I Start with 13 Hidden Traits Chapter-427

**Chapter 427. The Final Farewell**

—

A relationship that began with a lie.

Once I was able to enter Pangaenia not as Randolph, but as **Park Hyun-myung**, I climbed the Tower of the War God and became Raiga’s disciple.

Afterward, I met Albino, the Grand Elder, in the **Sanctuary of Honor**, the land of the Fang.

I discovered the hidden **World Tree of Honor**, cleared the dungeon within the World Tree, became a **Golden Scale Druid**, and revived the **Knights of the Round Table**.

…In the course of all that,

Raiga treated me sincerely.

What I learned from him was by no means little.

Had it not been for Raiga, I would never have grasped the mystery of **Binding (結)**.

Severing and binding.

The technique of **Disarm**, completed between Wilhelm’s swordsmanship and Raiga’s.

Without him, I would never have found the World Tree of Honor, nor would I have gained Albino’s recognition and entered the World Tree’s dungeon so easily.

If I had not received Raiga’s teachings, it would have taken far longer for me to become who I am now.

“One day, when I opened my eyes… I was dying.”

Raiga began his monologue.

His voice was layered with anger, sorrow, and a quiet understanding.

“But it was clearly a side effect of opening the Five Gates. That path only leads to unavoidable death. I grew desperate. I needed a disciple.”

That was the outline of how he came to accept me.

Raiga had never had a proper disciple.

If he died, the lineage of the Fang would be severed.

Thus, Raiga announced across the entire continent that he was seeking a disciple, gathering people at the Tower of the War God.

“When I met you at the Tower of the War God, you exceeded all my expectations. You perfectly interpreted the Realm Between Life and Death—something even I could not do. I thought I had finally found a disciple who would inherit everything from me. A disciple with the talent of a Martial God.”

Raiga could never forget the thrill and emotion of that moment.

He had met a disciple who might surpass him.

He would pass on everything without reserve.

With this boy’s talent, perhaps he could go beyond the completion of the Five Gates.

Perhaps he could reach the aspirations of the Fang—and Raiga himself.

Raiga was happy.

Truly happy.

Even if he himself were to die, the thought of leaving behind a disciple greater than himself filled him with joy.

“…It was all a delusion. Every last bit of it. In the first place, why was I dying from the side effects of an ‘opening of the Five Gates’ I never even performed?”

Raiga’s gaze grew heavy.

Shing—

Slowly, he gripped his sword.

“It was because my memories were erased on the **Island of the Gods**. I opened the Five Gates there. And Phantom—*you* erased my memories.”

Everything had come back to him.

It was inevitable.

When Dragon God Einhassar scattered the memories of the “Survival Quest” to Phantom’s avatars, those were not the only memories released.

All memories related to me that had been sealed and erased were also scattered.

And among them were Raiga’s memories that had vanished on the Island of the Gods.

Raiga spoke in a seething voice.

“Did you mock me for my foolishness? From the beginning… was everything planned?”

“Even if I say it was a misunderstanding, you wouldn’t believe me, would you?”

I understood.

Raiga’s anger.

If I were in his place, I would not have been able to suppress it either.

This was a rift of emotion that words could never bridge.

So—

Shing!

I, too, drew my sword.

Words aside—

It felt far easier to converse through blades.

Whoosh!

Golden light swirled around Raiga’s entire body.

**Five-Gate Opening!**

And the light was far more intense than before.

It seemed he had regained his memories—and risen in realm as well.

Freed from death, he could now wield the Five-Gate Opening completely.

Boom!

Raiga’s body kicked off the ground and was suddenly right before me.

I raised my sword to block, and my entire body shook.

“…That hurts.”

My wrist throbbed.

But what hurt even more—

Was knowing this was exactly what *he* was feeling right now.

More than anger, it was pain.

Pain of the heart.

Shiiing!

A gale gathered along Raiga’s blade.

When he slashed diagonally, my upper body staggered.

He had forcibly thrown me off balance.

“Binding…!”

The mystery of Binding.

But Raiga had only ever used **Severing**.

Yet now, the principle embedded in his sword included **Binding** as well.

He severed at will, and bound at will—forcing imbalance.

Isn’t it astonishing?

In such a short span of time, he completed both the Five Gates and the mystery of Binding.

Just as I learned a move from Raiga, he had learned from me as well.

But if this was a battle of **Binding**, I had no intention of simply taking it.

“Disarm.”

Sss—

The gale clinging to Raiga’s sword vanished.

And then—

Crack!

“…!”

A strange light flashed in Raiga’s eyes.

A fracture had appeared in the sword he was wielding.

A blade wrapped in sword aura, sword force, and sword ring—the strongest of swords.

I had disarmed the sword itself, something that should have been impossible to damage.

The crack spread in an instant.

Crash!

Raiga’s sword shattered.

Had he accepted defeat?

*He infused the fragments with sword ring.*

No.

He had poured all the sword-ring energy into the shattered fragments.

To think he would counter **Disarm** like this.

His combat sense was on a level incomparable even to Annihilation itself.

BOOOOM!

The fragments that struck me exploded with a violent roar.

I didn’t even have time to brace.

Yet—

“…So you reached it, after all.”

Raiga, having retreated slightly, spoke.

His voice trembled faintly as he looked at me.

“You’ve opened… the Sixth Gate.”

**Six-Gate Opening!**

It had finally become possible when the Heavenly Demon self-destructed and accepted death.

The ultimate secret art wielded by the Primordial Heavenly Demon.

The realm that was the origin of the Fang—and Raiga’s lifelong dream.

—**Asura**.

There was no overflowing aura.

