The sterile scent of antiseptic and the steady beep of medical machinery pulled Sephorae from the depths of slumber as a breathless gasp escaped those lips. The harsh ceiling lights overhead made their eyes squint while they tried to make sense of the surroundings. Sephorae's body felt heavy, as if weighed down by an invisible force, and the mind was foggy, struggling to piece together what had happened. There was a need to fight the sedatives that must have been injected into their veins to keep them from dozing off. Sephorae's head throbbed and their muscles ached, but sheer willpower forced consciousness to remain.
Looking around, Sephorae noted clean white walls, a drip attached to an arm, a machine constantly monitoring the heart rate, and the faint hum of distant conversations just outside the door. As thought coalesced, the realization came: still in the hospital room. The events of the previous evening had led here… the fight.
"Arghh." A groan escaped as a hand rose to massage the temples. "So everything I remembered is real, huh?" That was… a problem. More than a problem. It was a disaster.
The name is Sephorae Vespera—the fourth son of Duke Lucian Vespera, Overlord of the Northern Safe-Zone and one of the most feared Hunters in the world. Naturally, a life of luxury and privilege was the lot of a member of the Vespera clan. From a very young age, Sephorae was hailed as a prodigy. Smart, clever, and a quick learner, the title of "genius" stuck until early adolescence.
The problem was that even at thirteen, Sephorae had yet to awaken the Aether Essence Energy.
Aether Essence Energy, for short, is awakened only after experiencing a strong physical or emotional ordeal—anything from years of relentless training to a harrowing near-death experience. That's why all the Great Noble Clans put their children through harsh physical and mental discipline from a young age: to help them materialize their Aether Essence early. One can't awaken it after the age of fourteen. That meant Sephorae had only one year left to have any chance at awakening.
All the siblings had already awakened by this time. Even the younger sister, Selene Alarissa Vespera—who was only a few minutes younger.
What was wrong with Sephorae? Was the heir broken? The disappointment in the father's eyes was palpable and grew worse every day. Eventually, he stopped paying attention altogether. It was torture. Sephorae wanted him to look with pride—or just look at all. The desire for acknowledgment was a constant, gnawing hunger.
Training from dawn to dusk left every bone screaming. Hours were spent meditating. Street brawls became frequent—real and ugly. But nothing worked.
When all hope was lost, Sephorae, in a desperate act, snuck into the family's private training dungeon and unshackled an Aether beast, attempting to fight it. Needless to say, Sephorae was overpowered in seconds and was about to be mauled to death. Thankfully, the Duke arrived just in time and rescued the child by slaying the creature.
Sephorae was ecstatic—not because of the rescue, but because the father had finally noticed. Maybe getting nearly killed was worth it.
It wasn't.
After dispatching the beast, the father turned, his eyes cold and merciless, and said in a voice devoid of love, "You're a hot-blooded failure."
A failure.
That word echoed in Sephorae's ears a thousand times—taunting, mocking any hope of a happy relationship with the father who had been worshipped as an idol. It shattered the young heir. Broke the spirit. Tears flowed for days, months even. It was the worst fourteenth birthday imaginable.
But hours after that incident, Sephorae finally awakened the Aether Essence Energy.
Everyone, including the Duke, assumed it was because of the dungeon encounter. They were only half right. It wasn't the beast that triggered the awakening—it was the father's words. Only Sephorae knew that truth.
Little hope remained of gaining the Duke's approval. He had already judged the heir useless. Even though Sephorae awakened a powerful Aether Essence with decent-rank Soul Energy Potential, they still paled next to Selene, whom the father began grooming as his heiress and successor.
Perhaps it was then, in a cry for attention, that Sephorae began lashing out—ranting at servants, hitting people, picking on children their age, bursting into unprovoked violence… because there would be no consequence. The father saw Sephorae as a failure, but Sephorae was still the Duke's child. That alone granted a perverse sense of power.
Sephorae began to enjoy hurting others. Everyone was merely a toy. Inflicting pain satisfied a dark, twisted part of the soul. Who would dare stand against someone of such status?
Even without the noble standing, Sephorae was strong—strongest Awakened kid of that age, second only to Selene. High school was ruled with an iron fist. Teen gangs fell one by one. Sephorae became infamous as one of the toughest fighters. Arrests happened a few times—for underage drinking, violence, drug use, illegal weapons, and other unmentionable things—but the clan handled everything. Bail posted. Charges dropped. Sephorae was untouchable.
