For a moment everyone looked at her, stunned. Then the pirates turned to Erica, drew knives and swords, and lunged at her. Erica responded with punches and kicks. Seeing that a big fight was brewing, Liliana took out Brontes to put to sleep the pirates who attacked Erica from behind, while Arturo took control of the metal chairs to grab the pirate's arms and legs and send them away.

Liliana turned to Erica to tell her that it was wrong, that she could not attack people for disagreeing with her decisions, but then both she and Arturo saw her face of deep hatred and frustration. They remembered the anguish and fear of her not being wanted by her mother; Carabak was that exact kind of mother. How could they tell her she was wrong to lash out like that?

The pirate stood up and approached them at a fast pace, red with anger. She pushed her own men away, stood in front of Erica, grabbed her by the neck before she had time to react and lifted her up.

—If there are people I hate, it's stuck—up little girls like you who think they can do whatever they want!

—And I hate people like you!— replied Erica— Parents who abandon their children like it's nothing! Do you think yours never needed you? Do you think you did him a favor by abandoning him?

Carabak's eyes shined with desire to kill, and she sent her hard against the floor.

—It's my life! You have no right to tell me what to do!

But Erica jumped to her feet and punched her in the jaw, which Carabak blocked. Then Erica grabbed her by the head to send a knee to her face, which the pirate didn't expect and received full force. But she didn't fall with that; she counterattacked with a punch to the stomach that Erica blocked with both hands. However, Carabak formed a hammer with timitio in her other hand and hit her in the side, which sent her flying a good distance.

The girl tried to recover, but Carabak beat her to it and ran to ram her with all her might. With one blow she sent Erica flying again, slamming her against the wall. Carabak ran at full speed. Before Erica could get out of there, Carabak jumped up and intercepted her with a flying kick. The blow was so powerful that they both went through the wall to the outside of the inn.

Liliana and Arturo continued fighting with the pirates, who unlike Carabak, were neither strong nor had extraordinary abilities. They had little trouble defeating them. Arturo disarmed and immobilized all those who approached him, while Liliana ran them through with Brontes. In a few minutes the children found themselves alone among piles and piles of unconscious pirates. Then they turned to the hole in the wall where both brikas had gone.

—Oh, Erica!— sighed Liliana.

—It doesn't matter now, all that's left is to support her— said Arturo.

—Yes.

They went through the main door and walked away from the inn towards the sound of rumblings. That part of the city was full of inns and bars, which at night became alive with all kinds of parties. In the center was a large square where young people of all species went to drink carefree and hang out. However, at that moment people were fleeing in panic, some buildings were on fire, a few cars and flying ships lay in the middle of the street destroyed. In the center of the square, the two contenders were locked in a loud and violent fight like a hurricane.

They moved so fast that others could barely distinguish one from the other, they hit so hard that they shook the earth and broke trees in their path. For a second they seemed evenly matched, but soon the greater strength of Carabak began to show; Erica hit her on the side, but she barely moved. She immediately countered with a punch and a kick, which left Erica on the ground. The girl was backpedaling and on her feet in an instant, but Carabak closed the distance and continued punching her.

When they least expected it, a pillar of concentrated earth surged between the two and struck the pirate by surprise, with such force that it sent her flying away. Then Liliana and Arturo approached Erica, ready to defend her.

Carabak, realizing what had happened, smashed the earthen pillar with ease and jumped back to them. She glared at them in irritation.

—Do you think because there are three of you, you can beat me?— she demanded.

—Guys...— said Erica, surprised to see them there, protecting her.

—Carabak, I know you're angry!— Liliana said— but this is a sensitive subject for Erica. Please, excuse her for....

But then Erica grabbed her shoulder without looking away from the pirate.

—Don't apologize for me!— she pleaded— even if it costs me my life, don't apologize for me, please.

—But... You're not going to give up?

Erica shook her head.

—Nothing has changed since we started. I'm going to make that imbecile see how wrong she is.

Liliana pursed her lips. Then she looked at Arturo, who nodded silently. Finally Liliana sighed.

—Fine! If that's what you want, then I'll support you!— she accepted— but don't say you're going to die. I won't let you.

—One, two, three, it doesn't matter— Carabak bellowed— I'll crush you all.

The pirate lunched towards the three of them. A large block of earth emerged from the ground and blocked her, but she broke it with a kick. Still running, she lashed out with a timitio hammer. Erica stepped up to block it. Liliana and Arturo surrounded her and attacked from the sides, with slashes and earthen spears.

