I Start with 13 Hidden Traits Chapter-358

Ch-358 **It’s been a while.**

—

“Th-the one who carries on the will of the Goddess…?!”

“Don’t tell me—that man is…?!”

Aaron wasn’t the only one reacting strongly enough to nearly cause a scene.

The other cardinals, seeing Aaron’s hysteria, seemed to grasp something as well.

That aside—

…Aaron.

Why was he here?

The very heart of the Holy See.

A place where only the Pope and the cardinals were allowed to gather.

‘The last time I saw him was at the Tower of the War God.’

Before climbing the Tower of the War God, the brat’s arrogance had pierced the heavens.

Afterward, it had been corrected through a few lessons, but still—

I never imagined he’d be seated in the very center of the Holy See.

‘Did he get promoted in the meantime?’

This went beyond exceptional—it was a promotion bordering on ruin.

Every cardinal of the Church of the Goddess was someone who had been recognized as a priest over countless long years.

Yet Aaron was young.

Barely an adult—nothing more than a greenhorn.

Aside from being Cardinal Johansson’s son, he shouldn’t have had a single noteworthy achievement as a priest.

“Your Holiness! This is him! The one who awakened me to the Goddess’s love! The one and only man beloved by the Two Goddesses, the hope and guiding light of the Church of the Goddess!”

“That man is….”

The Pope looked momentarily flustered.

Anyone could see it—Aaron looked like a fanatic incarnate.

But soon, the Pope steadied himself and asked,

“…Was it you who ignited the Flame of Sacred Power within Cardinal Aaron?”

The Flame of Sacred Power.

It seemed to be their way of describing the strengthening of divine power.

After all, Aaron’s sacred power—after he began believing in and worshipping me—had grown incomparably stronger than before.

‘So that’s why Aaron became a cardinal.’

Only then did I understand.

After the death of the Two Goddesses, the Church of the Goddess had stagnated.

No children bearing the Goddess’s name were born, and the sacred power of priests and knights no longer grew.

Instead, it continued to shrink and weaken.

But Aaron’s holy power, after leaving the Tower of the War God, was overflowing.

The only one in the long-stagnant Church of the Goddess to experience an increase in divine power.

‘This works out well.’

Without a doubt, once Aaron returned to the Church, he must have preached my story like a madman.

Judging by the Pope’s and the other cardinals’ reactions, the tale must have sounded downright mythological.

If so, it wouldn’t be bad to play along.

“I am one who was summoned by the Two Goddesses.”

“Ahhh…!!!”

At that moment—

Drip. Drip.

The Pope suddenly began to cry.

All I’d done was give him the answer he wanted.

…Yet the reaction was far more intense than expected.

‘This isn’t what I anticipated.’

The Church of the Goddess had been corrupted.

They had concealed the death of the Two Goddesses and joined hands with an Apostolic Outer God.

I became certain of this through Hypnos.

A being who had once been the “Eye of Ruin.”

When I developed his domain and awakened Hypnos’s divine authority, he spoke of the corruption of this world.

That Pangaenia was now filling the void left by the ancient gods with evil gods—or outer gods.

And that those who followed the Two Goddesses had changed drastically.

This was because the Pope, the foremost apostle of the Goddess, had accepted an Apostolic Outer God.

He filled the Goddess’s absence with another god.

Naturally, those who followed without knowing the truth were bound to change in nature.

‘That’s why Priest Andrew fell.’

And so now—

The Church of the Goddess was producing fallen priests one after another.

Andrew was merely one of them.

A priest of the Goddess couldn’t fall simply because of ill intent.

The Goddess was an icon of benevolence and forgiveness.

For those who worshipped such a Goddess, the word “fall” should never have existed.

Yet they fell.

The Pope hid the truth, and so I had planned to reveal myself as the “Punisher.”

But when I finally revealed my identity, the Pope’s reaction was unexpected.

“You… you…!”

“Y-Your Holiness?!”

“You mustn’t move suddenly!”

The cardinals panicked, trying to restrain him.

