Chapter 497
Taesan was now receiving faith from more than ten planets.
He had gathered enough devotion to ascend as a complete Faith God.
But he hadn’t. Taesan himself didn’t fully understand why—but the reason was simple.
He had borrowed Remidaos’s name.
A name carries meaning; it represents one’s identity. Yet when Taesan received faith, he bore Remidaos’s appearance, used Remidaos’s name, and acted like Remidaos.
The faith people offered was directed toward the imitation—toward the image of Remidaos that Taesan projected.
It was faith bound to the concept of Remidaos, not Taesan himself. Therefore, he couldn’t truly reach the realm of transcendence.
But now, things had changed.
People’s emotions toward Remidaos had twisted. They no longer worshipped him or offered their faith to him.
That displaced faith was flowing toward Taesan—
Not to Remidaos, but to Taesan.
[This is—]
“Ah…”
Both Taesan and Remidaos sensed the shift. Taesan smirked.
“So that’s how it is.”
[You worthless insects!]
Remidaos exploded in fury. The emotions of a transcendent tore through the minds of the masses. They screamed in fear—yet the more they trembled, the more they worshipped Taesan instead.
Remidaos ground his teeth. His plans were crumbling. Taesan was stronger than he had anticipated, and the god could no longer instill overwhelming fear into mortals.
[…It doesn’t matter. I’ll just kill you myself!]
“Go ahead.”
Taesan spread his arms wide.
Remidaos gathered his divinity and fired. Streams of divine power like a galaxy filled the void. Taesan gripped his sword.
Kugugugung!
He swept the divine torrent aside with condensed Chaos, carving a path forward. Taesan rushed toward Remidaos, who immediately tried to stop his advance.
Kiiiiiing!
Divinity spread like a curtain, filling the space.
[You have activated [Great Collapse – Chaos].]
A sphere of Chaos appeared, slowly pushing against the curtain, forcing open a path.
Remidaos waved his hand. The curtain moved as if obeying its master, curling around to envelop both the Great Collapse and Taesan. Taesan gathered strength in his legs.
[You have activated [Magic Explosion].]
Kugugugung!
Chaos exploded. The compressed divinity couldn’t endure and tore apart. Taesan slipped through the small gap that appeared.
[Where do you think you’re going!]
The curtain shattered—
Then transformed into countless spikes that lunged at Taesan’s entire body. Each one was compressed enough to pierce through Chaos itself.
[You have activated [Sword of the World – Chaos].]
He gripped his sword and swung. Gigantic arcs of force like mountain ranges smashed the spikes to pieces. Before long, the sword began to corrode and crumble.
But it bought him the space to evade. Cloaked in Chaos, Taesan broke free.
And waiting for him—was another blinding flood of divinity that filled his vision.
‘There’s really no end to it.’
Even with such massive divine output in every attack, Remidaos didn’t show the slightest sign of depletion. His divine reserves were far beyond what Taesan had imagined. At this rate, the duration of [Call of Chaos] would end before Remidaos’s divinity ran dry.
Taesan’s eyes darkened.
The only times Remidaos’s divinity had diminished meaningfully were when Taesan struck directly at the divinity shielding his body.
Erasing emitted divinity meant little. He had to strike the core itself.
That would require risk—but the reward was worth it.
He could feel faith flowing into him.
Each time he blocked Remidaos’s attacks and countered, the faith directed at him grew stronger.
It was always the same. Whenever he accomplished something undeniable—something that anyone could recognize—faith surged explosively.
If he could land one decisive blow against Remidaos now…
He would finally reach true transcendence.
His resolve settled, Taesan gathered power in his legs.
[You have activated [Acceleration].]
[You have activated [Skill Acceleration].]
His body accelerated. Remidaos swung his divinity. Taesan focused even more intensely on the gray aura surrounding him.
[You have activated [Stealth – Chaos].]
[You have activated [Baal’s Layered Darkness].]
[You have activated [Random Blink].]
“Ugh…”
Remidaos faltered for a moment.
Within the radiant storm of divinity, Taesan vanished completely. Even Remidaos’s senses couldn’t detect him.
[Even so—!]
Remidaos stomped. The shockwave of divine power swept in every direction, shaking the cosmos itself. Its sheer force could pulverize planets and rival a Concept God’s might.
But it didn’t reach Taesan.
Any attack that failed to recognize Taesan’s presence was erased, nullified. That was his skill—one who hides within shadows.
Without resistance, Taesan closed the distance instantly. Remidaos barely managed to locate him by sight and hastily gathered divinity. Taesan did the same.
Kwadudeuduk!
All kinds of forces burst forth—magic, black magic, and the power of ruin. They filled the space, colliding with Remidaos’s divine torrents. Though shattered almost immediately, they carved out a narrow opening.
Taesan seized that opening and rushed in closer.
[Foolish move.]
Remidaos sneered.
