Chapter 556

KWA-AAAAANG!

Leviathan swung its forepaw. Razor-sharp claws sliced through space, aiming to cut Taesan down.

Taesan met it with his rusted sword. Gray and claw collided, and a tearing shockwave spread.

Kwaga-ga-ga-ga-gang!

Its wings beat violently. A fierce gale surged toward Taesan.

Taesan planted his feet. His Physical Force amplified, shaking everything around him.

Kaga-ga-ga-gak!

But it was ground away.

The raging gale contained a power that forced an end upon all things. Taesan’s Physical Force couldn’t endure and was extinguished.

Taesan threw himself aside, evading the storm that sought to swallow him.

“Concept, huh.”

It had killed Physical Force itself. That must have been part of Leviathan’s Authority—the lizard that heralded the end of all things.

Taesan swung his fist. Gray exploded, wiping the storm away.

[Grrr…….]

The dragon stared at Taesan without blinking.

Its crimson reptilian eyes fixed on him. Its jaws slowly opened.

[……Distorted being.]

“What. You could talk?”

Taesan was genuinely surprised. Leviathan had only ever answered with beastly roars.

So he’d assumed that, like Ouroboros, conversation was impossible—but it spoke with remarkable fluency.

“Well. You made a deal with the Magician, so there’s no way you’re mindless.”

[……You are standing on the Boundary.]

“So?”

[I don’t like it.]

The voice was thick with disgust.

Flap.

Its wings spread wide. Its massive body filled the space even more.

[I am the dragon that calls the end of all things. Everything in the universe must meet its end because of me.]

Leviathan was a device that announced the end of all things, the one tasked with the apocalypse itself.

Right now, because the end hadn’t yet arrived, it couldn’t perform its role.

But if the end ever came, Leviathan would swallow the entire universe whole.

[But you, though born of this universe, have escaped my control.]

Those eyes, brimming with killing intent, bore down on Taesan.

Within them was a power that forced an end—an end no existence in the universe could resist.

But Taesan felt nothing in particular.

He simply, calmly, wrapped himself in Gray and overcame it.

At that sight, Leviathan grew even more enraged.

[An existence like you cannot be tolerated.]

“Funny. If you can’t tolerate me just because I slipped out of your control, shouldn’t you be angry at the Old Gods first? They’re invading—why bother holding onto me?”

[Those things don’t matter. They were that kind of existence from the start—things that were never under my control. But you are different. You were an existence under my control.]

Taesan had originally been an ordinary human.

When Leviathan announced the end, he would have been one of the universe’s existences swept up along with it.

But now, he had escaped the concept of this universe.

[An existence that left where it came from. I cannot tolerate you.]

The emotion clinging to that voice.

Taesan’s eyes cooled, slowly and steadily.

“I thought there’d be some kind of reason.”

Why had the lizard of the apocalypse targeted Taesan?

He’d thought there might be some conceptual problem, or at least a clash of principles.

But no.

“So it’s just pride.”

It simply couldn’t accept that an existence had appeared beyond its control.

That was all.

That was the entire reason Leviathan was facing Taesan.

“Childish.”

Leviathan was a device-like existence, like the God of Death or Ouroboros.

It hadn’t endured trials, hadn’t survived hardships that carved away flesh and bone, hadn’t contemplated itself and climbed to a lofty realm.

It had simply been born with overwhelming power from the very beginning.

And so its mind was childish and fragile, utterly unworthy of its strength and rank.

“The God of Death was at least decent.”

Dersha had been emotional too, unfitting for her station.

But she had tried to erase Taesan for the sake of the universe’s balance.

She hadn’t acted according to her personal emotions the way Leviathan did.

Taesan’s eyes grew colder than cold could ever be.

Leviathan, as if displeased by that attitude, let out a furious roar.

[How dare a trifling thing look at me like that!]

“So what?”

[I will grant you the end!]

KWA-AAAAANG!

The Labyrinth shattered. A colossal storm swallowed the world.

And they arrived in a single domain.

Everything collapsed and was annihilated. Thunder and storms ravaged the world.

It was the domain of the apocalypse.

A single landscape reached when all things revealed their end.

