Mi-cha Lawson, standing beneath the twilight sky of Avalon Estate, her raven-black hair catching the last traces of light, her heart sensing the echo of absence where Muhan once stood.
Mi-cha's POV
He didn't even say goodbye.
Just a soft smile…
and the words:
> "We'll be apart for a while."
That was all I got.
No kiss.
No embrace.
Just that look — the kind only Muhan Lockhart could give. Like he was staring past the stars… to something only he could shoulder.
Seo-yoon…
His sister.
The one they whispered about — the one whose presence bent concepts, whose silence held more weight than declarations of war.
She'd offered to train him.
And he'd accepted without hesitation.
> "She's far more powerful than I am," he'd told me, eyes glowing faintly crimson in the dark.
"If I don't learn what she knows… I won't be able to protect what matters."
And somehow, I understood.
But understanding doesn't mean not hurting.
The gardens of Avalon were quiet. Too quiet. I wandered the moonlit path, each step echoing in rhythm with the hollow pulse in my chest.
"You're drop dead gorgeous, you know that?"
His voice echoed in my mind — teasing, warm, real.
I smiled, faintly. Bitterly.
> "Don't you dare fall in love with another girl" I muttered to the wind, knowing he wouldn't hear me.
The wind answered only with stillness.
---
I paused at the reflecting pool. The moon hung heavy above, mirrored perfectly on the surface. But even that reflection shimmered… blurred.
> "Why do you always leave me like this…" I whispered.
And the water answered me.
Not with words.
But with resonance.
Faint.
Deep.
Blue and Golden threads curling through the pool like wisps of fate — Aether and Grace entangled, even in absence.
That's when I realized—
He hadn't truly left me.
> "Mi-cha…"
His voice echoed faintly from beyond the veil of realms. Not a message, not a call — but a presence.
> "Stay strong. I'll return… as someone who can walk beside you without doubt."
"Wait for me, my Maiden of Grace."
My breath caught. Tears threatened to fall — but I refused.
I straightened.
Raven hair catching starlight.
Eyes glowing softly violet-pink.
> "Then hurry up, Lockhart," I said to no one, voice firm. "Because I'm not staying weak either."
________________________________________
A realm untouched by history.
Muhan's POV
The air… didn't move.
No breeze. No pressure. No sound.
Just silence—not of the ears, but of the soul.
I stepped forward. The ground beneath me was neither matter nor concept—just meaning shaped into form.
This place… wasn't part of any universe.
Not even The Existence.
Not even The Fiction.
Not even the Narratives.
It was beyond all frameworks.
And at the center of it stood a woman—hair gold like fractured starlight, eyes deeper than eternity, and presence…
> "Seo-yoon..."
She turned.
For a moment, the entire realm exhaled.
My legs stiffened. My heart… forgot to beat.
> "You made it," she said, as if I hadn't just crossed twelve layered dimensions folded outside of time.
I stepped closer.
She wore a mantle woven from First Ether, glowing with pre-dimensional threads that reacted to my presence. My Red Aether surged quietly in response… but it recoiled too.
> She's stronger. Not marginally—
She exists beyond scale.
> "You said you'd train me…" I managed, voice steadier than my pulse.
Her gaze flicked across me. Not judging—measuring.
As if I was a blade fresh from the forge, and she was testing if it could even begin to cut the truths she wielded.
> "You're not ready," she said.
I blinked. "Then why bring me here?"
She stepped forward. Each movement of hers rewrote the space around it.
Not gravity. Not laws. But context.
> "Because readiness isn't a prerequisite. It's a choice."
"And now… you must choose to shatter what you think strength is."
She raised her hand.
The sky above us peeled away.
No stars. No firmament. Just a wound in everything.
From it descended an opponent—a faceless entity of light, constructed from all my past victories.
It was me.
It was greater than me.
> "Defeat it," she said.
"Only then will I begin teaching you."
The figure took form, armor gleaming with red lightning, six phantom arms forming spears of Aether.
> "That's…" I whispered.
> "A Distortion Entity"
---
I entered a stance, summoning my sword—the Blue Aether Blade, still pulsating from the last duel. But it felt dull.
Heavy.
The Distortion Entity moved first. No wind. No warning.
Just obliteration.
The ground beneath me fractured on thought alone. My blade rose—barely in time.
The first strike landed.
And I shattered.
But not physically—narratively.
I fell through my own memories, tumbling through the moments that forged my identity.
And still, I stood back up.
Because I had seen someone—her—Mi-cha, beneath moonlight, whispering through the link between us:
> "Hurry back to me."
I screamed.
And the scream became Ascension.
Not a technique. Not a form.
But a declaration:
> "I am no longer who I was."
---
Above, Seo-yoon watched quietly.
Her expression softened.
> "So you do have it in you… Little Brother."
She stepped forward.
> "Then it's time I teach you how to surpass even your name."