The gods were willing!

Zan actually saw Mentality's eyes bulge through his mask as he saw Zan plow into him chest-first. Stopped mid-thaw, Mentality fell on his back, Zan on top of him, punching the man's masked face. Not bothering to use magic while he assaulted the man, Zan didn't want to risk overpowering and potentially killing Mentality, despite his antagonistic nature. Killing was not in Zan's blood; not human, anyway. Animals for food, but that was it.

Whacking away on Mentality, Zan felt the man's mask absorb most of his hits. So, he didn't let up with his assault.

"Come on! Whiskey!" Zan yelled.

While Zan was busy pounding away at Mentality, Whiskey temporarily froze in place, surprised at Zan's sudden change of tactic. Hearing Zan's cry to continue to help, Whiskey snapped herself out of the momentary reverie and resumed casting her freezing magic.

Zan switched his assault from punches to attempts at holding Mentality down. But to Mentality's credit, even under assault, he remained composed. He took the blows. He tried to squirm away from Zan's assault as if each punch was merely a mosquito pecking at his skin. Which is why Zan attempted to channel freezing magic of his own as he attempted to hold Mentality to the ground. Although Zan felt some chills enter the space between he and Mentality, which, to be fair, was little space, it was not enough for Zan to fiddle away his final sum of magical energy.

Leaning all his weight into Mentality, Zan did not pull his weight at all. Keeping Mentality's arms bound and above his head, while their feet had a kicking war, Zan urged Whiskey's freezing magic onward to help slow down Mentality's struggle. "Help me hold him down!" Zan said, struggling for words as he struggled physically with their enemy.

"No!" Whiskey replied. "If I help you hold him down while I am chanting an incantation, it will degrade the quality of the spell while also exposing him, and you, to a high concentration of pure magic. We can't take the risk of you becoming sick!"

"Damn it!" Zan said, continuing to grasp and hold on to Mentality.

"Want an out? Let me go, give me the minister, and I will leave you alone!" Mentality spat at Zan, talking for the first time in a while.

"That ain't happening!" Zan replied.

"Why not?! What has this noble done for you?!"

"Nothing! But I agreed to help evacuate him from his stupid manor home! I can't go back on a contract!" Zan said, using the word 'contract' to sound more professional than feared he actually was.

"Bulllshet! Push or shove, if it were down to it, you would pick your own life over the life of this random aristocrat. Admit it!"

"Whatever, dude! I admit it! I would likely give him to you then, but you aren't going to kill me! It's against nature and nurture. And the gods! Besides, you aren't in any condition to pose hypotheticals, especially not with your teeth chattering!"

"Oh? Just watch!" Mentality said, who, at that moment, summoned strength within him Zan hadn't yet seen, and curled upon himself like a turtle. Energy, magic, both? Exploded out from Mentality like a volcanic eruption. Zan flew from Mentality and landed hard on his back.

Scrambling back up, disoriented, Zan tried to call out for Whiskey. "Are you safe?"

Where was everything? "Zan!" A voice called out. Zan tried to follow Whiskey's voice, but the world spun and spun more ferociously with every step.

Plopping on his knees in front of Whiskey, not even knowing how he found her, unless it were by pure luck, Zan placed his hand on her to see if she was unhurt. "Don't worry about me! Worry about the fat-cat!" Whiskey snarled.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Whiskey attempted to direct Zan toward where Mentality had gone after his surprise attack. Grasping, touching, pointing, Whiskey pushed Zan in the direction of Mentality, back near the siege tower, approaching the viceroy they had assignment to protect.

Stumbling toward Mentality and the terrified noble, Zan wondered if he should try and use the last of his magics to channel a 'sweeping fire' attack. No. I might hit the noble. Zan thought as he continued to stumble toward his foe and noble.

"Get off him!" Zan shouted. Drawing his knife, Zan entered what he fancied as a combat stance.

"You just won't quit, eh kid?" Mentality said.

