I Start with 13 Hidden Traits Chapter-343

Ch-343. **“You… are you Fifth-Pillar?”**

—

—You carry the blood of a king.
—You will become the king of the White Tiger Clan and lead the North!

…Even now, it felt as though he could still hear those voices.

The voices of the dead.

The resentment of those who had mercilessly beaten him.

*Why now…?*

White King shook his head once.

An abrupt childhood memory had surfaced.

A memory he never wanted to recall again.

—Do not look back.
—Do not run away.
—Stand firm, and run straight ahead!

Yet the voices continued to echo.

Back when White King was far younger.

When he had only just been born.

…Now, no one in the North dared defy White King, but back then, he had been nothing more than easy prey to be devoured.

Burdened with far too much at too young an age, he had done nothing but flee, always fearful, always checking for a place to hide.

Perhaps because of that—

From an early age, he possessed an uncanny intuition regarding danger to himself, to the point it was called foresight.

He knew victory and defeat before a fight even began.

Thus, he only ever stepped into battles he would win.

There was no need to risk defeat.

An invincible, undefeated king.

That was how he came to rule the North as its absolute sovereign, governing Cramdel—

*And the only one who ever defeated me was Wilhelm.*

It was the first time.

The first time he had encountered someone who reeked so intensely of danger.

The moment he saw Wilhelm from afar, White King knew.

He must never face that man head-on.

But if he avoided a direct confrontation, he was confident he could evade him.

The problem was that Wilhelm had taken the entire Cramdel—including Four-Pillars—as hostages.

That was the first time White King stood in a battle where defeat was certain.

He was the king of the North.

A king could not reign without those he ruled.

And so, he lost.

*That defeat became the foundation of my growth.*

The pain had been bitter—but brief.

In the end, that defeat allowed White King to grow.

It awakened the true power of the White Tiger Clan.

As if by fate—

The moment he made a king’s decision, the king’s power awakened within him.

*Wilhelm… I’d like to face him again.*

If he were to meet Wilhelm once more, he wanted to fight him again.

This time, he had the resolve not to flee.

“Golden Scale Druid. There’s a strange scent about you.”

Sniff, sniff.

After taking in the scent once more, White King smiled faintly.

Right now, he could smell victory.

A powerful sensation of triumph.

And yet, hidden within it, there was another scent.

A peculiar one.

“What scent are you talking about?” the Golden Scale Druid asked.

Of course, this was not about an ordinary fragrance.

It was about the scent of one’s very existence.

White King nodded.

“It’s a very familiar smell. Fifth-Pillar… Why does the scent of that crow cling to you?”

It had been like that from the start.

From the moment he set foot near the World Tree of Honor, the stench of a crow had filled the air.

A scent no one else could perceive.

A scent only an awakened White King could detect, drifting everywhere.

And when he realized that the one carrying that scent was the Golden Scale Druid, he couldn’t understand it.

Naturally so.

The Golden Scale Druid was not a crow.

He felt none of the foul aura or pitch-black demonic power that the jet-black crow once exuded.

Rather, it was the opposite.

Holy—utterly, overwhelmingly holy.

And yet, why did the scent of Fifth-Pillar emanate from the Golden Scale Druid?

He wanted to ask outright.

*You… are you Fifth-Pillar?*

“…I don’t really know myself,” the Golden Scale Druid replied with a shrug.

Right… could that ominous crow really transform into the Golden Scale Druid?

White King knew Fifth-Pillar’s dreadfulness firsthand.

If that were possible, it would be fraud, deception, and a stain upon the sanctity of the druid.

All holy races would turn their backs.

The Star Guardians, the elves—perhaps even druids themselves.

*There’s no way that embodiment of ill omen could be the Golden Scale Druid…*

That would be the logical conclusion.

The problem was Fifth-Pillar itself—its sheer abnormality.

*Fifth-Pillar was an existence that rejected normality, shattered common sense, as if its roots and branches were reversed—violation itself.*

Fifth-Pillar was never normal.

It had been that way since its first appearance in the Tower of Mystery.

It broke records that should never have been broken and destroyed concepts themselves.

And that wasn’t all.

Everything it did afterward defied logic.

Though it had ultimately returned White King’s “fang,” its methods were so far beyond reason that suspicion was inevitable.

“If we clash ‘souls,’ the truth will become clear.”

Monster Souls.

They were mediums designed to evolve in reflection of their summoner’s soul.

Thus, a battle of souls was the same as a clash of souls themselves.

As they collided, the scent of the soul would intensify—like sweat—and one’s true nature would be revealed.

Of course—

*I’ll prove that my soul is the strongest.*

…From the start, he never once considered the possibility of losing.

He was the sovereign who ruled the North.

An absolute being feared even by gods.

*

*

Listening to White King, my heart skipped a beat.

*He sensed Fifth-Pillar.*

That shouldn’t have been possible.

All “malignant” tendencies had been transferred to Randolph.

All that remained within me now was radiant, pure light.

And yet White King had named Fifth-Pillar precisely.

He said he could smell it.

But there was no way there was an actual scent.

*Did he read my existence?*

Had he perceived one side of a dual existence—something no one else had ever seen?

Or perhaps it was related to White King’s own abilities.

His intuition was sharp enough to be called foresight.

*…Instinct. He felt it.*

Yes.

In the end, it was just intuition.

A probe, nothing more.

As long as I didn’t panic, he wouldn’t catch anything.

