I Start with 13 Hidden Traits Chapter-398

**398. The Veil Is Lifted**

—

Star Guardians.

Sacred beasts that protect the Goddess’s Stars.

In exchange for guarding the stars, they are granted immortality and power.

They also bear the duty of acting as examiners—judging those who possess the qualifications.

Because they are beings that surpass the limits of ordinary species, an unspoken rule dictates that they must never interfere in matters beyond protecting the stars.

And yet, now—

“Answer me. Isn’t it a rule that Star Guardians do not interfere in wars between species?”

The Star Guardians had broken that unspoken law.

When the Labyrinth was about to be attacked, they instead seized control of the attackers’ rear.

This was a blatant violation of their code—an unprecedented act.

As the **Golden Fox** drew a thin, bare blade from her waist and posed the question, the **Giant of Ruin** rejected the premise outright.

“The duty of Star Guardians is to maintain the balance of the world.”

“And how does striking us from behind relate to maintaining the balance of the world?”

“··· You have no need to know the reason.”

The **Golden Scale Druid**.

He was once again a being that purified the world.

He was bringing light to Pangaenia, a land steeped in darkness.

The birth of the World Tree, the revival of the druids.

Lands that had sunk into the Abyss were rising again, and the Star Guardians could sense the gestation of yet another World Tree.

What did this entire chain of events signify?

—The world… is returning to normal. At last, it is being restored!

The Giant of Ruin rejoiced.

The world was returning to what it had been before—

······ before the emergence of **Destruction**, which had annihilated everything and sunk it into the Abyss.

And if the world was restored, then the Goddess, too, would return.

It meant they were being given another chance.

Perhaps… a rematch with *Destruction* itself might come to pass.

But they could not allow the same ruin to repeat.

Naturally, the Star Guardians had no choice but to devote all their strength to aiding the **Golden Scale Druid**.

There was no need to reveal such truths in detail.

Especially not to the Reaper Cult—those vile beings.

Even the Star Guardians could not fully grasp their true nature.

They acted while skirting the balance of the world, quietly expanding their power.

*Shing.*

The woman wearing the golden fox mask let out a faint smile.

She had never expected the Star Guardians to move.

But just as they did not know her—

She did not know them either.

Especially not her—**the Golden Fox**.

“I’ve always wondered. Where exactly is the ‘Mother Star’?”

The greatest of the Goddess’s stars.

A star that had never once manifested.

Rumors were countless, yet no one had ever confirmed its existence.

Still, there were many theories about its power.

—It must possess the absolute light that once drove back Destruction.

—No. The Mother Star governs time itself.

—It is the star that creates life from nothingness.

Countless hypotheses.

Among them, a chilling theory—held by only a few—stood out.

—Perhaps Destruction cast all worlds into the Abyss, and Pangaenia is a world ‘copied’ by the Goddess. The Mother Star holds all truth.

—The ‘Mother Star’ is this world itself—Pangaenia.

But theories were nothing more than theories.

The only one who knew its location was the **Giant of Ruin**.

The problem was that even the Giant’s whereabouts could not be pinpointed.

Yet the Golden Fox had always been curious.

From what she had uncovered, these theories were not entirely baseless.

“If I cut you down, I should be able to find the Mother Star as well.”

And now, the Giant of Ruin had come to her of his own accord.

The Golden Fox’s lips curved.

And—

*Swish!*

In an instant, her form vanished.

“······!”

Even the Giant of Ruin lost track of her.

Where did she go?

He scanned the surroundings, looked up at the sky—

But the Golden Fox was nowhere to be seen.

“…Here.”

The next moment, the Golden Fox appeared behind the Giant’s back, as if she had evaporated and reformed.

‘When did she—?’

He hadn’t perceived it.

No—perception itself had been impossible.

As though she had slipped straight through a blind spot.

—**Falling Blossom (落花).**

In a flash, pink plum blossoms filled the air.

As the petals fell—

*Boom!*

The Giant of Ruin lost his balance.

Yet his body was the hardest thing in the world.

Physical attacks should have been completely nullified.

And yet—he was struck.

His body had been pierced.

The Giant twisted his torso and hurled a punch toward the Golden Fox.

‘Got her.’

This time, he had her for sure.

There was no way she could avoid this blow.

A mere human could never withstand his power!

*Tap—.*

…But.

Even that punch was stopped—effortlessly.

The Golden Fox blocked the Giant’s fist with a single index finger of her right hand.

The disparity in size and strength was overwhelming.

Nullifying it with just one finger should have been impossible.

“You’re using your strength wrong.”

“······!”

What had just happened?

The Giant of Ruin could not comprehend what he was seeing.

A human could not endure his punch.

Blocking it with one finger was beyond absurd.

Which meant the Golden Fox was not merely human.

Only then did the Giant understand.

The reason she could stop his fist.

The moment their skin touched, things that had been invisible until now became visible.

“You’ve accepted an **Outer God**… and devoured it?”

“So you can see it too.”

The Golden Fox did not deny it.

After all, she was the true power moving the **Balrog Cult**.

Outer Gods.

Petty gods.

Invaders that had never originally existed in this world.

Useless beings, offering nothing of value.

The Star Guardians had already been closely monitoring their movements.

If they so much as tried to disrupt the balance, the Guardians had intended to stop them at any cost.

