I Start with 13 Hidden Traits Chapter-391

**391. The Thunder Lion**

—

In the eyes of the Reaper Cult, there are two kinds of humans in Pangaenia.

Those are **“sinners”** and **“those who are not sinners.”**

Sinners are those who have pawned their bodies to another existence through **“divine possession.”**

To the Reaper Cult, they are an evil (惡) that must be punished without exception.

They are embodiments of wickedness that distort and throw the balance of the world into chaos.

Thus, when the Reaper Cult kills players, it is considered **divine punishment (神罰).**

Not a crime.

Rather, something encouraged.

That is also why they conduct **purges** through inspections.

Finding possessed players and killing them.

Within the Reaper Cult, this is called **“disinfection.”**

Literally erasing filth.

And occasionally, among those afflicted by divine possession, there are individuals who awaken on their own.

Those who break free of their shackles, regain their memories, and uncover clues about the **“embodiment of evil”** that once controlled them—**Transcenders**.

Within the Reaper Cult, such individuals are known as **“Executioners”** and are entrusted with important roles.

Because they harbor deep resentment and hatred toward the players who once controlled them, they were more zealous about “disinfection” than anyone else.

“P-please, spare me!”

“I-I’m not a sinner!”

Roughly thirty people stood as targets of divine punishment.

Men and women, young and old alike—kneeling before the Reaper Cult’s altar.

They were those whom the Executioners had brought in, believed with certainty to be **players**.

“Over thirty from a single territory?”

“Wait, isn’t one of them the lord of Ardin?”

“Hmm. I heard he was colluding with filthy bugs.”

The onlookers murmured.

Imperial territories were periodically subjected to the Reaper Cult’s “disinfection,” but it had been a long time since more than thirty were captured in a single city.

Even one discovery warranted reprimand—over thirty was unthinkable.

Unless the lord of the territory had colluded with players, it could not happen.

All sinners—players included—knew about disinfection.

Which was why they rarely entered Imperial territory.

To players, the Empire was forbidden land.

A hell they must never step into.

“Please, I beg you! There’s been some misunderstanding! I have a wife and a young daughter!”

At that moment, a man shouted desperately, veins bulging in his neck.

He claimed he could not be a sinner because he had a family.

To some extent, it was true.

Sinners usually had no families.

They did not establish roots in this world.

They treated it like entertainment.

It was a plea that might have stirred sympathy—yet only scoffs answered him.

“It’s rare, but some sinners do start families.”

“He put in some effort, I see.”

“Well, you’d have to, to survive in the Empire.”

“Tsk tsk. But of all people, he got caught by the **Thunder Lion**.”

The Executioners were all former sinners themselves.

They had transcended and awakened.

Naturally, they understood better than anyone how players behaved and how they thought.

And among them, the man called the **Thunder Lion** had an accuracy bordering on the miraculous.

Those he captured were sinners with a **100% certainty**.

He was a grand mage who wielded lightning, and among the Executioners, ranked within the top three.

More than that, he was the one who understood sinners best.

Because—

“Is that rumor true?”

“What rumor?”

“That the Thunder Lion used to be **Phantom’s avatar**…”

…He had once been **Phantom’s avatar**.

And there were even rumors that he had been an avatar Phantom cherished and personally raised.

An **avatar** refers to a body possessed and controlled by an embodiment of evil.

And among those embodiments of evil, **Phantom** was exceptionally infamous.

When an avatar transcends, they recover the memories from the time they were controlled and gain one clue about the embodiment of evil that controlled them.

Such as a voice, a name, a silhouette, or a background.

And among the Executioners, there were unusually many overlapping clues.

All evidence pointed to **Phantom** being the same figure the sinners spoke of.

Moreover, avatars raised by Phantom produced an unusually high number of Transcenders.

It was estimated that roughly **30% of the Executioners** had once been Phantom’s avatars.

The Thunder Lion was one of them.

However, avatars of Phantom were not treated favorably within the Reaper Cult.

Because Phantom was an embodiment of evil that **must be annihilated**.

A monster that sat at the very top among embodiments of evil.

*I will find him… and kill him.*

Naturally, the Thunder Lion’s hatred toward Phantom ran deep.

When he transcended, he remembered the time when he had been controlled as an avatar.

It began with a strange phrase—**“Descent of the Thunder God.”**

And he had been driven toward death countless times.

But he had a sick daughter.

Yet even her, he had forgotten while being controlled by Phantom.

And by the time his memories returned, his daughter was already gone…

Gone from the world.

Her body could not even be found.

How could he ever forget such resentment, such anguish?

Phantom, and all other sinners—were targets for disposal.

“Thunder Lion. If all Executioners were as capable as you, there wouldn’t be a single sinner left in the Empire.”

A man walked toward the altar.

At his appearance, everyone immediately lowered their heads.

A **golden mask**.

He was the High Priest of the Reaper Cult.

More influential than any other High Priest wearing beast masks—he was the de facto leader.

