Ascension Through Skills-Chapter 496: 92nd Floor. Faith (7)

[This story... not bad. After I crush you, then we'll talk about it!] Remidaos raised his arm. Divinity gathered around his outstretched finger.

Kiiiiiing.

The gathered divinity turned into a point. The point elongated into a line, and the line expanded into a plane.

The divinity in the form of a plane rushed toward Taesan.

It filled the space, crushing everything in its path. Taesan quickly leapt to the side. The deadly sensation of the attack brushed right next to him.

Remidaos’ assault didn’t end there. He curved his arm, and divinity followed it, chasing after Taesan.

“Tch.”

Taesan clicked his tongue and put more strength into his legs. He activated his speed-related skill, attempting to escape the pursuing divinity.

Kiiiiiing!

The divinity raced through the universe. The space tore apart, and the elements within the range were obliterated.

Kagagagak!

No matter how fast he moved, he couldn’t outrun the speed of Remidaos’ finger. The divinity hit Taesan’s back. His self-preservation shield shook violently.

[You activated Limited Blink.] Ta!

Taesan leaped out of the attack's range, completely evading it. Remidaos expressed admiration.

[Fast. Quite fast.] Taesan let out a chuckle.

‘What an absurd way of using divinity.’

The way Remidaos handled his divinity was similar to the power of the immortal Virad from the Maze Tower that Taesan had seen on the 51st floor. Points, lines, planes—just like that.

But it was overwhelmingly stronger. If Taesan were in its path, even a Faith God would have been buried and destroyed. It was a force capable of wiping an entire planet clean without leaving a speck of dust.

Taesan couldn’t handle divinity in that way. It wasn’t a matter of skill, but the amount of divinity at play.

Even so, despite using such vast amounts of divinity, Remidaos showed no sign of exhaustion.

It felt like a magician in a game using cheats, manipulating magic without limits. Remidaos raised his arm again.

[How about this?] Kiiing.

Divinity gathered above Taesan.

The gathered divinity turned into a golden pillar and fell toward him.

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There were easily hundreds of them.

Taesan quickly assessed their trajectories and dove between the tiny gaps between the pillars to evade them.

Remidaos raised his arm again. A massive divine spear shot toward Taesan. The boundary line on Taesan’s sword shimmered.

The ashen and massive divinity collided.

Kuuuuuung!

Compared to Remidaos’ divinity, Taesan’s boundary line looked like a toothpick. But it held firm, even pushing the divinity back.

Taesan put more strength into his sword. The condensed boundary line exploded.

Kaaaang!

The divinity shattered, and the fragments shot into space. The skies of the ten planets under Remidaos’ influence were stained golden, shining brilliantly.

It was a magnificent and sacred sight, one that could never be seen again. But none of the people watching admired or cheered. They only trembled in fear, burying their heads.

They were simply terrified of Remidaos now.

They didn’t want to hear or see it. But the image of Remidaos was etched in their minds, one they couldn’t erase by any means.

Some couldn’t bear it and wanted to end their lives, but no one actually tried. It was laughable that they feared Remidaos' wrath so much.

To them, Remidaos was no longer a god.

He was something distorted and foreign.

That emotion seeped into Remidaos. Something different from the faith he had accumulated filled him.

Remidaos embraced it with great pleasure.

[Hahaha! Perfect!] Remidaos swung his arm. The massive shockwave of divinity slammed into Taesan. Taesan moved his body but couldn’t fully evade it.

Remidaos spoke in an overheated tone.

[You! Cannot defeat me! I am the strongest! Those who cannot surpass my rank cannot touch me!] “Well...”

Taesan didn’t react much.

It was true that Remidaos was strong. Faith accumulated over countless centuries from ten planets. The divinity formed from it was virtually infinite.

That was a monster.

In terms of raw power alone, it wouldn’t lose to even Concept Gods.

‘But.’

The rank itself was still a Faith God.

