Hunter Academy: Revenge of the Weakest-Chapter 940 - 215.6 - Finally

"You can't be with me," he murmured, his breath warm against her ear, "because if you do, then the whole world will hunt you."

Her entire body stilled.

"And I don't want you to be hunted."

The moment she heard those words—"I don't want you to be hunted"—her body trembled.

A sharp, involuntary shudder ran through her, something deep, something visceral.

It wasn't from fear.

It wasn't from anger.

It was something worse.

Something she couldn't place.

Because she had always known.

She had known from the very start that Maya and Astron had tried to hide her. That whenever Maya felt herself slipping, she would force control back, suppressing her, pushing her down.

The source of this c𝐨ntent is freёnovelkiss.com.

She had known that they were afraid of what she was.

Afraid of what would happen if she was revealed.

And she had hated it.

She had resented being treated like something that needed to be contained.

Like something dangerous.

But hearing it like this—

Hearing it from him—

Feeling the steady warmth of his hands against her back, the solid weight of his presence as he held her together—

She shook again.

Her breath hitched, her fingers twitching against his uniform, gripping at nothing, clinging to something she couldn't even name.

It was suffocating.

This feeling was suffocating.

Because it wasn't rejection.

It wasn't disgust.

It wasn't fear.

It was concern.

For her.

For her.

Not for Maya.

Not for the hesitation.

Not for the restraint.

For the part of her that no one was supposed to see.

For the part of her that wasn't supposed to exist.

And then—

His voice again, calm, steady, undeniable.

"I don't want you to be gone, or be locked up permanently."

His hand moved, slow, deliberate, a careful weight pressing against the back of her head as he patted her.

The motion sent another shiver down her spine, something strange, something foreign, something that made her shake more.

'This… feeling… again…'

She had never known it.

Had never even considered it.

Her world had always been hunger and anger and obsession.

Wanting and never having.

But this—

This quiet, steady concern that wrapped around her, that settled into her chest and made it ache—

She didn't know what to do with it.

Her lips parted, but no sound came.

No rage.

No demands.

Just silence.

And then—

"Really?"

Her voice was hoarse, unsteady.

She hated that.

Hated how weak she sounded.

Hated that the fire inside her was flickering, cracking under something she didn't understand.

She forced the next words out, forced them through her teeth.

"Doing it for me?"

Astron didn't hesitate.

Didn't waver.

Didn't leave her any space to doubt.

"Yes."

His voice was firm, certain, like it was fact.

And it made her tremble all over again.

His arms didn't loosen around her, didn't shift away—

He held her.

Not to restrain her.

Not to control her.

Not to force her back into the dark.

But simply to be there.

"Do you think I don't care about you?" he asked, his voice quieter, but no less steady.

Her breath hitched again.

"If I didn't really care about you, would I be here to give you my blood?"

His fingers pressed lightly against her back—once, twice, slow, steady.

"Would I be here to listen to you?"

Something inside her snapped.

Not in the way it usually did.

Not in anger.

Not in madness.

Not in desperation.

But in recognition.

Because he meant it.

Every single word.

She didn't know how long she stayed there, trembling in his arms, her breath uneven, her mind spiraling in ways she had never experienced before. The warmth of his touch, the weight of his words—everything felt like it was pulling her deeper into something she didn't understand, something she couldn't understand.

And then—

His voice, steady as ever, broke the silence between them.

"I don't want you to disappear."

Her fingers twitched, her body stiffening slightly against him. She had expected him to say something else—to continue coaxing her back into silence, to remind her that she needed to hide, to suppress herself as she always had. But instead, his words wrapped around her like chains, binding her in a way she couldn't shake off.

"I need you."

She felt herself tense further, something sharp catching in her chest.

Need?

Her?

The idea felt foreign, unfamiliar—wrong. No one had ever needed her. Not truly. She had been a shadow, an unwanted fragment clinging to existence, forced to watch as Maya lived a life she couldn't touch. The thought of someone needing her was incomprehensible, like trying to grasp at smoke.