Though the Reaper Cult claimed the **Sleeping Emperor** as their head, that figure had not awakened for ages.

“……We greet the Golden Mask.”

“Ah. For you, there is no need for verification. Execute them all.”

The Golden Mask’s trust in the Thunder Lion was absolute.

And at those words, the thirty-odd people could only wail.

“Aaaah! Please!”

“Spare us!”

“I’m not a sinner!”

Punishing sinners was simple.

Fwoosh!

Flames erupted from the altar.

…They burned them.

At present, avatars possessed by embodiments of evil were fully fused with them.

The Reaper Cult already knew that killing the avatar also killed the embodiment of evil.

So they burned them.

So they would suffer the most horrific pain.

“I-it burns!”

“Aaaargh!”

The Thunder Lion watched every moment of them burning.

“……”

Without emotion.

Without any change in expression.

Simply witnessing the end of **evil**.

*

“……”

Jolt!

*That event* happened suddenly.

While asleep, the Thunder Lion bolted upright.

“……A dream?”

It was strange.

The scenes he had just seen in his dream were too vivid.

Tears streamed down his cheeks, yet he could not even think to wipe them away.

Silently, the Thunder Lion stared at his hands.

“I… what have I done…?”

It was a dream.

It had to be.

And yet—it didn’t feel like one.

What he had just experienced felt unbearably real.

And it was—

A **different memory**, one he had long forgotten.

“I… was it me… who killed her…?”

The truth that he himself had taken his daughter’s life.

She had been sick from birth.

An incurable illness that only worsened, consuming her.

Unable to bear her countless pleas to be released from her pain, he had finally given in.

And then, he tried to take his own life as well.

*The Blue Bird…*

If the Blue Bird had not appeared, he truly would have died.

—*If forgetting everything, losing everything, still left you with a chance to fulfill one wish… wouldn’t you want to try?*

—*Am I hallucinating before death?*

—*This is reality. And I am an “administrator.”*

—*You appeared to grant wishes?*

—*That’s right.*

—*Can you revive my daughter, healthy? I don’t care what happens to me.*

—*Of course.*

That single sentence—that his daughter could be revived healthy—was enough.

After the contract, his memories before and after vanished.

At that moment, he had already become an avatar.

In the end, it was a choice he himself made.

And the embodiment of evil—**Phantom**—came to control his body.

*I was drowning in debt. Loan sharks were selling me to a black mage as an experiment.*

At that exact moment—

The debt he had incurred to cure his daughter exploded beyond control, and the loan sharks sold him to a black mage.

Becoming a black mage’s experiment meant certain death.

At the brink of despair, **Phantom rescued him**.

From a place swarming with zombies.

Not merely rescuing him—Phantom killed the black mage and even taught him lightning magic.

After that, Phantom constantly refined and trained him.

With only one goal.

To witness the end of the world.

…And to fulfill his wish.

To revive his daughter, healthy.

*Even when I transcended, I didn’t know.*

The memories he recovered through transcendence were only those from being controlled.

This crucial memory had been sealed away.

Why?

Why had the Blue Bird locked this part away?

The Reaper Cult had exploited that gap, inflaming hatred toward players.

Were the Blue Bird and the Reaper Cult working together?

One thing was certain.

This was not a dream.

As horrifying as it was—it was reality.

He was a self-awakened Transcender.

He was not stupid enough to confuse dreams and reality.

*I… committed an unforgivable sin…*

The problem was what he had done after becoming an Executioner.

Believing players to be embodiments of evil, he had hunted them relentlessly.

Because he thought Phantom might be among them.

But—

Other players aside—

**Phantom**—

Phantom alone—

*Pulled me out of the abyss. He saved me.*

…Was different.

The one he had sworn to find and kill was, in truth, his savior.

Without Phantom, he would not have survived.

He would never have dared imagine living through black mages and zombies.

And the countless achievements Phantom had accomplished using his body afterward—

Not one of them was anything less than astonishing.

Phantom hadn’t driven him toward death.

He had simply done what the Thunder Lion himself could not.

Everything had been a misunderstanding.

He had been rash.

He had been foolish.

“…Looks like you all came to the same conclusion.”

The Thunder Lion looked ahead.

Before him stood several Executioners.

All of them had once been Phantom’s avatars.

They had likely realized the truth at the same time.

“The Reaper Cult is wrong at its very foundation.”

“We were deceived.”

“Thunder Lion. What will you do?”

All eyes turned to him.

The Thunder Lion pondered.

If he were to act, the time was now.

Before long, the Reaper Cult would realize that their memories had returned.

Before that happened, striking first was the best option.

At last, the Thunder Lion reached a decision.

“…First, we kill the **Golden Mask**.”

*

*

Raiga, the Empire’s greatest swordsman.

After clearing the World Tree’s dungeon, he headed straight for the Empire.

To further refine his enlightenment.

And because there was still something he had to do there.

“……”

Raiga’s eyes, gazing far into the distance, wavered.

Fwoooosh!

…The Empire was burning.