Chapter 495
Taesan arrived at the white star.
It was small—barely the size of a moon. Ripples of power flared outward in every direction like solar flares.
‘…This place.’
White light illuminated the entire space. It was as bright as a sun. A strange sensation ran through his feet.
From that, Taesan realized one thing.
‘This isn’t matter.’
It wasn’t physical material but an extreme compression of power that had taken on tangible form.
As he examined the white star, he understood.
The condensed white light was divinity itself.
What should have been golden had been compressed so intensely that it appeared white.
‘So this is…’
Divinity that had gathered and condensed into something the size of a moon.
“That’s a ridiculous amount.”
Taesan let out a faint laugh. The total amount of divinity here rivaled the mass of a moon.
Even receiving faith from ten planets, Taesan couldn’t reach this level.
The Shopkeeper had existed in the labyrinth long before Bardray.
Remidaos had spent an unimaginably long time accumulating faith.
Step.
Taesan walked across the star made of divinity.
Before long, he saw the master of that faith.
Hovering alone above the immense divine mass, a figure waited.
[You’ve arrived.]
[You have encountered Remidaos.]
He looked exactly like Taesan. Every detail of his clothing matched down to the smallest symbol.
Remidaos opened his eyes quietly and looked at him.
[It feels strange, seeing someone wearing my own face.]
His calm voice resonated.
Taesan responded by canceling [Form Transformation].
[Thank you.]
Remidaos spoke softly. His face betrayed no emotion.
[You are Kang Taesan. I’ve heard a lot about you from Him. A distorted, twisted existence—seeing you in person, I understand.]
He nodded slowly.
[You possess the necessary qualifications.]
“What do you want?”
Remidaos hadn’t stopped him.
Even as Taesan stole his faith, killed his Immortal followers, and impersonated him, Remidaos had merely watched—doing nothing, as if he wanted it to happen.
[What I want is simple. The highest seat.]
Remidaos descended slowly, his feet landing upon the star of divinity.
[I have always desired it.]
“For someone with such desire, you don’t seem very desperate.”
[…]
Remidaos gazed quietly at Taesan. His eyes, like stars themselves, fixed on him.
[You are receiving the faith I once held. You can feel it—immense, powerful faith. I gathered it over eons.]
He raised his hand. Golden divinity materialized upon his palm.
[I shouldn’t praise myself, but I think I built it well.]
“I’ll give you that.”
On the surface, Immortals enforced worship while Remidaos appeared in dreams to harvest true devotion from those suffering.
If Taesan hadn’t interfered, Remidaos would have continued gathering faith indefinitely.
[They believed in me with all their hearts. Their faith was genuine.]
He waved his hand, dispersing the divine light.
[But… it’s not enough.]
His eyes trembled slightly—filled with greed.
[I am powerful. None within this boundary can touch me. But that’s all. I am, in the end, a Transcendent born of faith.]
No matter how much steel is gathered, refined, and tempered—it remains steel.
Faith is the same. No matter how much is accumulated, it remains faith. Its nature does not change.
[I refuse to remain at such a pitiful level. I will ascend to the supreme position.]
Desire oozed from his voice. Taesan asked quietly,
“So what’s your plan?”
[I’ve thought long and hard.]
Remidaos smiled.
[They believe in me sincerely, but it’s still ordinary faith. Faith alone cannot reach beyond. Then… what if their emotion were no longer faith?]
His lips curved unnaturally, forming a smile no human could make.
[What if their faith turned into fear?]
Taesan frowned.
[What if they trembled before me? If merely imagining me shattered their minds, if thinking of me drove them mad, if I became carved into their souls so they could never forget me—
If they worshipped me out of pure, overwhelming terror—could I transcend?]
“You sound like the God of Fear.”
[I’ve believed that for a long time. But it was always a dilemma.]
Divine power seeped outward—not toward Taesan, but toward the distant planets.
[I considered crushing the Immortals myself, but their power is within the limits of mortal imagination. It’s insufficient and unworthy of display. The result would still be ordinary faith.]
Twisted emotion filled his voice.
[But you… you can make it possible. You are worthy of drawing out my full power. You can twist the emotions of mortals themselves!]
Divinity erupted. Remidaos spread his arms.
[Behold, mortals!]
A sharp ringing filled the air.
Divinity spread to every planet, searing itself into their minds.
Those who prayed to Taesan froze in confusion as a deafening voice echoed across all ten worlds.
[I am Remidaos!]
“Kyaaaah!”
“Wh-what?!”
People screamed and collapsed.
Even as they tried to think, an image burned itself into their minds.
In their thoughts, they saw both Taesan and Remidaos.
Smiling coldly, Remidaos pointed his finger.
[The one who claimed to be me—he is a fake! A deceiver who stole your faith!]
“Ah…”
His booming voice thundered through every soul, crushing and suffocating them. The people’s faces went pale.