[Die. Distorted being.]

Leviathan drew in a breath. A gigantic power condensed within its maw.

Then its mouth opened, and its breath was unleashed.

A gray breath.

Taesan stomped, gathering his mana and swinging it out.

[You activated Rainbow Rush of Diverse Colors.]

The gray breath collided with rainbow-colored streaks.

And the rainbow streaks began to rot and vanish in an instant.

The Magician’s great magic, exactly as it was, couldn’t exert any strength at all.

As if it had been nothing from the start, it couldn’t block the breath in the slightest.

The breath surged forward and swallowed Taesan.

KWA-AAAAANG!

Taesan’s body was buried in the gray breath and vanished.

Leviathan burst into wild laughter.

[Hahahahahaha! Trifling being! Be extinguished! Be trampled by my Authority and vanish!]

“Shut up.”

[What!]

The remnants of the breath dispersed.

Taesan stood there.

Gray covered his entire body.

[H-how……?]

“It can’t reach me in the first place.”

Taesan answered flatly.

“It’s strong, though. Pretty strong.”

Even without imbuing it with Boundary, this was the first time rainbow-colored streaks had been erased so instantly.

Leviathan was the Möbius Lizard.

It possessed the Authority to pronounce an end upon every concept in the universe.

If you belonged to the universe, defeating Leviathan was close to impossible.

That was why the System had judged it an enemy that couldn’t be defeated.

But Taesan existed beyond the System.

“Even if you call the end, it can’t reach me.”

His Boundary lay outside the concepts of this universe.

The God of Death couldn’t impose death on him—so how could the apocalypse invade his Boundary?

“You knew, too, didn’t you? You just ignored it.”

When they first met, Leviathan had reflexively backed away.

It had been afraid of his alien existence.

It had simply forced itself to ignore that feeling and attacked anyway.

“I was going to wrap this up and move on…… but I changed my mind. You seem like a decent test subject.”

[……Nonsense!]

Leviathan raged.

It was the dragon of the apocalypse, the existence that announced the end of all things.

Even Transcenders feared it and kept their distance.

And now this thing dared to call it a test subject?

It was an insult it couldn’t tolerate.

Of course, Taesan didn’t care.

“Come on. With everything you’ve got.”

Taesan hummed lightly.

—

[You baaaastard!]

The enraged Leviathan drew in a breath.

Once again, the breath of the apocalypse poured toward Taesan.

Taesan spread his hand.

“Bloom.”

And a red flower burst into full bloom.

The concept of the Cycle of all things collided with the apocalypse of all things.

With a thunderous roar, the two Authorities opposed each other.

CRRRRACK!

And the red flower began to corrode, little by little.

The Cycle was forcibly brought to its end.

‘It really is strong.’

It forced the Cycle to end.

Truly, if you belonged to the universe’s concepts, defeating Leviathan was close to impossible.

But that had nothing to do with Taesan.

Taesan focused.

Gray began to seep into the red flower as it broke apart.

Flicker.

Boundary and Cycle began to intermingle.

Kaga-ga-ga-gak!

The gray flower didn’t break under the breath of the apocalypse.

Instead, it resisted, blocking it head-on.

RUMMMMMBLE…….

The apocalypse settled down.

The Gray flower was half-broken, but it held its ground.

[……!]

Leviathan seethed.

Its domain resonated in response.

Thunder blanketed the world, and storms chewed all things to pieces.

A sight that looked, literally, like the world was ending.

‘It’s similar to the Demon King.’

The difference was that the Demon King was the end of a single planet, while Leviathan was the end of this universe itself.

“Let’s try it.”

What Taesan would test first was the Authority he had obtained.

It was related to Cycle.

He could call a Gray flower by mixing Boundary and Cycle.

So what else was possible?

He intended to verify each possibility, one by one.

For now, he would start with Cycle.

Taesan didn’t avoid the surging power of the apocalypse.

Kaga-ga-ga-gak!

The Boundary Negation surrounding Taesan collided with the power of the apocalypse.

Boundary Negation rose up, trying to devour the apocalypse’s power.

It tried to make it its own and swell in size.

