Published at 19th of July 2026 7:36 am

Chapter 916: Two Years Too Late

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"Brother," Asher called out, surprised to see Thalric already in his room.

He simply stepped in, closed the door behind him, and placed the gifts that had been floating behind him on the ground. Asher didn’t bother wondering how Thalric had made it into his room without the people of the Gentle Hotel noticing. Anyone with a bit of skill could probably do that without much difficulty.

Asher couldn’t help but wonder what Thalric was doing here and what the boy wanted. After all, the guy wasn’t much of a talker. Even back at the Star Academy, they only spoke whenever they happened to meet each other on the road or in the Logistics and Missions Operations Hall by coincidence, and even then, they merely exchanged a couple of words before going their separate ways.

"I came to say congratulations, Ash," Thalric spoke as he gazed at Asher, who remained standing.

"Ahhh!!! Thank you, Brother," Asher replied, as he hadn’t expected Thalric to come here just to congratulate him.

Thalric smiled as he spoke. "If it wasn’t because of the White Flag, it would have been nice if we had fought against each other." His tone was low, almost longing. "I would have lost, but I would have felt your power myself instead of watching from the sidelines." He shook his head before adding, "It’s too bad that I encountered someone who had the White Flag." He sighed as he finished speaking.

Asher exhaled silently before asking, "How do you feel about the White Flag?"

Although many people wanted him, Asher, to take revenge on Acker for Thalric’s sake, Asher didn’t particularly make such a decision and simply fought the way he would have fought any other opponent who didn’t require him to go all out to handle.

Thalric remained silent for a moment before speaking. "Honestly, I was angry at the beginning. I wanted to split that Buddhist’s skull open... but after I calmed down a few minutes later, I simply became indifferent about the entire thing. After all, Acker Holloway using the White Flag at that moment was a very practical and logical move. I might have even done the same in his shoes. Only a stupid person would keep the White Flag in order to use it in the final round or until the battle dragged out in the type of situation Acker and I found ourselves in," he explained.

Asher remained silent for a moment before nodding as he spoke. "I understand." His tone was calm.

"Well, even though we didn’t get to fight, we could always schedule a fight between us later," Asher suggested.

Thalric thought about it for a moment before shaking his head. "No need. It won’t have the same hype, tension, or even mood. It won’t be nearly as much fun. Besides, battles become more exciting when both sides are targeting each other’s lives, almost as though they’re fighting to the death. But a fight outside the Inter-Empire Tournament might not grant us such leeway, even if Father or Elder Brother Malrik decided to supervise the fight," he explained.

"I guess..." Asher replied without any change in expression or much thought. It wasn’t like he really wanted to fight Thalric anyway.

With that, Asher’s gaze shifted toward one of the gifts on the ground as he spoke. "Should I open one of the wines the Gentle Hotel gave me as a gift?" His question was rhetorical, as he didn’t know whether Thalric was into wine or alcohol.

Thalric seemed to ignore Asher’s question as though he also knew it was rhetorical. Instead, he turned toward the enormous glass wall he had been looking at before Asher walked in. He took a deep breath before speaking.

"Do you hate me, Ash?" he asked, his tone changing as though his mood and state of mind were shifting in real time.

Asher froze at the question, his purple eyes shifting toward Thalric as he wondered where this was coming from, but he didn’t delay in replying.

"No, I don’t." His tone remained calm as he stopped thinking about opening a bottle of wine.

Thalric stayed silent for a second before asking, "Why don’t you hate me... you have every right to hate and resent me until your dying breath." His tone was filled with guilt as he continued to stare at the world outside through the glass wall, as though he didn’t have the courage to face Asher or look directly into his eyes.

Asher didn’t play dumb. He already knew where this was going.

"If I were in your shoes, and you did to me what I did to you, I would have hated you to the core," Thalric continued. "All the bullying, the hatred, the traps, the condescending tone, the insults, the looks of spite and hatred..." His voice gradually lowered as though every word forced him to relive everything he had ever done to Asher in vivid detail.

"You should hate me... Little Brother... that way, I can leave with the guilt I feel," Thalric added as his heart and stomach twisted painfully.

Asher remained silent. Honestly, in the past, he could never understand this guy, and even now, he still couldn’t understand him completely. In the original Asher’s memories, Thalric never wasted an opportunity to speak only to verbally abuse, insult, and look down on him. The Thalric within those memories seemed nothing like someone who wasn’t much of a talker.

But after their confrontation at the Wargrave Ducal Estate, when Asher had completed his True Awakening ceremony, Thalric’s entire attitude had taken a complete one-hundred-and-eighty-degree turn. He went from someone who couldn’t keep his mouth shut whenever Asher was in his presence, to someone who merely nodded in his direction. Then he had moved to save him from Debra during the Star Academy apocalypse event, then even gave him thousands of Academy Points, and supported him in subtle ways whenever the opportunity presented itself.

Asher couldn’t help but wonder if Thalric had become this way and done all of this because of the guilt he carried for everything he had done, only to watch the very person he had tormented forgive him with such astonishing ease.

But alas... whatever Thalric was doing right now was already two years too late, because the original Asher had already died as a result of suicide. But Asher... or rather Ethan... said nothing in this situation. He had simply decided to continue from where the original Asher had stopped and climb all the way to the very top, fulfilling the dream the original Asher had once held deep within his heart.

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