A hand flew in the air with blood spurting once again. This time around, it was the left hand of Michael which was holding the cutlass and blood was coming out at an unbelievable rate from where his hand was cut off from.

The reason for Andrew's dull eyes was because he had expected such a thing from Michael, being able to resist the poisoning effect for a little longer wasn't beyond his expectations, and thus was able to deal with it efficiently and with little to no difficulty.

Andrew just stares at Michael dumbly as his hands continue bleeding, but this time around, he just picks up both of his hands and walks towards the herb before feeding the hands to it. The herb absorbs all the vitality from the hands at its normal pace without any delay and soon, there was nothing left of the hands.

On seeing this happening, the veins on Michael's head almost popped open as they became very visible like a network of snakes on his head. It was very obvious he was both angry and reluctant at the final development, he had after all thought he would be the biggest winner and profiter out of everyone since George was weaker than him even though it was not by a huge margin, but he didn't expect this final situation in which he would end up being treated as a prey also.

He had made such perfect plans and everything was going as he had planned, he had even gathered everything he needed, ready to move to the capital soon but seems like it would all end now, he wanted to laugh at himself but due to his nerves being paralyzed he couldn't even open his mouth to laugh or even do something as little as a smile. His face was as stiff as it could get with a pained expression still plastered on his face from having his hand cut off, seems like the paralysis effect has worked out this time.

Michael watches as the ground swallows up all the blood which was coming out from his hands and his face turned pale due to excessive blood loss without any treatment. Andrew doesn't mind and just stays back, watching as Michael's blood was being drained. No sooner than later, the blood flow decreased and Andrew appears behind Michael at this moment and with a quick pace cuts both of his legs and drags Michael along with the legs he just cut off towards the plant. Andrew seems to take his time with the killing of Michael and doesn't rush it, mutilating him and watching him bleed out. The plant still absorbs all the vitality from the leg and the blood which was flowing out from Michael's injuries. The herb at this moment turns green like a freshwater plant that had been cared for a long time with the right quantity of sunlight, water, and fertilizer, but it seems to be wrapped up as if it was protecting something, but Andrew isn't too bothered at this new development as his eyes were still trained on Michael whom could finally talk again.

Seems like the blood flow has removed the poison from his body system also but his face was very pale, he probably won't last long except if blood was being transfused into his body and his injuries were properly treated without any more delay.

"I guess you hate me too much to even want to have anything to do with me at this point", Michael breaks the silence with his lip which was parched. "I won't say I am sorry for all that I did cause I did it fully aware of everything", he continues, "But please don't take it out on Annie and Marian. Please spare them I beg you, they did nothing wrong", tears could be seen streaming from Michael's eyes at this moment.

The man who was known for not being able to cry for a long while now, finally shed tears and he was crying like a baby.

"And why should I?", Andrew asks with a frown on his face, "If possible I did like to eradicate anybody that has ties to you from the surface of this planet", he adds.

Michael although still has tears on his face couldn't help but smile at this moment, "I know you won't hurt them. I have known you for a while now, I saw you grow up and how you overcame every situation that came your way. You are not the sort of person to harm the innocent". "But Annie isn't innocent one bit", Andrew replies.

"Please keep her safe for me. You would fulfil that little request of mine right?", Michael asks, "Am the loser in this game of life and the winner gets to take it all but you could just fulfil a dying man's request right?".

Andrew does not reply this time around and silence ensues for a while before he was able to open his mouth barely saying, "Why did you do it?". "Huh", Michael replies not fully understanding the question. "Why did you have to use me in that manner? If you had found me to be a nuisance to you, couldn't you have just sent me away? Why? Just why?", seems like Andrew couldn't hold it in anymore as he pours out all that has been haunting him.

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"Sorry kid. Sigh, I ended up saying it at the end. I know that saying sorry can't cut it out at the end, but I should have known better", Michael says in reply.

"I took you as my father and this is what I get in return. I could have done anything to repay you for all the time and resources you had spent on me, I can no longer speak of your love and affection since they were not real from the start. You didn't have to play me goddamnit", Andrew says with his eyes fully red like he could cry at any moment.

