I Start with 13 Hidden Traits Chapter-222

**222. Worms, Bow Your Heads**

—

Fwoooosh!

A surge of pure-white sword aura erupted from Serengeti’s entire body.

Yet contrary to its brilliance, Serengeti was panting heavily.

*Strong.*

She had defeated four knights already—now only the final one remained.

**The King-Slayer, Yazam.**

He was every bit as strong as the rumors claimed.

No—stronger.

He had slain three kings and presented their heads to King Friedrich.

To cut through the protection of countless knights alone and behead a king—his swordsmanship had reached its apex.

“Who taught you the sword?”

“……”

And just like Serengeti, King-Slayer Yazam was visibly surprised.

He hadn’t expected someone in the human realm to withstand his sword—*to this extent.*

Even *before* eating the star.

Serengeti’s swordsmanship—its purity—was leaps and bounds above the riffraff who littered past battlefields.

Yazam was a master who had honed the sword without rest.

Even renowned swordmasters could not satisfy him.

“Your teacher must’ve known how to wield a blade. But they taught you wrong.”

“……”

“You’re imitating something, yes, but it’s crude. Is it the fault of a teacher who tried to teach what cannot be taught? Or the student who failed to keep up even after learning?”

Yazam tilted his head.

The swordsmanship was undeniably, absurdly high-level, yet the form and structure were strangely rough.

As if unfinished.

To the ordinary, it would be overwhelming—but to someone who *can* see, the flaws were apparent instantly.

*Normally, that means the teacher was the problem.*

The teacher’s ambition—or the teacher simply never properly taught the student.

Tsk, tsk.

Yazam clicked his tongue lightly.

“I don’t know who your teacher is, but—”

“I did not learn it.”

“…Then?”

“I simply sketched it myself.”

Serengeti told the truth.

The sword she was tracing with her blade was not her own.

She was merely copying Wilhelm’s sword—**Heaven-and-Earth-Genesis.**

“You cannot defeat me with imitation, child.”

Yazam spoke with a sorrowful voice.

Crossing swords told him enough.

Serengeti’s potential did not end here.

She still had room to grow.

If someone could draw it out, she would soar to the heavens.

A genius of the sort Yazam had *never once* encountered before.

For something she copied on her own, she already grasped its structure and flow remarkably well.

*This kind of genius grows only when they meet another of the same kind.*

Not him. And not the one whose sword she was attempting to mimic.

A genius who can understand and unfold an entire structure simply by seeing it…
Such a person shouldn’t exist in this world.

If she had met a real teacher from the beginning—
With her talent, she might have already surpassed Yazam.

“Well then—let us match blades with all our might regardless. One of us lives, and the other dies.”

Yazam gripped his sword.

Regrettable talent or not—since they met on the battlefield, she had to die.

That was war.

—

—

 

“……”

“……”

Everyone held their breath.

Tens of thousands had gathered, yet not even the sound of breathing could be heard.

The battle consumed all of them.

Serengeti and Yazam.

Two lights crashing against one another.

No one could believe this was a fight between humans.

It was like—

“A battle of gods…”

If gods were to clash, it would look like this.

Serengeti was the **goddess of victory**.

A goddess bringing hope to the Kingdom of Valan, crushed repeatedly in defeat.

“…Marquis Weiser.”

The King of Valan opened his mouth quietly.

He too was overwhelmed—but could not remain silent any longer.

“…Yes, Your Majesty.”

“I apologize. I did not know how to judge people.”

The King of Valan acknowledged his mistake.

The strongest warrior of the Kingdom of Valan was not Battus, knight of Duke Sian…
Nor Abdulla, his own royal knight.

It was Serengeti.

If only he had sent Serengeti from the very beginning—

Battus would not have died, and Abdulla would not have lost his arm.

Regret flooded him, but it was already too late.

There was no one to blame.

It was the consequence of his own lack of discernment.

“N–no, Your Majesty, it is nothing like that…”

Marquis Weiser frantically shook his head.

But the King was not the only one who had seen wrongly.

After Serengeti displayed her strength, the young Duke Sian sat like a mute.

He couldn’t even lift his head—he simply avoided eye contact.

Battus wasn’t even in the same realm.

Even if Battus brought a hundred—no, a thousand versions of himself, they still wouldn’t compare to a single Serengeti.

Yet Weiser could not show pride either.

He too had known his daughter no better than the others.

“If it’s not too late… the Kingdom of Valan will change its stance toward the Knight-King. We will declare that the Grand Expedition did not fail—and that the Magic Tower and those so-called ‘heroes’ are frauds.”

“Will that be safe?”

Marquis Weiser asked, face filled with concern.

The Magic Tower and its Sages.

The Hero Council, who called themselves heroes.

Not only them.

Many factions had grown by using the failure of the Grand Expedition as a stepping stone.

If the Kingdom of Valan exposed the truth, they would be making an enemy of them all.

But the face of the King of Valan was filled with determination.

“They spread lies and tarnished the honor of the Grand Expedition and the Knight-King. We must correct it—even now.”

“Your Majesty… it will not be an easy war.”