Ignoring them, the Pope forced his heavy body to rise.

And then, the truth revealed itself.

“…He’s fallen.”

Serengeti murmured softly.

From between the Pope’s robes, a black tail swayed gently.

He was no longer a sacred being.

Crawling toward me, the Pope wailed,

“I—I made the wrong choice. Believing the Goddess no longer loved us… I accepted a petty Outer God.”

“…Who did you accept?”

“The bait cast by the Balrog Order! I should never have been tempted by that power…!”

The Pope was in despair.

A single wrong choice had brought about irreversible consequences.

“Tell me the name, Pope.”

I truly wanted to know the name of the one who had corrupted the Church of the Goddess.

Now that the Balrog Order was involved, I couldn’t let this pass.

And then, the Pope spoke an unexpected name.

“The name of ‘that thing’ was… surely ‘Sonora.’ Aaaah…!”

*

*

 

The Balrog Order and the Church of the Goddess went to war.

But the Church, having lost the Goddess’s power, was defeated.

Countless holy knights died. The saintess died.

Before the overwhelming might of the Balrog Order, the Pope could only despair.

It was power he had never encountered before.

And so he became curious about its source.

And he discovered it.

He found the hidden truth of the Balrog Order.

…Sonora.

“‘That thing’ was a vessel. A vessel meant only to hold a god. Empty, and thus able to contain any god—the ultimate vessel. The Balrog Order drew power from it and performed countless miracles.”

A sacrifice—a vessel—to hold a god.

I looked at Abeloff and the other Knights of the Round Table.

They, too, had originally been children meant to be offered as “vessels of an evil god.”

Had I not uprooted it while playing Wilhelm, the balance of the world would have been shattered by children turned into vessels of evil gods.

…But it seemed not all of them had been removed.

Sonora.

A replica born into the Dersian family.

She had been sealed at the boundary of the Abyss by the Desert Queen.

Isabella’s closest friend—and older sister—who ultimately ran rampant.

Back when I was a gamer, while undertaking Isabella’s “Survival” quest, I believed I had eliminated Sonora.

But she had remained alive at the boundary of the Abyss.

And the Balrog Order found her—and used her as a vessel.

‘The Desert Queen, too, had intended to use Isabella and Sonora as vessels.’

To corrupt a city and summon the Blood-Marrow King” from a destroyed alternate dimension.

After an immeasurably long time at the Abyssal boundary, Sonora’s body must have been perfected as a vessel.

Thus, the Balrog Order descended a god into Sonora’s body.

An Apostolic Outer God.

A petty, nameless thing.

But the Balrog Order deliberately handed Sonora’s body—the vessel that had received the Outer God—over to the Church of the Goddess.

‘Either they couldn’t control it, or they intended to corrupt the Church.’

What I saw when I first arrived in the holy city—Sonora’s corrupted body—that was it.

Her flesh had been transported while containing a fragment of the Spear of Longinus.

The Pope was seduced by that mesmerizing power—

And made the one choice he never should have.

But once fallen, there was no turning back.

Though Andrew’s sacred power had been restored, he remained fallen.

“At this rate, the Church of the Goddess cannot endure. Too many have already fallen… If ‘that thing’ takes the Goddess’s place…”

The Pope trailed off.

But I could guess the rest.

It would mean the end.

Pangaenia would be plunged into chaos.

An Outer God occupying the Goddess’s throne—every believer and priest of the Church would fall and become corrupted.

Had we not already seen it once?

In the World Tree’s dungeon, when we encountered the evil god of curses.

‘That evil god, too, tried to take the Goddess’s place.’

It sought to reclaim its name, revive, and become a goddess.

But essence does not change.

An evil god remains an evil god.

Had its plan succeeded, curses would have masqueraded as blessings, and the world would have rushed toward destruction.

Just imagining it was horrifying.

“Take me to ‘it.’”

“B-But anyone who stands before ‘it’ can never defy its words. No matter if you are the new master of the Round Table and the very will of the Goddess…”

“It’s fine.”