[How dare you!]

Seeing that, Leviathan roared, swinging a finger laced with hatred.

KUGUGUGUGUNG!

Lightning slammed down.

Each bolt carried power enough to cleave a planet in half.

And what it contained was the Authority of the apocalypse.

Even a Transcender would struggle to endure it.

But Taesan was unaffected.

The Boundary Negation around him blocked it all.

Still, consumption was unavoidable.

No matter how far beyond it was, this was the apocalypse itself.

Because the Authority itself was so lofty, Boundary Negation was consumed at a rapid pace.

Seeing that, Leviathan bared its teeth.

Its Authority was piercing Taesan’s alien existence.

At that fact, Leviathan was deeply satisfied.

[Die!]

KUGUGUGUNG!

Power surged, and Boundary Negation began to bottom out.

And Taesan had been waiting for that moment.

He handled the Authority he had obtained.

He controlled it, guided it, and intermingled the Cycle of all things with his own.

Then, a flower bloomed.

That flower touched the Boundary Negation surrounding Taesan.

[You activated Transcendence [Cycle].]

Boundary Negation began to cycle.

The Authority that had been consumed refilled at high speed, as if time itself were accelerating.

[W-what……?]

Leviathan was horrified, while Taesan grinned.

“So this is how it works.”

Taesan could control the concept of Cycle.

But he’d been uncertain how to apply it.

The Authority had far too many possible uses.

So he’d decided to focus on a small concept first.

Cycle.

Then could he forcibly cycle his own power?

Could he rapidly restore what had been consumed?

The result was yes.

He forcibly cycled the spent Boundary Negation and filled it again.

[Impossible! How!]

Leviathan, enraged, unleashed its breath once more.

Taesan neither blocked nor dodged.

KWA-AAAAANG!

And that alone was enough.

The Boundary Negation, filled once again, blocked the apocalypse.

Taesan tried to activate Cycle on Boundary Negation again.

But it was impossible.

As if bound by some restriction, Cycle could not resonate with Boundary Negation.

“There’s a limit.”

It seemed you couldn’t cycle something that had already been cycled once.

Then—

Taesan manifested magic and black magic.

In an instant, dozens, then hundreds of forces formed and crashed down on Leviathan.

[Useless!]

Leviathan beat its wings.

[I am the one who announces the end of all things!]

With that alone, the magic and black magic shattered and vanished.

With the concepts of this world, you couldn’t attack Leviathan.

Black magic belonged to Baal, but simple black magic alone wasn’t enough.

Taesan already knew that.

What he was trying to confirm was something else.

Using countless spells, his mana quickly began to bottom out.

Then Taesan activated his Authority again.

[You activated Transcendence [Cycle].]

The mana and black magic that had been near-empty refilled at high speed.

In an instant, they reached their limits.

There was a limit to repeatedly cycling a single kind of power.

But if the types of power were different, you could keep the cycle turning.

Cycling Boundary and magic, black magic and the like, was possible.

Then—

A single possibility flashed through Taesan’s mind.

He believed it might be possible, but even he wasn’t fully certain.

[You activated Rainbow Rush of Diverse Colors.]

A rainbow poured down.

Leviathan let out a shriek.

[You think this kind of power can reach me!]

“I don’t.”

Taesan snapped his fingers.

[You activated Replication.]

The rainbow streaks replicated, doubling.

At the sudden replication, even Leviathan faltered for a moment.

Replication.

A tremendously powerful skill that replicated power as-is.

But it had a cooldown of one hour.

Using it twice in a single battle was difficult.

But if Cycle existed—

[You activated Transcendence [Cycle].]

Click.

Time turned back.

Forcibly.

It began to cycle.

And Taesan could tell.

Taesan quickly swung his hand.

[You activated Replication.]

Replication activated again.

The streaks became fourfold.

Leviathan hurriedly spat out its breath.

KWA-AAAAANG!

The breath of the apocalypse annihilated and rotted all the rainbow streaks.

[……What did you do?]

“It works.”

Taesan let out a hollow laugh.

Cycle was, literally, Cycle.

It could forcibly cycle all things—objects.

Even the System.