…But that wasn't true.
Months ago, one of Sephorae's friends began picking on a peasant subpar Mundane kid—"subpar" meaning someone who failed to Awaken past the fourteen-year threshold. In this society, Mundanes were deemed lesser. This one, chubby and awkward, was an orphan whose parents were murdered gruesomely. Ugly, plump, a goody-two-shoes—an easy target.
If someone didn't want to be bullied, the group reasoned, then maybe they should be bullied until they developed thicker skin. Twisted logic, but logic Sephorae shared.
The kid stood up for a classmate once, and the group put him in his place by stuffing him in a locker. But he didn't relent. So they made him their errand boy.
Sephorae didn't care—until Lila Vire Steele, Sephorae's girlfriend, begged the heir to stop. She told Sephorae the kid's tragic story. His parents had gone missing on duty in the Aether Realms, leaving him with abusive relatives. Sephorae pitied him. Even monsters have limits.
But Sephorae couldn't just tell the group to stop. That would look weak, especially since Lila brought it up. So Sephorae assumed the group would grow bored. They didn't. They escalated.
Lila pleaded again and again. Sephorae avoided her—until one day she threatened to break up with the heir if the torment didn't stop.
Their relationship was superficial—two elites dating because it was convenient—but Sephorae had grown fond of her. Her smile, her warmth… she brightened Sephorae's bleak world. Losing her wasn't an option. So Sephorae went to tell her everything would change.
But instead… Lila was seen kissing that kid.
The light of Sephorae's life. Kissing a weak, pathetic, miscreant.
Anger and jealousy clouded everything. Sephorae attacked him, pummeling his face until it was a bloody mess. Lila tried to intervene, explaining she was consoling him because one of Sephorae's own friends had beaten him earlier. Things escalated and they ended up kissing.
Sephorae didn't care. Lila was ghosted afterward—calls ignored, messages unread, blocked. As for the kid, Sephorae made his life hell. Daily beatings, humiliation, trash cans… If killing him wouldn't spark political trouble, Sephorae would have.
And then came yesterday—the last day of high school.
After the farewell party, they dragged him to an abandoned alley. No witnesses. No help.
But he didn't need help.
In the middle of the beating… he awakened.
Awakening at seventeen was almost unheard of. It meant trauma had pushed him past the threshold. But he wasn't new to this. He fought too well. That meant he had awakened weeks ago. Maybe the day Sephorae nearly killed him. Maybe before.
He had trained in secret. He had waited. And now, with high school ending, he could apply to a Hunter's Academy the next day—beyond the Vespera clan's reach. Law protected cadets. He could do anything and face no real consequences. Their plan had backfired.
Frustrated, Sephorae unleashed his Essence Energy and joined the fight.
Yes, the kid was strong. Yes, he took down two of Sephorae's elite cronies. But was he stronger than Sephorae? Better than Sephorae's D-rank potential?
As it turned out—yes. To everything.
He wasn't just strong. He was monstrous. A natural-born warrior.
For the first time in Sephorae's life—outside of losing to Selene—Sephorae was utterly crushed. And at the end of the brutal beating, Sephorae fell backward and struck their head against a jagged rock.
And then… the memories flooded in.
A past life. Thirty-five years as John. Memories pouring in like a tidal wave, overloading the brain. Sephorae's eyes rolled back as consciousness slipped away, scenes flashing like a film reel.
Sephorae remembered the game being played at the moment of death: Aether Nexus Chronicles.
And somehow, Sephorae had been reborn inside that very game.
As for the kid they had bullied nonstop?
He was Nathaniel Brightmore—the protagonist of the entire story.
So… what did that make Sephorae?
A villain. A minor villain who later becomes a major one. A villain who dies in all one hundred routes.
But here's the strange part: Sephorae isn't just a villain.
He's also the second protagonist.
A bizarre duality—both antagonist and deuteragonist. A contradiction. A paradox. But Sephorae is living it. Maybe it's the past-life memories. Maybe some twisted game mechanic. Whatever the reason, the heir is trapped in this strange role, destined to walk the line between villain and protagonist.