I Start with 13 Hidden Traits Chapter-174

Ch-174. **Seven Sins Spawn**

—

I cheered inwardly.

I even felt like dancing.

If the Emperor Penguin was Wilhelm, then everything happening right now made sense.

Only he alone could push me to the very end.

But how had he, who had died, come back to life?

And with an entirely new body at that.

*“Sinner. Player.”*

If there was any plausible possibility, it would be that one.

Among the countless memories engraved into his own body, there were quite a few related to it.

But—

*“What does that matter.”*

He shook his head.

Yes. It didn’t matter.

The fact that the opponent was Wilhelm—

That alone was enough.

*‘…I’ll show you everything.’*

He still had ultimate secret techniques left.

He was indescribably happy to meet him again.

At last, he could show everything—so much so that even the world looked beautiful to him.

*‘It’s been a year. Isn’t it a waste to end it like this?’*

He would clash with everything he had.

And if he died after the clash—so be it.

Now then. Let’s begin.

Because from here on—this was the *real* thing.

—

After he screamed Wilhelm’s name—

The momentum shifted.

*‘It’s becoming harder to read his intent.’*

The Champion was strong, certainly.

But his intent—his movements—had been easy to read.

Because his consciousness was too vast and powerful.

With other people, they would shrink back before him and freeze, unable to move, but to me, that aspect actually made him easier to handle.

With merely the Heaven and Earth of Heaven-Shattering Creation, I could dismantle a hundred unique skills solely for that reason.

And yet—

*‘His scattered intent is condensing into one. Beneath the name Wilhelm.’*

A single unwavering thought.

A desire to see this through to the end, and nothing else.

When consciousness and unconsciousness become maddeningly intermingled and turn into a single colossal purpose, oddly enough, it becomes harder to read the opponent.

*‘…He’s certain I’m Wilhelm.’*

A shiver ran down my spine.

How in the world did he figure it out?

Heaven-Shattering Creation’s Heaven and Earth were principles, nothing more.

A sword art without fixed sword paths.

It was impossible to discern merely from watching the swings.

I even wore a mask, adjusted my posture and movements in subtle ways.

There should have been no way to be caught.

So how did he recognize that I was Wilhelm?

*‘Was he always like this?’*

He was excited.

Reacting so intensely that he could barely remain conscious.

Ever since he realized I was Wilhelm.

Goosebumps crawled all over my body.

This was the first time I’d ever felt this kind of sensation while crossing swords with someone.

The first time I’d seen someone display such desire toward Wilhelm.

*‘…I should end this.’*

I was growing more and more uneasy.

It seemed I needed to abandon the idea of seeing this through with him.

—

*“Aaah!”*

Ecstatic.

The more their swords met, the greater the joy swelling inside him.

At the same time, he wanted to gouge out his own eyes.

These two useless lumps that failed to see what they should have seen.

To think he hadn’t realized even when it was right in front of him—he felt sick enough to vomit at his own foolishness.

Ah. Wilhelm.

Sir Wilhelm, King of Knights!

For the past year, he had waited for you and you alone.

Not for a single day—no, not for a single second—had he failed to think of you.

Even in his dreams, he ceaselessly replayed your swordsmanship, your movements, your everything.

Sleepless nights born of regret for not being able to fight you.

He was certain only you could quench this endless thirst.

*‘Take all of me!’*

He poured everything out.

Yet he still felt as though none of it reached Wilhelm.

He could not end it like this.

*—Consume! Devour!*

A voice thundered inside his skull, making the Champion clutch his forehead.

“Kh…!”

His head felt like it would split apart.

A pain unlike anything he had ever experienced.

*—His entire body! There is nothing to discard! With Wilhelm’s body, at last, perfection will be achieved, my friend!*

What the hell was this thing babbling about?

He had simply been glad.

Glad to finally meet a strong foe who would bring him to his end.

Glad to at last face that honorable knight!

He had been nothing but happy.

So don’t ruin his pure delight, you devil.

*—Was that truly all? You waited for a duel? Don’t lie. You coveted it too, didn’t you? You wanted a stronger body!*

The headache intensified.

The demon’s voice boomed louder.

“What, what’s wrong with him?”

“H-He suddenly collapsed?”

“Is the Champion finally reaching his limit?”

“Insane… just how strong is that Emperor Penguin?”

The spectators stirred anxiously.

Right in the middle of the duel, the Champion suddenly clutched his head and fell to his knees.

If attacked now, his neck could be sliced clean off in a single stroke.

This was the first time the long-standing Champion, who had reigned for so long, had ever shown such a defenseless state.

*—You merely wanted to indulge. To steal. That perfect, completed body! To once again become the honorable, radiant human you once were! Yes—you wanted to become Wilhelm the Knight King himself!*

*‘Shut up!’*

*—Dull and foolish creature. Three thousand years have passed, yet you’ve changed not at all. Wretched hypocrite.*

*‘I told you… shut up!’*

*—Move aside. If you won’t do it, then I will. Just like I always have!*

Ah—

His head felt as if it would burst.

