(Alistair's POV)
I sat in the dim light of my apartment, staring at my hands.
They looked the same as always—long fingers, calloused palms from years of training, veins barely visible beneath pale skin.
And yet, I wasn't the same person anymore.
Ethan Kael had merged with Alistair Vaelthorne. Two existences, fused into one.
And because of that, I knew something I was never supposed to know.
This world—Eldoria—wasn't real.
At least, not in the way I once thought.
It was a game.
A game I had played in my past life, forced into it by Sofia's relentless insistence.
And now, I was inside it.
What Was My Role in the Game?
I had racked my mind for answers.
With my talent, my swordsmanship, my magic, my strength, surely I played an important role in the story?
A main villain?
A rival to the protagonist?
A powerful ally?
No.
I was none of those things.
I wasn't even a supporting character.
I was a background extra.
An NPC so insignificant that even the protagonist never met me.
And worst of all?
I was supposed to die today.
Not in a grand battle. Not in a duel against the protagonist.
But by an assassin's blade—a throwaway death meant only to serve as world-building.
My only role was to be a forgotten corpse.
And if it weren't for my past life's memories, I never would have even known it was coming.
I clenched my fists, my nails digging into my palms.
I refused to die like that.
I opened my Status Window again, reviewing everything I had gained.
D+ rank at 17 years old.
For my age group, I was already beyond most prodigies.
Most of them after awakening are at F-rank or E-rank and spent years climbing the ranks.
Even the protagonist, who had the most broken growth rate in the game, started at E+ rank after his second awakening.
And yet, I had already surpassed him.
On top of that—
I had received one of the strongest blessings in existence.
The Ever-Hungry Maw.
A higher blessing from an abyssal entity that shouldn't even exist in the game's original story.
If I wasn't meant to be anyone important, why did I have power beyond what an extra should?
Had I changed something?
Or had my very existence here disrupted the world's logic?
I didn't know the answer yet.
But I knew one thing for certain.
I wasn't going to follow the script.
****
I exhaled sharply, leaning back against the wall.
If I was an extra, then what about my sister?
Elaine Vaelthorne.
Unlike me, she was actually part of the game's story.
She wasn't just a background character.
She was one of the heroines.
A healer, a swordwoman,a excellent mage,a priestess, a beacon of purity—one of the many women meant to fall in love with the protagonist.
And yet…
There are routes in the game that came with severe consequences.
If she didn't join the protagonist's harem—if the player ignored her, or refused to help her—she would die.
A tragic event meant to add emotional weight to the story.
A meaningless death.
Just like mine was supposed to be.
The thought made my blood boil.
To this world, to its gods, to its twisted logic—our lives didn't matter.
We were just pieces in a game.
My and my sister's fate had already been written.
And I hated it.
If anyone dared to force her into that role, if anyone thought they could manipulate her into becoming a mindless addition to the protagonist's growing harem—
I would slaughter them.
I wouldn't let some scripted destiny dictate her life.
Just like I wouldn't let it dictate mine.
***
I closed my eyes, steadying my thoughts.
But no matter how much I tried to focus on what I needed to do next, one thought refused to leave my mind.
Sofia.
Could she be here?
Was she even alive?
It was a ridiculous hope.
But…
I remembered her final moments before my death.
The way she had smiled at me, even as she lay dying.
And the ability she had used.
A unique, forbidden power that had surrounded both of us in a golden aura.
I had assumed at the time that she had simply tried to preserve my soul.
To keep me from vanishing completely.
But if that power had somehow brought me here…
Then wasn't it possible that she had been pulled into this world, too?
I didn't know.
I had no proof.
But the idea alone was enough to drive me forward.
If she was here—somewhere in this world—
I would find her.
Even if I had to tear through fate itself to do it.
I exhaled, clearing my thoughts.
Tonight was the night I was supposed to die.
The game had planned it perfectly.
The assassin would strike the moment I let my guard down.
And if I had been the old Alistair, I would have never seen it coming.
But I wasn't him anymore.
I was Alistair Vaelthorne and Ethan Kael.
A fusion of two warriors.
A swordsman trained in mana-infused blade arts.
A Titan forged from war and destruction.
And I wasn't going to die.
I shifted my grip on the hilt of my sword, my mana beginning to circulate.
Let them come.
The assassin was already dead.
They just didn't know it yet.
TO BE CONTINUE...