Carabak's timitio blocked Brontes' blade and deflected the rock spears with no problem. Erica leapt at her with a kick. Carabak then jumped back a great distance.

—The three of them have me cornered, I need a strategy— she thought.

The children rushed at her at full speed. Carabak thought fast.

—The mage!— she said to himself.

She slid towards Arturo in a hurry to kick him in the chest. The boy saw Carabak's foot coming, but instead of dodging or blocking it, he charged at her with his spears and skewered one in the shoulder. Then he took the impact, flew across the square to the street and rolled on the ground.

Carabak pulled the spear from her shoulder and screamed from the pain. She had hoped to dodge it, but Arturo managed to deflect it at the last moment. She hastened to close the wound with timitio.

—I should have been more careful!— she thought.

At that moment Liliana sent her a slash from which she had to protect herself. Erica appeared from the other side, not even letting her breathe. She punched the pirate so hard that it sent her to the ground and dragged her several meters through it. Incredulous, she realized she was losing.

Erica lunged at her again, head on, but Carabak dodged her and attacked from the side to send her away. Then Liliana appeared to attack her with Brontes, but this time the pirate managed to see it in time. With her hands she stopped the blade in front of her face. Liliana froze, no one had ever held Brontes more than her. Although the spirit granted her much of his skill as a scythe master, it did not make her stronger. Carabak threw Brontes aside and closed the distance between them to send a knee to her stomach. Liliana described a parabola in the air and fell heavy to the ground, writhing in pain.

Separating them, Carabak was left with Brontes in her hands. The munima became incredibly heavy and the brika's energy began to fade through her hands. She understood that she could not use it, so she threw it to the ground. Carabak was panting, she couldn't take it anymore. Those children were too much for her, she still had to defeat Erica and she had no energy for that. Then the girl came back, with renewed strength and attacked her with everything she had. Carabak dodged a kick, deflected a punch with the help of her timitio, but Erica overtook her in speed and connected a blow to her jaw, then to her stomach, then to her right thigh, and with that Carabak could no longer stop her. Erica's blows shattered what little strength she had left and knocked her to the ground with a roar so loud that it set off alarm bells in the cars parked in the distance.

Erica took a moment to breathe. Carabak could no longer move. It took her a few seconds to realize that she had finally defeated her. Knowing she was victorious, she took a deep breath.

—We did it!— she thought, relieved— Oh, for fuck's sake, we did it!

She had not stopped hating her, but through the fight an immense concern for her friends had invaded her. She understood that, although she did not regret confronting Carabak, she had been very stupid to involve her friends in such a way in a fight against such a dangerous woman.

As she looked at her lying on the ground she saw no timitio coming out of her body, but she thought she understood why; the timitio was looking for the strongest, not the winner. Erica had won, but not alone, so Carabak's parasite would not be looking for her as its new master.

Then she turned around to check on her friends. Liliana was starting to get to her feet, Arturo was approaching them dirty and limping. The three of them were wounded, but not critical. Happy, they looked at each other's faces and smiled.

—We did it!— said Erica— We beat a brika, we're the best!

Arturo was not very pleased that they were celebrating for winning in a three against one, but he didn't care so much, it was over. Liliana was just happy and tired, what she wanted most at that moment was a bed to lie down on. Then, Erica grabbed them by the shoulders, looking concerned.

—I'm sorry for getting you two into this fight by surprise— she said suddenly— it was... stupid of me. I'll never do it again.

But they patted her head like a puppy and played it down.

—We all get angry at things others do— Liliana reminded her.

—Yes. Besides, you wouldn't be our Erica if you weren't so impulsive— said Arturo.

—But yes, it was very sudden— said Liliana— Next time you want to change someone's mind, try to talk to them. In fact, ask us for help. It's amazing what you can do with the right words and a good drink.

Erica ducked her head and accepted the criticism. She didn't want to go through the fear again of something bad happening to them because of a simple whim of hers. She couldn't help but get angry again when she remembered Carabak's treatment of her son, but she knew she couldn't go through life beating people up at the drop of a hat.

She was silently grateful that her friends took her destructive nature so well. Then they checked their wounds to make sure none of them were in imminent danger.

—Come on, let's go back to the inn— urged Arturo.

They turned to go back, but in that instant, the sound of footsteps alerted them. Suddenly, Liliana and Arturo fell to the ground with wide eyes and tense expressions on their faces; they were paralyzed.

