I put life in quotation marks, because the character doesn't have to die. What the character does in order to save those important to him just has to make it so "things can't ever be the same again".
I think the best example of what I'm looking for happens in the first arc/story of the manwha trace
Spoiler (highlight to view)
At the end of the arc/story the protagonist's class is attacked by troubles and in order to save everyone he uses his trace powers. Since traces are discriminated against etc he can't pretend to be normal anymore
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Feed your head.
