I Start with 13 Hidden Traits Chapter-410

**Chapter 410. Because I Believe the Path I’ve Walked Was Not Wrong**

—

I opened my eyes.

The door opened.

The “key” possessed by the Black King had unfastened the bolt.

A key—Hidden Traits.

Among the countless races that had existed in the world, the progenitors who sought “truth,” their names and concepts were crystallized into traits. These were the Hidden Traits known as “keys.”

In particular, the keys that marked the beginning of all worlds had fixed types.

And each of them, in itself, was a kind of truth. When those keys gathered and reached the “door”—

……**Destruction** was born.

However, the number of keys the Golden Mask possessed was woefully insufficient.

At best, they were only enough to open half of the “door.”

In contrast, the keys the Black King possessed were sufficient to open it.

Then what, exactly, was the “door”?

On the surface, it took the form of a gigantic eye.

An “eye” is, quite literally, for seeing.

It sees, senses, and allows one to know.

But no one knew exactly what that thing called a “door” truly was.

Not even the “Chief Gods,” the most authoritative deities in the world.

Only “Heaven” knew the eye’s purpose and had used it to create destruction.

“So this is how it feels—.”

The Golden Mask smiled.

In the moment the Black King let his guard down, he stole all of his keys.

Once the door opened, everything changed.

The regenerated body was no longer the same as before.

“So this is what it feels like to become a god?”

The karma of a mortal was erased, and he was completed as an immortal.

He had become a **god**.

Not an ordinary god, either.

An absolute god who had opened the door with eleven keys.

A being who would bring destruction upon this world.

“I shall be your **Annihilation**.”

He was another kind of destruction……**Annihilation**.

At last, the Golden Mask came to know his own name.

No longer a mere copy, he recognized himself as a one-and-only existence.

Yes.

He had realized it.

From the very beginning, he had existed in order to be completed as **Annihilation**.

And to become Annihilation in full—

“I will **annihilate** this world, Pangaenia, with my own hands.”

To become destruction, one must personally destroy the world to which one belongs.

In the form of Annihilation.

Annihilation is the erasure of everything.

The three Destructions that currently existed in Heaven:

**Ruin** erases all that is mortal.

**Destruction** erases all that is immortal.

And **Annihilation** casts both mortals and immortals into the Abyss, making them suffer eternally.

‘I am the one who erases everything.’

**Annihilation**……he erases both immortality and mortality.

Leaving only himself behind.

Because only he is the unique, singular existence.

Everything other than himself is false.

Only he is real.

And so, he erases it all.

Grrrrrrrr—!

**Annihilation** turned his gaze.

The Extinction King Mork, who had begun rampaging after losing his master.

Indeed, that thing too was a monster that had crossed the “line.”

More troublesome than the Black King’s true body was that **Extinction King Mork**.

A forbidden existence that had reached for the realm of gods.

A mongrel that should never have been born.

‘I can see.’

Annihilation’s body trembled finely.

He could see what could not be seen.

He came to know what could not be known.

‘…The Emperor fled.’

The words of Albino, the legendary druid, were true.

The eleven “Lineage” Reapers.

They were soul spirits imbued with the power of **Annihilation**.

When merged into one, they took on the form of a “door.”

Originally, one should have sought the “Golden Spirit,” but by the power of an “Outer God,” they were forcibly transformed.

And that door was opened with eleven keys—the same number as the Lineages.

Without the Black King, it would not have been possible to open it all.

…Yet thanks to the Black King, who charged in without fear, he was able to be completed.

‘He is no longer my idol.’

The Emperor was nothing more than a coward who fled from the karma he had to bear.

It was almost embarrassing to share the blood of such a coward.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-bang!

The barrier released by Annihilation shook precariously.

Extinction King Mork.

That monster was smashing Annihilation’s barrier without restraint.

The barrier shattered, then regenerated, over and over.

And yet, the entire labyrinth was trembling.

The vibrations alone were destroying the labyrinth—power so terrifying it defied description.

The brute force of Extinction King Mork was astounding.

No matter that he was Annihilation—he had only just been born.

He had not yet completed himself by destroying his own world.

Thus, Extinction King Mork was more than a sufficient threat.

…But Annihilation could not focus his mind on dealing with Mork right now.

Because as he saw the unseen and knew the unknowable—

……one troubling fact suddenly came to mind.

“Goat. Just what are you?”

The Golden Goat.

The one who possessed the twelfth Lineage.

The being called Phantom, who entered the Reaper Cult and toyed with them.

He was undoubtedly Randolph, and a player.

And yet, something felt off.

“Twelfth Lineage……what exactly is that?”

It too was a soul spirit.

Undoubtedly a seal that contained the power of a Heavenly God.

The eleven eggs the Emperor had brought were not the power of Annihilation.

Now that he had become Annihilation, he could be certain.

That thing……

That twelfth Lineage—

……was something entirely unrelated to Annihilation, something completely different.

It sealed the power of an altogether different existence.

Then why was it attached to Phantom?

Phantom was a player, a sinner, and had nothing to do with Heaven.

Wilhelm and Randolph alike had no ties to Heaven.

They were loyal only to Pangaenia.

