I Start with 13 Hidden Traits Chapter-88

Ch-88

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Despite there being an undeniable hierarchy between them, he was acting as though none existed at all.

“White King, caw. I despise wordplay, caw. If you intend to move me around at your convenience, then I have no reason to remain here, caw.”

The position of a main force?

The White King’s heavenly mandate?

None of it mattered if they were not equals.

He was clearly declaring that he could not work with someone who played word games.

The White King’s mask quivered.

“…So. If I play word games, you’ll kill me? You would kill the White King?”

He laughed as though it were absurd.

But it was a laughter filled with murderous intent.

Who would dare to openly claim they could kill him?

And right in front of the White King, no less.

He was speaking as though lecturing him—stop the wordplay and treat him properly.

No one had ever spoken to him this way, so the White King was genuinely taken aback.

The situation was turning into utter chaos.

Everything was accelerating toward the extreme.

But the further it went, the more composed I became.

I shrugged my shoulders and lowered my hand.

The water had already been spilled, and neither side intended to scoop it back up. The only thing left was to pour new water.

The question was how it would be poured—and by whom.

That was something to decide from this point on.

“Sit upon the throne, White King, caw.”

Sit upon the throne.

Sit upon your own place prepared for the White King.

The Four Pillars of Power and even the White King looked faintly puzzled by my words.

Telling him to sit on the throne—wasn’t that an acknowledgement of his kingship?

The foremost seat prepared here.

Was I perhaps offering to take the role of a subordinate?

At that moment—

《You are using the ‘Ominous Throne of Light.’》

《When seated upon the ‘Ominous Throne of Light,’ all those nearby will perceive you through the projection of an ‘Ominous Form.’》

《Using ‘End of Ominousness (Lv10)’ will remove that prefix.》

To properly speak, we needed to sit at the same table.

The White King in his place.

“And I shall sit in mine, caw.”

And I would sit in my own.

Now then—let us decide.

Who would pour the water into the cup again?

‘It’s not as impressive as the “Radiant” prefix, but given the current situation, this isn’t bad at all.’

I slowly sat down.

The Ominous Throne of Light.

The prefix attached to the Throne of Light varied greatly depending on the items sacrificed for it.

I had obtained the “Ominous” prefix by offering two Extreme Iron Swords as sacrifice.

Weapons that would become useless once I entered the Mountain of Disciples for proper mastery training.

It was fortunate I had created it in advance.

The moment I settled into the throne, the eyes of the Four Pillars began to tremble.

“Aah…!”

Medusa’s reaction, in particular, was dramatic.

With all her eyes covered, Medusa could not see the world.

But precisely because of that, she could perceive “essence” more clearly than anyone.

Faced with a form of pure ominousness incarnate, she could not help but let out a groan.

The Earth Dragon, the Death King, and Gunggi were likewise staring at me in shock.

All four of them reacted strongly to the Ominous Throne of Light.

Then what about the White King?

It was then—

“That is enough.”

Someone stepped in.

Cutting precisely between me and the White King.

It was the Death King.

He placed himself between us, acting as mediator.

After telling *me* to stop, he turned to the White King.

“I will ascertain the Black King’s intent. And White King, you must recognize that the Fifth Pillar is unlike the others. Unlike us, he never received your ‘grace.’”

The White King’s Pillars had all received great favor from him.

But the Fifth Pillar was different.

He had never once received grace from the White King upon his introduction.

The “city” he was supposed to be gifted had not even been designated yet.

Instead, he had conquered one himself.

The Abyssal Labyrinth.

The land of the old empire, the place where Sword Saint Riley had sunk!

Thus, they were equals.

He could not be commanded by force.

The Death King looked to me again.

“And Fifth Pillar. You, too, must stop. You accepted the position of Pillar instead of becoming a Star Guardian—this was ultimately your own decision. If you turn us all into enemies now, you will find yourself in great trouble.”

He was right.

