I Start with 13 Hidden Traits Chapter-246

Ch-246. **Noble and Pure**

—

It was by chance that Isabella learned of the “secret.”

By mere coincidence, she stepped into a place she never should have entered.

A dark, gloomy underground.

Inside iron bars where not a sliver of light reached, she saw a woman whose skin clung to bone.

Hair tangled as though it hadn’t been washed in ages. And—

Drip, drip.

Pus dripped from the woman’s eyes.

Pupils long dead, unfocused.

“You’re… the ninth one.”

At last, the woman stretched out her skeletal hand and touched Isabella’s cheek.

Startled, Isabella couldn’t move.

Where was this place, and who was this woman locked behind bars?

“My younger sister. But… you’re a failure too.”

A failure?

What had she failed at?

The woman uttered a few more words.

But her lifeless voice was impossible to decipher—

All except the last line.

“Wait for death outside. It will be… far happier for you.”

…That dying would be happiness.

The word “death,” spoken by someone who somehow resembled her, jolted Isabella into motion.

“Don’t you want to live?”

“I want to die. But if I die… another sister will take my place.”

And that one will probably be you.

That was what the woman seemed to be saying.

Isabella had no choice but to flee the moment she heard footsteps approaching.

‘…When will I die?’

It began then.

The waiting for death.

The ninth clone of the Derssian family, a failure who had discovered the secret.

With that title, the ending was set in stone.

There was nothing to fear.

Somehow, she had always expected such an end.

The cold stares, the disappointed eyes around her.

But Isabella did not die.

Instead, she was sold.

To the Queen of the Desert.

…The words of the woman she’d seen underground turned out to be true.

That dying would have been happiness.

Because the place Isabella arrived at was hell.

—

There was no day or night here.

A massive underground cavern prepared beneath Faisalmer.

There, countless children had to survive.

“Argh!”

“It hurts, it hurts!”

“Help me!”

Screams rang endlessly.

One should have grown used to them by now, yet they never became familiar.

“You know? They say this place is partly connected to the Abyss.”

“…Sonora.”

Isabella looked up.

A beautiful white-haired girl—Sonora.

The child most likely to inherit the Queen’s throne.

And somehow, she resembled Isabella… a fellow clone.

“So the ones who can’t adapt thrash around like that before turning into hybrids. Pitiful beasts who failed to receive Her Majesty’s grace.”

“…”

“In contrast, we adapted. We grew stronger. Isabella, we can leave this place. One day.”

Sonora was positive in a way Isabella never could be.

Loose screws, perhaps—but that was to be expected.

Here, this was what it meant to still have sanity.

…This place was hell.

Children who failed to adapt turned into monsters.

Those monsters attacked, killed, and devoured the other children.

And the children, to survive, had no choice but to kill those monsters and eat their flesh.

‘There is no bright future, Sonora.’

Isabella could not bring herself to say it.

Even if they were both clones, the environments they grew up in were far too different.

Isabella was raised by the Derssian family; Sonora grew up here.

Isabella knew she was a clone; Sonora did not.

She simply thought they looked similar.

And only Isabella knew that the Queen of the Desert would ultimately kill them.

Yet Sonora’s faith in the Queen was absolute.

Understandable, really.

In this hell, belief in something stronger than oneself was the only way to endure.

“Guaaaagh!”

“…Arnan. So he finally turned into a monster.”

Arnan had survived in this hell for over five years.

Just yesterday, he still looked fine.

The longer one held out, the stronger one became as a monster.

Strong enough that no one except Sonora could handle him.

Indeed, Arnan—now a monster—killed and devoured five children in an instant.

Sonora finally drew her sword.

Then she flashed Isabella a bright grin.

“I’ll be back, Isabella. You should rest.”

—

The strongest among the children—Sonora.

The brightest, most radiant, most beautiful girl.

She was wounded fighting monster-Arnan.

“That Arnan… he was pretty good, huh? Had a secret move hidden away.”

It was just a small scratch, and Sonora joked lightly.

She had always looked down on Arnan.

Always driving him hard, telling him to polish his skills further.

The monster-Arnan had used a technique he’d kept hidden all along—and managed to injure Sonora.

“Arnan! We’ll eat you and grow stronger. You’ll live on inside us. I swear, we won’t forget you.”

A ritual repeated hundreds of times.

The children tore into Arnan’s flesh, devouring it.

But Isabella could not feel at ease.

“Sonora… you’re… bleeding.”

“It’s fine. Don’t worry.”

Sonora quickly hid the wound.

But Isabella had clearly seen it.

Her blood was not red.

Sonora was beginning to transform—into a hybrid.

Even so, Sonora smiled brightly.

“I can feel it. I think we’ll be able to leave this place soon. And when we do, you’re coming with me, Isabella. We’re basically each other’s reflection. Promise.”

—

Sonora’s condition worsened by the day.

Only the vast magical power within her held her together.

“…We have to kill her.”

“Before she turns. We have to kill her.”

“If Sonora becomes a monster, we’re all dead.”

The children sensed instinctively—something was wrong.

Sonora was changing.

Ever since she was injured fighting Arnan, she had rapidly deteriorated.

“Did you all forget? Without Sonora, we would have died ages ago!”

Isabella blocked their way.

She could not hand Sonora over.

Without Sonora, this place would already have become their grave.

“She must die.”

“If you stop us, we’ll kill you too.”

There was no reasoning with them.

The children were already mad.

Perhaps Isabella herself was as well.

Srrng—

Isabella drew a sword.

Sonora’s sword.

A blade carved from a monster’s bone.

They said that when one’s closest friend turned into a monster, you carved a sword from their bones.

