Beyond Boundless |I shall surpass every entity

[Location: Outer Realm – Cradle of Echoing Stars]

Time: Undefined – Between Dimensions

The moment I opened my eyes, the air around me felt different. Lighter. Sharper. As if my very existence had been honed.

Wisps of residual Red Aether curled around my fingertips, vanishing into embers before they even fully formed. I stood alone in a crater of scorched silence, surrounded by the aftershock of my own inner evolution.

My inner dimension pulsed quietly beneath my skin — alive, sovereign, and eternal. I had done it.

And she was watching.

Seo-yoon descended from a height that had no meaning, stepping down as if gravity deferred to her. The winds whispered in her wake, the stars above bending slightly in reverence. Her blonde hair flowed behind her like golden ink against the starlit canvas.

She looked proud.

> "Congratulations, little brother," she said softly, arms crossed, her eyes gleaming with quiet approval. "You've passed."

The words struck me harder than any blow I'd endured in the dimension.

I dropped to one knee, panting softly, not from weakness—but from sheer completion. A trial that had begun as training… had ended as transformation.

> "It felt like… everything was watching," I murmured, my voice hoarse. "The stars, the laws, even the silence."

Seo-yoon knelt beside me, placing a hand on my shoulder. Her touch grounded me, though she herself felt like the apex of everything ungraspable.

> "They were watching," she confirmed. "Because what you've done cannot be undone."

I looked up.

> "You forged Red Aether. You housed it in your own dimension. You birthed a reality that bends not to understanding, but to conviction. You didn't just survive it, Muhan. You made it yours."

I swallowed the weight of her words. My fingers curled slightly into the crystalline grass below.

> "So what happens now?"

She smiled.

It was a quiet thing. No glory. No fireworks. But it carried the weight of prophecy.

> "Now…" she said, standing and offering me her hand, "you return to Mi-cha."

My heart skipped. Her name alone pulled something deeper in me than even Aether could touch.

> "She'll see it," Seo-yoon added, her voice soft. "She'll know. You're no longer just Muhan Lockhart, prodigy of Wysteria."

She leaned in.

> "You're the one who commands Red Aether. The one who wields a dimension of his own soul. From this point forward, even the Beyond will start to whisper your name."

I took her hand.

A pulse of power surged as she pulled me up — not lifting my body, but my very state of existence. As I stood, the stars shifted position, as if acknowledging that the sky had just changed.

> "I'm ready," I said, my voice steady.

> "Good," she said, brushing a strand of hair behind her ear. "Because your dimension will keep expanding. The Red Aether will evolve with you. And soon…"

She turned toward the veil of existence, her eyes narrowing on a point beyond galaxies.

> "You'll need it."

> "Why?"

> "Because something woke up when you ignited Red Aether. Something older than time. Something that… doesn't want a Lockhart rewriting the narrative."

Her golden eyes flashed.

> "Be ready, Muhan. The real training hasn't even started."

The air split open behind her—a clean, dimensional gate framed with burning sigils.

She walked through.

I stood still for a breath… then followed.

But even as I left the Cradle behind, I knew something had awakened within me. Not just power.

Identity.

---

[Meanwhile – In the Divine Realm (????) Location]

In a place not located within time, a being stirred — its mass comprised of broken concepts, dead timelines, and hollow eternities.

Its singular eye opened.

> "Red Aether… has returned?"

Its voice broke eleven planes with a whisper.

> "Then the Architect's child… must be extinguished before he rewrites the story we made".

Avalon Estate, Nightfall — Pavilion Overlooking the Celestial Garden

The faint crunch of gravel under my boots echoed through the stillness of night. The moonlight painted long silver shadows over the quiet halls of Avalon Estate, its soft glow glimmering off the dew-laced trees. I walked slowly toward the pavilion, every step a quiet reminder that I had returned — stronger, refined, changed.

And yet, as I neared the familiar terrace where I thought she'd be waiting…

There was only silence.

No raven-black hair fluttering in the breeze.

No soft giggle teasing me for being late.

No Mi-cha.

Just the night. And the faint scent of lavender she had once worn.

Han Lockhart stood near the edge of the pavilion, arms folded, the same composed aura around him. Chae-min sat beside him, sipping from a warm mug, her expression unreadable at first glance.

"You're back," Han said without turning around.

I gave a respectful nod. "Finished earlier than expected. I thought she'd be here."

Chae-min met my eyes. There was a softness in her expression — motherly, but edged with something deeper.

"She's not here, Muhan."

My heart skipped.

"Where is she?"

Gunhee's voice came from the steps behind me. I turned as he stepped forward, his hands in the pockets of his robe, his tone calm — but there was a quiet pride in his eyes.

"She left three days ago," he said. "On her own."

My brows furrowed. "Alone? Why?"

"She said she wanted to train — properly," Chae-min added gently. "Said she needed time… away."

"But why without telling me?" I asked, more to myself than to them.

Gunhee handed me something — a small, folded note. The edges of the parchment were crisp, the ink fresh. My hand trembled slightly as I opened it under the moonlight.

Her handwriting. Elegant. Sharp and graceful like her.

> See you at Wysteria High, Handsome.

> —Mi-cha

A laugh escaped me, soft and breathless.

"I didn't stop her," Gunhee said after a moment, stepping beside me. "Not because I didn't worry. But because she looked… resolved. Like she'd made up her mind about something important."

I kept my gaze on the letter. "Where did she go?"

"She didn't say," Han replied this time. "Only that she'd return when it was time."

Time.

Wysteria High.

The upcoming entrance tournament… She'd come back for that.

But until then—

She was gone.

The weight of that truth settled into me quietly. She had gone to grow. To become stronger, just like I had. We were alike in that way — unable to sit still while the future called.

My hand closed around the note.

"She'll be fine," Chae-min said, watching me. "She's her father's daughter."

Gunhee chuckled, then gave me a gentle clap on the shoulder. "And when she comes back… I imagine she'll want to test your strength herself."

I smiled faintly. "I wouldn't expect anything less."

The pavilion felt colder without her. The stars looked a little farther away. But her presence lingered — in the wind, in the petals, in the words she left behind.

See you at Wysteria High, Handsome.

I gazed up at the moon, clutching the note in my palm like it was her warmth itself.

"Then I'll be ready."