I wasn’t unaware of the danger.

A being that even seduced the Pope.

An absolute existence that corrupted others and coveted the Goddess’s domain.

But it was fine.

I—

No, all of us had gained resistance to gods in the World Tree’s dungeon.

The “Divinity” obtained at 500 dignity points, and the “Justice” gained upon reaching a thousand—

Both were powers meant for mortals to oppose immortals.

Looking at the Pope, I spoke solemnly once more.

“Leave it to me. I will save you all.”

*

*

 

Deep within the Holy See.

How far had we descended through the endless underground?

Creeeak!

The door opened.

And beyond it—

“So…nora…?”

Tremble.

The moment she saw that being, Isabella’s entire body shook violently.

She had the right to be present here.

The state of Sonora, now a vessel for something.

Perhaps killing the changed Sonora might be necessary.

It was the only way to save the “fallen Church of the Goddess.”

And the one who should face Sonora’s end was, of course, Isabella.

But when reality confronted her, she couldn’t gather her wits.

“Sonora… how… how are you…?”

Her words wouldn’t come out properly.

Naturally so.

The being beyond the door—

“It’s been a while, Isabella.”

Sonora was smiling—just as she looked in Isabella’s memories.

Thud.

All strength left Isabella’s body, and she collapsed to the floor.

“Y-you were really alive… Sonora…!”

It was unbelievable.

She could speak—normally!

“So you thought I was dead?”

“B-but you definitely…”

“I almost died. But I didn’t. I was just sleeping.”

Tap. Tap.

Sonora stepped closer and caressed Isabella’s cheek.

“My friend. My little sister, Isabella. I missed you. So much.”

“Me too. I missed you… I missed you like crazy.”

“Now nothing can get in our way. Right?”

“But you were supposed to have become a vessel for a god…”

“No. That’s their lie. They’re keeping me imprisoned here. If I truly had become a god, why would I be locked in such a dark underground?”

It sounded reasonable.

This underground chamber was layered with countless barriers.

To ensure whatever was inside could never escape.

Yet the Pope said he had “accepted another god.”

Would one normally imprison a god they had already accepted?

There’d be no reason to fear a god you had bound.

Sonora whispered into Isabella’s ear.

“Don’t be fooled by the Pope’s lies. What he accepted wasn’t me—it was the evil god Balacas.”

“Then… why are you imprisoned?”

“Because I possess the power to reject an evil god’s influence. He wants you to kill me, Isabella. If you try to kill me, I won’t be able to resist.”

“I… I’d never do that.”

“Then come with me. Leave this place together. You can undo the locks here.”

“Locks?”

“That. That’s what’s holding me.”

Where Sonora pointed—

There was something faintly glowing in the darkness.

“A star…”

“A Fragment of Ruin. That’s what’s binding me. It devours divinity. To touch it, you must release all your sacred power.”

Release all sacred power.

Meaning Isabella would have to abandon the divinity she possessed as a member of the Order of the Golden Scale to touch that fragment.

Her eyes wavered.

“Don’t you want to save me?”

“I…”

“Then hurry. Release your sacred power—”

Riiip!

That instant—

Space tore apart, and a massive hand appeared—

“Ghk…!”

Grabbing Sonora by the throat.

“S-Sonora!”

Startled, Isabella hurriedly turned her gaze.

And saw—

“Hyeonmyung…?!”

Park Hyeonmyung.

He’d been right there with them.

So why was he suddenly tearing through space to appear?

Then the Park Hyeonmyung who had been with them—

‘Gone?’

…He had vanished.

Her thoughts froze.

What was going on?

“H-how did you breach my ‘barrier’…?!”

Sonora shouted.

One who tore through barriers and crossed boundaries.

But this was power mixed with that of a god—

A power that should never be challenged.

Sonora’s—no, the Outer God’s—eyes shifted to the man’s left arm.

In that instant, her eyes filled with utter shock.

“W-wait. That… that power in your left arm—how do you wield *his* authority…!”

 

 

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