I Start with 13 Hidden Traits Chapter-297

Ch-297. **One Who Is Nothing**

—

Cheering.

Encouragement meant to give strength so the other can do well.

Yet, not once in his lifetime had the *damn god* ever encouraged him.

No—far from encouragement, the god had never even spoken a single word about him.

It was as though the god did not even know of his existence.

As if mocking him for floundering in a swamp of consciousness like a bottomless abyss, the god had always turned away.

And yet—

*Now, of all times…*

…Only after he died.

Only then did the god summon his soul.

Only now did the god begin to cheer for him.

Why?

When he had wanted it so desperately, not a single word had been offered.

He had followed the god’s will, achieved higher realms, and helped elevate the honor of the Knight King—yet even then, the god had denied his existence to the very end.

And now, suddenly, encouragement?

Was it because the god wanted Randolph to be slain?

*Randolph…*

Wilhelm quietly lifted his head and looked at Randolph.

A body controlled by the same damn god who had controlled him.

The soul layered atop that body was undoubtedly the original owner of the flesh.

Yet Wilhelm instantly sensed something amiss about that soul.

*Evil.*

That soul was not tainted by evil.

It had simply been *born* as evil.

Evil from the beginning—and thus evil even now.

Still, something felt strange.

Humans are never born evil.

If they were—

“You’re only half,” Wilhelm said.

Then that would mean—

Only half.

Not a complete human.

“…You say I’m half?”

The moment he heard Wilhelm’s words, Randolph scowled.

He could never accept being called half.

Though he had been defeated on the Island of the Gods and imprisoned within the Gate of Truth—

“I am the complete one. The sole and absolute owner of this body!”

He had merely reclaimed what was originally his.

And this time, he would become truly complete.

One defeat was enough.

He could never return to the Gate of Truth again.

That experience had been unbearably, nauseatingly horrific.

*I will never go back. Never!*

The memories surfaced, and Randolph shuddered once.

But it was in the past now—nothing more than a nightmare.

And thanks to having entered and exited the Gate of Truth, Randolph had become even more complete.

For the first time, he felt properly upright.

Randolph looked at Wilhelm.

At the foolish man who had called him half.

At the ignorant fool who could neither see, nor feel, nor think properly.

More than anything—

“You… ah.”

Randolph smiled.

Perhaps it was the effect of having passed through the Gate of Truth.

He had succeeded in seeing through Wilhelm.

And what he saw was—

“Aren’t *you* the half one?”

Who was calling whom half?

Sunken eyes, emaciated hands and feet.

A child trapped in a cave, wailing like a broken husk of a man.

Randolph clicked his tongue.

“Your body, your name, your honor—even your memories. Is there a single thing that belongs to you?”

Not one thing.

There had never been.

Could that truly be called *existence*?

“You are nothing.”

“Ah.”

Wilhelm nodded.

Readily—almost gladly.

Had he been moved?

Wilhelm continued.

“Yes. I am nothing. A half.”

As though saying that being nothing at all was better than being a half-measure.

Only then did Randolph realize why he had felt uncomfortable all along.

“…It seems we are incompatible.”

The man standing before him.

Randolph finally understood—they were opposites.

The conversation was over.

Now all that remained—

*Shing!*

—was a battle to the death between one who was nothing, and one who was half.

*

*

 

Everyone held their breath.

“……”

“……”

They simply stared, silent, focused on the scene unfolding before their eyes.

No awakened being could even open their mouth.

Wilhelm climbing the tower was nothing short of shocking.

He never gave up.

He never fell.

No matter what adversity came, no matter how fierce the storm—

He pressed forward in silence.

Wilhelm was far stronger than anyone had imagined.

Straightforward, weighty, yet gentle.

A being more worthy of the title *Knight King* than anyone else.

The strongest man acknowledged by Raiga himself.

*He’s strong…*

*Do you really have to go that far to become strong?*

Just watching made their hearts pound and their blood boil.

A kind of strength they had never experienced—never even seen.

Yet there was a reason behind his overwhelming might.

If they had been placed in the same situation, could they have climbed that tower?

Could they have ignored the wounds to body and mind and charged forward like an enraged rhinoceros?

*I can’t.*

*Impossible.*

They knew—and yet could not do it.

Still, as they watched Wilhelm’s challenge, a small spark ignited in their hearts.

The desire to become stronger.

The realization that they *had* to become stronger.

The wish to walk the world with him, to stand shoulder to shoulder beside him.

But the climax had not yet come.

Finally, the 30th floor.

When Wilhelm reached the summit of the Tower of the War God—

“That is…”

“Randolph!”

The Eternal God Randolph appeared.

The strongest, who had dominated the Hall of Fame from the moment of his debut.

The very cause of the chaos in the Tower of the War God—

…and the one who was truly *Phantom*.

But unlike Randolph, Wilhelm’s condition was at its worst.

He had reached the 30th floor through sheer indomitable will, but the accumulated wounds were beyond horrific.

There was not a single uninjured place on his body.

It would not have been strange for him to die at any moment.

An ordinary person would have died hundreds of times over already.

“…Is this as far as he goes?”

“No!”

“…Wilhelm!”

“Wilhelm!”

They cried out at the top of their lungs.

