Chapter 486
Essential took Taesan away from the center and led him to a small space.
That place was Essential’s domain. Within this distorted power of Ouroboros, Essential maintained his realm with dignity.
“Now then. I suppose we both have a lot of questions. Will you speak first?”
“Then, thank you. I have something I wish to ask you, Lord Essential.”
Taesan looked at Essential.
“Do you know a woman named Lee Taeyeon? She’s in her twenties, with straight black hair and dark eyes.”
“Lee Taeyeon?”
Essential tilted his head.
“Who’s that? I don’t know her.”
“I see.”
So she hadn’t met Essential to obtain the false stone after all. It seemed she had used her own unique method.
Given her level, it was only natural—she wouldn’t have been able to enter this place.
“Is that all for your questions?”
“No. What I truly wish to ask is something else.”
This was where the real topic began. Taesan opened his mouth.
“You’re aware of the Usurper, aren’t you? May I ask what kind of being that ancient god is?”
“Normally, I shouldn’t talk about them carelessly… but for someone like you, I suppose it’s fine.”
The Usurper.
An ancient god forgotten even by other gods, its identity unknown.
But Essential seemed to know about it. Without much reaction, he answered calmly.
“It’s nothing complicated. The thing is exactly what its name suggests—one who usurps this world.”
“…The world itself?”
Taesan’s eyes widened slightly.
He had assumed the Usurper was a god who stole divinity or rank.
But to usurp the world itself…
It was a being on a higher level than he expected.
Essential frowned.
“Among the ancient gods, it’s quite the anomaly. Because that thing—despite being a god—can manipulate the laws of this world to some extent.”
“The laws of the world? Is that even possible?”
Existences of this world cannot wield the power of the beyond. Ancient gods cannot handle the world’s laws.
That was an unchanging truth. Those who had offered themselves to ancient gods could use their power, but only because even their essence had been tainted by them.
Only Taesan could handle both powers at once.
“Not in a true sense. It’s more like mimicking—parroting what it sees. But even so, the fact that a god can imitate this side’s concepts doesn’t change.”
Essential’s expression turned sour.
“That thing usurps every structure that makes up this world. And once something is usurped, its concept vanishes from existence. Just like your master—the Apostle who became a tool.”
Essential raised his finger, pointing toward Taesan’s ring—Akasha.
“It seems your master was also an ancient god usurped by the Usurper. I don’t know who it was, but… considering that even after being usurped, your existence hasn’t been erased from the world, it must’ve been a conceptual god—an immensely powerful one.”
[The one I served… Can they be found again?]
“I don’t know.”
Essential answered indifferently.
“Seems like you don’t remember clearly either. You could perhaps regain your goddess’s divinity if you recover your memories—but I’ve never heard of anyone who’s reclaimed themselves after being usurped.”
[I see…]
“Is that what the Usurper is?”
He thought it was a hidden secret.
He expected it would take much longer to uncover, yet the answer came easier than he imagined.
“What exactly is the Usurper’s ability?”
“Uh…”
Essential hesitated and made an awkward face.
“I don’t know.”
“…Pardon?”
“That thing is shrouded in mystery. All we know is that it joined the war and usurped countless transcendents and world concepts—nothing beyond that.”
“So you’ve never fought it either, Lord Essential?”
“No. Not me, and probably no one else. Those who fought it have all been forgotten. We only know someone existed—but not who.”
“It usurps worlds. Beyond that, there’s nothing. Its true form, its exact ability—no one knows. Now that I think of it… it suddenly vanished near the end of the war. It was irritating, but it never reappeared until the end. Maybe some transcendent took it down with them?”
In the end, even Essential didn’t know. That was the limit of available knowledge.
“Thank you.”
That much was enough. He now had a general picture. Essential chuckled.
“It’s fine. Anything else you want to ask?”
“Yes. Why did Ouroboros devour the universe?”
He knew an ancient god was involved, but nothing more. Essential, who had been here the longest, would know better than anyone.
“It’ll be faster to show you than explain. Follow me.”
Essential rose and moved back toward the center of Ouroboros. As he pushed aside the twisted time and space blocking his path, faint formless energies became visible.
Something unseen was clinging to time and space, staining them as its own.
Taesan could tell.
The moment you were tainted by it, your value disappeared.
Even the sharpest, hardest blade turned to ash; radiant gold became dull, blackened stone.
Steadfast will, noble essence—all rendered hollow by that force.
An invisible energy that made everything meaningless.
And the deeper they went, the more numerous it became.
“It’s multiplied again.”
Essential clicked his tongue and stomped. His very existence expanded outward.
Kiiiiiiiing!
It was his essence itself, materialized—crushing and repelling the shapeless energy that was consuming space. As the view cleared, Taesan could finally see something.
“Do you see it? No—perhaps ‘feel’ is the better word.”