"Need… me?" Her voice came out quiet, almost hesitant, like the words didn't belong to her.

"Yes," Astron said, his tone unwavering. "There are countless dangers around me. People who are targeting me. For that, I will need your strength."

Her strength. Not Maya's.

She blinked, her breath catching, her grip tightening on his uniform. Her strength—hers. Not the controlled, rational, hesitant power that Maya wielded, but her raw, unrestrained, uncontested power. He wasn't asking for compromise, for control, for restraint.

He was asking for her.

"Mine… Not Maya's?" she whispered, almost afraid of the answer.

And then, without hesitation, without any doubt, he spoke the words that sent her world crashing down.

"You are not Maya."

The moment she heard it, she flinched.

Her entire body tensed, her breath freezing in her throat.

'You are not Maya…'

The words echoed through her like a crack of thunder, like something deep and undeniable had just been spoken into existence.

She had spent so long fighting to be seen, to be acknowledged, to claw her way out of the shadows. But no matter what, she had always been tied to Maya, a lingering ghost beneath her surface, a fragment, a whisper of something that shouldn't have been.

But now—

Now, Astron had named her.

He had separated her.

He hadn't called her a mistake. He hadn't told her she was just a hunger, an instinct, a part of Maya that should be erased. He had spoken as if she existed.

As if she were real.

Her hands trembled against his chest, her entire body shaking—not from rage, not from bloodlust, but from something far deeper, something raw and overwhelming.

She was not Maya.

She was herself.

And he saw it.

She pressed her forehead against his shoulder, her breath unsteady, her body wracked with something she didn't know how to handle. No one had ever given her this. No one had ever given her acknowledgment.

And now that she had it—

Now that she had heard those words, she could never go back.

Her fingers curled into his uniform, gripping tightly, as if grounding herself in him was the only thing keeping her from falling apart. The warmth of his embrace wasn't suffocating—it wasn't restraining—it was real. A tether, a silent understanding.

For a moment, she allowed herself to exist. Allowed herself to sink into the warmth of his embrace, to feel the steady rhythm of his heartbeat against her. She had spent so long fighting, clawing her way toward him, demanding to be seen. And now that she finally had it—

She never wanted to let go.

But then—

"But…"

Astron's voice cut through the haze, steady and firm, a tether pulling her back.

Her body stiffened slightly, her grip on his uniform tightening. But? What did he mean, but?

"It's not the time right now," he continued, his voice calm but deliberate. "For now, you can't."

Her breath caught.

Can't?

She felt the flicker of her previous frustration curling at the edges of her mind, the burning need to resist, to argue, to fight back.

But—

His grip on her back remained warm. Present. Not as restraint, not as rejection, but as a silent assurance.

"You'll endure for me, won't you?"

His voice was low, quiet, threading through her like something solid, something unshakable.

She should have fought it. She should have resisted. She should have refused.

But instead—

Her lips parted, and the word slipped past them before she even thought about it.

"Yes."

A trance.

That's what it felt like.

Like she had fallen into something deep, something inevitable, something she couldn't escape.

"Good," he murmured.

She barely had time to process the word before she felt it—

His hand shifting.

His fingers lifting.

And then—

The tip of his index finger pressing gently against her lips.

"Here." His voice was softer now, closer. "Take a drink. And leave the control to Maya."

Her pupils dilated, her body shuddering slightly at the weight of his words.

"But don't forget," he continued, his violet eyes locked onto hers, unwavering. "I will be there."

The promise coiled around her like a chain, like a lifeline.

He would be there.

She wasn't disappearing.

She wasn't being erased.

She wasn't being buried again.

He would be there.

That was enough.

Her lips parted slightly, and without hesitation, she took his finger into her mouth.

Her fangs sank in.

A sharp puncture, the familiar warmth of his blood flooding against her tongue, into her throat, curling through her veins.

And this time—

It wasn't just about the hunger.

It wasn't just about possession.

It was trust.

Pure. Unquestioning. Absolute.