Arturo wrapped her in his arms and let her head rest on his forehead.

They wanted to stay there for at least an hour or two, feeling each other's skin, listening to each other's voices they thought they would never hear again; but then the earth shifted, the debris that had buried Fir flew out in all directions and the crivia leapt from the hole with an energetic pirouette. In spite of everything, she looked happy.

—That's not good enough— she warned them.

She bumped her fists to indicate that she would stop being careful.

—Can't you wait a bit?— Liliana pleaded.

Arturo wiped away his tears and prepared to continue the fight.

—I'll stop her. This girl is strong.

Liliana brandished Brontes and planted herself next to him.

—Then you'll need my help.

Arturo noticed her long scythe. He wanted to ask where she had gotten it and how she wielded it with such ease, but that was not the occasion. Fir threw herself at them. Arturo erected a wall and sent her crashing face first into the concrete.

—Did you do that?— Liliana pleaded.

—Yes, I'm a mage now— he explained— Watch out!

Fir broke the wall and lunched at them with greater force. Arturo sprouted another wall, but Fir stepped forward and closed the distance with him. She tried to punch him in the torso, but then Liliana slashed at her with Brontes. Fir shielded herself with her gauntlets, then stepped back as a precaution, but Arturo sent a pillar to her stomach. The crivia was propelled upward and ended up impacting against the ceiling. The blow would have been enough to crush the guts of an ordinary human, but she only lost consciousness for a moment. Arturo grabbed Liliana's hand and ran for the exit.

—How did you become a mage?— asked Liliana.

—I'll explain later!

—But...

Liliana looked back. It had seemed to her that the last blow had been enough to knock Fir out, but then the rock pillar that held her trapped broke in half. Fir fell to the ground, sat up and turned to face them. Liliana shrieked.

The front doors opened wide. From them appeared the four bodyguards of the crivia, who observed the situation in a second and immediately prepared to catch the humans.

—Damn!— muttered Arturo.

He stopped to grab Liliana and plunged into the ground. They both fell into a makeshift concrete capsule and descended into a tunnel that would lead them to the exit, but then two gauntlet-covered hands chased them, grabbed them by their clothes and pulled them out with sheer strength. Liliana and Arturo flew for a second before falling to the ground. The bodyguards surrounded them and pointed their guns at them, while Fir stood firm between them.

—It won't be that easy— she assured.

Liliana and Arturo stood still for a moment. They looked at each other, puzzled. Then they checked that the other was fine. They had not broken anything, they were just shocked by the blow.

Fir's bodyguards approached to subdue them. Arturo stood up to look at Fir, one of the nonis pointed her pistol at him, but he disarmed her with his magic and plunged her into the ground. Liliana immediately stood up and passed Brontes through the bodyguard near her.

—No!— Fir shouted.

She lunged at Liliana and sent a punch to her chest, but she dodged it and sent a slash to her legs that Fir dodged with a backward pirouette. Suddenly a wall was erected between them. Fir hit it to knock it down, but the humans were not where she had left them: both were retreating at full speed on a concrete platform.

—Damn them!— cursed the crivia.

Liliana and Arturo escaped through the back door, turned around the building and headed for the courtyard. Liliana hugged Arturo tightly, afraid of falling.

—How do you control it?!— she asked.

—With... mental arms— he muttered.

The platform stopped and lowered to ground level. The boy held his head with a blank stare.

—I've never used so much magic in a row before— he said.

—Are you all right?— Liliana jumped up.

—Yes, yes, it's just that I need my own energy to do it— he explained— I'd better save it. Let's go on foot, we have to meet up with Erica.

Arturo started jogging towards the courtyard, Liliana followed him closely. She already knew that he and Erica knew each other, but hearing it from his mouth was strange.

—How did you guys meet?— she asked— Did she treat you well? Sometimes she can be a little... careless.

—It's okay, she's a good girl— he said— When we met, she saved me from some bullies and gave me food.

