(Lian Li POV)
"Sister, are you engaging in one of your weird plays again?" The crown prince asked in a standoffish manner, a far cry from how he had asked us to take care of his sister just a few hours ago.
It's like as if he was a different person?
Guards ran into the room after her, all of them with their weapons drawn.
One of them bowed towards us, "Apologies your Majesty, the princess is throwing one of her tantrums again."
The King shook his head, "It's fine. They have already drunk the tea. You girls have been quite a pain in our neck for quite a while now."
I acted shocked, "What? What do you mean, your Majesty?"
"You can drop the act already. It's stifling for me to be in this form as well," He grunted.
His face began to shimmer before it started to flow downwards like melted wax, revealing himself to be the Third Prince.
He snapped his fingers and the Queen's face also melted away, transforming into what I assume to be a maid of the palace.
Similarly, the crown prince was also revealed to be a doppelganger, his form morphing into a bearded man with emotionless eyes.
The second prince however, didn't change.
"Can I go back to my books now, brother?" He whined, not even fazed by what was going on in front of him.
The third prince just gave him a wave and that was all he needed before strutting off, not even bothering to acknowledge his sister on his way out.
"You? You did this?" The princess gaped at her third brother.
"Yes. And before you ask, yes, I was also the one that arranged your kidnapping back then."
She scowled at him, "So you… You're one of them! Why are you doing this?!"
The prince gave her a condescending smile, "Oh my dear little sister, you have no idea how this world works! It isn't all just rainbows and sunshine you know? I suppose the simplest thing is to tell you it's for the throne."
"Why are you so fixated on the throne?!"
"Hahahahaha… Oh sister… Are you not even aware of the Dongs planning to invade us?"
I stood up, "What does that have to do with you framing Master for killing you?"
The prince scoffed at me, "There is no point in telling a group of dead people. All of you have already drunk the poison laced… Wait a minute. You guys aren't dead…"
All of us stared at him until his eyes landed on Brendan.
His lips curled into a smile, "Oh, an alchemist are you? I guess I should consider it my bad luck then. Never expected there to be an alchemist of all things amongst you."
"Brother, you will not get away with this! Once everyone else learns of your plans, the other Houses and Sects will not even let you ascend the throne!"
"Yes, yes, whatever you say sister. That's also assuming you can get out of here. Guards, get her already. She's really getting on my nerves."
The guards obeyed, moving towards the princess in an attempt to grab her.
Her eyes flashed yellow as lightning gathered around her arms, shooting them around her to blast back the guards who had been near.
"Huh, so it seems you've at least learnt how to control it yourself. But you can't defeat us all."
I raised my hand, letting lightning arc across my fingers, "It seems the prince has forgotten that she is not alone?"
The prince tilted his head at me, "It seems you have forgotten yourself that I am not alone either. Did you think these two are just normal servants?"
The two people who had been masquerading as the Queen and crown prince stood up, their eyes shining red.
They hunched over and their limbs began to elongate and stretch, their faces lengthening and their bodies rising up to more than twice their previous heights. What appears to be deer horns sprouted out from the top of their heads and another pair of additional arms sprouted from their shoulder blades.
"Wen… Wendigoes?" Brendan gasped. "How… How are they even listening to you?"
The prince raised an eyebrow, "I'm more surprised you know what they are. Guess you must be quite well read huh?"
Brendan gritted his teeth, "The last one at Heaven Sect… Was it because of you as well? Damn! Everyone be careful! They are exceptionally resilient! Master killed one by burning it into ashes but that will also release its spirit to possess someone else! We need a way to kill its spirit form too!"
Hmm… It seems Brendan had met them while he was together with Master... I wonder where and when?
The prince seemed a little more concerned now that he knew Brendan had experience with the monsters.
"Kill them, take my sister and the inventor girl out of here alive."
The so called Wendigoes took that as their cue to leap forward, one of them going for us while the other went for the princess.
I reached out my hand, the lightning that I had been gathering since he started gloating blasted into the chest of the monster and flung it back towards the wall at the far side of the room.
I got ready with my other hand to save the princess but was a little surprised to see that she had her own lightning ready, sending it streaking towards the monster's head.
Most likely due to inexperience, her lightning did nothing but stun the monster for a while before it recovered again to leap at her.
I let loose my own bolt of lightning, the explosion redirecting its flight path towards the other side of the room.
It was as Brendan said, these things are indeed resilient. Those lightning bolts would have normally blasted a hole through a person, but they were still quite intact.
The guards at the door began moving up towards the princess, clearly intent to grab her in place of those monsters.
A quick nod from me was enough to let Eris loose upon them.
All the guards saw was a flash of metallic silver before they were instantly decapitated with her invisible air blades.
By then the Wendigoes had also gotten to their feet to snarl at us, something that Brendan seemed to have exploited by tossing two bottles at them.
The bottles smashed on the floor beneath their feet, releasing what appears to be yellow coloured smoke.
The two of them sniffed at it before brushing the smoke aside with a swipe of their arms, seemingly mocking at the failed attempt with what sounded like guttural laughter.
That laughter soon turned into screams of anguish when their skin started bubbling and swelling up, the red lights of their eyes dimming almost to non existence.
Diao Chan did not waste any time and began weaving her Spell, "Thou who seekst to harm shall move not, locked by mine will unseen; Break not, see not and even in rot, clasp in my chains in worlds between! Spirit Bind!"
Ethereal green chains wrapped around their limbs forcing the monsters to stand still.
To add on to their bindings, Kiyomi summoned ice to freeze over their limbs, effectively rendering them completely immobile.
Manami brought a finger to her lips and small fireballs lit up on the tips of each of her tails.
Her tails thrusted out without warning and the small fireballs turned into giant flamethrowers almost immediately, completely engulfing that side of the room in a red hot blaze of fire.
Everything that had been there was instantly incinerated into ashes, leaving nothing behind.
All that was left were the two spirits of the Wendigoes just like Brendan said, both of them still bound by the chains that Diao Chan had summoned.
My body glowed a golden hue as I conjured two more bolts of Divine Lightning, both of which could smite even ethereal spirits.
Those two monsters could do nothing but watch as the bolt came blasting towards them, instantly blasting them apart into nothingness.
There was a short wail of despair as its spirit faded away, most likely banished back into the pits of the Abyss.
I was just about to gloat at the Prince's defeat when he started laughing.
"Hahaha! You main branch people are always so predictable! You guys think if you kill me here everything will be solved? It's already too late!"