But the aura of the Outer Gods emanating from the Golden Fox now—

‘It’s not just one.’

Multiple Outer Gods had possessed her body.

And she had devoured them all.

“Then… the recent surge in Outer God summonings—”

“Yes. We are the chosen ones. Every miracle that occurs in this world is something we have intended.”

Wait.

‘We’?

The Giant of Ruin looked past the Golden Fox with trembling eyes.

‘…I can see them.’

Figures wearing golden masks.

They were no longer human.

Behind them spread wings of divinity—something ordinary beings could never perceive.

Yet devouring Outer Gods was utterly beyond reason.

How could a mere vessel consume an Outer God in reverse?

The Giant of Ruin even understood the cause.

—Kikikikiki!

—Kekekekekeke!

‘The Lineages… those reapers…!’

The eleven reapers known as the **Lineages**.

They had devoured the souls and power of the Outer Gods.

Just as at the Reaper’s Banquet, they had eaten the souls of Outer Gods as though enjoying a feast.

‘From the beginning… this was their purpose…!’

According to Reaper Cult doctrine, the ‘Sleeping Emperor’ descended from the heavens carrying eleven eggs.

They grew by devouring souls.

As though rehearsing in advance.

From the start, the Lineages had been beings meant to consume the souls of Outer Gods.

The use of the Balrog Cult to summon Outer Gods must have stemmed from this very design.

Why hadn’t they realized it sooner?

Why hadn’t they paid attention?

There had been enough time to stop this—before they grew this far.

‘I must stop this now.’

Clarity struck him like lightning.

But it was already too late.

“If I kill you, I’ll learn the location of the Mother Star.”

*Flash!*

A surge of light erupted from the Golden Fox’s blade.

The blade cut cleanly through the Giant of Ruin.

“…Now, die.”

*Boom!*

His body split in two and crashed into the ground.

*

*

 

“Kaaagh!”

“Cough!”

Screams filled the battlefield.

What had initially seemed like an even war was now clearly tilting to one side.

As time passed, the monsters of Cramdel dwindled in number.

······ Yet the black beasts did not die.

Not a single one.

When a black beast was wounded and collapsed, black energy poured out from another nearby black beast.

The moment that energy touched it, the fallen beast rose again to fight.

As though all life were connected.

*Gooooooo—!*

The **King of Extinction, Mork**, roared in agony.

The black beasts did not even bother attacking him.

Instead, the one pressing Mork was a colossal monster—

······ **Despair**.

Caught in Despair’s grasp, Mork could not move at all.

Worse yet, the eyes carved into Mork’s body began closing one by one.

“Even if you awaken the White Tiger Clan’s authority, a half-baked fool remains half-baked.”

The Black King smiled.

And beneath his feet—

*Grrrrrr…*

—lay the White King, gasping for breath.

The difference in power was overwhelming.

It was strength beyond imagination.

“What did you do, Black King…?”

This went beyond common sense.

Far beyond the authority of the Black Lion Clan.

The Black King smiled.

“This is the true power of **Despair**.”

“Despair… the monster infused with the soul of the Death King?”

The soul of the Death King—
—could be felt within Despair.

Despair was a monster even Mork could not handle.

Yet it was strange that the Black King could command such a being.

“The Black Lion Clan has studied Despair for countless ages. That thing is the ultimate form of evolution.”

······ Meaning the Black Lion Clan had possessed Despair since ancient times.

The White Tiger Clan had never known.

Never even imagined it.

Had they known, they would have tried desperately to eradicate it—which meant the Black Lion Clan had hidden it just as desperately.

Revealing it now meant they had achieved complete control.

*Crunch!*

The Black King continued, stomping on the White King’s face.

“The Four Calamities are truly strange and difficult life-forms. Even the Old Empire couldn’t fully wield their power. But we, the Black Lion Clan, unraveled their origin and secrets—while you foolish White Tiger Clan wasted your time.”

The Black King was confident.

The Four Calamities—Despair.

That was the ultimate creation of himself and the Black Lion Clan.

Something that couldn’t even be compared to Mork.

“…That thing has an origin?”

“The Four Calamities are gods fallen from the heavens.”

“…….”

“And now, with your blood, we will become even more perfect.”

The authority of the White Tiger Clan and the authority of the Black Lion Clan.

Only when the two were combined could one reach true ultimacy.

They would even be able to locate and awaken the other Four Calamities.

*Crack—*

The Black King opened his jaws.

And—

*Thud!*

He sank his fang into the White King’s neck.

*

*

 

The Dark Elf Lord bit his lip.

“This has gone sideways…”

Corpses were strewn everywhere.

All of them Dark Elves.

Aside from him, not a single one remained.

And the same was true of their enemy.

The Dragon God **Lucaria**.

The girl who had massacred the Dark Elves lay unconscious, eyes closed.

It was the result of the Lord unleashing the power he had kept hidden.

“…Having seen ‘me,’ I have no choice but to kill her.”

He had never planned to kill Lucaria, but there was no alternative.

He had hurriedly deployed a ‘Veil’ to block Hypnos and others from seeing, but Lucaria had clearly seen him.

The Dark Elf Lord.

No—

The other name that appeared vividly above his head.

【MintChocoIsDelicious, ?? Lv.】