By Her Grace – a progressive Isekai Light Novel

Ch.1

The Last Day And The First Day

This day, Grace woke up early at 6 a.m., just before her alarm went off. Today was the best day of her sixteen-year-long life. Her last day. It was breathtaking. Amazing. Wonderful. It was everything Grace had hoped for.

Grace stood up, yawned, and walked to her mirror. She saw a girl of average height, with an average face and average looks. Her black hair was of average length, and her brown eyes were equally unremarkable. All in all, Grace thought she was a pretty boring girl. But today, for the first time, it felt good to be so average. No one would pay attention to her. She poked her cheeks. "Finally, I won’t have to see you anymore," she muttered, then turned away from the mirror and got dressed. She put on her school uniform—first the stockings, then the top, and finally the skirt. She tied her hair into a ponytail and fastened a red bow around it. After dressing, she emptied her school bag onto the floor. Books, notebooks, and pens scattered across the floor in a chaotic heap. Today, none of it mattered. No homework, no tests, no expectations. It was liberating. She giggled—a sound that felt strange in the otherwise quiet room.

After a while, Grace grabbed her empty school bag and carefully packed a previously prepared package inside, handling it as if it were fragile. Once it was tucked away, she zipped the bag shut and slung the strap over her shoulder. The weight of it felt oddly heavy. Without hesitation, she stepped out of her bedroom and quietly closed the door behind her. She was going to school.

As she walked down the hallway, the house was silent. Her parents were still asleep, unaware that today was different. Grace moved silently, her footsteps light against the floor. Reaching the front door, she paused for a moment. "Well, see ya in hell, boring folks..." she mumbled and closed the door behind her. It was as if a great weight had been lifted off her shoulders. Finally, she closed this door forever, and she would never open it again.

Aside from her average looks, Grace was anything but average. She possessed a photographic memory, had a significantly above-average IQ, and had been training her body since she was a child. Grace had been bored ever since she was five. She lived in a dull world where, while her average looks allowed her to fit in perfectly on the surface, her other qualities made her feel like a one-eyed person among the blind. At the age of five, Grace became aware for the first time that she was living in a boring world full of fools. Her peers at school couldn’t articulate themselves properly, spent their days talking nonsense, and, even worse, the adults didn’t understand the simplest mathematical formulas, had no idea how to optimize or improve themselves, and wasted their lives leading lives that were far too dull. Around that time, Grace began to discover the world of literature. Her role models were no longer real but fictional. She was particularly drawn to characters who turned away from the established system and broke free from it. Inspired by these fictional characters, Grace began to shape her life around them. She now sought not only to broaden her horizons with classical education but also absorbed everything that happened in her fantasy stories. As a result, Grace identified three key elements of life on which she wanted to grow: Eruditas, the pursuit of knowledge and intellectual clarity; Vitalis, the balance of physical health and strength; and Dominatus, the quiet strength of superiority through understatement and strategic restraint. This led her to start attending various sports classes, with a particular focus on martial arts, in her quest for self-improvement. With each passing day, Grace’s determination to master the elements she had chosen grew stronger, but so did her sense of superiority. As her knowledge expanded and her body grew stronger, she began to see herself as someone far above those around her, a silent observer in a world full of mediocrity.

When Grace arrived at school, no one paid her any mind. She was a little early for class, so not many students had arrived yet. A small grin crossed her face as she stepped through the school doorway. That was it — her last day in this damn boring world! And it was going to be glorious! Grace opened her school bag and pulled out the fragile-looking package, this time with little care.

Some students were looking at the average girl in the entrance hall. What was she doing? Why didn’t she move? After a few seconds, the girl pulled something out of her bag. They gasped in surprise. The girl standing in the entrance hall before them was holding a gun in her hands. And then... a deafening bang shattered the silence. The girl raised her weapon above her head and shot at the ceiling. She aimed at the few students with a smirk on her face and stated, "Do you want to live? Get out of here!" Silence. No one dared to say a word. "Oh, come on, puppets, hush." Her voice was almost playful, but there was a dangerous edge to it. One of the students, trembling, slowly began to move toward the door, his eyes never leaving the gun. Grace’s smirk didn’t falter, but her eyes locked onto him, calculating. "Smart move," she said softly, before turning her gaze to the others, her finger still resting on the trigger. Abruptly, the other students left the hall as well. “Good,” said Grace to herself, pulling more items from her school bag. The next item was a camera that connected to her smartphone via Bluetooth as soon as she pressed the “on” button. She placed the camera on the stairs leading to the upper floors and positioned herself in front of it. Then, using her smartphone, she started live streaming on a popular platform. Soon, she was online and saw her viewers entering the stream. She posed for the camera with a peace sign and began speaking:

“Hey, it’s me again, DarkGirl112… yay!!!”

“As promised yesterday, I’m in my school right now, and look guys,” she pointed at her gun, “I’m totally weaponized. Haha. I’m glad you’re all here!”