Enough to make him want to abandon everything.

The Champion squeezed his eyes shut.

And in that moment—

He became the ancient demon of old.

—

“Wh-what…?”

Auril unknowingly stepped back.

A stench so foul it stabbed like needles.

The rot of something too ancient, too decomposed, was pouring out from the Champion.

That was… that was no human.

Anyone emitting that kind of stench could not possibly be human.

*‘A demon worshipper?’*

An oppressive stench.

In this world, there was not just one kind of “evil.”

Demons, devils, reapers, the abyss… each had different roles and realms.

Among them, demons were beings deeply tied to “sinful deeds.”

Demons were extremely rare, and so were the “demon worshippers” who followed them.

Perhaps the Champion was one of them…

*‘No. That is a demon itself!’*

But Auril shook her head.

Demons bestowed immense power upon their worshippers, in exchange for a price.

For example, something like a Demonheart.

Those who gained such things would transcend their limits, but would never again be able to awaken through the stars.

Yet the being before her was nothing like a demon worshipper strengthened by a Demonheart.

It emitted a stench and sinful miasma far, far worse.

It was truly—*evil itself*.

*‘The Queen said there were seven demons from the beginning of the world.’*

The ones known as the Seven Deadly Sins Spawns.

Only those seven were true demons.

Only three existed in the current age; the rest had vanished without a trace.

But if all of them were to appear in the world again, another “calamity” might be born… so said the World Tree and the Queen.

Then was this demon before her one of those sins?

One of the ancient demons long vanished from history?

“Wh-what is that?”

“His body’s swelling!”

“Is he going to self-destruct!?”

As the Champion’s body began to bloat, the crowd shrieked.

His flesh swelled and expanded like a balloon.

“…Ah.”

At the same time, Auril stiffened.

That was an immense cluster of “evil.”

Not just the stench—an overwhelming mass of desires was gathered inside.

Hundreds, thousands… tens of thousands of desires.

Nothing like what she saw in Randolph.

Randolph’s desire had reached outward to dominate everything, but the desire inside this thing was the very opposite: a sticky, sickening obsession.

Soon, a voice echoed in everyone’s mind—Karas.

*“All of you, flee. *He* is coming.”*

He?

Who?

Karas’s voice was trembling faintly.

As if he had already experienced this once before.

He continued:

*“The real ‘Sansha’… is coming.”*

—

The ground trembled.

The Tower shook.

At the Champion’s transformation.

At the emergence of the true Sansha.

As I listened to Karas’s words, at last I understood.

*‘So this is why no one knew of Sansha’s existence.’*

Even I had learned the name only by chance.

When climbing the Tower as Wilhelm, Karas had warned me.

Told me to beware of Sansha.

This time as well.

Karas warned me again to beware.

Yet I could never learn what “Sansha” truly was.

Where she was, where she watched from.

What she was doing.

*‘So that’s Sansha.’*

After the spectators all evacuated—

The bloated mass finally completed its transformation into something no longer human.

A centipede-shaped demon with countless arms and legs.

And those limbs were all human limbs.

Its torso bore innumerable eyes, and only at the very top rested the Champion’s face.

*‘…Grotesque.’*

A monstrously grotesque creature.

Something that wouldn’t even be allowed to appear on-screen if rendered in a game.

【Lv. ???】

Even its level could not be seen.

But one thing was certain: facing this monster head-on was impossible.

“Run, last descendant of Omen.”

At that moment, Karas appeared before me.

But Karas was not whole.

As the master of the Tower, he had already suffered at the hands of *Sansha*.

Karas’s wings were sprouting from the centipede’s side.

He had probably lost those wings—and with them, an immense portion of his strength.

“I received much help from the Clan of Omen. They were the administrators who managed countless towers.”

The Clan of Omen.

The ominous crows were the administrators of countless towers?

This was my first time hearing such a thing.

Another truth that did not exist in the original world-building.

The appearance of the towers—and the clan that managed them.

Karas continued speaking.

“Though ‘Sansha’ devoured parts of my flesh, the Tower still belongs to me. I have pondered this for a long time, but in the end, I must bury her together with the Tower. Before that thing escapes this place. I cannot allow it to devour the last descendant of Omen.”

His voice held a regret, as though lamenting that he had not done this from the beginning.

Karas then looked back at me.

“However… I am curious. You are of the Clan of Omen, and at the same time… you remind me of *him* from a year ago.”

Just like the Champion, Karas too had recognized me.

Thus, I nodded.

“Yes. I am Wilhelm.”

I spoke with a certain courtesy.

After all, he was risking everything to save me.

Karas nodded, as if he had expected no less.

“I thought so… So that is why ‘Sansha’ desired you so intensely. King of Knights. No… inheritor of the sacred blood—‘the Emperor’s Blood.’”

“…The Emperor’s Blood?”

“Yes. Your origin lies in the heavens above. I am not permitted to speak further, but the will of Omen shall guide you onto the correct path.”