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Muhan's POV
Somewhere within the Fractured Rift, beneath constellations that had never been charted, I stood barefoot atop an invisible surface. No air, no gravity, no sound — only presence.
Across from me stood Seo-yoon.
But she looked… different.
Her form shimmered, laced with constellations. Her cloak trailed like the tail of a comet, and her staff pulsed with runes that rearranged themselves every second — as if it rewrote languages even the gods feared.
"You want power?" she asked, without emotion.
I nodded.
"Then strip."
I blinked. "What?"
"Strip not your clothes — your name."
She waved her hand, and instantly I was suspended in an ethereal space of mirrors. Each reflection wasn't of me, but of what others believed me to be — hero, warrior, prodigy, Muhan Lockhart.
Seo-yoon's voice echoed:
> "These identities are your limiters. You can't reach what lies beyond if you're still clinging to mortal narratives."
Then the mirrors began to crack.
One by one, the fragments fell — each shattering with a psychic blow so heavy, I felt parts of my soul peel away. My breath grew ragged. My mind warped.
I screamed.
Not in pain… but in loss.
> I was being unmade.
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Seo-yoon's POV
He didn't understand yet — this was mercy.
The Abyssal Mirror was the first gate. The trial not of strength, but abandonment. If he clung to who he was, he'd never reach the realm I walked.
But as I watched him convulse within the glass-storm, something changed.
He stopped screaming.
He stood up.
And then…
He smiled.
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Muhan's Perspective
I remembered Mi-cha's laugh.
The way my father, Han, fought not for victory but for meaning.
And the way Seo-yoon looked at me — not as someone lesser, but as someone… unfinished.
I clenched my fist, and the mirrors obeyed.
They no longer shattered me.
> I shattered them.
Each image of me — the hero, the genius, the prodigy — collapsed, and what remained was nameless. No title. No expectation.
Just presence.
The void recognized it.
So did she.
---
Seo-yoon's Voice
"Congratulations. You have stepped outside the story."
A radiant sigil formed beneath my feet — one not seen, but felt.
> "From this moment, the laws of cause and effect will no longer bind you.
Your next opponent… is time itself."
I looked up as my System all congratulates me, eyes glowing-blue with unanchored ether.
•∆ Congratulations you've achieved a feat; You steeped outside the story - As a reward two new abilities will be given to you ∆•
I smirked as I looked at my System my iris still burning blue.
> "Bring it on."