“…Yes.”
Something invisible was gathered there. Even Taesan couldn’t see it. In the chaotic, twisted space of Ouroboros, there was a void—utter emptiness.
Its size rivaled a mountain range.
“That is the culprit behind Ouroboros’s movement—and the reason I can’t find a way out. The [Worthless One].”
The Worthless One writhed, its mass slowly growing. It consumed the surrounding time and space, assimilating them into itself.
“Annoying thing.”
Essential grimaced and released his essence. His power manifested physically, striking the Worthless One.
But it didn’t back down.
It clung to his essence, trying to corrupt it into itself. The value within Essential’s essence began to fade.
“Tch.”
Essential shook off the formless parasite and withdrew his power. From that exchange alone, Taesan understood.
“That’s not a fragment.”
It wasn’t a shard—it was the ancient god itself.
“The Worthless One isn’t a single being. It’s a collection of countless small cores. One of those cores has nested within Ouroboros.”
Essential spoke while fending off its creeping advance.
“The main body is the size of a sun. Compared to that, this is practically adorable.”
“Why would something like that be here?”
“No idea.”
Essential answered carelessly.
“Maybe it tried to destroy the world through Ouroboros. Or maybe it sensed its defeat and pulled one last trick. Whichever it was, it didn’t succeed. Even the true body of an ancient god couldn’t completely control Ouroboros—let alone a fragment.”
Ouroboros was a mechanism that influenced the entire universe.
Even a god couldn’t tamper with it easily.
“But it wasn’t a total failure either.”
“I suppose not.”
Essential grimaced and lifted his hand.
“Ouroboros lies within that thing.”
Even Taesan couldn’t see it, but deep inside the Worthless One, something was there—Ouroboros’s core.
“Somehow, it reached Ouroboros’s body. Ouroboros detected it too late. It managed to defend itself, but the backlash spread across the universe.”
And those caught in it included Essential and countless other beings of the cosmos.
“At the time, I could’ve escaped easily, but I realized it had to be dealt with—so I came here. It was far stronger than I expected; everyone but me was torn apart.”
Essential scowled, weary disgust clouding his face.
“I can’t kill an ancient god. Nor can I seal it here. So I’ve been stuck fighting it ever since.”
“Even though it’s not the full body, you can’t subdue it?”
“If I were my original self, I could’ve crushed it entirely, erasing its influence. But not here.”
Time was twisted, space broken. The closer one got to Ouroboros’s core, the stronger the distortion became.
“Even if Ouroboros doesn’t bear hostility toward me, just being inside affects me. Resisting that alone consumes much of my authority and essence. I’m weakened—too much so to deal with that damn fragment.”
Even transcendents couldn’t resist Ouroboros’s power easily—it was a greater concept.
“But you seem unaffected.”
Essential’s curious gaze turned to Taesan—or rather, to the faint gray aura enveloping him.
“Be honest. I don’t know what you are. You interfered with my authority itself.”
Taesan had intervened directly in Essential’s power—something even transcendents, even gods, couldn’t do.
“Who are you?”
His eyes carried genuine curiosity.
“I don’t know either.”
It was the truth. Even he didn’t understand himself.
“I can control the [Black].”
Whoom.
The power of the ancient gods manifested in Taesan’s hand—completely under his control. Essential’s eyes widened quietly.
“And I can handle divinity.”
Kiiiiing!
Golden light bloomed in his other hand.
The divine and the black intertwined—forming gray.
“By combining them, I can create a power called [Boundary].”
Taesan raised his finger.
Kagagak!
The [Boundary] touched the Worthless One.
Its power crept closer, trying to erase and taint the [Boundary].
But it failed.
Though it trembled and warped, the [Boundary] held firm, protecting Taesan.
Even in contact with the ancient god’s essence, its value didn’t vanish.
Taesan activated the [Domain of Chaos].
The Worthless One’s fragment began to distort.
At that moment, an intense backlash struck Taesan.
It was pure hostility.
The formless energy that had been silently writhing surged violently, rushing toward him like a wave.
When Essential attacked, it barely reacted—but now, enraged like a wounded beast, it lashed out.
Taesan swiftly retreated. The invisible force raged and lunged.
That was an ancient god itself—an existence that nullified all meaning.
Essential quickly intervened, unleashing his power to push it back.
“Thank you.”
“You…”
Essential stared blankly at Taesan.
Taesan extinguished the [Boundary].
“I can kill an ancient god.”
He could erase the fragment that drove Ouroboros—not seal it, but erase it entirely from the universe.
“But I don’t know why I can do this—or what lies within my origin.”
Something in him was twisted.
“You’re the God of Essence, aren’t you?”
Essence.
That which must exist for a thing to truly be itself.
The being that governs that concept.
Taesan quietly asked,
“Can you see my essence?”