So what was this?

This discomfort.

It bothered him.

It bothered him so much that even he, Annihilation, could not ignore it.

Annihilation turned his gaze.

Toward the center of the labyrinth.

There, he felt the presence of a blazing **fire**.

‘The First Fire……’

That could not be touched.

A fire that evaded destruction.

But if everything else were erased, the fire would naturally go out as well.

Yet he felt a presence there.

The one at the center of all these mysteries.

Annihilation looked at him and spoke.

“Who are you?”

*

*

 

……It was fun.

Looking back on myself, on my past.

Meeting again all the characters I had played.

Especially experiencing Wilhelm’s Great Expedition firsthand.

That grandeur, that trembling thrill, the overwhelming sensation transmitted to my fingertips.

I looked around again.

I’d taken over directly because it had been so frustrating, but honestly, I hadn’t expected to be this absorbed.

Feeling countless gazes upon me, I scratched my head.

“Well? Easy, right?”

In truth, it wasn’t easy.

Even though I’d already achieved it once, it was still an all-time level of difficulty.

How many times had I nearly died?

Honestly, even if you told me to try again, I couldn’t guarantee a hundred percent success.

Still, I acted as arrogantly as possible.

I lifted my chin and shrugged my shoulders.

They couldn’t do it—and I did.

‘It’s fine even without it being a game.’

The aftertaste lingered.

It was a feeling I hadn’t experienced in a very long time.

Since the moment I possessed Randolph, the game had been my reality.

I’d been desperate just to survive, busy trying to catch up.

I’d had to start from the very beginning.

The pressure of having to protect the world.

The sense of duty that only I could do it.

All those responsibilities had suffocated me.

But……after revisiting the “survival quests” of other characters, and personally experiencing Wilhelm’s Great Expedition, my feelings were renewed.

The path I had walked.

The path I had walked without rest.

It felt like I’d confirmed that it hadn’t been wrong.

Because I believe it wasn’t wrong.

‘This is fun.’

This world—Pangaenia.

I’m having an incredible amount of fun.

A sensation I’d long forgotten.

A vividness so real it felt within reach breathed life back into me.

“I think I can really……enjoy this.”

Until now, I’d been too focused on becoming stronger.

But “becoming strong” isn’t just about relying on force, is it?

If it were a game, I’d have tried challenging things from many angles.

All those characters had possessed different kinds of strength.

Some even spent their lives fishing or farming.

I think I’d completely neglected those kinds of experiences.

I’d forgotten.

I slowly turned my gaze.

Not to look at those here.

But toward the presence that wasn’t nearby, yet kept watching me.

“Hey, eyeball.”

I spoke to the one who had always been watching me.

Ever since breaking the wall of Heaven, its presence had felt closer.

“We’ve met once before, right? You were the one who told me to look properly and gave me the ‘Eye of Truth.’”

—…….

The “eye” did not answer.

Yet it was that eye which had evolved Randolph’s Hidden Trait “Great Sage” into the “Eye of Truth.”

Telling me to look properly.

To see, and to judge.

Back then, I hadn’t understood what that meant.

What I was supposed to see, what I was supposed to judge.

“Whether I’d become destruction—or something else. That’s probably what you meant.”

But now I understood.

Randolph had become “another destruction,” an **End**.

Because at the Tower of the War God, the Chief Gods of Omen and Ash had divided my alignment through the gloves they bestowed.

But the reason I could become the **End** was because Wilhelm had destroyed “another Randolph.”

That other Randolph—

Was destruction.

A “door” sent by truth to turn Randolph into destruction.

If I’d been alone, I would never have beaten him.

If Wilhelm hadn’t dealt with the other Randolph.

I don’t even want to imagine the outcome of defeat.

Of course, the End is also called “another destruction,” but it’s different from ordinary destruction.

The End……

Erases destruction.

An existence that destroys destruction itself.

I chuckled and said,

“So? Do I look like I’m seeing properly now?”

—…….

“Don’t like it? I really like who I am right now.”

—…….

The eye still didn’t answer.

No—it couldn’t.

It was flustered.

Because it had been found.

Because someone had spoken to it directly.

This was the first moment it had been clearly recognized.

It wasn’t coincidence.

I had definitely become aware of the eye’s existence.

Not a vague, ambiguous sensation like before.

Clearly. Precisely.

I felt like I knew what it was.

“At first, eyeball, I thought you were connected to Heaven. But it seems you’re not related at all. You just watched when the wall broke.”

—…….

“And whenever the Blood-Marrow King or the Primordial Heavenly Demon tried to break the wall of Heaven, I thought you were the one intervening. But there was another one, wasn’t there? The ‘Mouth.’”

—…….

“Honestly, I don’t know what the ‘Mouth’ does. It didn’t interfere when I broke things. But……you, eyeball, I get you. That thing called a ‘door.’ Probably……”

I had broken the wall of Heaven and completed my home.

And then I learned certain things.

Realizations dawned on me.

One of them concerned that very thing—the “eye.”

Something similar to the door possessed by the “other Randolph.”

Similar, yet entirely different.

I looked at it and said,

“Eyeball. You’re Earth’s god, aren’t you?”