He merely had divinity that was close to infinite, but his rank wasn’t that special.

[...Wait.] Remidaos, intoxicated by his own power, suddenly realized something.

Taesan had suffered no injury from his overwhelming pressure.

Only then did Remidaos notice. The foreign energy surrounding Taesan’s entire body.

That energy was blocking his attack.

[That’s...] “You’re a monster. I’m sure no one below the level of Concept Gods could defeat you.”

Ashen energy surrounded Taesan’s entire body.

“But that’s the same for me.”

Although he had only a small fraction of the power and collaborated with other transcendents, Taesan had once defeated Goshin. It wasn’t a true fight, and it wasn’t his full strength, but he had still defeated a transcendent.

The opponent before him was certainly strong.

But even so, they were still within the realm of the "mortal" beings. They couldn’t touch the realm beyond.

And Taesan had the power of that realm.

“I’ve figured it out.”

He understood how Remidaos used his divinity. The analysis was complete. Now, it was time to face him with full power.

[You activated Chaos Call.] Chaos enveloped Taesan’s body.

***

The alien ash-gray energy caused Remidaos to instinctively retreat. The divinity surrounding him was filled with confusion and turmoil.

From this reaction, Taesan realized something.

“You know about the boundary line, but you don’t know this?”

Remidaos didn’t know about Taesan’s domain of chaos.

“I don’t know who told you about me, but it seems you know quite a bit about my past.”

Taesan straightened his sword.

He planted his foot in the air. In an instant, he shot toward Remidaos.

Remidaos quickly regained his composure and responded immediately. He unleashed endlessly concentrated divinity, sending waves toward Taesan.

And Taesan didn’t avoid the attack. He charged head-on, the divinity clashing with his ashen energy.

[What!]

Remidaos shouted. The divinity collided with chaos, but it couldn’t pierce through and was destroyed.

The ashen energy surrounding Taesan wasn’t just a simple boundary line. It was chaos, compressed and limited to his body—a force beyond the line. No matter how tightly concentrated the divinity was, it was nearly impossible for pure divinity to break through it.

In an instant, Taesan reached Remidaos’ proximity. Remidaos raised his arm.

Kuuuuung!

A barrier of divinity manifested, trying to separate Taesan from Remidaos. Taesan put more strength into his sword.

Kaaaang!

The barrier shattered. Remidaos hadn’t expected it to break so quickly and couldn’t react immediately. Taesan’s sword clashed with the divinity that surrounded Remidaos.

Kagagak!

With a crackling sound, the divinity began to distort.

Remidaos gritted his teeth and opened all his divinity. A shockwave of divinity shook the space around them. In that instant, the chaos surrounding Taesan was momentarily undone.

Kaaang!

Taesan was sent flying backward. Remidaos quickly took advantage of the opening and distanced himself.

[What is this...?]

Remidaos ground his teeth.

The clash between his divinity and Taesan’s sword lasted only for a brief moment. But in that short time, the divinity, which had never been reduced no matter how much power was used against it, visibly diminished.

Remidaos was stunned by the fact, and Taesan, in turn, was also surprised—though for a different reason.

‘Even when it directly clashes with Chaos Call, it still reduces meaningfully.’

Chaos Call was a power from beyond. Pure divinity would be erased instantly upon contact. Yet it hadn’t been able to reach Remidaos.

This meant that the amount of pure divinity Remidaos possessed was enough to resist Chaos Call.

‘This is going to take a while.’

Taesan moved again.

[Die.]

With a low growl, divinity exploded. The sheer force of divinity, capable of covering the entire world, rushed toward Taesan.

It was enough power to affect the entire universe.

Compared to that power, the chaos Taesan wielded was nothing more than a firefly.

The divinity covering the universe collided with the chaos.

Kuuuuuung!

But it didn’t break through. The chaos shook and distorted, but Taesan firmly held his ground against the divinity.

