened into the golems, nothing could stand up to their ferocious speed which broke instantly any automotron which dared to confront them; while their bikes behaved as war crimes, Zan reminded his team, "Grenades, Jiehong!"

Allowing himself temporarily to the motions of the bike, Zan released the grip on his vehicle long enough to take hold of a grenade, pull its pin, and toss it off. Into the invaders ranks it went, causing terrible explosions.

By the time their 'power charge' ended, as Zan would now be calling his team's bike move, the enemy ranks lay decimated. For a place as wide as an athletics field, nothing of a battle-capable fighting force remained while golem stragglers limped with trepid limbs, until the fire which consumed them finally claimed them.

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Zan did not concern himself with the welfare of the enemy, though. What he did concern himself with was the siege tower and its elevator.

Skidding to a halt and kicking up wads upon clods of dirt, Zan asked his team about their status. How they felt. It was only a quick check-in before the next leg of the assault began.

Both checked in and said how they were fine, but they needed a moment to catch their breath. Zan gave them that moment.

"Looks like the enemy has noticed us. They're getting into position now," Whiskey said as she finished a drink from her water sieve.

"Jiehong? Care to be the tip?" Zan asked of his friend.

"Feck yeah! You guys have been overextending yourself. Let me take this next group." Jiehong replied.

"Whiskey. Be prepared to take out any golems which survive Jiehong's initial thrust!" Zan said.

"I know how fighting works, Zan! Leave it to me!" Whiskey said, running ahead of Zan.

By the time Whiskey ran ahead of Zan, Jiehong already had smashed a hole into the front ranks of the final splotch of invaders charging into the castle. Behind them lay several smashed lines of automotrons, arranged concentrically around the villa, protecting the few places of forced entry as the siege gave way to a forward assault. Zan and Company were now before one such splotch, where the besiegers turned offensive and were busy not defending against Colonel Winters men but merely invading through an imposed crack in the villa. When Jiehong charged, they had not yet finished moving into a defensive position against Zan's Company. Therefore, they were wholly unprepared when Jiehong unleashed a magical incantation which shook the earth and swallowed up and crushed a small portion of the automotrons before them, protecting the siege tower's final approach.

Whiskey acted next. She slew her way through the stragglers, unleashing a series of lighting quick attacks Zan could only describe as 'spectacular.'

"Whiskey?" he asked. "Was that a magic-based attack?"

"Yes. I channel magic into my brain which allows me to speed up my mental processing. I quickly imprint where I will strike my enemy and how many enemies I will strike. Then, I use magic again. This time to cause my body's chemistry to 'slip,' into a hyper-fast state. With hardly a twitch of my legs and wrist, I then fling myself into action. It's all over before they can blink," Whiskey explained.

Zan had no words. It was a skill and then some to be able to use magic like how Whiskey did. Jiehong eventually said, "Damn fine magical knowledge, Whiskey. You deserve better than a ragtag rebel outfit..."

"We're not going through this Jiehong. Drop it," Whiskey said, putting an end to what would have been another political discussion.

While the group exchanged messages, the battle never stopped raging.

After Whiskey's 'chain-lightning strike,' few enemies could stand before them. The final group Zan did not dignify with an actual fight. He lobbed a grenade and the whole eight-golem group perished in the explosion. Zan wondered if the golems would ever understand the danger of 'the grenade.' Unlikely, he concluded. Not until some smart imperial guy re-programs them or whatever, right? Zan talked to himself like this often. It helped keep his morale up.

"Elevator is home free!" Zan shouted as he ushered his battle-buddies into the elevator. Zan and friends did not have to worry about how to operate the elevator with all the automotrons deactivated as the siege tower's lift appeared to them to operate on a continuous cycle of the lift rising and falling.

"Quickly, get on!" Zan urged. "The incantation on this elevator will not last for much longer with the golems decommissioned. I think their spirit cores must connect to incantations placed on war gear."

"That seems reasonable," Whiskey said. "I have thought the same thing when fighting them with my fellow rebels."

Everyone ran for the lift and jumped onto it, barely grabbing hold in time before a platform was too high to reach. They pulled themselves up onto the wooden lift. Though all this required them to exert a surprising amount of energy, Zan's System gave an update to Jiehong's stamina. [Jiehong Stamina Levels: 60%]. Then another update: [Jiehong Mana Reserves: 55%]. Another update: [Team Status: Middle-Performance]. And another: [System recommends adopting a strategic use of remaining resources. Have exit strategy planned].

"Guys, the System is letting us know we've suffered some wounds. As I know everyone can feel. We need to slow down on magic... I'm starting to feel sick," Zan said.

His team would have responded, but by then, they reached the top of the siege tower and had to step off onto the villa bluffs.

Once Zan stepped onto the rocky bluff which the villa proper stood upon, the System gave another update: [Map-in-Miniature Updated].

Shifting his eye to the upper-right, he saw the rudimentary map of the environment outside the villa grounds shift. It had been that of simple shapes, icons, representing the opposing forces, clashing into each other. They did so around a large (roughly) rectangular shape representing the higher grounds of the lord's private estate. Once inside the actual estate, the map shifted to a basic outline of where immediate structures stood.

[Turn on Auto-Mapping?] A notification asked.

Did I know what 'auto-mapping' was? No. Was I going to let that stop me from turning it on? No way.

"Yes, please turn on auto-mapping," Zan said.

[Auto-Mapping Turned On. Route History and Advancement Path Building Enabled]

Again, Zan had no clue what any of that meant. 'Route history.' 'Path building.' 'Advanced' as opposed to 'basic' path building.

"Where is everyone?" Whiskey asked. "This is a noble's private home, right? Shouldn't this place be filled with panicking servants fleeing automotrons?"

"They've probably retreated further inside to the villa's safe room," Jiehong said. "Where should we focus?"

Zan considered for a while. He was hot, sweating profusely as he thought. Zan hardly noticed his bodily exertions but when it did notice them, it always made his ordeal worse. His physical agony always slowed his mental once he became aware of how much his legs ached or how wobbly his arms went by his side.

Whiskey fuddled in her bag for something. She pulled out some crackers and said, "Zan, you need something to eat. Have these."

"What are they?" Zan asked, already shoveling the crackers into his mouth.

"Energy crackers. Simple but full of energy and calories. You have some too, Jiehong," Whiskey offered.

Zan and Jiehong had some over the course of a minute, though it was hard for Zan to pull himself away from his thinking and the fighting going on around them to instead focus on chewing and swallowing. No enemies were nearby, though. So, despite the chaos of a villa under siege, Zan and Company were in a safe space. For now...

"Damn. I feel good!" Jiehong said.

"Yeah. Me too. Like I just eat an entire steak. Though without all the good stuff..."

"Yeah. I know what you mean. It tasted like sawdust."

"They're made for nutrition, not taste," Whiskey added, ending the conversation on an informational note.

The group finished their crackers. [Energy Levels Restored] the System said.

"Let's move straight into the deeper parts of the villa. A panic room won't be on the edges of the settlement. Let's find the living room, the throne room, whatever this villa has. Then we'll find our guy," Zan said, feeling ready to get back at it.

The strategy and cracker break only lasted a couple of minutes. Once decided, Zan and his friends, and Whiskey's scouts, were back at it.

"Scouts -- take point," Whiskey said. "You'll be our spear!"