Chapter 572
The small sphere wielded by the Usurper.
That Divine Power, which had gathered all of Descent into itself.
It was not the Usurper’s own Divine Power.
A different, alien energy could be felt from it.
That was the Divine Power of another Old God.
The Usurper had usurped another Old God’s Divine Power.
[I don’t think gaining Descent is enough to defeat me.]
By obtaining the Divine Power of Descent, the Usurper could wield both the power of the universe and the Divine Power of an Old God at the same time.
But Taesan could do that as well.
And Taesan also possessed the Bottomless Abyss and Immutable Self.
Even if the Usurper could wield distorted power, it was still clearly inferior to Taesan.
So the Usurper’s response was very simple.
It would usurp as well.
The Divine Power of an Old God.
That was how it had placed itself on the same level as Taesan.
“Is that kind of thing even allowed?”
The problem was that the Usurper was an Old God.
That kind of usurpation could not have happened without damaging the one being usurped.
It would devour that concept and drag that being’s status down through Descent.
Perhaps the usurped Old God had already perished.
But the Usurper laughed.
[Ordinarily, they would have tried to crush and destroy me. Until now, my kin always feared that possibility and rejected me. But now, that isn’t a problem. We don’t have the luxury for that anymore.]
Taesan had become far too strong.
For a single Old God to defeat him was all but impossible.
At least two.
Perhaps even more would be needed for there to be any chance of defeating him.
But the other Transcenders would never simply stand by and watch while the Old Gods joined forces to pressure Taesan.
It was an impossible method from the start.
But the Usurper was different.
If it was the Usurper, who could temporarily usurp concepts of the universe and even devour the Divine Powers of other Old Gods, then it could face Taesan alone.
The Usurper had been aiming for exactly that.
[This is a good thing.]
The Usurper murmured leisurely.
[I was always troubled by my desire to devour them. If I touched them the wrong way, they would turn hostile, so I couldn’t act recklessly… Thank you. I’m truly grateful. Thanks to you, I was able to usurp my kin.]
“You’re twisted too.”
Taesan let out a dry laugh.
Both the God of Fall and the Usurper were twisted.
To the point that even their own kind could not accept them.
[That is no different for you.]
The Usurper spoke calmly.
[No. You are even more broken. There is no existence that could be called your kind.]
Taesan did not particularly deny it.
For someone like him, standing at the Boundary, there was no such thing as a kindred being.
[If there is anything close, it would be me.]
In the entire universe, only the Usurper and Taesan could wield the powers of both sides.
The Usurper laughed.
Its greedy voice echoed out.
[So become mine.]
“I told you. I’m tired of hearing that.”
Rumble!
The Usurper unleashed its power.
Black Descent gathered and lashed out. Taesan focused his mind.
Craaack!
The Beast of Boundary and the black Descent collided.
The Beast of Boundary was the Domain of Boundary itself.
No matter how powerful the black Descent was, it should not have been able to overcome the Beast.
But the black Descent was not pushed back.
Even against the Boundary, it clashed without yielding. Taesan had to grant Physical Force to the Boundary to offset it.
‘What Divine Power is that?’
The Usurper was currently wielding a fusion of Descent and an Old God’s Divine Power.
But there was no way to know what that Divine Power was just yet.
Rumble!
Once again, the black Descent lashed out.
It was only a tiny sphere, but it was the concept of Descent itself.
“Wrap around me and protect me.”
He issued an order to the Beast.
The Beast of Boundary spread wide and formed a barrier.
Rumble!
Descent and Boundary collided.
The clash erupted, and Taesan focused his mind.
[You activated Essence Identification.]
[You activated Reconnaissance.]
He looked into what was contained within that black Descent.
The vast amount of information dwelling inside it poured into Taesan’s mind.
And Taesan understood.
That Descent was a complete, single whole.
That the entire concept of Descent was being wielded through it.
Craaaack!
They canceled each other out, and a shockwave spread.
Taesan widened the distance.
‘Is something like that even possible?’
No matter how exalted a being was, wielding all its power in a single strike was nearly impossible.
For example, if the total amount of Divine Power possessed by a Transcender was 100, then the most that could be wielded in a single attack was 10.
The Physical Force Taesan possessed was no different.
Being able to pour immense power into each strike only applied to ordinary attacks, not true full power in the proper sense.
That kind of power could be drawn out through a long preparation process, but such a preparation required real time.
It could not be used freely in the middle of battle.
That was why the Magician had been surprised by an Irregular like Multiplication.
Its strength lay in being able to wield power close to 100, no, easily beyond that, with only a very short preparation process.
And that would be no different even for an Old God.
They could wield power without consuming it, but that did not mean they could continuously draw out their full power.
There was a limit to how much power could be exerted at once.
But right now, the Usurper was continuously drawing out its full power.
Every strike contained power at the level of 100.
That was why even the Beast of Boundary could not easily overpower it.
There were a few beings who could produce similar results, but the Usurper was a being that continuously wielded true full power.
That was the Divine Power of the Old God the Usurper had devoured.
As if it had noticed that Taesan had grasped this, the Usurper spoke leisurely.
[Alone and Whole. The name of the Old God I usurped.]
It was a name Taesan had heard before.
