I Start with 13 Hidden Traits Chapter-419

**Chapter 419. Because He Was a Damn Dog of a God**

—

In pitch-black darkness,

*Annihilation* looked around.

“Is this… inside the *End*?”

No matter where he looked, all he could see was jet-black darkness.

This was the place he had fallen into right after being devoured by the *End*.

But there was nothing that could confine *Annihilation*.

Even if the opponent was another Destruction, no sealing ability could surpass him.

In short—

“This isn’t a seal. This place is… *Truth*… but…”

At some point, *Annihilation* found himself within *Truth*.

Yet it was strange.

It was far too different from the interior of *Truth* that he knew.

Above all, if this were *Truth*, it would never confine him like this.

At that moment—

—*Truth exists as itself.*

…A **mouth** appeared in the void.

*Annihilation* stared at that *mouth*.

No—more accurately—

He couldn’t do anything at all.

The instant he saw it, his entire body stiffened.

His thoughts froze, and he couldn’t even part his lips.

—It merely takes on different forms depending on who wields *Truth*.

It was speaking of *Heaven*.

The form of *Truth* that *Annihilation* knew had been created solely by Heaven.

But *Truth* was not something like that.

It existed on its own, and no one should monopolize it.

“Y-you… are…”

*Annihilation* forced his mouth open with all his might.

Because he now realized what that *mouth* before him was.

At the same time, he understood how the *End* had been made into a vassal.

…His suspicion was correct.

With the existence of that *mouth*, every mystery was resolved.

“Why is *Destruction*… inside a human?”

Yet he could not understand it.

That *mouth* was Destruction.

The Destruction known to be the strongest.

The one that had tried to annihilate Pangenia!

But for some reason, it had disappeared, failing to fulfill its mission.

After that, *Destruction* had been classified as a failure.

—Is *Heaven* still arrogant, still dogmatic?

“You… should have been *disposed of*…!”

But… that couldn’t be.

It was impossible.

How could a Destruction classified as a failure and “disposed of” still remain here?

Then—

—Hahaha! Heaven disposing of *me*?

The *mouth* burst into laughter.

Like a human.

With boisterous, carefree mirth.

…As though the idea of Heaven disposing of it were laughable.

—Do you really think I’m here because I was *disposed of*?

In Heaven’s terms, “disposal” meant annihilation.

Heaven—the beginning and end of all things—would never dispose of something lightly.

Which meant—

…Destruction had not been *disposed of*.

“You should have been erased for certain…”

Then the laughter of *Destruction* stopped.

—You prattle on well enough with nothing but *implanted knowledge*.

Ah… that was it.

It was nothing more than fragments of knowledge that had leaked out of the *Gate of Truth*.

A so-called *Truth* arbitrarily fabricated by Heaven.

“You are a failure. A Destruction that rejected its mission has no right to speak.”

*Annihilation* denied it.

Heaven was absolute.

This had to be a ploy to confuse him.

—Tsk. Inferior even to the others. I had some expectations since you were a newly created *Destruction*… but this is all you amount to.

Yet the *mouth* did not stop its abuse.

Its tone overflowed with disappointment—bordering on emptiness.

The *mouth* continued.

—The weak doubt. The weak deny.

What was he doubting, and what was he denying?

Most likely, the truth itself.

That *Annihilation* was weaker than him.

That Heaven’s claim of having “disposed of” Destruction was a lie.

He could not accept any of it.

That was why he kept denying it.

Especially the part about Heaven injecting false knowledge.

That was proof enough that Heaven had feared *Destruction* so much it had to lie.

“I am more complete than you.”

Therefore, it couldn’t be true.

With each generation, Destruction had evolved.

That was precisely why *Annihilation*—
—was the ultimate weapon.

By contrast, the opponent was a Destruction that couldn’t even erase a single world, Pangaenia.

A Destruction that had hidden here, evading Heaven’s gaze.

—Still don’t understand? It’s because you’re weak that you obsess over completion, you fool.

The strong do not cling to completion.

They are already complete as they are.

There is no need to insist on it.

“I am the Destruction that surpasses you…!”

—Then your name would not have been something as trivial as *Annihilation*.

*Annihilation.*

The name of an absolute being that erases all things.

It was ridiculed.

—Do you know why I was called *Destruction*?

Sss—

In an instant, accompanied by a faint breeze, the *End* approached his side.

The *End* quietly sat in front of him and looked at *Annihilation*.

Like a tamed pet.

Then *Destruction* spoke.

—Because I am irreplaceable.

He declared himself the one and only Destruction.

There were other beings bearing names like Ruin or Extinction, but among them all, only he was called *Destruction*—because he alone stood in an utterly unrivaled, irreplaceable domain.

No one could inherit the name *Destruction*.

Not Ruin, not Extinction, not the End, and not *Annihilation* either.

—Now disappear. You mass-produced model.

…Mass-produced?

To call *him* mass-produced!

It meant a product optimized for mass manufacture.

Not just contempt—pure disdain.

A refusal to even acknowledge him as the same kind of Destruction.

Because he was simply too crude.

But before *Annihilation* could retort, the *mouth* vanished after saying its piece.

What remained in this domain was—

Sss—

…Only the *End* and *Annihilation*.