That was why Isabella still had no proper sword of her own.

Sonora’s sword was made long ago—from the bones of a friend who had turned.

If she died… would Sonora carve a sword from Isabella’s bones?

Eat her flesh, drink her blood—so they could be together forever.

“Go ahead and try to kill me. I never planned on living long anyway.”

I want to live inside you, Sonora.

My only friend.

…My only sister.

—

It seemed I was stronger than I thought.

When I regained my senses, corpses lay everywhere.

“Hah… hah… hah…”

I couldn’t see.

Blood. Was this my blood?

I wiped my eyes—my vision returned.

No one was standing.

All the children were dead.

Except for me and Sonora.

“Sonora, it’s okay. We *will* get out of here.”

“Only one can leave this place, Isabella.”

Breathing roughly, Sonora spoke.

As though revealing a secret she had hidden all along.

When she opened her eyes, they were pitch black.

Half of her had already turned into a monster.

“Isabella. If it’s you… You’re stronger than I am. You’ll be able to withstand the trials ahead.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Before I turn completely… kill me. I… I—ah.”

Crack! Crackle!

Her body twisted.

Her neck bent at angles it never should, bones shifting grotesquely beneath her skin.

No.

This can’t be real.

Sonora—turning into a monster?

If only one could leave, it should have been Sonora.

“…I’ll die.”

I should die, and Sonora—you should go outside.

I never intended to live long anyway.

*Wait outside for death. It’ll be happier that way.*

The woman from the underground had said that.

Exactly as she’d said.

Dying would be happiness.

If I lived, my life would only be misery.

If I died and Sonora survived—there could be no greater happiness.

I lifted Sonora’s sword.

To die.

I would slash my throat—quickly, instantly.

I would not hesitate.

But at that exact moment—

Chzzzzk! Crackle!

Noise tore across the world.

And something appeared before my eyes.

**《Main Quest 1, “Survival,” has begun.》**

**《Survive!》**

After that, my memory vanished.

—

**《Main Quest 1, “Survival,” has begun.》**

**《Survive!》**

Where… am I now?

“My starting point was definitely the desert city, wasn’t it?”

Staring at the computer screen, *I* tilted my head.

I selected desert city as the start, but I wasn’t anywhere that looked like a desert.

“And what’s that? Why is a hybrid showing up the moment I start?”

It was absurd enough to scream.

A hybrid. Not even a basic hybrid—an advanced one.

A level 1 character couldn’t defeat it even if resurrected a hundred times.

“…I made this roughly just for fun, but… this is why you don’t set the desert city as your starting point.”

The one place you should NEVER select as a starting point.

If you spawn in Kaltzman Desert, it’s better to delete the character.

Even a god-tier player couldn’t overcome a hybrid like this.

I quickly checked my equipment.

“Oh? A rare-grade bone sword? I guess they made the difficulty high, so they gave a good weapon. Maybe this is doable?”

If I could land effective strikes, maybe I could do it.

My innate talents weren’t bad either.

And the hybrid hadn’t completed its transformation yet.

Crack! Crack!

I warmed up.

A challenge beyond impossible.

Such challenges were always welcome.

“All right then—let’s have some fun.”

Click!

With a grin, I moved the mouse.

An unwinnable battle.

A future of certain death.

But I change the future.

A man with a 99.9% survival rate.

I had no intention of giving up that record.

—

Guaaaaaaah—!

After two full hours of battle—

The hybrid collapsed.

Screaming, slowly dying.

Victory in a fight that should never have been winnable.

“Ah…”

Going through all the memories, Isabella let out a long sigh.

Memory was ambiguous.

Uncertain memories reassembled themselves however they wished.

What she had believed all this time—had been wrong.

A false memory she had rationalized into “truth.”

“I… made a contract…”

She had made a contract.

With Bluebird. With the being who introduced itself as the operator.

Since she would die anyway, she wagered her body in exchange for a chance to live.

So at the moment death became certain, Isabella’s body had been taken.

And according to the contract—she survived.

A sliver of hope.

No—less than a sliver.

“…Sonora.”

In the end, she had killed her.

To save her own life, she had effectively killed her friend.

Even though she had claimed she wanted to die, she had wanted to live more than anyone.

Who was there to blame?

Whom could she resent?

Everything had happened because of her own choices.

Park Hyunmyung had merely done his best with the circumstances he was given.

Not perfect—just his best.

No one could fault him for that.

*My beloved child. Park Hyunmyung sealed the Blood-Marrow Demon King inside his own body for your sake.*

Jörmungandr whispered.

The Desert Queen’s true intent.

A ritual to summon the Blood-Marrow Demon King!

Isabella had absorbed the contamination to stop that ritual.

*Even after transcending and awakening his true name… even knowing he would be hated… he willingly accepted death.*

But the Blood-Marrow Demon King was not summoned.

He vanished.

Because of Randolph.

Which meant—it was actually Park Hyunmyung’s decision.

Even knowing everything, he saved Isabella.

Even though he knew she would abandon him once she learned the truth.

*If Randolph dies, Park Hyunmyung dies as well. But the current Randolph is no longer Park Hyunmyung. A newly born being—or perhaps the true Randolph. So now… choose. Kill yourself to save him, or kill him to save yourself.*

It was time to choose.

Isabella looked at Park Hyunmyung again.

His memories, his story.

*Noble humanity.*

*Pure spirit of challenge.*

A man defined solely by those two things.

Isabella nodded.

Perhaps the result had been set from the beginning.

Yes, she had failed once in the past.

She had lived, letting Sonora die.

But now—it was different.

There was no contract.