[I will kill the one who dared impersonate me!]
His voice dripped with fury.
The people covered their ears, unable to bear it.
[You must believe in me! I am Remidaos!]
But his voice pierced through even closed ears.
Remidaos’s face twisted, grotesque beyond recognition—like a demon unfit to exist in this world.
The people trembled instinctively in terror.
They closed their eyes, unwilling to see.
But the image of Remidaos appeared directly within their minds.
They couldn’t close their eyes, nor shut their ears.
[You will worship me! I am your god!]
“Ugh… ah…”
Even the strong wept uncontrollably. The Transcendent’s raw rage was unbearable to mortals. The weak fainted outright.
Yet even unconscious, they still saw Remidaos’s face in their minds.
“So that’s the method you’re using.”
Now Taesan understood why Remidaos had remained silent as his faith was stolen and his servants were slain.
He wasn’t after faith anymore.
He wanted something beyond faith—
To reach the supreme realm through it.
So he had watched in silence.
He let mortals believe Taesan was Remidaos. He let his followers die.
And now that Taesan stood before him, he revealed the truth to every mortal.
You worshipped a fake.
I am the true Remidaos.
You must believe only in me.
That righteous fury tore through their hearts, twisting their emotions and guilt.
Their feelings toward Remidaos shattered—transforming into something warped and monstrous.
[Not bad.]
Remidaos smiled grotesquely. Within him, the distorted emotions of countless beings gathered.
[I don’t know how it will end, but it’s worth trying. Don’t you think it’s quite an elegant method?]
He spoke languidly.
[When you first appeared in my domain, I hesitated. But after thinking it over, I realized it was a perfect opportunity.]
Remidaos sought to surpass the wall.
To do that, he needed change—and Taesan was the force capable of causing it.
[You’re far stronger than I expected. But that’s fine. You can bring out my full power—show mortals what lies beyond comprehension.]
“The Immortals were unfortunate, then.”
[They were worthless tools. I intended to discard them anyway. You simply saved me the trouble.]
“Not a bad plan,” Taesan said, gripping his sword, “but there’s one problem.”
“To make it work, you’ll have to defeat me first.”
[I am qualified. I know you wield a twisted power, but between us lies a gap you cannot cross.]
Remidaos declared with arrogance.
[Become my sacrifice.]
The star of divinity began to crumble.
Falling divinity gathered around him, compressing and molding into form.
It took the shape of a golden human.
But it wasn’t human—it was something monstrous, malformed. Divinity oozed like molten clay from its edges.
Its size, too, was on an entirely different scale.
Remidaos had become as large as a moon.
‘Huge.’
He dwarfed even the World Breaker.
And most terrifying of all, every particle of that mass was compressed divinity.
Taesan’s accumulated faith was great, but compared to Remidaos’s, it was like a firefly against the sun.
Rumble.
Remidaos raised his arm, and the space around them shuddered. Divine fragments fell like meteors.
Hundreds, thousands of years—perhaps longer—of gathered faith had gone beyond comprehension.
Wooooom!
Remidaos struck down his arm toward Taesan.
Taesan kicked off the ground.
The blow smashed through space itself.
Boom!
The shockwave swept across the universe.
Even distant planets trembled. Trees were uprooted, buildings shook, bodies flung into the air. Screams echoed everywhere.
“Ah! Ahhhh!”
“Please! Forgive us!”
People wept, pressing their heads to the ground. Their emotions toward Remidaos grew even more twisted.
[You cannot defeat me.]
His voice thundered as he manifested his will. Thousands of spears made of divinity formed around him.
Each one as massive as a meteor, they shot toward Taesan.
Taesan raised his boundary.
Boom!
Spears shattered.
But he couldn’t destroy them all. Each contained more divinity than Taesan’s entire reserve.
Even a normal Faith God would’ve needed all their strength to block one.
And there were thousands.
Taesan’s gaze hardened. He traced their trajectories, calculated the optimal responses, and moved precisely.
Time slowed under his [Time Interference].
Boom!
Still, he couldn’t completely block them. More spears tore through space, grazing his body.
Zzzt!
His [Self] barrier shook.
A direct clash was impossible. Taesan quickly decided.
Trusting his barrier, he opened a gray rift in space.
[You have activated Teleport [Chaos].]
Snap.
He vanished into another space.
Even [Restricted Blink] couldn’t escape such saturation. Only full teleportation could get him out.
‘Purely in terms of power… he’s above anything I’ve seen.’
Taesan brushed divine fragments from his shoulder.
Stronger than the God of Fear, stronger than any Transcendent he had faced.
In sheer power alone, that thing was a monster.
‘But.’
He could still win.
As he adjusted the flow of his energy, Taesan muttered,
“You know about me, don’t you.”
It wasn’t mere rumor.
Remidaos’s tone suggested he had learned about Taesan’s abilities—about what he truly was—from someone else.
“We’ll talk about that next.”