I Start with 13 Hidden Traits Chapter-379

**Chapter 379. I Am a Demon God**

—

—You look quite at ease, Agnis.

—Iquerel. Are you here to pick a fight again today?

—All the water has already evaporated. How can this possibly be a hot spring?

—So you really did come to pick a fight.

—I’m merely stating the obvious, Agnis.

—This is what you call “setting the mood,” Iquerel.

—…… Take it. It’ll help suppress your flames.

—The Towel of the Water God? Wasn’t that one of your treasures?

—Who said I was giving it to you? I’m lending it.

—Why?

—You seem distraught since your contractor died. Seeing you do things you never normally would.

—Ah……

The Water Spirit King, Iquerel.

She was the only Spirit King who truly knew how to look after others.

Iquerel was considerate enough to offer one of her own treasures just to comfort the grief-stricken Agnis.

Though her attribute was the complete opposite of his, Agnis still acknowledged her.

She was like an oasis within the desolation of the Spirit Tower.

If not for Iquerel, the Spirit Kings would never have endured the countless eons of confinement within the tower.

They would not have even dared to imagine endlessly burning away pollution that flowed down without end, with no promise of reprieve.

And yet……

‘Iquerel……’

……She had been annihilated.

Agnis sensed Iquerel’s disappearance faster than anyone else.

She was gone forever—lost.

A being who had shared eternity with him, whom he had believed would continue to do so—

…no longer existed.

‘I never even managed to say thank you.’

Agnis was consumed by fury.

At the Heavenly Demon who had annihilated Iquerel.

And at his past self.

Because their attributes were opposed, Agnis had kept his distance from Iquerel.

Fire and water could not mix.

Yet Iquerel had always approached him without fear—

as though she had no concern at all about evaporating.

The more she drew near, the more Agnis pushed her away.

‘I still…… haven’t returned it.’

The Towel of the Water God.

He had never returned it.

He hadn’t known how.

So he had done nothing but agonize over it.

Now, there was no longer any reason to agonize.

—Evil god……!

At the moment Iquerel was annihilated, it felt as though her scream, stretched across the air, rang in his ears.

Agnis read Iquerel’s suffering.

The desperate, lonely battle unfolded vividly before his eyes.

The Heavenly Demon.

That thing was already an **Evil God **.

By inheriting the full power of an Evil God, it had annihilated the Water Spirit King, Iquerel.

Ordinary Abyssal monsters could never annihilate a Spirit King.

After all, Spirit Kings were the ones who purified Abyssal pollution.

It was impossible for those meant to be purified to instead annihilate their purifier—

unless the Heavenly Demon had become an Evil God.

—Grant me permission…… to destroy that Evil God.

Agnis pleaded with his contractor.

He asked to be allowed to kill that Evil God himself.

—Allow us…… to bring this matter to its end.

Everything had begun with carelessness.

Mammon, the Third Lord of the Demon Realm.

That bastard had approached them pretending to be a harmless lamb, then shattered the core at the heart of the Spirit Tower.

Had they not been careless from the very beginning, this would never have happened.

In the end, this was no one’s fault but that of the Spirit Kings themselves.

Including Iquerel’s annihilation.

The Earth Spirit King, Uhm, nodded slowly as well.

“Do so.”

……And so, I granted my permission as well.

I understood that sense of responsibility and desire for vengeance.

Even if I had refused, the Spirit Kings would not have stayed their hands.

Then Agnis turned his head and spoke.

—It’s coming.

Suddenly, the words spoken earlier by the Lord of the Grave at the entrance of the Mountain of Earth resurfaced in my mind.

Could what he said—*“It’s coming”*—have meant the Heavenly Demon?

The Heavenly Demon I had encountered before on the Island of Gods was strong.

True to his name, he was powerful enough to throw the world into chaos.

Yet he had been slaughtered by “Another Randolph.”

Because at that time, the Heavenly Demon had not yet become an Evil God.

But Agnis had just called him an Evil God.

Which meant the Heavenly Demon had truly become one.

‘This is the first time I’ll be seeing a complete Evil God—not one that’s merely a Forgotten God.’

I had encountered an Evil God in the form of a Forgotten God who manipulated Lilith in the World Tree Dungeon.

Back when I acted as Wilhelm, I had destroyed countless altars of Evil Gods.

But this was the first time I would see a being who had fully become an Evil God.

Kuuuurrrrrng!

Soon after, the mountain shook.

But the source of the tremor wasn’t the mountain itself.

It came from below.

“……The Lord of the Grave is blocking him.”

Gracia murmured quietly.

The Heavenly Demon.

The Lord of the Grave was blocking his entry into the mountain.

*

*

 

“You don’t understand.”

Kasim, the Radiant Transcendent, spoke as he watched the confrontation.

“Just how deadly an Evil God truly is.”

Long ago, Kasim had killed an Evil God.

Together with the Radiant Order of Knights.

Together with the Transcendents he had turned into Holy Swords.

The knights present here were all ones who had once fought an Evil God.

Though they had become Holy Swords, their egos erased, existing only to follow Kasim’s commands—

“How…… powerful it was.”

Kasim still could not forget that day.

He had suffered severe aftereffects and lived in seclusion for centuries.

That overwhelming, spine-chilling figure refused to leave his mind.

An Evil God was so overwhelmingly powerful that countless conditions had to be met just for it to manifest in the world.

Its mere appearance twisted causality itself, so the gods desperately tried to prevent Evil Gods from emerging.

Yet that day, the Evil God had completed all conditions and revealed itself.

It plunged the continent into darkness in an instant.

“Huh……!”