I could not return to the Star Guardians now.

If I tried, the Giant of ruin would never let me go.

If I made Cramdel my enemy as well, I would be surrounded by enemies on all sides.

‘What is he doing?’

At the same time, a red line flickered across the Death King’s empty right skull socket.

Appearing so that only I could see it, it formed the shape of a ^.

‘…A wink?’

He was winking at me?

Even in that state, he continued speaking.

“I understand your feelings, but your words have clearly crossed a line. If both sides push too far, a collision is inevitable. Did you not want truthful *equality*, rather than wordplay?”

He wasn’t wrong.

To call me however he pleased, to force tasks onto me—this was far from an equal relationship.

And besides, it was the Death King who had stepped in.

I personally wanted to maintain a good relationship with him.

But—

“Those are my minimum conditions for being a Pillar, caw. I have no need for a position that is not equal, caw.”

I emphasized it once more.

The first time I became a Pillar, circumstances overlapped and I hadn’t clarified it properly—but I would not back down unless this was resolved.

Thus, I threw the ball back at the White King.

Equal. Nothing more.

So, White King—what do *you* think?

Do you agree to place me on the same line as yourself?

“…You truly are a creature that has lost all fear.”

He had never met anyone who went this far without hesitation.

No doubt he had confidence in his own ability.

But that wasn’t all.

This was simply what kind of creature he was.

Fearless, and eager to challenge anything that stood in his way.

Even if his opponent weren’t the White King but a god, he would act the same.

Just where had such a deranged crow appeared from?

If he were merely insane, he would have already killed him a hundred times over, yet he possessed an impenetrable ominousness that made him annoyingly troublesome.

“I do appreciate your audacity. But there will not be a second time.”

The White King stepped back.

He would overlook this one excessive remark in acknowledgment of my unyielding boldness.

After all, it had been *his* mistake to contradict himself earlier.

But there would not be a second chance.

This was the last.

‘I survived.’

I let out a deep sigh of relief internally.

This was not bad.

No—this was excellent.

‘That really shaved ten years off my lifespan.’

Simply surviving meant success.

If the Death King hadn’t intervened, we would have gone to the end.

Perhaps I had bluffed too hard.

And if we had gone to the end, the outcome would’ve been obvious—

At best, I would have destroyed one Mystery before being cleaved clean in half.

The Death King’s intervention was a blessing.

This was why I could never bring myself to dislike him.

Though the wink was pushing it a bit.

“Good, caw. Now we finally have the proper posture for a *conversation*, caw.”

“…Fifth Pillar.”

The Death King scolded me, as if asking what I thought I was doing after he had worked so hard to mend things.

Did I want the tension to rise again?

But now it was fine.

Being on equal footing meant we could discuss matters beyond mere equality.

“White King, caw. If I retrieve your lost ‘fang,’ what will you give me in return, caw?”

The posture was set.

Now we could speak of what actually mattered.

Your lost fang.

If I recover it for you—what will you give me?

“…I said there would not be a second time, yet you continue saying interesting things.”

The White King’s eyes returned to me.

As if asking what ulterior motive I was plotting.

Telling me not to say anything foolish again.

But denying it was pointless—any player already knew the truth.

It was displayed openly in the Golden Scale Shop.

One of Wilhelm’s trophies.

It required a thousand-hour shard, but depending on the reward the White King offered, it was worth considering.

For I had the *Complete Golden Scale*.

A flawless Golden Scale utterly unlike the broken fragments.

The Mountain of Disciples.

After Randolph left the White King’s hall—

The hall was quieter than ever.

Like a world after a violent storm.

A wrecked yet strangely calm atmosphere filled the place.

‘How peculiar.’

The White King sat upon his throne, resting his chin on his hand, recalling the storm that had just passed.

The mad crow—Fifth Pillar Randolph.

After he left, the White King’s thoughts were in disarray.

Strange.

Unpredictable.