The moment Grace showed the gun, the chat exploded with a mix of shock and excitement, messages flooding in at an insane pace:

“WHAT THE HELL?!”

“IS THIS REAL?!”

“DarkGirl112, you’re crazy!!”

“Are you going to shoot someone??”

“OMG, you’re SO badass!”

“This is insane, I’m here for it!!”

Grace began to giggle. “Hey, stop it, guys! I actually shot at the ceiling—look!” She pointed the camera at the ceiling, then placed it back on the stairs. “So, guys, the show must go on!” With that, Grace ignored the chat and pulled out a third item from her school bag—a homemade bomb. She grinned as she looked at it. After all, homemade was obviously better than any store-bought bomb; it hadn’t been made by those amateurs from her world, but by Grace herself. She placed the bomb between her legs and pressed a button on it. It started to tick.

“Alright, guys, are you ready for the promised show?” Grace winked at her viewers.

The chat exploded with excitement.

“YESSS, the real action begins! Show us what you got, DarkGirl112!”

 “She’s going all out now! Let’s see how far she takes it!”

 “You’re crazy, DarkGirl112! I’m loving it!!!”

The viewers’ comments flooded the screen, each more thrilled and encouraging than the last. Grace's grin widened as she read through the messages. But not all viewers liked the madness they witnessed. Some viewers began posting their locations, desperate to alert authorities in the hope of stopping her before it was too late.

 “This isn’t funny anymore. Someone needs to stop her!”

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 “DarkGirl112, what are you doing?! This isn’t a game!”

 “I’m calling the cops, this is insane!”

The chat became increasingly frantic as more viewers tried to intervene, but Grace remained unfazed, fully absorbed in the chaos she was creating.

"Calm down, guys," Grace stated. "The authorities are already informed; didn’t you forget I shot in the school? LOL." She paused, smiling at the camera, letting the tension build. Then, with a faint grin, she ignored the chat again. Outside, the sound of loud voices and sirens grew nearer. The timing was almost perfect now… just a little more to go.

The streaming career of DarkGirl112 began a few years ago. Grace, always striving for perfection and seeking an escape from her boring life, thought it would be perfect to have admirers who would follow her secret path of self-improvement and her three pillars in life: Eruditas, Vitalis, and Dominatus. After all, if no one knew of her, she would utterly fail in Dominatus. So it came to be that Grace sifted through various internet forums and found like-minded individuals online. They were, admittedly, a bit morally questionable, but they shared Grace's wavelength and understood her unique perspective. Over time, Grace became something of an idol within this niche community, using her streams to share her worldview and connect with the like-minded individuals she had found. Her community typically shared the same views, humor, and perspectives on the world. They mocked the established society, and some members even set out to push and break societal boundaries. For Grace, it was the perfect place to build a community according to her will, steer it in her desired direction, and put herself in the spotlight. The early streams of DarkGirl112 were relatively harmless, mostly falling into the "just chatting" category, where Grace interacted with her viewers. However, over time, her streams became increasingly controversial. DarkGirl112 soon became known as a hidden gem in the forums—a go-to for those looking for a society-critical stream from an idol who also offered intense and provocative content. One particularly legendary stream was when DarkGirl112, wearing a mask, went live at night and beat up drunk people. However, the last stream was about to break all boundaries. The day before, DarkGirl112 had announced her 'final and greatest' stream, sending many of her now numerous fans into a frenzy. And here she was now, armed with a pistol in the stream and sitting on a bomb. In total, there were 564 viewers live, following her final stream.

“Tick… Tack…” Grace grinned at the camera and pointed at the bomb between her feet. Behind her, the viewers could see the door to the school entrance hall open, and a few police officers stepped into the hall. The officers stared at the scene in front of them for a moment, unsure if they were perceiving the situation correctly. Then, one of them quickly pulled out his radio and whispered something into the mic, while the other took a cautious step forward, his weapon drawn. Grace continued to grin at the camera, her eyes never leaving it.

"And now... the entrance of the heroes of our world… Guys! Look at how they’re pointing a gun at a sixteen-year-old girl… OMG!"

Her Chat was going crazy again at the scenery:

"This is next level! This is crazy entertainment!"

"Guys, this is really bad. Someone needs to stop her!"

"WTF? You’re going too far now, DarkGirl112. Put the gun down!"

"DarkGirl112, you're literally a legend. Don’t stop this show."

The officers were clearly overwhelmed by the situation and didn’t know exactly how to respond. The officer who had aimed his weapon at Grace shouted, “Get on the floor and drop the weapon!”

In response, Grace burst into maniacal laughter. “Are you sure you’re capable of ordering me around, Mr. Officer?” Grace shouted back, then pointed at the bomb at her feet. “This is no dummy! You can believe me, so you better step back...”

