Blood.
It drenched everything—his robes, his trembling hands, the shattered earth beneath him.
Crimson, steaming in the cold air, pooling around him like an ominous offering to the heavens.
Leo Aetherwind lay motionless, staring up at the dim, cloud-choked sky.
His vision blurred, every heartbeat slower than the last.
"…Fuck it," he whispered, his voice hoarse, cracked. "Damn the protagonist. Damn the plot…"
A bitter chuckle escaped his cracked lips, but it hurt to laugh.
Everything hurt. His lungs were punctured, his chest hollowed, and the pain was dull now. Too dull.
"So this is it, huh?" he muttered, his breath shallow. "Guess this is how I go… worse than a dog."
And to think—he was once overjoyed.
He had been transmigrated.
Yes, back then, it felt like fate had smiled on him.
He'd awoken in the body of Leo Aetherwind—a genius born with an Immortal Body, a bloodline so rare it only emerged once every million years.
He was the heir of a mighty clan, feared and respected across empires.
A dream, wasn't it?
But it was all a fucking lie.
A damn plot.
A story he thought he could control.
Leo gritted his teeth as memories flashed behind his eyes—the day his father, Lucas Aetherwind, was publicly humiliated and executed, accused of treason he never committed.
The proud man who had once crushed tyrants and protected kingdoms, reduced to a disgraceful corpse on the city plaza.
His mother, Elena Skydawn, that terrifying and powerful woman who once shook continents with her magic, had given her life to protect him.
Even as the world branded her a monster, she fought like a goddess fallen from the skies—until her light was extinguished.
And still, Leo died.
Why? Because the plot demanded it. Because the world bent its rules for him—for the "Hero."
For Alex Bladecrest.
That smiling, deceitful hypocrite chosen by the heavens. Destined. Praised. Loved.
Even now, Leo could see him standing over his crumpled body.
Alex's gleaming silver armor barely stained, his sword humming with divine energy. And behind him stood those two women—his heroines, his harem, his so-called companions.
Leo's bloodshot eyes widened as he saw them.
Serena Luxveil. The main heroine. Once his fiancée. Once his only hope.
She'd broken the engagement the moment Alex whispered lies into her ears.
Leo had saved her family from annihilation, carried her unconscious body through burning cities, nursed her back from poison's edge.
But none of that mattered.
Not after Alex framed him. One lie from the golden boy, and her love turned to scorn.
"I should've let your family rot," Leo spat weakly, rage burning even as death loomed. "I sacrificed everything… for what?"
Then he saw them—Zoe and Sophia Aetherwind—his step-sisters. Girls who had grown up in his home.
Girls he'd protected, trained, laughed with. His father had adopted them despite his mother's disapproval.
She always warned against it.
But Leo? He and his father believed in giving them a home.
Now?
They stood smiling beside Alex, betrayers cloaked in light.
His father's killers. His mother's executioners. His ruin.
Alex strolled forward, eyes brimming with twisted satisfaction.
"Well, villain… look at you now," the Hero sneered. "The great Leo Aetherwind, defeated and dying."
Then, as if that weren't enough, Alex stepped on Leo's chest—bones cracking, blood spewing.
"Should've stayed in your lane, freak."
Serena's voice drifted in faintly, "Alex… let him die slowly. He's already lost."
But Alex snarled, and without warning, plunged his hand into Leo's chest.
Agony flared one final time.
And then—the Immortal Heart, pulsing with ancient power, was ripped out.
Alex's maniacal laugh echoed across the ruins.
And Leo's world—his vision, his soul, his rage—collapsed.
---
And then...
There was silence.
Then cold.
Then… light.
---
Chirping birds. Warm sun.
Leo's eyelids fluttered open.
And he jolted upright.
A desk.
A chalkboard.
A classroom?!
His eyes darted around. This place… it was familiar. Too familiar.
Then the door opened.
A girl walked in, humming softly.
Sophia Aetherwind.
Leo froze.
That smug look on her face. That same walk. That wicked smile she hid behind kindness.
She was here.
Alive.
Young.
Untainted.
It was true.
He had…
Regressed.
His heart pounded as the truth hit him like a tidal wave.
"I'm back," he whispered.
He clutched his chest.
The Immortal Heart was intact. His body, young and full of power yet to awaken.
The memories—the betrayals, the death, the Hero's laughter—they were all real.
And now?
Now he had a second chance.
The chance to rewrite fate.
The chance to steal back every opportunity that dog Alex was handed.
The chance to slaughter betrayal at its root.
No longer would he play the villain in someone else's story.
Now?
He would become the nightmare that haunted the protagonist's destiny.
Leo Aetherwind stood slowly.
And for the first time in this cursed world, a cold smile stretched across his face.
"No more kindness. No more family. No more trust."
He looked out the classroom window toward the vast academy where it all began.
"I will stand alone," he vowed.
"Alone—against the heavens."
Chapter 1 ends
---