Before they realized it, they had become immersed in Wilhelm.

Without even noticing themselves shouting, they screamed his name.

Perhaps that encouragement reached him.

《The ‘Damn God’ uses ‘Broken Fragments of the Golden Scale (20,000h)’ to support ‘Wilhelm’.》

Someone had poured a staggering *20,000 hours* worth of fragments into supporting Wilhelm.

Twenty thousand hours.

Up until now, the combined support of countless awakened beings had barely reached two thousand hours.

And now—ten times that amount had been spent without hesitation.

“Tw-twenty thousand hours?”

“What is this?”

“Damn god?”

“Who is that?”

“A god is cheering for Wilhelm?”

Everyone watching was stunned.

Twenty thousand hours of fragments.

An amount no single person could possibly possess.

Even for a god, it was absurd.

Yet it had happened.

And Wilhelm was *completed*.

“Knight King…”

Saint Seia’s eyes trembled violently.

It wasn’t just the awakened ones watching Wilhelm’s challenge.

More than five hundred thousand people who had climbed the tower were watching as well.

And the completed figure of Wilhelm—

It resembled the Wilhelm Saint Seia had last seen during the Grand Expedition.

In that form, Wilhelm was invincible.

A man who had never feared even the Demon King—the very symbol of humanity.

Ironically, Randolph standing opposite him now resembled the Demon King from that time.

A being of boundless terror.

And then—

“Ah…!”

The two beings collided.

*

*

I think.

Therefore, I exist.

Even if I am a being of *nothing*.

Wilhelm undeniably existed.

He existed right here, right now.

“Not bad, Wilhelm.”

*Chwaaaang!*

—As he swung his sword.

With every clash of blades, the vibrations shook even the soul.

Randolph’s attacks possessed the power to dismantle domains themselves.

They destroyed mysteries.

They destroyed existence.

He was a destroyer.

A name that suited him perfectly.

“Even on the Island of the Gods, none excited me this much!”

Randolph, too, was astonished.

The Abyss Lords and primordial beings he had fought on the Island of the Gods had all been strong.

Yet none had satisfied him.

Each had been missing something—like a loose screw.

Only the *Celestial Whale*, the *Unborn One*, and the *Sunken Emperor* had been somewhat enjoyable.

Especially the Sunken Emperor—he had been the most entertaining of them all.

Using tiny, bug-like beings to threaten one who had reached truth.

As for the Unborn One—

He had been honestly surprised.

He would likely never again fight something so unbalanced.

The Celestial Whale seemed to lack the will to fight, making her dull—but her power was undeniable.

The rest, however, had all been disappointments.

But this one—Wilhelm—

*For someone who is nothing, he surpasses them.*

Wilhelm was defective.

A being lacking everything—a *nothing*.

And yet he excited Randolph like this.

Why?

*Perfect.*

It was the sword.

Wilhelm had nothing but the sword.

And thus, his sword had no flaws.

Wilhelm’s blade was close to Randolph’s ideal.

It carried flawless justice.

And that made it tempting.

Yet it was strange.

*So perfect, yet a kind of swordsmanship I’ve never seen.*

The Gate of Truth.

Within it existed all completed things.

With that level of completion, it should have existed inside the Gate of Truth—

Yet Randolph had never seen Wilhelm’s swordsmanship there.

*In fact, this feels less like swordsmanship… and more like a phenomenon.*

Flawless and complete—but not swordsmanship.

Something wearing the guise of swordsmanship.

Something embedded within the technique itself.

But was that even possible?

To embed something else within swordsmanship?

If it had been something ordinary, Randolph wouldn’t have been this astonished.

*Clang! Chae-eeng!*

The more their blades collided, the more certain he became.

*…Am I being pushed back?*

Little by little—he was.

It was unbelievable.

Impossible.

From the Island of the Gods onward, there had been no one who could challenge him.

He was the very definition of a perfect, complete being.

And yet he was being pushed back.

By Wilhelm’s sword.

By that swordsmanship.

*I’m being overwhelmed by the sword itself—by something that surpasses my very existence!*

Some immense rank had met Wilhelm and sublimated into swordsmanship itself.

But if it were such a great rank, it should have been part of the Gate of Truth.

He should have recognized it the instant he saw it.

And yet—he didn’t know.

No matter how many times he looked, he could not understand it.

Having just emerged from the Gate of Truth, he should have known everything.

Of course, there was exactly one exception.

If it was something he could not know—

Something that did not exist there.

Randolph’s eyes shook violently.

“Who… taught you that swordsmanship?”

…Somehow, he felt he knew.

That was not swordsmanship Wilhelm had created.

It could not be.

No matter how long a nothing devoted himself solely to swordsmanship, he could never reach this.

“Where—how—did you meet *him*?”

It was impossible.

It should never have happened.

He had misjudged.

If his suspicion was correct—

Then Wilhelm was not a nothing.

Slowly, Wilhelm opened his mouth.

“In the Forest of Nibelung.”

…There.

He had met him there.

During that one month trapped in the Forest of Nibelung.

When he swung his sword solely to survive.

When he struggled and awakened to himself.

*The one who once threatened the heavens long ago—and thus became nonexistent.*

The one who was truly nothing.

…That was whom he had met.