Mathias watched the two boys line up on the starboard side, and he quietly send the order to his son to stop the cannons for a minute.

If a minute could show him something amazing, then it would be worth it. If not, the cannons were unlikely to hit the small silhouette of an oncoming pirate frigate, and he would have to engage them in a melee either way. The pirate ship was moving quickly with the help of the wind, while his own galleon wouldn't be able to out sail the frigate even if they turned to run. Also, being rammed in the stern would be troubling if the rudder got damaged.

There would be enough time left to let the bows have a volley, then turn the ship so the pirates could only ram his prow.

Axal was no longer trying to sink the ship. He had heard Kynos ask him to see if he can make the ship turn instead, and now he would focus on merely moving the water on the pirate ship's port side so it would slowly angle, showing more surface to hit.

Kynos had created another large fireball and this time, he sent it flying. It looked a bit too high to hit the ship directly, so he must have been aiming for something else.

Mathias saw it first, as soon as the Kynos let fly. The boy was going after the sails! The most flammable part of the ship, large sails made with cloth. The attack might have been dispersed by the ramming speed of the enemy ship if shot at the prow, but a blazing fire was a sailor's worst nightmare.

Even as the conflagration flew through the air, the pirate frigate was slowly turning. The churning water on the front of the port side showed that the water mage Axal was also doing his job. The giant ball of fire split into several smaller fragments and impacted. The black sails exploded in fire, and a small figure fell flaming from the crow's nest.

'Good job!' Mathias cheered in his mind.

The pirate ship's crew looked like they were trying to put out the sails, and in their haste, had forgotten to correct their incoming angle. It was the perfect time.

“FIRE!” Mathias yelled out, and heard his son echo that shout in the galley below.

Ten cannons roared out from his galleon and three giant lead balls lodged themselves into the side of the pirate vessel. A mast was snapped, and fell onto the ship itself, scattering incendiary everywhere. A disgraced politician's supporters would have been impressed at how quickly the pirates jumped ship.

Mathias ordered the figurehead of the pirate ship harpooned as the ship capsized, and dragged it, along with a piece of the prow, back to his own ship as proof. Then he sent his daughters and the two mage children below deck before he ordered the crossbows to massacre the pirates helplessly clinging onto the flotsam.

Pirates were tenacious, and the last thing he needed was another ship accidentally rescuing two dozen pirates and being seized.

The fight was over.