"Sorry kid. I did do you wrong and am sorry for all that. Guess death does make one sees all his fault. Hope you could forgive me?", Michael sighs while saying.

Andrew just stares at Michael before saying, "It's all futile in the end. All your acting is all futile, but you don't have to worry about your family. I would try my best to take care of them, but I would always prioritize my well-being and plans over them. Won't risk anything for them, guess it's all just as a final payment I did guess", Andrew continues while walking down towards Michael, "It's time then. All the farewells have been completed". He didn't wait for a reply from Michael as he severed his head. Michael's head rolled a bit before stopping, there was a smile on his face as if he had won the battle.

"In the end, all your plans were futile. Giving you more time would make you generate more plans, can't imagine how you did still be planning to kill me even in such a state", says Andrew with a disappointed look on his face.

A shard of sharp metal could be found beneath the tongue of Michael, seems like he was acting all this while and wasn't even a bit guilty of his wrongdoings and still had the time to think about how he could harm Andrew, how he was able to get such a thing to his mouth even baffles Andrew. He was rotten to the core and seems like nothing could change him, Andrew was sure that Michael could sacrifice his daughter even to gain more power if possible.

Andrew stops thinking about Michael who was now dead and just focuses on the herb which was absorbing the body of Michael but at a slower rate than it used to, it takes a lot of time before it was almost through absorbing all the vitality from Michael's body. His skull was still intact after the draining epistle which goes to show that the herb was now filled with enough life essence and its true form was about to be revealed.

Andrew couldn't help salivating in expectation of how the herb would look like and what it would unfurl. The herb slowly and steadily starts unfurling and the leaves available start falling off to reveal what was inside.

It was a red ball, the size of a bean which is being shown at this moment. On its appearance, the herb starts dying at a visible speed and the red ball-like blood drop falls off but before it touches the ground, Andrew holds it in his palm. "Is this what it is supposed to look like after absorbing so many life essences?", Andrew couldn't help asking dubiously as he didn't understand the final form of the king elephant herb. Who he was asking such a question remains a mystery.

"Am I supposed to eat it?", Andrew asks as if expecting a reply from someone. The red bean was warm and at the same time cool to the touch. It seemed very light and rolled up and down his hands as if it was blood coming off his injury. On staring at the red bean ball in his hands, Andrew feels like he should just put it in his mouth but hesitates a bit since he didn't know the effect of this red bean-shaped stuff he held and he was in the forest and a little mishap could also lead to his death but he still doesn't know if he could ask anyone outside the forest for what to do with it, it could, after all, be stolen from him as he was weak to a lot of people in the outside world.

He didn't think of himself as a hotshot because he was able to kill Michael, he still thought of himself as a frog in a well, after all, there were mountains higher than mountains and he hasn't seen the whole of this world yet. He still had a long way ahead of him.

He still thought about the fact that the red bean-sized ball in his hands could lose its efficiency and vanish just like the way those corpses vanish and hence didn't hesitate anymore as he threw it into his mouth.

Come what may, he would handle everything, one at a time as they come his way and shouldn't be thinking too hard about anything.

The ball on entering his mouth had the taste of blood, but later on, it tasted sweet like honey and he seemed to enjoy the taste as he had it in his mouth for a while before swallowing it.

There didn't seem to be an effect at first as Andrew felt okay and thought maybe the herb was fake but in just a moment, it seems like something exploded inside of him with a great force.

The ball now seems like blood, compressed to its utmost limit as the explosion puts Andrew in great pain that he went down on he kneels, sweating buckets. He didn't expect such great pain from just swallowing the ball and the pain almost causes him to pass out but he couldn't as he held strong to every bit of consciousness he could grab hold of.

Falling unconscious in the forest was just like signing your death certificate. The force of the explosion passes through all the veins and nerves in his body unclogging every pathway that was clogged with great force. After all the pathways were unclogged, Andrew felt free for the first time in a long while as the restrictions which he had felt formerly has been removed. He started coughing vigorously all of a sudden and with every cough, a black substance that looked like blood came out of his mouth. Some even went out of his nostrils as if he wasn't able to get it all out by just coughing alone.