Liliana smiled with joy.

—Oh, that Erica!

—She was worried about you— said Arturo.

—Where is she?

—I don't know, I told her to keep the guards busy— explained the mage— we just have to look for her where there's the most commotion.

Liliana laughed even as she ran.

—What a good idea!

They both passed the building and entered the courtyard. However, at that moment they noticed Fir and his two remaining bodyguards at the doors behind them. They had the impulse to hide again, but it was too late, the crivia had spotted them.

—There they are!— she pointed.

Liliana put a hand to her chest to pull Brontes out, but Arturo took her with him, compressed the earth under her feet, lifted her up and hurried away floating above the ground. Fir and her guards ran after, quick as the wind.

—Aren't you tired?— asked Liliana.

—I can still do this— said the mage— you just concentrate on not falling.

Liliana nodded, then looked back. Fir was running after them, closing the distance little by little.

—For Father!

------------------------------

Meanwhile, Erica had circled the entire complex several times, but had had to stop running when she encountered a barrier at the center square. Suddenly two dozen guards were firing laser rifles at her from the only two paths she could take, while from behind them, Sikika and the rest of the crivia guards were approaching. The square was too wide and the buildings were too far away to jump for cover against one of them, Erica had no shield to protect her from the lasers, not even her timitio could cover that much area at once. However, it wasn't the first time she faced a gun ambush. Using the momentum of her run, she jumped high over the barricade to affect the guards' aim. As soon as she landed behind the enemy line, she charged at the closest ones and began to deal blows left and right, taking advantage of her small human body to hide from the nonis among them.

She managed to send about five nonis flying, when Sikika fell on top of her. Erica collapsed on her back on the ground. She noticed that the bodyguard was preparing to beat her to a pulp. Then the brika grabbed both her legs with her arms, brought one foot up to press it against her crotch and lifted her up to lay her back on the ground. She quickly got to her feet, at the same time as the others surrounded her.

She lunched herself against one before giving them a chance to attack her, but the two closer guards intercepted her, the first punched her in the face and the second kicked her on the side. Erica spun in the air and fell to the ground. She immediately tried to get up, but three nonis whip her to the ground with kicks and continued to hit her. Then, they suddenly fell to the ground.

Erica got up, bewildered. As she looked at the nonis, she realized they were unconscious. Then she noticed someone landing on the side. She looked at her: it was Liliana. She had Brontes drawn and was cautiously watching the nonis around her. Behind her back, Arturo dropped from a platform of compressed earth on which he was standing.

—Lili... Arturo...— she muttered.

They both smiled at her, but did not look away from their enemies for long. Erica wanted to hug them, but at that moment the wall on one of the buildings exploded. From the hole that remained, a young, orange girl appeared, with two large black gauntlets in her hands and a hostile look on her face. Fir noticed the humans in the center, while the rest of the nonis stopped for a moment to pay attention to her.

—Liliana, Arturo, I'll deal with you later— she snapped at them— Erica Sanz, yesterday you dared to leave me in the middle of the fight, I won't let you go this time!

Erica formed two gloves with her timitio and slammed a fist into a palm, also anxious. Fir shot herself at her, Erica did the same. Fir sent a punch at the brika with the huge momentum she was carrying, but Erica dodged it, counter attacked her on the torso and sent her flying into the building behind her. Then she let out a wicked laugh and jumped towards the building to chase after her.

Sikika aimed her normal pistol at Arturo, but he disarmed her with his mind before giving her a chance to fire.

—You're the mage!— exclaimed the bodyguard.

Liliana tried to slash with Brontes, but Sikika dodged it in time. Still, the blade pierced her arm. Sikika yelled in shock before her arm fell asleep. The rest of the bodyguards and prison guards approached the young humans to subdue them.

—Watch out for that scythe, don't forget it's a munima!— warned Sikika.