Unlike Raiga, who shone gold upon opening the Five Gates, I radiated nothing.

Yet Raiga recognized it instantly.

That my state had already reached the Sixth Gate.

The Five Gates were the realm of humans.

The Sixth Gate was the realm of gods.

Opening every possible gate and becoming one with divinity.

However—

“Wait… the Sixth Gate isn’t the end…?”

Raiga’s eyes trembled violently.

His disciple had realized his dream.

What could be more stirring than that?

Yet he realized it wasn’t the end.

When I fought Annihilation, I was already capable of using the Sixth Gate.

And by killing Annihilation and destroying the **Essence of Annihilation**, I came to *know* that there was something beyond.

Still, I had not yet reached the Seventh Gate.

“Once I obtained the authority of an Absolute… I finally reached it.”

—**Seven-Gate Opening.**

—**Absolute Asura.**

“Seven Gates…!”

Clatter.

Raiga dropped the hilt of the sword he had been holding.

He knew further combat was meaningless.

No—he realized he had never been a match to begin with.

That I had merely been receiving his attacks.

What humiliation could be greater?

The man who prided himself as the strongest in the Empire, the strongest in Pangaenia.

Raiga murmured quietly.

“…The Five Gates ignite all potential. The Sixth Gate empties everything and becomes a god. Complete the Five Gates and you have no equal under heaven. Complete the Sixth, and you have no equal across all ages. But the Seventh Gate… it exists only in theory…”

Though he called it theory, it was no different from a realm of dreams.

There had been those who reached the Sixth Gate—but none who reached the Seventh.

That was why it was so hard to believe.

“Only two in the history of the Fang ever opened and completed the Five Gates. Two out of 356 geniuses hailed as the greatest on the continent! The founding head of the Fang… and myself.”

Countless geniuses had challenged it and fallen into despair.

Unable to achieve it, they had given up.

Yet even so, only by pressing on relentlessly had they barely completed the Five Gates.

And now—

Beyond the Sixth, the Seventh?

“What’s different? What do you see?”

Raiga asked.

And as he said—

…I had opened the Seventh Gate.

A realm beyond that which was recorded in truth.

The Seventh Gate was regarded as equal to the most powerful chief gods.

In the age when gods flourished, when they were at their peak, I had seized a rank comparable to the two goddesses who stood at the very summit.

Now, even the chief gods of Omen and Ash I had met in the Tower of the War God would not treat me as they once had.

At the same time, I realized—

*There is something beyond even this.*

Though my current self could be called the strongest in Pangaenia without exaggeration,

To face the Heavens, I would need to grow even stronger.

To surpass the apex Outer Gods, the cosmic prophets, and even the mightiest form of **Destruction** itself—

And yes, I knew the method.

After organizing my thoughts, I spoke to Raiga.

“I see a possibility.”

“…A possibility?”

With the opening of the Seventh Gate, everything changed.

But what changed most was **how I saw things**.

I could now see others’ *possibilities*.

No—perhaps *potential* was the right word.

【SSS “Sword Prodigy”】【854 / 1,140】

English letters, explanations, and numbers appeared.

At first, I couldn’t tell what they meant.

The numbers before and after were different.

But by comparing Hudson and several others, I understood.

*This shows current ability and maximum growth potential.*

The upper limit of stats that could be raised.

And a grading of one’s greatest talent.

The ultimate ability for nurturing talent.

But that wasn’t all.

【Register an Apostle in the “Asura Realm.”】
【The greater the Apostle’s talent and ability, the stronger “Absolute Asura” becomes.】
【Talents registered in the “Asura Realm” are applied to “Absolute Asura.”】
【If talents overlap, the highest grade is applied to “Absolute Asura.”】
【Talents range from F-rank to SSS-rank. If “Absolute Asura” learns a talent of SSS-rank or higher, there exists a possibility of reaching “the realm beyond.”】

I had gained the power to become anything—and do anything.

**Absolute Asura.**

I had truly become deified.

I could even surpass the talents of the Apostles I registered.

“…I can’t compete with that.”

Raiga conceded.

He declared his defeat.

When the gap becomes this vast, even the will to fight disappears.

Yet—

The look in Raiga’s eyes as he gazed at me had changed.

“Perhaps… I was the one who should have been taught, not you.”

Perhaps the roles of master and disciple had been reversed.

Looking at me, Raiga attained another realization.

Breaking prejudice, widening his view, and glimpsing *beyond*—that alone was enough.

“I will reset our relationship. Anger, joy—everything, as if it never existed. I am the sword that protects the Empire and the Emperor. A sword must not have emotions. When we meet again… then we shall cross blades once more.”

Just as I erased his memories on the Island of the Gods,

He would erase his memories of me by his own will.

To erase all emotion—and build anew.

For better or worse.

Raiga then looked toward Albino’s grave.

“…I do not know family. I don’t know what family truly is. But… perhaps family means being people who learn from one another.”

Teaching, and being taught.

Though he was surely speaking of Albino, the words strangely resonated with me as well.

At last, Raiga turned his back.

And as he walked away, he said—

“Farewell, Hyun.”

A lonely silhouette.

Hyun.

He spoke my name from when I was his disciple—not Phantom.

Countless emotions crossed my heart.

I quietly bowed my head.

This was likely the final farewell I could offer him as a disciple.

“…Farewell, Master.”

*

*

Time flows swiftly.

Seasons change, and everyone changes with them.

But I was engrossed in a single task.

Clang!

Claaang!

The sound of hammering echoed through the forge.

I was striking the hammer relentlessly.

*To create the Primordial.*

For that single goal alone.