At the same time, the *End* began to move.

To grant *Annihilation* his end.

“No way…”

In that instant, *Annihilation’s* body trembled violently.

Beings called *Destruction* cannot attack one another.

So that they would not destroy each other.

And so they could not oppose Heaven.

That was the law.

The *Destruction* that had been here just moments ago followed that law as well.

But—

Destruction had found a way.

By creating an *End* unrelated to Heaven, and using that End as a vassal.

He had devised a way to break his own taboo.

The intent of *Destruction* was clear.

“You’re trying to… destroy Heaven itself?”

Why?

Wasn’t he a weapon of Heaven to begin with?

A weapon of Heaven trying to destroy its master?

No matter how powerful he was, such a thing should be impossible.

Above all—

‘Phantom. What… is he?’

…What exactly was *Phantom*?

In the end, it was Phantom who had made all of this possible.

The reason transcendent beings stood alongside him—

If this were merely Destruction’s interference, there was no way souls like Wilhelm’s, or the presence of the two goddesses, would be felt.

They were absolute opposites.

A combination that could never coexist.

Could a vessel that held all of this even exist?

“‘Truth exists as itself’…”

Suddenly, Destruction’s words resurfaced in his mind.

If Truth exists on its own.

If it merely changes depending on who wields it.

Then perhaps—

Phantom was—

“…Truth itself…?”

…Meaning *Truth* given human form.

And thus, he could wield everything.

Even things that were entirely different—things that should never coexist!

“Ah…!”

Upon realizing this, *Annihilation’s* eyes widened.

He had been wrong from the very start.

He had thought Phantom was merely a fragment of Destruction.

A copy made by Destruction for some purpose, or by someone else.

…But that was not it.

They could never be the same.

It was simply that *Truth* had appeared, and they had gathered around it.

Seeking the *Truth* that would wield them.

Unlike the Truth wielded by Heaven, they desired to be wielded by Truth itself.

Wasn’t that astonishing?

That beings like them wished not to wield, but to be wielded.

Perhaps…

As a backlash against the corrupted *Truth*, a new *Truth* had been born.

In the form of a living human.

And the one who wielded them and brought them closer to completion—

Was the Truth named *Phantom*.

Though he himself seemed unaware of it yet.

“So that’s it… so that’s how it was!”

Enlightenment.

*Annihilation* awakened.

With his understanding of Truth changed, broader thought became possible.

*Annihilation* reached out a hand toward the *End*.

“Truth! Wield me! You alone can contain me…!”

Then—

A *house* appeared before him.

A mansion of immense scale.

Everything was there.

All that he could not know even by opening the Gate of Truth existed within.

If he entered that place, he would finally become complete.

“Please, open the door! I am the true Destruction…!”

He pleaded, pouring all his longing into his voice.

If he were wielded, he was certain he could be reborn as a Destruction even greater than Destruction itself.

But the tightly shut *door* did not open.

No matter how he clung to it.

Instead—

Krrraaack!

Crunch!

The *End* opened its mouth and swept past him.

Soon, nothing remained before the *door*.

*

*

 

*Annihilation’s* entire body scattered like dust and vanished.

“Why…!”

*Annihilation’s* face changed into another being’s.

…The **Golden Mask**.

He reclaimed the vacant seat left by *Annihilation*.

Before his entire body vanished, the Golden Mask struggled desperately.

He rushed forward like a madman, resolved to die.

Boom!

Kraaash!

Overwhelming power and speed.

But—

It did not reach.

“You always… make me…!”

Miserable.

A copy of Wilhelm.

A fate decided from birth.

This time as well.

He was destined to be defeated and erased.

No matter how much he abandoned, no matter how much he tried to forget, he could not change the fate of a fake.

The Golden Mask poured out all his resentment.

Only after his arms and legs turned to dust did his movement finally stop.

Looking down at him as he lay collapsed, soon to vanish—

“Have you let it all out?”

…I spoke.

But the Golden Mask did not answer.

He could not.

He no longer had the strength to move, nor even to open his mouth.

“Still not enough?”

Of course it wasn’t.

It could never be filled.

That desire could never be satisfied.

Then the Golden Mask looked at me.

“Wilhelm envied you. Because you had freedom.”

The Golden Mask suffered under the fate of a fake.

Meanwhile, Wilhelm suffered from the loss of bodily freedom.

That was why Wilhelm had envied the fake instead.

At least the Golden Mask—created as his proxy—would have freedom.

The freedom to move and think as he pleased.

…The Golden Mask’s gaze was filled with disbelief.

But—

“Wilhelm always called me a damn dog of a god.”

Even I thought Wilhelm’s yearning for freedom had been immense.

He had done everything he could to reclaim it.

Even while cursing me, he had always longed for it.

“He wanted to become you. Just as you wanted to become Wilhelm.”

There was no real or fake here.

They had only envied each other.

There was no reason to resent one another.

“So…”

The Golden Mask’s gaze changed subtly.

Yet a faint smile formed at the corner of his lips.

At the words that Wilhelm had envied him.

As though he had received some measure of comfort.

I slowly closed the Golden Mask’s eyes and said,

“Go to sleep now.”

It was time to end everything.