To break through chaos, raw power wasn’t enough. After all, it was a force that shook concepts themselves. To overcome it, one needed to wield a similar rank and concept.

But Remidaos was ultimately a Faith God.

Although he had overwhelming divinity, his rank remained the same.

Kwagak!

Taesan carved a path. As he charged toward Remidaos, he activated a magic spell.

Magic formed of ash and dark magic shook the world.

Remidaos summoned divinity to counter it. But due to the difference in rank, he was gradually pushed back.

Kwa-dak!

As a result, Remidaos was once again struck.

His divinity noticeably shrank again. Remidaos roared with fury. The anger shook the universe.

[How dare you! How dare you! How dare you!]

Taesan laughed. The more Remidaos raged, the better for him. Rage made one lose their rationality.

But Remidaos wasn’t that foolish.

He had gathered the faith of ten planets, wielding enough power to reach that position. If he had been foolish, he wouldn’t have made it this far.

Even while enraged, Remidaos continued thinking.

‘That person is wielding a power beyond mine.’

But he wasn’t fully controlling it. If he were, he would have been lying in a heap on the floor, dead by now.

‘...The power is beyond the line, but his rank isn’t?’

How that was possible, Remidaos didn’t know, but it made sense now.

‘In the end, he is the one wielding it.’

His rank wasn’t that of a true Faith God.

Then...

Remidaos released his divinity. It was similar to before, but something felt different.

The total amount and concentration of divinity rose above Remidaos’ head. Taesan, who was about to charge forward, paused for a moment.

This concentration was beyond what had come before. It was like the brightness of the sun, a collection of divinity.

Kuuuung!

It flew toward Taesan.

Instead of breaking through it with his body, Taesan chose to dodge. Seeing this, Remidaos revealed his teeth and clenched his fist.

Kaaang!

The divinity exploded, engulfing Taesan.

The extremely compressed divinity shook the universe and swallowed Taesan whole. The Chaos Call around Taesan struggled to hold but couldn’t withstand the pressure. His self-preservation shield quickly cracked.

The damage accumulated from blocking the divinity surpassed the shield’s limits.

Crack!

His self-preservation shield shattered, and the shockwave struck Taesan directly.

[Your first absolute nullification attack has been activated.]

The attack was erased. Taesan quickly moved out of the explosion’s range.

‘I’ve got it figured out.’

The boundary line and chaos that Taesan wielded were clearly beyond the rank.

But Taesan, despite wielding them, hadn’t reached the true realm of a Concept God or even a full Faith God. Managing that power was highly taxing.

Until now, Remidaos had been recklessly swinging his divinity around. Since the force wasn’t concentrated, he couldn’t pierce through chaos.

But if Remidaos focused in the way he was doing now, Taesan’s chaos could definitely be pierced. In terms of rank, they were on equal footing, but there was still a clear difference. Remidaos was a true Faith God, while Taesan was not.

Of course, Remidaos would have a much higher cost, but he had enough divinity to handle that. This was a strategy only Remidaos could pull off.

[You will lose to me!]

“Not likely.”

Once again, their powers clashed. Ash and divinity shook the universe.

And everyone on the planets watched.

“Ah...?”

Remidaos cut off all external distractions and truly focused on pressing Taesan. The anger and pressure that had been directly stimulating the people’s brains subsided slightly. Thanks to this, the sight of Taesan fighting Remidaos was now clearer.

Taesan’s power was something they couldn’t comprehend.

The alien ash-gray energy instinctively made them feel repulsed.

But despite that, Taesan was facing off against Remidaos. He was fighting a being that shattered their very minds with fear.

“Ah...”

People closed their eyes and clasped their hands.

Taesan was not the Remidaos they worshipped.

But that didn’t matter. Taesan was trying to defeat Remidaos. Just that was enough for the people to want to believe in him.

It was no longer the being called Remidaos they believed in, but Taesan—the individual. Their faith began to shift toward him.