Erica, bewildered, turned around and found Noto. Then she realized she hadn't seen him in the whole fight. She immediately prepared a punch, but the volir was faster than her and with two fingers extended from his hand touched her forehead. This completely tensed her to the point of paralyzing her. Her body fell heavy on the grass, next to her friends. She was still awake, she could see and hear perfectly, but apart from some muscles in her face and chest, she could not move at all.

In that state she saw how Noto walked towards his captain, took out a vial from one of her bags and gave it to her to drink. Ten seconds passed and nothing happened. Suddenly Carabak sat up and stood up, as good as new.

—Ah, finally!— exclaimed Carabak— Well done, Noto!

The man nodded. Next, Carabak approached the children, who were still paralyzed. She bent down to grab Erica by the hair and lift her up. The girl could do nothing but let out a few weak moans and grit her teeth. The pirate glared at her with anger and satisfaction.

—Hahaha! What's the matter, girl? Surprised? Ha!

She punched Erica in the face, knocking her to the ground. She kicked her and picked her up again.

—Did you think a pirate like me has survived all this time by sheer force? I'm the brute of the team, but I know perfectly well that there are stronger people. That's why I have Noto with me, he's my trump card.

Erica couldn't believe she had missed such an important detail. She hadn't seen Noto since the beginning of the fight, meaning he had been waiting all that time, ready to strike. Erica never had a chance to defeat Carabak.

The pirate dropped her to the ground and rested her foot on her chest. Erica couldn't breathe, but apparently she wouldn't need to for long, for the captain formed a long timitio dagger from the back of her hand and pointed it at her neck.

—This is what you get for meddling in other people's problems, stupid girl.

She slashed at her throat. Erica closed her eyes. Then Carabak stopped. When Erica looked again, the girl realized that a large hand was holding the pirate's arm.

—That's enough— said a manly, powerful voice.

—What?!

But Carabak could not say anything else, because at that moment a quick and strong blow sent her to the ground, a few meters away. Noto immediately slid to the back of the man who had attacked his captain. He tried to paralyze him, but before he could do so, the man punched him backwards without even looking. The punch sent him flying through the air to the top of a tree.

By then the effect of the paralyzing trick was beginning to wear off. Soon the children were able to turn their necks to look at their savior: a large, sturdy man with a friendly face. It was Bel.

He looked at his friends for a moment, but said nothing. Then he turned to Carabak, who was standing up with some difficulty.

—Shit! Shit! How did you find me? Damn it!— she shouted, angrily— You damn prince! You won't catch me!

Then Bel raised an arm, from which emerged a thick, six-foot-long sword, which he held as if it were nothing. The material of his weapon moved and appeared from his skin as if it were timitio, but instead of being deep black, Bel's was dark blue.

—What are you going to do with that?!— shrieked Carabak, frightened.

Bel said nothing, just advanced towards her calmly. Carabak backed away, but her nerves betrayed her. She stumbled and fell backwards. Bel raised his huge sword high.

—No! Wait, no!— she shouted.

The sword fell and lashed out at Carabak. She formed a shield of timitio over her head, but Bel's blue sword sliced through Carabak's black shield like nothing and fell heavy on her head. The impact crashed Carabak against the ground and buried her face several centimeters under. The pirate would not get up for a long time from that blow.

When it was all over, Bel approached the children and gave them a strange concoction to drink, something thick and foul smelling, but which soon made them recover their energy as if they had just come out of the bath in the morning. Now better, they stood up and stared at him, very confused. On top of that, Severa and Morgana, his bodyguards, approached them.

—Phew, what a scandal!— commented Severa.

Morgana looked at the children, who were looking at Bel strangely. Bel didn't quite know what to say.

—What the hell was that?!— yelled Erica at last.

Bel looked down, not knowing what to say. His huge blue timitio sword returned inside his body.

—Bel!— Erica called to him— Are you... Are you a brika?

—Hehe. Well, it's true they don't know you, Bel— said Severa— Maybe you should introduce yourself.

—Yes, you're right— the man cleared his throat— I'm sorry I haven't shown you my true identity, friends. I just... I don't know, I didn't feel it necessary. My name is Belfegor Duarte Virimal, first and only son of Brigida Duarte, the empress of the brika empire.

—Whaaaaaaaaaaaaat?!— shouted the children.

—You are a prince?!— noted Liliana.

—You are the prince of all brikas?!— yelled Erica.

Bel guessed he would have a lot of explaining to do.