Blood pooled beneath him—warm, thick, and suffocating. The iron stench clung to the air like a curse. Leo Aetherwind lay motionless, drenched in crimson, his shattered body sprawled across the broken marble floor of the once-glorious Aetherwind Hall. Above him, the sky was a brilliant canvas of twilight stars… serene, uncaring.
"Fuck it," Leo spat, blood bubbling at the corner of his mouth. "Damn this protagonist bullshit…"
He coughed, a deep, painful heave that wracked his body. His vision blurred.
A sigh escaped him—slow and bitter.
"I guess this is it... My end."
He laughed, dry and hollow. There was no one left to hear it.
Yes, he was a transmigrator. A soul from another world thrown into this one—a fantasy land of clans, realms, and destiny. At first, he was thrilled. Who wouldn't be? He had become Leo Aetherwind, the immortal prodigy born once in a million years. His talent was unmatched. His body unbreakable. His destiny… golden.
Or so he thought.
Now, he lay defeated. Not by monsters, not by calamities, but by plot.
By the damned script of destiny.
He had watched everything fall apart.
His father—Lucas Aetherwind—once a towering man feared and respected by empires, was publicly humiliated, stripped of power, and executed like a criminal. No dignity. No honor.
His mother—Elena Skydawn—descendant of the sky gods, had sacrificed her life in a desperate attempt to save him from a fate worse than death. She vanished into oblivion with a smile he could never forget.
And him?
The supposed immortal genius?
Dying like a stray dog in the streets.
He looked up just in time to see them—the Hero and his harem. Alex Bladecrest. The "destined" one. Shining, smirking, surrounded by glory and praise like he was a god reborn.
And at his side—
Serena Luxveil.
Leo's heart clenched.
She… the girl who once clung to his side, promising to stand with him forever. She broke the engagement when the Aetherwinds fell from grace. Leo still remembered the day she threw his ring back and turned her back on everything they had shared.
Now she smiled beside that man like they were soulmates.
His breath caught again when he saw the two other figures beside Alex.
Zoe and Sophia Aetherwind.
His sisters.
His adopted sisters—girls who had grown up holding his hand, crying in his arms, laughing with him under moonlit skies.
Traitors.
They betrayed his father.
His family.
Him.
For power.
For status.
For a spot beside the "hero."
Leo's eyes turned bloodshot. His veins pulsed with raw hatred. He tried to crawl, even if it was just to reach them. To scream. To curse.
But he couldn't.
His strength left him as Alex Bladecrest stepped forward with that same arrogant grin.
"Game over, Leo," the Hero said.
Then the world—
collapsed.
Everything blurred. Shattered.
And in that final moment…
He died.
Then—
A jolt.
A spark.
A violent rush of memories and emotion.
Leo gasped, his eyes snapping open.
He was not on the battlefield anymore.
He was…
Younger.
Smaller.
In a familiar room of marble and gold, light pouring through the crystal windows of the Aetherwind estate.
He touched his face.
No blood.
No wounds.
His heart raced.
"I've… gone back?"
His mind flooded with memories—forbidden knowledge, future events, hidden betrayals, lost opportunities.
He remembered it all.
He had regressed.
His fists clenched.
Destiny had played its hand.
And lost.
They thought he'd lie down and die? Watch the same farce play out again?
No.
This time…
He would take everything.
Every secret technique.
Every bloodline treasure.
Every fated heroine.
Even if he had to kill a thousand heroes to do it.
He no longer cared about love.
Not family.
Not bonds.
He would stand alone at the pinnacle of this world.
Leo Aetherwind looked up.
The skies were bright again.
But not for long.
"Let's see who's the real protagonist now."
—End of Epilogue—