Liliana, controlled mostly by Brontes, dodged the blows and shots of the enemies with ease, at the same time she pierced them with the blade of her scythe. Their large red bodies fell heavy on the ground. Meanwhile, Arturo dismantled the weapons aimed at him and buried the approaching nonis, one by one, until Sikika rammed him from the side. Arturo tried to bury her as well, but before she fell all the way down, the noni caught herself with her good arm and jumped to avoid the trap. Taking him by surprise, she lunched at him. The three other remaining bodyguards approached him to attack from behind, but Liliana stepped in and forced them back.

At the same time, in the building, Fir and Erica punched and kicked each other so fiercely that they shattered the structure around them. Fir punched her in the torso, which completely paralyzed her, then grabbed her face and slammed her knee into it. The paralysis went away. Erica had already figured out her trick: her munimas had a similar effect to Liliana's. Brontes made everything she cut go to sleep. Likewise, Fir's gauntlets paralyzed anything she hit, but the effect wore off if she hit it again.

Erica collapsed to the floor in pain, but ignored it and rolled backwards to collect herself before Fir ground her with another blow. The crivia quickly approached her again. Erica sidestepped her, grabbed her arm and the back of her neck and slammed her to the ground. The concrete collapsed, both fell to the floor below. Fir recovered and punched her on the neck. Erica flew away several meters back until she hit a pillar.

Fir approached at a fast pace, but not as fast as before. She was breathing heavily, sweating profusely, looking tired. Her yellow blood was dripping from a wound on the side of her face and from several scratches on her body, but she was smiling all the same.

—Here you die, brika— she said— you can't move, can you?

Erica was paralyzed by the last blow, she could not even move her mouth to answer. Fir approached her, assumed a combat position and prepared to punch her with all her might in the face. Erica was already battered, Fir had similar strength to her, she wasn't sure if another direct hit would leave her alive.

She had to think fast. Even if it didn't kill her, that blow from Fir would knock her out. If that happened, they could arrest her and execute her later or sell her into slavery. She tried to move, but her muscles wouldn't respond. Then she looked at Fir's feet, relatively close to her own.

—Perhaps I can pull out a weapon with my timitio and prick her ankles— she thought.

However, at the thought of turning her timitio into a "thorn" she had an even better idea. Fir attacked her, but then Erica generated dozens of thorns along her legs that dug into the ground and moved like a saw. The traction pulled on her body and made her move out of the way, dodging Fir's punch. Erica continued to walk on the ground as if a band moved her, a band made of timitio. The thorns moved all over her body and reached her shoulders and head. Then she returned them through inside her body to generate them again in her feet. This way she advanced a long distance in a couple of seconds.

—What?!— shouted Fir— Damn it, come back here!

Fir lunched herself towards her.

—Mhmhmhmhmhmhmh!— laughed Erica, unable to open her mouth.

She moved much faster than she had expected, even giving Fir trouble to keep up the pace. However, since she couldn't see ahead, she crashed into a refrigerator that fell on top of her. Fir caught up with her, but thanks to the blow Erica regained her mobility. She immediately threw the refrigerator at her. Fir knocked it out of the way with a punch, but that diversion was enough for Erica to get to her feet.

Fir jumped and attacked to paralyze her again, but Erica buried the timitio spines under her feet in the ground and slid to the side without even having to gain momentum.

—That's cheating, you devil!— the crivia accused her.

Erica walked away to the window with her new timitio skates and stuck her tongue out at her. Fir was irritated, but Erica's taunts didn't make her lose her mind. She noticed that on one side of Erica there was room to move, while on the other was the wall.

—She expects me to ram her to dodge me at the last moment and send me through the window downstairs— Fir realized— Who does she think I am?!

Fir angrily threw herself after Erica, but stopped right in front of her to avoid ramming the window. However, instead of jumping aside, the brika jumped up, grabbed sticked to the ceiling with her timitio thorns and with her feet pushed Fir the rest of the distance to throw her against the window. The crivia broke the glass and fell from the sixth floor towards the concrete.