I Start with 13 Hidden Traits Chapter-229

Ch-229. **Heavenly Demon Divine Art**

—

Isabella stood before the two doors.

She had been there ever since Randolph entered.

“…Randolph.”

She was reflecting on herself.

A life of constant flight.

Never settling, always moving from one place to another.

She became the Snake Princess, helped the Star-bearer, became the Desert Queen, played the Daughter of the Dersian House, then once again met Randolph as an apprentice knight of the Fang Order.

After meeting Randolph—she finally understood.

“Randolph… I was chasing a star.”

A star in the sky.

She’d been moving to seize an unreachable star.

Among countless immeasurable stars, she believed *her* star must exist somewhere.

“Star-bearer… my master, my king.”

Isabella reached out toward the door Randolph had gone through.

Her heart wanted to walk through it right now.

She wanted to enter immediately and help him.

“My true star is…”

Because she finally felt she had found her real star.

Her true star had been beside her from the beginning.

And yet she didn’t recognize it.

How foolish could she have been?

Now that she had realized it—should she go to him?

No… not yet.

She had to become stronger.

She could not become a burden to him, to *her star.*

—Star-chasing one.

At that moment—

With a screech, the opposite door opened, and a shadow appeared.

Above the shadow floated only a single enormous eye.

—We are the one who guides the stars. The Star-bearer.

—The guardian of the stars, and the master who governs this Abyss.

—Will you sacrifice yourself for your king?

Voices overlapped.

Men, women, and children—speaking as one.

“…I can.”

Isabella nodded.

She did not have to think about it.

The shadow pointed toward the opposite door—

The one Randolph had entered.

—Then go. For your king to win, there will come a moment when he needs you.

—You will obtain what you truly desire.

—But it will never be easy.

All the voices echoed at once.

But she understood the message clearly.

There was no malice.

If Randolph required her to win, she could not treat that lightly.

Creak—

Isabella crossed through the door.

As she disappeared, the shadow closed its eye—and tears began to fall.

—Ah… the long wait is finally over.

—Everything is for that one person alone.

—For our king.

*

*

 

**The Starlight of the Sole Emperor.**

A name belonging to a starlight that was not mine.

Contrary to the Sunken Emperor’s explanation, the name of a hidden trait I did *not* possess appeared.

*So evolved hidden traits—or unique hidden traits—must be exceptions.*

There were not many special starlights on the map.

Among them, one had to find the one suited to oneself.

And this one was five-star. Five full stars.

You could only equip one of them, but the stats were absurd.

*Until I find the five-star starlight that suits me best, I should wear this one.*

Equipped starlights could always be unequipped and replaced.

That was why rearranging the starlights earlier had been possible.

But unlike ordinary starlights, special starlights could not be “removed”—only replaced.

> 【You have unequipped “Starlight of Dexterity.”】

> 【The effect of “Memory of Stars” (+1 ATK & HP to all starlights) has disappeared.】

> 【You have equipped “Starlight of the Sole Emperor.”】
> 【Current stats: ATK 76, HP 70】

…As expected.

The effect granted by the order of the starlights disappeared.

Yet my attack and health were still higher.

For now, the +30 ATK and +30 HP from the five-star starlight outweighed the Memory bonus.

*This game favors the one who strikes first.*

So raising attack took priority.

The Starlight of Dexterity gave ATK 2 and HP 8—inefficient for opening blows.

*But is first-strike and second-strike chosen randomly?*

The first two opponents had no starlights.

Automatic defeat meant first-strike vs second-strike never mattered.

But from now on, things would change.

Participants who had understood the importance of starlights would desperately search the island.

I needed to uncover how initiative was determined.

> 【Observing the memory contained in “Starlight of the Sole Emperor.”】

Then it began.

Like a panorama sweeping through my mind—

A completely different world appeared before my eyes.

—Kill the emperor!

—Kill the tyrant Reinhardt!

—Mad emperor!

—Kill the demon emperor!

A tidal wave of furious soldiers and crowds surged forward.

For a palace belonging to the Emperor who unified the continent, the rivers of blood were overwhelming.

Everyone inside the palace was dead.

Everything destroyed.

Children, infants—even insects crushed beneath feet.

True pandemonium.

If hell existed on earth—this was it.

—Follow the great hero Malpiel!

—Lord Malpiel will guide us!

—Ooh, Lion of Light!

At the center of the rampaging masses stood one man.

The great hero—**Malpiel.**

The continent’s greatest swordmaster, and even an 8-circle archmage—were slaughtered helplessly by him.

When none were left to stop him, he stood alone before Emperor Reinhardt.

—Tyrant Reinhardt. The emperor who deserves death.

—…Seeing your face makes my head hurt even more.

The emperor scowled in utter disgust.

As if sickened to his very core.

—You could have taken the palace without bloodshed. Why kill everyone?

—There could be no clean humans left in this palace.

—Strange words for a praised “great hero.”

—A cleansing was needed. To purify this rotten empire, this world.