Chaeng—!

At the same time, a sword was embedded into the training grounds.

“S-Serengeti……?”

“What? Didn’t she defeat King Friedrich all by herself?”

“Both of them are insanely strong!”

The knight who had dropped her sword was Serengeti.

The moment she let go of her blade, defeat was assured.

She stared at the Holy Knight with an expression of disbelief.

‘Of course she wouldn’t understand.’

In terms of raw power, Serengeti surpassed Izazel.

In the human realm, Serengeti was strong enough to have no equal.

Yet the result was different.

Izazel of Radiance had defeated Serengeti of the Round Table.

How?

‘To kill an Evil God, we had to make the impossible possible.’

A completed Evil God was powerful enough to face all of humanity alone.

But as they fought, they realized something.

To kill an Evil God, one had to abandon being *human*.

One had to discard one’s essence—one’s origin—before it became possible to truly oppose an Evil God.

In the end, Kasim turned himself into a Holy Sword.

That was how he was able to live for centuries.

Every member of the Radiant Order had done the same.

Though their appearances and names differed, they were all Kasim.

In other words, there were thirteen Kasims present here.

That was why the outcome was different.

A mere “Holy Sword Izazel” could not defeat Serengeti—

but **Kasim, the Radiant Transcendent**, could.

Therefore—

‘The Round Table can never defeat thirteen versions of me.’

How could the Round Table possibly contend with thirteen Kasims?

With one who had abandoned everything solely to kill an Evil God.

With one who had grown even stronger over centuries!

And yet, despite that—

‘……It will appear again.’

He was afraid.

The Evil God.

Though he had definitely killed it, he had not annihilated its source.

Therefore, it would surely appear again.

And if the day came when it manifested itself completely—not through possession of a summoned body—

‘The calamity from the heavens must never fully descend upon this world.’

Even imagining it was horrific.

Soon—

“The Radiant Order’s Sir Izazel is victorious!”

The Round Table’s shocking first defeat was declared.

*

*

The Heavenly Demon.

The master of Heavenly Mountain had absorbed all the power of the First Heavenly Demon tied to the Heavenly Demon Path.

The memories, the soul, and the very origin of the Heavenly Demon Path.

The Heavenly Demon Blade was a divine relic in which the First Heavenly Demon of Heavenly Mountain dwelled.

Because that being—whom all called a “Heavenly God” or a “Demon God”—had been him from the very beginning.

A peerless monster that shook the heavens and whom even gods dared not touch!

And now he had devoured and surpassed that being.

“I am a Demon God.”

Was he not the true Demon God (魔神)?

No—he was superior even to the First Heavenly Demon, the very foundation of the Heavenly Mountain Divine Cult.

The First Heavenly Demon had been infamous as an Evil God beyond the world.

Wherever he went, the stench of blood followed.

Yet none could restrain him.

It was said that even all of humanity combined could not oppose him—the strongest of all ages.

Even after being sealed within the Heavenly Demon Blade for reasons unknown, he had continued to exert his influence on later generations.

That existence undoubtedly belonged to the ranks of Evil Gods.

And now, he had surpassed even that Evil God—

“Foolish Lord of the Grave.”

The Heavenly Demon smiled as he looked at the Lord of the Grave.

A foolish stone daring to oppose a Demon God.

He didn’t know why it was blocking his entry into the mountain, but in the end, it was just a rock.

—It’s… coming.

What was coming, exactly?

His death?

It was about time.

As his name implied, it was time for the Lord of the Grave to return to a grave.

The Heavenly Demon shrugged.

In any case, the Lord of the Grave was already incapacitated.

Collapsed on the ground, unable to move, like a bug crushed underfoot.

All the countless golems that followed him had been smashed to pieces.

“By the way.”

That ignorant lump of stone that couldn’t even grasp the difference in power.

The Lord of the Grave couldn’t even grab his ankle.

Yet something felt odd.

As if it had already expended most of its strength—the suppression had been far too easy.

Even before the fight began, broken golem fragments had been scattered everywhere.

Only then did the Heavenly Demon realize it.

“Ah…… so someone came before me.”

The Sunken Emperor.

That thing had already attacked the Lord of the Grave once.

And yet it had simply withdrawn.

Why?

‘Don’t tell me…… it couldn’t even handle the Lord of the Grave?’

If so, that was disappointing.

There could be no greater disappointment.

To be so weak that it couldn’t even deal with a lump of stone like the Lord of the Grave.

And yet, he had believed that thing might at least be able to challenge him somewhat.

Had he expected too much?

Or—

‘Have I simply grown too strong?’

The Heavenly Demon smiled faintly.

Here, in the depths of the Abyss, he had become even more complete.

The Sunken Emperor, the Celestial Whale—no Abyssal Lord would be able to block his path.

The Heavenly Demon turned his gaze toward the mountain’s entrance.

“You crawl here of your own accord, to the place of your death.”

Those who had subdued the Earth Spirit King—

the humans—had finally revealed themselves.

Unaware that they would soon be devoured by him.

Still, something about them was unexpected.

The Fire Spirit King Agnis.

The Earth Spirit King Uhm.

It seemed both Spirit Kings had contracted with those humans.

The World Tree blooming on the Mountain of Earth was likely part of that same chain of events.

But then—

“Hm?”

For a moment, the Heavenly Demon tilted his head.

‘What is this?’

He couldn’t help it.

Bzzzzzz—!

…the Heavenly Demon Blade he was holding began to tremble violently.

No—more than that.

The Heavenly Demon looked down at his own chest.

It wasn’t just the blade that was shaking.

‘Am I…… nervous?’