*His instincts must have grown sharper than before.*

Unexpected.

White King had grown as well.

Having recovered his fang, he seemed to have taken another step beyond that.

I looked at White King again.

It truly felt like he had ascended to the throne of a real king.

…His presence was completely different now.

【Golden Scale Druid (Elevenfold Firmament) VS White King (Extinction King Mork)】

There was no more time for conversation.

The semifinal had begun.

“Come. Let’s have some fun.”

White King brimmed with confidence.

And matching his demeanor, Extinction King Mork radiated overwhelming momentum.

*BOOM!*

The instant the battle began, Mork kicked off the ground and charged at the Elevenfold Firmament.

Blinding speed.

GRAAAH—!

In an instant, he seized the Elevenfold Firmament’s neck.

His arms expanded massively, twisting as if to snap the neck of a far larger dragon.

*Fwoosh!*

At that moment, the Wish Orbs began to shine.

Then—

*Grrk?*

Mork’s actions began to rewind.

He released the grip and returned to his original position before the charge.

*The power to manipulate bodily time.*

The Elevenfold Firmament governed time.

Not the world’s time—but biological time.

It could accelerate or reverse it.

GROOOAAAH!

Mork screamed as scales fell away, his body bent, and rapid aging set in.

“Non-Interference.”

*Clang!*

Everything shattered as if cracking—

and Mork’s body returned to normal.

White King had activated a trigger phrase.

“No supernatural power works on Extinction King Mork.”

Abilities classified as “supernatural.”

Blessings, curses—any such effects were nullified.

Because Mork possessed the power to cancel all effects applied to him.

《‘Extinction King Mork’ possesses the trait ‘Supernatural Non-Interference (Lv.40)’.》

Even I fell under “non-interference.”

Worse still, it exceeded my proficiency level.

Meaning even the Sword Heart of the War God couldn’t cut through it yet.

It seemed Mork specialized in only one thing.

Pure physical combat.

But that didn’t make him invincible.

*One eye closed.*

Numerous eyes floated across Mork’s body.

When “non-interference” activated, one of them shut.

Those eyes were the authority suppressing supernatural effects.

In other words, if all of them were closed, non-interference would be lifted.

*Time acceleration and deceleration are still supernatural at their core.*

Now I understood why he was called the Extinction King.

And why White King was so confident.

BOOM! BOOM!

KRAAAASH!

…He gives no opening to use abilities.

I needed to close his eyes to break the barrier, but Mork was faster.

His massively enlarged fists struck the Elevenfold Firmament faster than sight.

Pure physical combat was hopeless.

There was only one option left.

“So there was still room to evolve?”

White King laughed.

Mork halted.

As if waiting for the evolution.

The composure of the strong.

【Transforming into the form of the Twelve Heavenly Sovereign.】

The final form stored in the tail.

Sacred. Vast.

“…A crow?”

A white crow appeared.

Seeing the Twelve Heavenly Sovereign, White King frowned and tilted his head.

“Fifth-Pillar… no.”

A crow, yes.

But incomparably more sacred than Fifth-Pillar.

The small sun blazing above its head and the crimson-glowing tail were even beautiful.

It hardly seemed right to call it a crow at all.

Seeing the completed form—

“Then let’s play again.”

White King smiled once more.

*

*

—……

The Forgotten God silently observed the Golden Scale Druid.

The Twelve Heavenly Sovereign.

That sacred crow, too, was an existence outside of Truth.

A beast once worshiped as a god.

A mythical lord who granted and connected life itself.

Its power had been too great—so it was expelled beyond Truth and erased.

*So that was its function from the very beginning—the Twelve Heavenly Sovereign!*

The Forgotten God realized it instantly.

Dianax, Angel Behemoth, the Ten-Tailed Fox, even the Elevenfold Firmament—

All of them were forms transformed and linked through the Twelve Heavenly Sovereign.

Not evolution.

Transformation.

Which meant that form was the true final state.

*He can’t win.*

If that was the end, he couldn’t win.

The Twelve Heavenly Sovereign specialized in amplifying the power of whatever form they transformed into.

But Extinction King Mork was truly powerful.

He could not control time nor connect life—

yet he was strong enough to surpass all of that.

Stronger than expected.

Far beyond imagination.

*That must be the final form of a species.*

If the species’ origin was the human form created by the Forgotten God—

then this could be called its ultimate evolutionary state.

She hadn’t expected it to be this strong—but it must have been due to the summoner’s caliber.

White King.

That one…

*He carries the blood of the White Tiger Emperor.*

The sovereign of the White Tiger Clan, who evolved all under his rule.

A being who once shone so brilliantly that even the greatest civilizations dared not challenge him.

It seemed he had inherited that blood.

KRAAAAW!

The Twelve Heavenly Sovereign screamed.

Though it barely endured Mork’s blows, it was only a matter of time.

The Forgotten God shook her head.

*If only you had accepted me, the outcome would have been different.*

She had been willing to give everything.

If he had abandoned the goddesses and embraced her, victory here would have been meaningless.

He would have risen to the highest rank even among evil gods.

—……?

That was when it happened.

She thought the Twelve Heavenly Sovereign were the end—

—but—

—That is…?

The Forgotten God doubted her own eyes.

The Twelve Heavenly Sovereign changed once more.

And upon seeing that form—

The Forgotten God’s pupils trembled violently.

—That… can’t be…!