"Like you?" Zan eyed Mentality, hoping to goad him into revealing more about himself. But Mentality didn't take the bait.

"Never --!" Mentality shouted while gathering mana into his hand and firing it like it was a cannon.

Zan acted fast and channeled his remaining magic into a defensive pool. Mentality's beam hit Zan at the exact moment his mana shield formed, thus negating the blast.

Yet this only gave Zan breathing room for a second. Two, maybe, if Mentality expected that beam to take him out of combat. Surprise was only a single-second, yet it made all the difference.

Before the dust cleared, Zan was through the bilious cloud which formed in the wake of Mentality's assault. Swinging his satchel bag like a chain-and-frail, Zan threw the bag at Mentality's feet, entangling them and causing Mentality to fall. This gave the noble time to run away; unfortunately, for the noble, there were few places where he could hide as by now, the newly emerged automotron force, were nearly upon them. "Stay back, my liege!" Zan said to the noble as a quasi-command.

Turning again to Mentality, Zan approached, but his claim to victory was short-lived.

Not even mere seconds had eloped before Mentality -- through the aid of an unknown device or force -- levitated into the air, his entangled feet kicking away at the wrapped-around satchel still encasing his legs.

Mentality's sudden empowerment forced Zan to do a double-take. His new floating ability came out of nowhere. Zan stumbled on his feet as he came to terms with an enemy who could float. 'How am I going to do this, now?' Zan asked himself as Mentality finally kicked himself free of the satchel.

"Such an inglorious creature, to think, such a pathetic attempt to claim victory. You think I can be overcome with a mere piece of luggage?!" Mentality shouted as he accelerated and slammed into Zan chest first.

Despite the quality of his fairy silk armor, all the air swept from Zan's lungs, and he fell to the ground. Gasping, he clutched at the ground, hoping to somewhere find sky in the earth. Where did Mentality go? Zan thought. He wanted to search, but Zan couldn't even turn his head. He remained in the dirt, grasping his lungs, recovering. Zan hoped whatever attack came at him next, he could bare.

Questions about how much he could endure, however, were never left unanswered long.

Feeling a sharp pain to his sides, Zan felt sharp kicks or punches, or something jab into him repeatedly. 'What is Mentality doing?! It feels like he's jumping around and kicking me!'

"Lay your hands off him!" Zan heard Whiskey shout.

A swiping of metal on air; tufts of grass moving; footsteps.

Whiskey helped Zan to his feet. Breathing in deeply, slowly exhaling, breathing in again... Zan felt better. Some healing auras from Whiskey's basic healing practice helped as well. [Team Magical Reserves Depleted] A System notification let Zan know. 'That makes it official, then. If we don't end this soon, we are done for.' Zan steadied himself and looked to Mentality, who was between the noble and them.

"Both of you need to learn your place!" Mentality snarled. "I'm not wasting any more time on you!"

Mentality then flew at full speed toward the noble -- even faster than when he slammed into Zan -- and caught the viceroy in his arms. He didn't stick around, either. Mentality then was about to leave the battlefield, flying around like some kind of human-bird hybrid, when a burst of light, likely magical in its composition, blinded everyone.

The light burst caused Mentality to careen into the field. He flung the noble moments before impact, which allow the viceroy to roll to safety, rattled and bruised though he would be. Instantaneously as it arrived, the light faded. Colonel Winters and his men came from behind the light. A horse rider collected the noble while Winters rode to Zan, keeping his eye on Mentality, though he had no idea who this newcomer fighting on the side of the Expanse truly was.

"I came as soon as I could... fierce fighting at the main gates. My men are exhausted. We've completed our objective. The viceroy is with us. But as you can tell, that is the least of our problems right now. This golem force -- where did it comes from; did you see perchance?"

Zan could only show the captain a show of letdown. "Sorry. Too busy with my own survival."

"No, it is fine. We all were caught with our pants down. Our way back is shot. The enemy has overrun our campsite and likely the path to our home province. We have no choice but to continue deeper into this province."