“Nothing in the Knight-King’s battles was ever easy.”

Nothing would be easy.

Still, the King of Valan would fulfill his duty.

Restoring the honor of the Knight-King was his responsibility—

…even if it meant a war against King Friedrich.

“Ah!”

“She won…?!”

In that moment—

Gasps erupted.

All turned to the battlefield.

Serengeti stood there holding a shattered sword.

“What happened…?”

She had not been defeated.

She had unquestionably severed Yazam’s neck.

But the moment she cut it—

> —Impressive. It must have been a battle you had absolutely no way to win.

Glooop.

Glooop.

From the severed neck, black oil-like fluid poured out.

And from within the black oil, **countless hands** burst forth and began to replace the missing face.

> —I am the “Sealed Hand of the Gods.” Knight of the Goddess, let us fight once more.

That’s a Hand of the Gods?

No matter how one looked at it—it was closer to a demon than a god.

Terrifying mana.

A poison so vile it made one’s skin crawl merely by being near it!

“Everyone fall back!”

Serengeti shouted urgently.

FWOOOOOOOSH!

She unleashed the power of the star to suppress the toxic miasma.

—

—

**The Sealed Hand of the Gods.**

The moment she realized what it was, Serengeti froze in horror.

*The severed hands of gods who once possessed divinity…!*

There was no telling how many hands were contained within that body.

But without doubt—they were the hands of *former gods.*

Countless stars were forcibly stuffed inside Yazam.

Thus he became something entirely different—
A being called **the Sealed Hand of the Gods.**

*King Friedrich.*

Serengeti glared at him coldly.

Why would he merge such a monster?

He intended to annihilate the Kingdom of Valan from the very beginning.

Their fate was predetermined.

He was simply enjoying the Kingdom of Valan’s desperate struggle.

*A game.*

But—

*Something’s wrong.*

For someone enjoying his game, Friedrich’s expression was stiff.

Did he not expect the Sealed Hand of the Gods to emerge?

*Another variable has appeared.*

What was it?

What could make King Friedrich turn rigid?

She had no time to think further.

“Kh…!”

Yazam—
No, the Sealed Hand of the Gods—was overwhelmingly strong.

The miasma stole life upon contact.

If left alone, everyone in the Royal Castle would die.

Even holding it back was pushing Serengeti to her absolute limit.

“Stop.”

…Then it happened.

Before her eyes—a boy with red hair appeared.

He walked out with his hands behind his back and stood boldly before the Sealed Hand of the Gods.

Serengeti couldn’t understand.

Where did this boy come from?

A child so eye-catching should have been noticed from the beginning.

Yet she had sensed nothing.

*Drowsiness…!*

The moment she wondered, an overwhelming wave of sleep engulfed her.

She closed her eyes and fell unconscious.

The red-haired boy glanced at the sleeping Serengeti and then faced the Sealed Hand of the Gods again.

“Lower your head this instant.”

> —What are you?

“Oh hoh. And what demon dares to raise its head before a god?”

> —A god?

“We are the balancers of the world. Dragon Gods who rid the earth of worms like you.”

Ahem!

With both hands on his hips, Issera puffed his chest proudly and smiled.

—

—

**Pride Demon.**

King Friedrich watched the battlefield.

He had known from the start that Serengeti could never defeat Yazam.

Even if she killed Yazam, it would only summon the Sealed Hand of the Gods.

A monster forged from countless divine hands could not be handled by humans.

*Neither humans nor demons—something else mixed within.*

But after noticing the two children, King Friedrich could no longer enjoy the game.

He wanted to watch the last desperate struggle of Valan and crush them.

*Divinity.*

Only then did he recognize that the two children possessed *divine nature.*

The only beings a demon like him could not perceive were divine.

Yet something was strange.

*I’ve never seen that kind of divinity before.*

Pride took pride in knowing every divinity in Pangaenia.

But he had never seen or heard of divinity like those two.

Some gods did keep the form of children, but those two were not them.

Then what were they?

One thing was certain:

Gods and demons were mortal enemies.

In the ancient age of gods, demons could not even look up at the sky.

But not anymore.

The gods who could restrain them were all gone or powerless.

Even the final surviving goddess had died.

Compared to then, demons now were stronger still.

*The only ones who could stop me are the War God Karas and the Dragon God Einhasar. But both are barely able to protect their own domains.*

They had recovered their divinity, but lacked the surplus to step outside their realms.

They had regained divinity—and lost everything else.

Then who are they?

Friedrich met the children’s eyes.

“…Dragon Gods?”

He realized it.

That unknown divinity—

Those two children **were Dragon Gods.**

But not the Dragon Gods of this world.

Friedrich knew the Dragon Gods who protected Pangaenia.

Meaning—

*Could they be the Guardians of the Celestial Realm?*

Friedrich’s expression hardened further.

If those Dragon Gods were the celestial guardians, then this incident was beyond grave.

*Even so, they can’t possibly deal with the Sealed Hand of the Gods so easily—*

> —KRAAAAAAAAAH!!!

“………………………”

 

 

 

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