—…And of course history will say I killed them all, so how convenient.

—History always favors the victor.

They were both mass-killers—yet one was called a great hero, while the other was branded a tyrant.

How laughable.

But even more laughable was that the emperor who unified the continent could do nothing in the end.

The world had not changed.

It had been made one, but would never become truly one.

Only now did he realize that.

In the end… was the dream just a dream?

*“Dreams exist to be shattered,”* the archmage had said.

He had been right.

Dreams really did exist to break.

The emperor smirked bitterly.

Malpiel smiled back.

—How tragic. A death no one is sad for.

Rumble!

Craaaaash—!!

A storm of lightning devoured everything—

And the vision ended.

The sudden flood of memory left me speechless.

But one thing was certain:

*This was the Sunken Emperor’s memory.*

What I saw belonged to the being standing beside me.

Memories even the Sunken Emperor himself likely no longer remembered.

Emperor Reinhardt—unifier of the continent.

And the great hero Malpiel—who killed him.

After losing everything and forgetting everything, he sank to the bottom of the Abyss.

“Why are you suddenly acting strange?”

“…Nothing.”

I shook my head faintly.

There was something more important now.

*If every unique starlight holds memories—*

Then the intent of this entire game was becoming clearer.

A literal game of “following the memories of stars.”

Perhaps to make participants rediscover memories they had forgotten.

Or to reveal hidden stories.

And I became curious—

*What memories will my own starlight contain?*

…Randolph (Eternal).

That unique starlight must exist somewhere on this island as well.

Greed, Eternal Monarch’s Heart, High-Druid’s Great Nature, Eye of Truth, God of Blood Demons—

Each would surely contain memories—stories.

And those stories would become crucial guideposts for my future path.

*I’ll have to take this more seriously.*

My reason to win had increased.

My reason to yield nothing to anyone—also increased.

I patted the shoulder of the Sunken Emperor, who was staring at me as if I’d gone insane.

“Dreams exist for us to dream, my friend.”

“…Have you suddenly gone mad?”

*

*

 

When morning came, the Sunken Emperor was gone.

His true body must have been released from the Prison of Stars.

It was a little disappointing to part without a goodbye—but it didn’t matter.

There were no eternal allies here.

He himself had said that if I ever met his true form, he wouldn’t show mercy.

*Still—I learned a lot thanks to him.*

Now I knew exactly what to do.

Without his advice, I would still be wandering blind.

Inside a cave, I gripped the Heavenly Demon’s Dao.

*“…Only one who sheds the self and extinguishes the self to peer upon Asura can master Heavenly Demon Divine Art. But pure demonic energy cannot be accumulated through the human method of cultivation alone—one must embrace the essence of true demonhood.”*

The Heavenly Demon’s Dao continued whispering.

Whispering the method of surpassing the wall and becoming an absolute.

*The Heavenly Demon became an Abyssal being for the sake of mastering Heavenly Demon Divine Art.*

He could not stay human.

With a human cultivation method, one could never become an absolute—an Asura.

So the Heavenly Demon immersed himself in the Abyss.

He abandoned being human.

And thus he shed and extinguished the self—and glimpsed the Asura.

If this island’s special rules weren’t in place, defeating the Heavenly Demon would have been impossible.

Which is why greed stirred inside me.

I am one who devours.

I wanted to make this, too, mine.

Special starlights only appeared at night.

I’d already collected all starlights available during the day.

I began to focus.

*The Heavenly Demon’s Dao is a cultivation method.*

The blade itself was a manual, a scripture.

Now I fully understood why the dao was the most precious thing to the Heavenly Demon.

Right now, he was probably desperately searching for me.

So before he found me, I had to engrave the enlightenment.

*The first step to mastering Heavenly Demon Divine Art is to abandon one’s humanity.*

I straightened my posture, closed my eyes, and cleared my mind.

Of course, I didn’t truly intend to abandon my humanity.

I am human—Park Hyun-myung, and Randolph.

Those three truths I would never surrender.

And I didn’t need to.

*The Ominous Calamity, the Bringer of Darkness, and the Demon of Greed.*

I possessed deeper darkness and demonic nature than anyone.

I was certain—even the Heavenly Demon did not possess a deeper abyss than me.

—Are you insane!? Stop!

Winter’s voice rang out urgently.

As if she knew exactly what I intended.

—You can’t undo the contract engraved in that blade. Not even with my power! Controlling it yourself is even more impossible!

I know.

I knew.

Using the Omen’s Eye and Winter’s contract-breaking power wasn’t to *control* the sword.

—You’ll get devoured! The mind sealed in that sword is not meant to be awakened! Do you intend to rouse a filthy, monstrous evil god?!

An evil god.

I understood Winter’s fear.

But my goal was different.

This island—this game—existed for the sake of memories.

Everything here served as a sample of remembrance.

It was possible.

Only here, and only now.

Just like how I awakened the memories of the Sole Emperor Reinhardt.

…So show me, Heavenly Demon’s Dao.

**Show me your memory.**

 

 

 

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