He hadn’t expected Taesan to sneak up so perfectly unseen—but that was all it was. In truth, it was like a beast thrusting its head into a trap. Even with Chaos, Taesan couldn’t break through now.
Remidaos gathered his power, compressing it into blinding white divinity.
Kuuung!
He hurled it straight at Taesan. At this range, there was no space to dodge. The only option was to meet it head-on.
But Taesan never intended to collide.
[You have activated [Choice Exclusion].]
The white divinity flying toward him vanished—completely erased, as though it had never existed.
[What!]
Choice Exclusion—
The authority granted by the [God of Choice – Maria]. It allowed him to select and delete one action or event entirely.
A Concept God or Old God could resist it, but Remidaos was merely a Faith God. He had no defense.
The path opened.
Taesan accelerated even further. Remidaos hastily gathered divinity, but Taesan was already upon him. His half-formed defense lashed out desperately.
[You have activated [Fall of All Things].]
The rank of Remidaos’s divinity plummeted. Taesan filled his sword with Chaos and swung.
Kwaaaaaaang!
He shattered and erased everything in his path. The surging divinity tried to push back and consume Chaos, but Taesan didn’t yield.
[You have activated [Denial of Possibility].]
Kwaduduk!
He denied every possibility that didn’t lead to victory.
And Taesan broke through.
Remidaos frantically spread divine waves to repel him—but Taesan wasn’t foolish enough to fall for the same trick twice.
“Stop.”
He gathered black energy and declared—
The world’s time stopped.
Remidaos, too, was caught in the time freeze.
The duration wasn’t long—but it was enough. Taesan drove his Chaos-infused sword forward.
Kagagagak!
Divinity was sliced apart—tainted, distorted, and destroyed. The divinity burned away, sacrificing itself to protect its master.
[Aaaaargh!]
Time began to flow again. Remidaos roared and unleashed a violent surge of power.
[Your Second Absolute Attack Nullification has activated.]
[Your Third Absolute Attack Nullification has activated.]
[You have taken 198,754 damage.]
The divine onslaught pierced through Chaos, triggering the nullifications in quick succession. The damage poured in exponentially.
Taesan swiftly pulled back and restored his health with divinity.
“Not bad.”
He had spent a lot—using multiple transcendent authorities and exhausting all attack nullifications. Both the gray and divine powers had been heavily drained.
But Remidaos had suffered far more.
The divinity radiating from him had dropped by more than half. Even so, the remaining amount was still monstrous—but it was undeniable that he’d taken massive damage.
[You… you! You!]
Remidaos trembled with rage.
The faith he had accumulated over countless years as a transcendent—more than half of it was gone. His fury burned hotter than ever.
[I’ll kill you!]
“You’ve been trying that this whole time.”
Taesan answered calmly. As Remidaos raised his divinity in a twisted rage, he suddenly realized something.
He could no longer feel the emotions of his followers.
Their faith—tainted by fear and terror—was fading away.
And that faith was gathering toward Taesan instead.
“Ooooh!”
“Please! Please!”
When Taesan struck Remidaos, faith erupted.
They didn’t want to see or hear it, but Remidaos’s voice and fury could no longer dominate them.
Terror still gnawed at their minds, and they begged him for mercy.
Had things continued that way, Remidaos might have reclaimed their faith.
But Taesan hadn’t fallen.
He fought back—he hurt the god they thought untouchable.
Before their eyes, he stood against the being they could never defy—and gained the upper hand.
Naturally, their faith turned to him, bursting forth in a surge.
[Divinity Mastery has increased by 17%.]
At the same time, Taesan’s divinity reached completion.
—
Taesan gathered the faith. Layer upon layer of divinity built up within him until it formed a solid shape.
His senses shifted.
Omnipotence flowed through his entire being. He had felt this sensation before—on Earth.
The complete state of transcendence. A Faith God standing beyond doubt, worshipped even outside the bounds of faith.
The faith of over ten planets filled him perfectly.
[…Don’t make me laugh!]
Remidaos denied it.
[Even if you’ve reached that realm, you’ve only just arrived—a shallow, imperfect state! You can never touch me!]
He swung his divinity. A sun-bright torrent of compressed power hurtled toward Taesan. Once, even [Call of Chaos] couldn’t have fully blocked it.
But that was no longer true.
Taesan wrapped himself in Chaos.
The golden divinity struck the gray aura—
Kagagagak!
It didn’t pierce through.
No—Taesan’s gray swallowed it instead. The radiant divine light was devoured, turning pitch-black, fading into the color of dust.
Taesan clenched his fist.
The devoured divinity vanished without a trace. Remidaos was speechless.
[…What—]
“Good.”
Taesan smiled in satisfaction.
“Let’s finish this.”
He gripped his sword. Gray energy spread like webbing, swallowing the space around him and expanding rapidly.
The world began to turn gray.