The plan had seemed simple at first.
Feed the adults his mana-saturated flesh. Wait for the poisoning to take effect.
Watch them die, one by one, as their bodies rejected the power they had consumed.
It would be horrific. It would be gruesome. But it would save Anya.
So Mika had crafted his story.
The Titan Berries. The giant bat. The need for a two-person team to retrieve the fruit.
He had built the narrative carefully, layer by layer, until the adults believed it completely.
He had even rigged up a crude speaker from salvaged electronics, broadcasting static and screeches into the cave to simulate the creature's cries.
When the adults heard those sounds, they fled in terror—exactly as Mika had intended.
And then, alone in the smaller cavern, Mika had cut off his own leg for the first time.
The pain had been indescribable. Beyond anything he had ever experienced.