No word fit so perfectly.

He hadn’t felt this “strangeness” from anyone other than *him*.

‘Knight King Wilhelm. He was like that as well.’

The two were clearly different.

Wilhelm was human, Randolph a corpse-crow.

Their abilities and traits were completely distinct.

But they had something in common—

Both possessed something that surpassed his “premonitions.”

Beings with an undefinable, unknowable ominousness.

‘But he is different even from that one. This is a feeling I’ve never had before.’

Not even while facing Wilhelm had he felt this emotion.

No matter how much he pondered, he could not understand.

What was this feeling?

After tapping his temple for a long time, he finally grasped it.

‘…He is reading me. That’s why I felt this way.’

Wilhelm had not known him.

But Randolph acted as though he understood him intimately.

The Fifth Pillar—this mad crow—was reading him through and through.

“…How discourteous, caw.”

At their first meeting, Randolph had “read” his skill. Realizing he was being observed, he had talked about “manners” with a straight face.

At that time, the White King had simply thought him amusing.

Randolph’s authority to destroy Mysteries was something to be wary of, but only slightly.

But what Randolph had shown today completely shattered that first impression.

It wasn’t just his skill.

He was reading *everything*.

Even the form behind the mask.

Even deeper realms than that—Randolph was surely seeing through it all.

Those words telling him he would kill him if he pulled any tricks.

He had forgiven it once.

‘Was I… tense?’

Perhaps it had not been mere bluster.

Baal’s presence and the Throne of Light.

Even those alone were astonishing, but if they were only the tip of the iceberg—

Then he may have reacted instinctively.

To the boundless, unknowable potential the crow possessed.

A kind of tension he had never once experienced.

“Hahahaha!”

Finally recognizing the source of that peculiarity, the White King burst into wild laughter.

‘How entertaining.’

When had he last felt this tension toward someone?

Even Wilhelm, in the end, remained within his premonitions.

That overwhelming force of his still sent shivers down his spine, yet Wilhelm had ultimately been unable to kill him.

But Randolph—he stood *beyond* his premonitions.

Ominous yet not ominous. Strong yet not strong.

He had kept him at his side, but—

Perhaps Randolph was the one being who could truly kill him.

‘The only one who can kill me.’

That was why he had reacted so strongly to the word “kill.”

Unpredictable.

A mad crow who could leap in any direction—

And he instinctively realized that this creature might be the one capable of ending him.

Of course he’d never felt anything like it.

Randolph had pierced through him, stepping beyond the realm of premonition, and directly hinted at his death.

“The White King…”

When the White King suddenly burst into wild laughter, the Earth Dragon who had remained in the White King’s hall looked confused.

The White King wiped the smile from his face and asked the First pillar, the Earth Dragon:

“Earth Dragon. In your eyes, what kind of being is the Fifth pillar?”

“He’s someone who will cause great trouble someday. We must deal with him before that happens.”

“My thoughts are the same. Measures must be taken.”

The Earth Dragon held strong hostility toward the Fifth pillar.

A mad crow who rampaged without knowing his place.

A wretch who didn’t know his own limits, not even worth swallowing in one bite.

The White King nodded as the Earth Dragon openly revealed his emotions.

“We will connect a warp to the Labyrinth City and officially proclaim it under the name of the White King. And we will accept the Fifth pillar’s trade offer.”

“W–White King? What are you saying?”

The Earth Dragon was horrified.

Was *this* what he meant by taking measures?

He looked utterly unable to accept it.

But the White King remained steadfast.

“If we leave him be, he will soon become an enemy. Before that, we must bestow him with ‘favor.’ As the Death King said.”

“If he turns into an enemy, I will personally kill him.”

“Do not. I do not wish to lose you.”

“…Are you saying that I might lose?”

“Yes.”

At the White King’s firm reply, the Earth Dragon’s expression contorted heavily.

He who was said to be the strongest among all Earth Dragons.

 

 

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