Rhine would sometimes teleport, suddenly disappearing and then reappearing; sometimes he would suddenly sing like Ariel, driving the fish to surround the tuna that the Old Witch had transformed into; sometimes he would revert to his original form, pull out a crystal ball, and find the Old Witch, who had turned into a mouse and was hiding in an abandoned house.
As the two chased each other through the Imperial City streets, the Old Witch transformed back into her original form several times, attempting to command nearby Soldiers to fight Rhine.
However, due to the riot caused by the mermaids at the harbor, the area was already in chaos, and no one obeyed her orders.
Many thoughts flashed through the Old Witch's mind.
"Damn fellow! I can't shake him off."
"I had a large group of ghouls and skeletons ambushed near that alley, but they were easily crushed by the giant dog he summoned."
"Someone, quickly, I need backup! Isn't this the Imperial City of Ender?"
"Why?"
"Why haven't they come yet?"
"I just sent out the signal! Why isn't anyone helping me?"
"Where are the other court magicians? Where are the Emperor and his Super Warriors?"
"Where did they all go?"
"..."
As time passed, the Old Witch, who kept fleeing and trying to buy time, felt increasingly cold and desperate.
On the Imperial City streets illuminated by the silver moonlight.
The Old Witch reverted to her original form, glaring fiercely at the Little Magician who was leisurely approaching from behind, her eyes filled with unspeakable indignation and, even more so, undisguised anxiety.
She was exhausted.
She believed that the Little Magician chasing her must have also expended a lot of energy. But besides himself, that damned Magician also had three terrifying dogs!
"You seem to be stalling for time, waiting for someone?" Rhine walked over with a smile, rubbing the the tinderbox several times. "Your luck seems to be very bad today; no one is willing to help you."
With whooshing sounds, the three large dogs had already surrounded the Old Witch.
The largest one's eyes were almost as big as a tower's dome. Even powerful spells could not incapacitate such an exaggerated beast in a short time.
"No, no, no! Why?"
The Old Witch cried out hoarsely, preparing for her final struggle.
In the ugly witch's eyes, the image of the three large dogs pouncing on her was reflected.
"Emperor, did you not hear my plea for help?"
...
Inside the palace.
A man with a thick beard, an imposing demeanor, and extraordinary martial prowess extended his strong right hand, picked up a captured black chess piece from the board, and unhesitatingly tossed the black bishop aside.
He was the Emperor of Ender.
Unlike his strong and powerful hand, the hand holding a chess piece on the other side of the board was noticeably more slender and fair, like a woman's hand.
"Your Majesty, aren't you sending anyone to rescue that court witch? She is the first witch of Ender."
The gentle voice from across the chessboard said.
"What are you talking about?" The Emperor of Ender's tone was calm and unruffled. "From beginning to end, wasn't it all just her personal actions?"
"Sprinkling enchanting aphrodisiacs on my daughter, trying to turn a foreign Prince into a puppet who would obey her every command; tricking Prince Eric into drinking a memory-erasing potion; secretly imprisoning the bride and groom along with other royalty and nobles..."
"These countless sins are all evil deeds committed by that Old Witch for her own selfish desires."
"That Old Witch wanted to use the Prince of the summer Kingdom—who is the future King—to control the entire summer Kingdom and gain qualification to join the Witch Society. She naively thought she had hidden it from me."
Across the chessboard, there was a chuckle.
"As expected of Your Majesty."
"What exactly was she expecting, I wonder?" The monarch of this empire moved a knight on the chessboard. "Did she want me to kill a highly skilled Magician of unknown origin, a Super Warrior who looks like a little girl but has immense strength, and the Prince of the Summer Kingdom along with his entire ship of retainers, and not let them leave the Imperial City?"
"For Your Majesty, the Summer Kingdom is just a small country that can be destroyed with a flick of the wrist, isn't it?" The slightly slender voice from across the chessboard said.
"I never fight meaningless wars," the man said coldly.
"An alliance between the two countries is no longer possible. Losing a Kingdom in a key strategic location as an ally is a bit regrettable, but it doesn't affect my affairs."
The man turned his head and looked at the guards waiting beside him:
"Tell that Maglido, the Magician from the Middle Eastern Country, that the monarch of Ender agrees to grant him an audience. Summon him."
"He said he had a very important secret to tell me, right?"
...
Prince Eric, Ariel, and Aurora had already returned to the Summer Kingdom's pleasure boat, which was docked at the harbor.
During the recent riot, many ships in the harbor were damaged and sank, but all the sunken ships were, without exception, Ender warships. This pleasure boat belonging to the Summer Kingdom remained intact.
Upon seeing the Prince, whose lower body had transformed into a fish tail, the crew members were incredibly surprised.
Prince Eric explained to his retainers the reason he had become a merman, briefly recounting this absurdly hasty wedding and the entire conspiracy he had experienced.
The people on the ship cursed the Old Witch's shamelessness and were all exceedingly relieved that Prince Eric had finally returned.
Splash, splash.
The beautiful large ship raised its anchor and set sail, heading in the direction of the Summer Kingdom under the starlight and moonlight, leaving a white wake behind the vessel.
Ariel's sisters' and her Great-grandmother successively poked their heads out of the sea, waved to Ariel on the ship, and then dived back into the sea before the attendants could see them, leaving only a swirl of white foam.
"The moon is beautiful tonight. Don't you think so, my Ariel?"
On the deck of the pleasure boat, in the gentle, cool sea breeze, and under the bright, sacred moonlight, the Prince of the Summer Kingdom and the Princess of the Sea Kingdom embraced and kissed tightly.
They had already experienced too much, countless difficulties and obstacles.
They had crossed the chasm between land and sea, broken through the prejudices between humans and mermaids, endured the stubborn King's arrangements, and overcome the terrifying witch and the powerful empire's conspiracy. In the history of both land and sea, there had never been such a moving and tragic love story.
Now, no one could stop them from being together!
"After this upheaval, it's impossible for summer Kingdom to ally with Ender. My marriage is also free. I will absolutely not let my father use me as a bargaining chip again to marry the Princess of yet another country!"
"No matter what, my bride can only be you, my Ariel!"
Wait, no... Prince Eric suddenly remembered something.
"Oh, Ariel." Prince Eric held the girl's hand, looking into her sapphire-blue eyes, and asked tremblingly, "The sun is about to rise. You'll be alright, won't you?"
Although incredibly hasty, although only the priest gave some symbolic blessings, although the wedding was disrupted midway, and although neither the bride nor the groom recognized this wedding now, Prince Eric did experience a nominal wedding.
And according to the curse, "On the first morning that the beloved marries someone else, the mermaid's heart will break and turn into sea foam."
Aurora, upon hearing this, also became extremely worried.
"Ariel, you..."
She grabbed her mermaid friend's hand as if Ariel was about to disappear.
When they first met in the sea, Ariel was still in her mermaid form, but now the girl's lower body had long since become human legs.
In the distant East, a pure white glimmer was faintly visible.
The sun was about to rise!