Beyond Boundless |I shall surpass every entity

The air was thinner here.

Mi-cha stood atop a jagged cliff, her raven-black hair dancing wildly in the high-altitude winds. Beneath her, an endless canyon stretched — layered with forgotten ruins, celestial bones, and old-world runes still flickering with remnant power. The skies above shimmered with violet auroras, streaks of light bleeding into the horizon like the torn fabric of some broken god.

She exhaled slowly.

Her sword — the Divine Bloomblade — was stabbed into the stone beside her, its pink-purple edge still glowing faintly with stored celestial dust from the last battle.

The creatures of this continent weren't easy prey. But that was why she had chosen this place — the far edge of the Andari Expanse, a lawless training ground for the truly desperate or the truly determined.

Her.

She didn't wait for permission. Didn't need protection. Mi-cha Lawson had been raised to lead, to conquer, to burn like a star — and now, with every scar and calloused hand, she was becoming her own myth.

She wiped blood from the edge of her lip with the back of her hand and stared out over the vast emptiness.

"I'm not just his shadow…" she whispered.

But the moment she said it, the wind changed.

Soft. Familiar. Comforting.

It carried a scent — faint but unmistakable.

Sandalwood… and bluefire.

Her lips parted slightly, and the tension in her body eased. Her eyes — those striking purple-pink orbs, sharp as starlight — softened.

"…Muhan."

Just his name.

She hadn't said it in days. Maybe longer. Not since she'd left the note. Not since she promised herself she wouldn't think about him too much — that she'd focus on growing, on evolving beyond what even she thought she could become.

But now, standing here in this strange world, alone atop a battlefield she'd just won…

She missed him.

The way his laughter settled her chaos. The way his silence spoke more than most people's words. The way his gaze — unwavering, calm, reverent — made her feel beautiful even when she was soaked in blood and sweat.

She pulled the note from her cloak — the one she left behind, her own copy, kept as a reminder of her promise.

"See you at Wysteria High, Handsome."

A smirk touched the edge of her lips.

"You better not keep me waiting," she said to the wind.

And for just a moment, the auroras above rippled — not with weather, but with something older.

As if the universe, in its infinite symmetry, was whispering his name back to her.

Muhan.

Mi-cha stood in stillness. The silence of the windbroken cliffs was a welcome solitude. But solitude never lingered long in places where power gathered.

A flicker. A shift in the light.

She sensed it before she saw it — the displacement of space behind her. Not teleportation. Not movement.

Presence.

A presence that didn't arrive.

It had always been there.

Her hand slid toward the hilt of the Divine Bloomblade, but before she could touch it—

Clang.

The tip of a curved, obsidian-forged blade tapped against her own sword, halting her movement with deliberate precision.

"So this is the famed daughter of Gunhee," came a voice — smooth, elegant, with an edge like glass dipped in fire. "I expected… less emotion in your stance."

Mi-cha turned slowly.

A woman stood before her, cloaked in ivory and deep crimson. Her skin was pale, her body tall and refined, and her eyes—golden, ancient, and cold as still stars.

But what made Mi-cha pause wasn't the aura that coiled around the woman like a serpent, or the fact that she hadn't sensed her at all.

It was the sigil embroidered across her shoulder—the Threefold Flame.

"...You trained Seo-yoon," Mi-cha said.

The woman tilted her head.

"Seo-yoon? Ah, you call her that now. Back then, she went by 'Seraphine of the Burning Veil.' A name she earned." Her eyes narrowed. "Has she changed much?"

Mi-cha's voice was firm. "She's strong. Wiser than anyone I've ever met."

"And you? Are you strong?"

Mi-cha gripped her sword. "Stronger than yesterday."

The woman smiled — faintly, cruelly.

"That won't be enough."

In an instant, the cliff shattered beneath their feet as the woman stepped forward, dragging the air with her. Space twisted. The sky warped into a spiral of red-gold flame. Her blade hummed with a resonance Mi-cha couldn't place — a hybrid vibration, not entirely Divine… but something older.