When dealing with a world devoured by an Old God, he had heard it from one of its Minions.
It was probably an Old God with a Divine Power that let it pour its entirety into every fragment of its power, and wield every action by investing its whole concept and status into it.
That Divine Power had mixed with Descent, and now the concept of Descent itself was being wielded in every attack.
It was a force powerful enough to threaten even the current Taesan.
“But it still looks temporary in the end.”
The Usurper was unstable.
It was wielding the Descent of the universe, but that distortion was gradually increasing.
In the end, it was different from Taesan.
This was only temporary usurpation.
Sooner or later, it would no longer be able to mix with Descent and would only be able to wield it in a crude way.
The Usurper did not particularly deny it.
[If you choose to stall, victory would come to me very easily. But… you won’t do that.]
The Usurper laughed.
[Not while your tiny hometown is being miserably shattered.]
“Annoying bastard.”
Taesan clicked his tongue.
The monsters descending upon Earth were extremely numerous.
There were Apostles among them as well.
He could hold out here, but he would not achieve victory.
In the end, that meant he had to defeat it head-on.
Rumble!
They clashed and struck again.
The battle continued, and Taesan could not overwhelm the Usurper outright.
‘What a monster.’
It wielded full power in every single strike without consuming anything.
On top of that, it possessed concepts twisted together with the Descent of the universe.
‘This is troublesome.’
Until now, Taesan had fought by spreading his power wide and suffocating his opponents.
Basically, because he held an overwhelming advantage in compatibility, that alone had been enough to pressure them.
But the Usurper wielded something similar to Boundary as well.
And since every strike was coming at full power, it could not easily be forced back.
Still, if there was one advantage on Taesan’s side, it was that even when the Usurper wielded full power like this, the status of Boundary itself was superior, so Taesan was not being pushed back.
By mixing Physical Force into the Beast of Boundary, he could counter it well enough.
Then Taesan concentrated his power as well.
“Dwell.”
The Beast of Boundary settled into Taesan’s sword.
He compressed it tightly, pouring immense Physical Force into it.
And compressed it further.
Using the Divine Power of the Old God he had usurped, he focused everything into a single sword.
Then it collided with the black Descent coming toward him.
Craaack!
He forced more power into the sword, drawing out even more Boundary.
The Boundary severed the Descent.
Rumble!
If he concentrated his power, he could cut through it.
The confirmation was enough.
The fact that the Usurper could wield full power in every attack also meant that it could not draw out anything beyond that level.
As if it understood that weakness itself, the Usurper murmured,
[I can wield full power… but that is also my limit.]
In the end, if it faced an opponent that would not be overpowered even when it struck with full force, that advantage lost much of its shine.
Taesan poured everything into his sword and charged.
[You activated End.]
He unleashed End.
The concept that brought all things to ruin mixed with Gray and erupted outward.
It flooded the entire space.
The Usurper shook its massive body.
Craaash!
Black Descent struck in every direction.
Every single one of them was the Usurper’s full power.
End was instantly pushed back and shattered.
But it had bought time.
That was enough.
His body accelerated.
He infused his sword with Physical Force.
[You activated Multiplication.]
He infused all Physical Force into it, including the multiplied power.
He concentrated it into the sword without releasing it.
The Usurper unleashed its power.
Black Descent became thousands of beads and shot toward Taesan.
Taesan swung his sword.
Craaaash!
All of the Descent was cut apart and destroyed.
The concentrated Physical Force sliced through even the Usurper’s full power as easily as tofu.
Thus, cutting through everything in an instant, he closed in on the Usurper.
The massive body loomed before Taesan.
Taesan swung his sword as it was.
He released the concentrated Physical Force.
At that moment, the Usurper’s body changed.
That distorted, formless body that belonged neither to this world nor to the things Beyond
shrank in an instant.
It became something tiny, like a speck of dust.
For a moment, Taesan lost track of its presence.
He had been tricked.
The Usurper had been waiting for this.
The Physical Force erupted, but it did not touch the Usurper.
Having transformed into something minuscule, it slipped past the attack.
Rumble!
The Usurper’s body changed again.
It took on a massive, hideous, twisted form.
At the same time, its status and power were amplified.
Far beyond before.
Incomparable.
And it came crashing down on Taesan.
Taesan had already attacked and was left open.
He forcefully activated the Bottomless Abyss and Boundary Recoil to defend.
Craaaash!
The Bottomless Abyss and Boundary Recoil were pierced.
The Usurper’s transformed body touched Taesan.
And at that moment, the Usurper’s body distorted.
It clung to Taesan and turned into thousands of spikes that stabbed into him.
[Your First Absolute Attack Nullification has been activated.]
[Your Second Absolute Attack Nullification has been activated.]
[Your Third Absolute Attack Nullification has been activated.]
All nullifications were consumed in an instant.
Taesan unleashed his power.
The Beast of Boundary exploded.
Everything touching him was erased at once.
Boom!
Taking that opening, he quickly widened the distance.
Taesan clicked his tongue.
“You didn’t just devour one.”
The Old God the Usurper had devoured was not just Alone and Whole.
Taesan muttered in a tired voice.
“Just how many did you devour?”
[What do you think?]
The Usurper answered with a laugh.