Ashen Nightfall was born the youngest son of the Nightfall family, one of the Seven Pillars of Valerith. The Nightfalls were feared across the continent for their cruelty, ambition, and ruthless methods. Power defined worth in their household—strength in swordsmanship, mastery of magic, or domination in politics. But Ashen was born timid. He was small, frail, and shy. From the very start, he failed to meet his family's expectations. Where his siblings wielded magic and weapons with brilliance, Ashen tripped over his own feet and struggled with even the simplest tasks.
To the Nightfalls, weakness was unforgivable. His father, Count Kaelith Nightfall, was one of the seven strongest men on the continent. His might was legendary, his presence terrifying. To him, Ashen was a failure. Kaelith was not cruel out of hatred, but cold and pragmatic: "The weak are destined to be forgotten." His older brother, Darius Nightfall, was talented, arrogant, and consumed with the Nightfall philosophy of strength. He despised Ashen, mocking him as a disgrace. To Darius, Ashen's existence alone tarnished the family's reputation. His sister, Selene Nightfall, was cold, distant, and sharp-tongued. She never coddled Ashen, often calling him pathetic. But beneath her frost, she cared for him in her own way—harsh because she wanted him to grow stronger. Ashen alone noticed her subtle kindness: a blanket left by his door during cold nights, medicine quietly placed when he was sick, silent support when others mocked him. His mother, Lady Elira Nightfall, was the only true warmth in his life. A gentle woman who always encouraged him, she taught him compassion in a world that despised it. But she was sickly, and her health declined year after year, leaving Ashen lonelier as time passed.
Growing up, Ashen tried desperately to earn acknowledgment. He trained with the sword, but his hands trembled. He studied magic, but his mana was weak and unstable. He endured constant humiliation: other noble children mocked him, his brother challenged him only to crush him, and his father ignored him completely as though he didn't exist. Still, he never stopped trying. Not because he believed he could surpass his siblings, but because he wanted his family to look at him—even once—with pride.
The world itself was no kinder to him. Only thirty percent of Valerith was discovered—the rest shrouded in the Unknown Territories, swarming with monstrous beings. The Great Wall separated civilization from chaos, manned by the Aegis Vanguard, a coalition of all races sworn to protect the known lands. Ashen grew up hearing stories of heroes and legends, but he himself was never chosen for glory. While others his age were groomed to join prestigious knight orders or magical academies, he was overlooked and dismissed as worthless. His timid nature branded him as a failure unworthy of the Nightfall name.
When he turned eighteen, Ashen begged to be allowed to join a Vanguard expedition to prove himself. Darius mocked him, Selene coldly warned him he wasn't ready, and his father dismissed the idea without a second thought. But his mother spoke up for him, her frail voice cutting through the coldness of the others. Reluctantly, the family allowed it. Ashen was placed in a unit of mixed recruits—humans, elves, dwarves, and beastkin—on the Frontier Fortress of the Great Wall. For the first time in his life, he found comrades who didn't judge him for his family name, but fought alongside him as equals. They weren't the strongest, but they laughed together, bled together, and called him "friend." Ashen felt a sense of belonging he had never known before.
But fate was cruel. During one mission beyond the Wall, their unit was ambushed by a horde of monstrous creatures from the Unknown. The beasts came in waves, dark and merciless. One by one, his comrades fell, torn apart while protecting each other. Ashen fought desperately, his sword shaking, his body screaming in pain. He wasn't skilled, his strikes were clumsy, and his mana was weak, but he tried—he tried because they were his friends, because they believed in him.
In the end, only he remained, surrounded by corpses and monsters. A jagged blade pierced his chest. His blood spilled onto the battlefield, and his knees gave way. As he collapsed, he looked up at the crimson sky. His breaths grew shallow.
"So… this is how my life ends…" he whispered. His last thoughts were not of hatred, but sorrow and love. He thought of his brother, whom he loved despite the hate and scorn. He thought of his sister, whose coldness had always hidden a quiet care for him. He thought of his mother, who had given him hope when no one else had.
And then he whispered, almost as if to the wind, "I just… wanted to be acknowledged…"
His eyes closed, his body fell, and Ashen Nightfall died, forgotten by the world
The battlefield was littered with corpses. Ashen Nightfall, blood-soaked and broken, staggered as the last of his strength slipped away. His friends—all of them—lay dead around him.
He raised his head to the sky, its crimson hue mocking his final moments.
"So this is how my life ends…"
His voice was soft, almost relieved.
Memories of his family flickered before his fading consciousness. His brother's hatred, sharp as a blade. His sister's coldness, harsh yet protective. His mother's smile, the one person who gave him warmth.
A faint smile touched his lips.
"…I just wanted to be acknowledged…"
And then, Ashen Nightfall's body collapsed. His heart stopped. His soul drifted into silence.
But death was not the end.
Another soul, broken and furious, fell into Ashen's corpse.
The man had lived a different life.
A car accident had taken his parents. His grandfather died helpless before his eyes. His grandmother was slain, betrayed by the man he trusted most—Henry. And finally, Henry had killed him too.
His last words in that world were soaked in hatred.
"I hate them all… betrayal, fate, the gods themselves!"
Darkness had answered him:
"Then live again. Burn this world with your fury."
His eyes opened.
Ashen's body stirred, blood still dripping from his wounds. His chest ached, his heart beating again with a rhythm that wasn't his own.
But his mind—his mind was no longer singular.
At first came confusion. The MC clutched his head as memories surged like a flood. His own tragic past. His betrayals. His death.
And then—Ashen's life.
He remembered being born into the Nightfall family.
He remembered being called timid, weak, unworthy.
He remembered his brother's hatred, his sister's coldness, his mother's love.
He remembered the pressure of the Seven Pillars, the towering strength of his father, the cruelty of noble politics.
He remembered the world of Valerith—its Seven Territories, its Great Wall, its endless war against the Unknown.
It wasn't like being told a story.
He knew it all. As if he had lived it himself. As if Ashen's life had been his own from the beginning.
His head throbbed. His chest burned.
"…I… remember… everything."
Ashen's dreams. Ashen's despair. Ashen's final wish—to be acknowledged.
And alongside it, his own hatred, his own loss, his own vow to defy fate itself.
Kneeling in the blood-soaked dirt, he panted heavily. The battlefield was silent except for the groans of dying monsters.
"I am… Ashen Nightfall…" his voice trembled.
"No…" he clenched his fists.
"I am also… the man who lost everything in another world. The one who was betrayed. The one who was killed."
He laughed bitterly, a sound twisted between grief and madness.
Two lives. Two deaths. Two worlds.
And now, one body.
Ashen's timid, desperate heart.
The MC's broken, hateful fury.
They had fused into something else entirely.
"…So this is what you've given me," he muttered to the heavens. "A second chance… in someone else's life."
The insignia of the Aegis Vanguard glimmered faintly on a broken banner nearby. The motto whispered across his mind:
"Against the Unknown, We Stand Unbroken."
His lips curled into a bitter smile.
"…Then let's see. If fate wanted Ashen to die here, then fate made its mistake. Because I won't die. Not again."
He rose to his feet, his eyes no longer the same timid ones Ashen once had.
Ashen Nightfall was dead.
But in his place stood something else.
A man who carried Ashen's memories, pain, and longing… and the MC's hatred, fury, and defiance.