"You walk the path of love," the woman continued, circling her like a predator. "A beautiful distraction. But if you aim to stand beside Seo-yoon… or that boy, Muhan…"

She raised her blade.

"Then you'll need to earn your second soul."

Mi-cha narrowed her eyes. "Second soul?"

"The sword technique I taught Seo-yoon. The 'Burning Veil of the Twin Flame.' It cannot be taught with words. Only felt… in defeat."

And with that, she moved.

Mi-cha barely raised her blade before the impact. Not just from the sword — from the woman's intent.

It was like being drowned in fire that refused to burn.

A single slash. Mi-cha blocked, but her knees buckled, her mind searing with visions — flames spiraling through memory, through love, through pain.

"Feel it!" the woman shouted. "A flame without hate. A strike that does not kill, only purifies!"

Mi-cha gritted her teeth, parrying again, the shockwaves flinging stones from the cliff into the void.

This wasn't just a spar.

It was a trial.

A test left behind by Seo-yoon's past — a master who had forged warriors from trauma, flame, and clarity. And now, she had come for Mi-cha.

And Mi-cha?

She would not break.

Not here.

Not when Muhan was out there, somewhere, growing stronger too.

The cliffs roared. Wind screeched past shattered stone as the duel reached its fever pitch.

The mysterious swordswoman moved like a phantom of will — every step was authority, every slash a judgment. Mi-cha blocked, parried, and weaved through flames that weren't flames — they were memories, burning illusions forged in combat.

Her body trembled. Her breath hitched. Yet her heart remained resolute.

"I won't falter," she whispered through clenched teeth, parrying another ethereal strike.

The woman's blade arced once more — like a falling star intent on unraveling her.

But this time—

Mi-cha didn't block.

She opened herself.

And in that instant—

TING

The air shattered like crystal.

Suddenly, time slowed — not as a power, but as reverence.

A pulse of warmth expanded from within Mi-cha's chest, deeper than Aether, softer than thought. A divine bell rang out in the corners of her consciousness:

> [GRACE SYSTEM NOTIFICATION]

Incomplete Grace detected.

Core synchronization: 99.97%

— Auto-Integrating Missing Fragment…

…

Divine Vessel Identified. Initiating Full Grace Form.

➤ GRACE FORM COMPLETE: "Celestial Grace — The Maiden of the Heavens."

Light erupted from her skin — not as radiance, but as revelation.

Her raven-black hair lifted and shimmered into deep obsidian threads laced with starlight. The soft glimmer of celestial script crawled across her skin like golden vines. Her eyes, once a haunting mix of purple and pink, now blazed with a crystalline brilliance that transcended color — they were galaxies, focused.

Around her, the battlefield paused. Even the mysterious swordswoman faltered.

"...She completed it," the woman whispered, eyes widening.

The air rippled with divine quiet. A gentle halo unfolded behind Mi-cha, delicate like a celestial bloom — not forged, but earned. Her sapphire bodysuit shimmered into view, embroidered with flowing silver-gold motifs of the skies. And in the center of her collar, nestled above her heart, gleamed the Aetheric Heart Gemstone, radiant and warm.

Mi-cha's voice returned, layered with a distant harmony — as if the cosmos itself echoed her thoughts.

"I never needed to burn everything down," she said softly. "I only needed to remember… who I've always been."

The mysterious swordswoman's expression cracked — pride, wonder, and bittersweet admiration all at once.

"Grace," she murmured, lowering her blade. "Not a weapon. A promise."

Mi-cha hovered slightly above the scorched ground, her feet cradled in a soft wind of divine resonance. The petals of her Grace fluttered like aurora strands — each movement rewrote the pressure of existence.

> [System Update: Grace Level Ascension Unlocked]

➤ New Skill Obtained: Harmony Pulse — Bloom of Celestial Sound.

➤ Divine Aura Enhanced.

➤ Emotional Perception: Activated.

➤ Universal Light Alignment Confirmed.

You have become the Complete Grace Vessel.

Congratulations Goddess of Grace

The fight was over.

But Mi-cha had not won by brute force.

She had transcended by choosing not to break.

By blooming — not as a warrior, but as the Maiden of the Heavens.