The officer hesitated, his hand shaking slightly as he kept the gun aimed at Grace, unsure of what to do next. Grace’s grin only grew wider, her eyes wild with excitement as she continued to taunt him, her foot lightly tapping the bomb. The tension in the air was palpable, and it seemed like the entire room was holding its breath. Suddenly, a faint clicking sound echoed through the hall—it was not the trigger of a gun; no, it was the bomb. The officers' eyes widened, the tension rising even more as they looked at each other, unsure of what had just happened. Grace, however, seemed even more exhilarated, her grin turning into an almost predatory smile.

Grace turned back to her online audience. “It’s about time, Ladies and Gentlemen! Count with me from 3…”

The officers' long training kicked in, and they quickly turned to flee the hall, attempting to put as much distance between themselves and the imminent danger.

Grace had reached the end of her plan, her eyes gleaming with excitement. It was fully cliché, but she admired figures like the Joker, especially the version from The Dark Knight. The Joker was one of the central figures she admired for his unpredictable nature. "He knows how to destroy the system without hesitating for a second," Grace thought as she grinned at the camera. To her, the Joker was more than just a villain; he was living proof that the world didn’t have to be shaped by society’s rules. He could break it, and through that break, he could create something new—something unpredictable.

The idea of leaving this meaningless world behind had come to her mind a few years ago. It wasn’t a suicide attempt at all—something like that would never occur to her. After all, she knew she was the pinnacle of human evolution, the one who saw through this deeply boring world. And her ego grew with every day she got older. She stored every single detail of her life in her mind. Everything she learned, she could perfectly recall at any time, and her talent even extended to the point where, over time, she managed to copy various fighting techniques from video games, animes, and other TV shows, teaching herself along the way. As time went on, fiction and reality blurred more and more for her.

Grace not only admired the Joker over the years but also characters like the Narrator from Fight Club and Lord Henry Wotton from Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray. The Narrator, whose real name remains unknown, is a disillusioned office worker who battles insomnia and spirals into an anarchistic journey of self-destruction and rebellion against modern consumerism. His narrative represents a dark, almost nihilistic view of society, where breaking away from societal norms and conventions seems to be the only way to reclaim personal power.

Lord Henry Wotton, on the other hand, is a charismatic and manipulative figure who introduces Dorian Gray to a hedonistic and self-indulgent philosophy. His cynical worldview and belief in the pursuit of pleasure at any cost, as well as his disregard for morality, made him an influential and admired figure for Grace, who saw in him a model of living without limits or apologies.

Therefore, it was no surprise that, over time, Grace developed a plan to escape from this world. At first, she thought it was impossible, but then she remembered something... her most recent memory. Her mind had begun functioning in her mother's womb, and with her photographic memory, she knew the exact moment—or so she thought. On her path to self-improvement, she meditated and realized that her first memory had been clouded and strangely blurry. And suddenly, it was there. Her new "first" memory. She had been a golden sphere before she was in her mother’s womb, and this sphere floated in an infinite space with endless golden branches. At some point, her sphere made a choice, and the memories became blurry again—a completely new sensation for Grace, who usually remembered every tiny detail. But she quickly pieced it together: her sphere, she herself, had chosen this dull world to grow without competition, and now the time had come. She would leave this boring world behind and decide for herself where to go next. She was quite certain that, through her path of the three pillars—Eruditas, Vitalis, and Dominatus—she had made so much progress in recent years that she was mentally capable of determining her own fate. It was like a self-fulfilling prophecy; Grace was trying to reinvent herself, or rather, rebirth herself in a new world. Since the first time she became aware that the golden sphere represented her soul, she had meditated more intensively to gain deeper insights into the between-world. She had actually succeeded in glimpsing it further. It then became clear to her that "normal" souls simply lose their memory and are thrown back into the cycle of life to start anew in a random world. By now, she was also certain that she could bypass this memory loss, which is why she had finally reached the final phase of her plan.

The officers left the school just in time. As they were outside, it exploded behind them. In disbelief, they looked back at the destruction...

On the same day, Grace became the number one topic on all news channels. Clips from her stream were shown repeatedly. The stream was analyzed minute by minute, with every detail recapped, and friends and classmates were interviewed. The online forums of Grace's community were also buzzing with activity. Comments flooded in:

"They’ll try to call her crazy, but she’s just ahead of her time. The world will catch up eventually."

"DarkGirl112 knew what she was doing from the start. Her whole life was leading to this moment. Respect."

"No one has ever been this bold. What DarkGirl112 did was necessary, it needed to happen. We need more like her."

"I don't get it. She killed herself. What was the point? This isn’t some movie; this is real life."

"I was a fan, but this... this is just too far…”

But the overwhelming sentiment in the forums was one of shock, their beloved DarkGirl112 left the world without her simps. Many people believed also this was a conspiracy and DarkGirl112 was actually alive.

And Grace? It was her last day. A glorious last day. A day to remember… but also a day full of her exaggerated ego and pointless self-promotion. And then, it was dark. Nothing no golden orb, no golden branches…

…

…

Grace opened her eyes. It was her first day in her new life.