The Uninvited Princess ✔

Chapter 86

Chapter 86

The glowing cracks now reached the base of his neck as he wildly wielded the magic in the staff.

Pranee dodged each attack and watched the king grow more agitated.

The building rumbled and the pillar that Ritthirong had destroyed early began to slide out of a secure position. The fighting and use of magic didn't help the situation either.

"You only exist to take away what's rightfully mine!" Ritthirong threw his staff and it spun towards Pranee.

She jumped backwards and instead of landing on the ground, she found herself on Chann's back.

"Chann!" She shouted, trying to get their attention. Chann didn't seem to notice as they roared and tears fell wildly from their eyes.

There was a thump and Pranee looked to see Wipa had knocked away Ritthirong's staff with her own. The staff spun away to Ritthirong's hands and he scowled.

Ritthirong grabbed Chann's tail and attempted to climb to Pranee but was flicked off into the ceiling.

"Be more careful. The king can still hurt you by calling that thing back to his hand," Wipa remarked. "I do hope you know how to ride a naga though."

Pranee immediately noticed that Wipa's body was adorned with various gold accessories that she swore she saw some guests from the wedding ceremony wearing as they fled the scene but Pranee turned a blind eye on it for now.

"What are you doing here?" Pranee fell forward and managed to hold on by hugging Chann's scaly back.

"Trying to console our snake friend here. What else would I be doing?" Her eyes flickered to Chann's face. "I have to admit, I'm not doing a very good job but if they're not stopped soon, this whole place will go to shambles."

Chann's tail flicked into a wall and the ground shook. Pranee's eyes landed on Shashi and Kiet. Shashi was struggling to carry Kiet while Kiet was still unconscious.

"Any idea on how we can get them to calm down?" Wipa asked.

"Kiet is still alive!" Pranee yelled. "He's still breathing!"

Chann's movement slowed down and their head swivelled around. "Alive? How? I'm still..."

Pranee looked down at the naga's body and saw that it was twitching. Parts of their flesh were covered in scale where small patches of olive skin peeked through.

"Chann!" Pranee patted her hand on their back. "Get everyone out of here! It's not safe here!"

Chann seemed to hear what Pranee said and zipped towards Shashi and Kiet.

Pranee steadily rose onto her feet and had her arms arm to balance herself. She looked to where Ritthirong had landed and he was slowly removing himself from the rumble. She only had had a little time before he was ready to attack again. Whatever was happening to his body was making him more resistant to injuries.

"Wipa, could I trust that you steal some of our friends back to safety?"

"I hope you trust me well enough that you know who you're talking about."

Pranee glanced at her. "Wipa, you're cunning but you're not a bad person."

"That's the nicest thing that anyone has ever told me." She paused. "Aside from my family."

Pranee gave a curt nod towards Wipa before jumping back into the chaos. Her heart dropped and the wind whipped around her but she was determined to get to Ritthirong.

He seemed to have finally got a good grip of his staff as he twirled it in his hands and shook off the remaining debris off him.

"You ruined my wedding day!" He shouted. "You ruined my image! My hard work. Everything was perfect until you came along!"

"As if I haven't been part of your life since we were children." Her mouth was upturned like she tasted something bitter.

The wind violently engulfed the king and sparks flew from his staff. He began to float and Pranee watched cautiously. His emotions were getting the better of him.

"You will pay! Karma will be returned to you as fast as you have acted! He shrieked.

His staff let out a giant wave of flames and Pranee sidestepped it. She ran towards Ritthirong and he sent out more waves of flames. With each missed attack his face twisted further into anger.

"No, no, no!"

Pranee silently reached to her brother and tried to knock the staff out of his hand but was unsuccessful. He gave a sinister smile and pushed her back.

She stumbled but regained her stance. She used the momentum to punch him. He hissed and looked at her. She was too close for him to send out any attacks. It seemed he only knew how to do long-distance attacks. If he tried to hurt her, he would only hurt himself in the process.

Ritthirong's movements looked unsure and hesitant. He stepped backwards as Pranee continued to kick and punch. He gripped the staff tightly to the point where his veins popped out.

"Brother, you don't know what you're doing." Pranee steadied herself and eyed the king. "This magic is messing with you."

"You dare tell me what to do?!"

He began to attack her with magic once more but had no regard for his wellbeing. Pranee managed to dodge an attack but it burnt part of Ritthirong's arm.

"This is madness!" Pranee shouted. She fell onto her back and immediately sat up.

"Then I guess I'm mad."

Pranee scrambled to find anything that she could use andfelt a hilt under her grasp. Shelooked to the side to see that Tanet's unconscious body lay beside her. Somethingin her chest felt like it was being squeezed as she realized she was holdinghis sword.

Ritthirong continued to spit his magic out wildly and Pranee gripped the hilt. She jumped to her feet and ran towards Ritthirong, dodging and ducking along the way.

With one more rush of strength, she drove the sword into her stomach.

Her hands shook as she saw the light drain from Ritthirong's eyes and he dropped to the ground.

She closed her eyes as she took out the sword and turned away. She didn't need to see his corpse. She started to walk away before she stopped.

There was the sound of what Pranee could only describe as fabric ripping. It was odd and sudden. Pranee slowly turned around to see the source of the sound only to real back in disgust. It wasn't skin that was ripping but rather it was Ritthirong's skin.

Pranee stumbled back, not understanding what was happening. She felt steady hands grab her shoulders and turned to see it was Ubol.

"What's happening to him?" Pranee asked. "I thought I killed him."

The air now was alive and angry as it swirled around the king's body, dragging anything it could take in its path. Fallen weapons, stone, splintered wood, anything. It happened so fast that Pranee couldn't even tell if Ritthirong was in the center of it anymore.

Ubol swatted at another piece of debris. "I don't know if you heard but Isla's magic is volatile."

There was a burst from the king and Ubol blocked a large piece of debris with a swipe of wind.

"I know that wizards can turn into krasue because of it!" Pranee yelled. "Does that mean he's turning into one?"

"No, he's a king. He's in a higher social rank," Ubol said.

"Which means?"

"Which means he's falling harder. The harder the fall, the lower the rank."

The tornado dropped instantly and plumes of dust obscured part of Pranee's vision.

What emerged was a distorted version of Ritthirong's face that was grey and sunken.

He was now a krahang.