"What the hell... Why did you make that choice, Nox von Reinharber? Why did you make a deal with the devil? Why did you betray us?"
The sound of clashing blades and the moans of dying soldiers filled the outskirts of the battlefield. In this chaotic scene, the trembling voice of a girl wielding a sword could be heard.
"...Answer me! Just tell me why...!"
Silence hung in the air, occasionally interrupted by the whispering sound of the wind brushing against her ears. The night sky showered its stars above the girl's head, creating a scene akin to a painting.
Although the girl's face was concealed in darkness like ink, the figure of the man confronting her on the other side was clearly visible.
With snow-white hair and lavender-colored eyes, the man had a pale complexion that almost looked sickly.
Nox von Reinharber.
His mysterious eyes, clad in black attire bearing the emblem of the family's masterpiece, the Black Sword, seemed to pierce through the girl's heart.
His lips, tinged with a shade of blue, parted open.
"Betrayal... yes, that's right. To you, it must seem like a betrayal."
Nox von Reinharber, as he was called, sneered as he approached death.
His voice carried with it sorrow, regret, and loneliness, yet none of those emotions could be seen through his expression.
In truth, considering the countless atrocities he had committed in the past, his current fate was only fitting.
He had awakened the Demon King Baal, possessed him, and sought to plunge the world into darkness. It was an unforgivable crime, the worst of all possible crimes.
However, even in his dying moments, Nox spoke casually, in his usual, calm voice.
"I did not betray you. Rather... it was you who betrayed me."
"Stop with your excuses! Just say it...! When did you become so corrupted...!"
Nox smiled lightly, hearing the enraged voice of the girl.
He softly murmured, as if reminiscing about a distant past.
"It all started... with a crash landing."
***
As those meaningful last words echoed from Noah's headset, a sigh escaped from his lips, accompanied by a bead of sweat trickling down.
A phrase appeared on his illuminated monitor.
"You have cleared Part 1 of 'Inner Lunatic'."
"Total Clear Count: 27 times."
"The ending credits will now play."
"Thank you for playing our game."
The voice accompanying the message filled Noah with excitement. He hummed the game's pleasant ending tune softly to himself as the names rolled down his monitor.
"Great. This time, I achieved quite a lot of hidden achievements and obtained various items that I haven't gotten before."
With a joyful expression, he briefly reviewed the clear record of the playthrough.
This time, Noah struggled more than usual due to all the different variables he encountered.
"From suppressing the rebellion in Eastern Tahrin to resolving the princess's assassination incident at the outer court, and then gathering the survivors to kill the ultimate villain, Nox von Reinharber. Well, this round truly was quite difficult."
Despite facing numerous obstacles, he ultimately succeeded in clearing the game.
Just like always.
"Actually, even for me, this is the first time I've cleared a game so perfectly."
Nox, the final boss of Part 1, is the strongest of the strong. A monster of a man who unleashed indiscriminate attacks, ranging from various crowd control skills to devastating attacks that can only be used by those who have merged with the Demon King.
If Noah were to add one thing... Nox was a handsome monster, perhaps. However, no matter how many times Noah faced him, it was always a challenge.
That's precisely the identity of Nox von Reinharber.
And he had succeeded in killing such a boss 'once again.'
"It's been fun."
As he murmured those words,
Noah couldn't help but add a melancholic remark.
"Except for the fact that I'm going to die next month..."
His gaze landed on a wall with a calendar hanging on it. There, a red X was haphazardly drawn.
A gloomy aura quickly enveloped his entire being.
No matter how positive Noah may be, facing death was not easy.
"Cough!"
Unconsciously, he let out a thick cough. He quickly wiped away the blood phlegm with his sleeve. 'Do I have to discard this too? It won't come off easily with water...' Such trivial thoughts crossed his mind.
Looking at the overflowing ashtray filled with cigarette butts, Noah couldn't help but let out a hollow sigh.
"I'm really dying soon."
Even in this very moment, he was dying many times faster than others. As if it were the final fate of a villain in the game. In reality, it has been quite a long time since he started playing.
About two years.
After receiving the shocking news of his impending death from the doctor, he secluded himself in his room like a recluse and immersed himself in the game.
Inner Lunatic.
A game he kept coming back to.
"Inner Lunatic" was a game where he had memorized every hidden piece and behind-the-scenes details of its characters. It was a fantasy open-world genre game that had garnered high expectations from numerous players but failed miserably due to its excessively high difficulty. However, to Noah, it was an invaluable game that became a ray of light in his life after receiving a terminal diagnosis. He was grateful for the work.
Having cleared Inner Lunatic a whopping 27 times, just counting the number of times he's completed it. When it came to this game, Noah was an absolute master.
"Phew... Will I reach the ending safely this time too...?"
After lightly savoring the afterglow of the ending, he grasped the mouse again and manipulated the cursor. As the ending credits finished rolling on the screen, it brightened once again. The time had come.
Noah started a new game.
Feeling excited, he began creating a new character.
After entering a suitable name in the prompted window, Noah moved on to the next screen and began the actual customization. If Inner Lunatic had one standout feature that differentiated it from other games, it was customization.
"You can fine-tune the character in an unbelievably detailed manner. The only problem is that it takes too much time to create, which becomes a challenge for many."
After confirming the name, he proceeded to choose the character's traits.
This time, he wanted to create a character that I could immerse myself in more than ever.
After all, this might be the last game of his lifetime.
"Let's see... I'll give him both [Prodigy of Mana Sensing] and [Prodigy of Sword and Martial Arts]..."
A character with not one, but two [Prodigy] traits. As Noah set that, his heart began to race. The instincts of a gamer, which had become powerless in the face of death, were coming alive.
"Great. Now..."
After assigning the two main traits, he shifted my gaze to the next screen.
In reality, it was almost impossible to play with a character like this.
In Inner Lunatic, there were numerous traits with the label [Prodigy], but the principle was that each character could have only one of them.
Below that, there were weaker types of traits like Genius or Talent that could be assigned in many ways, but the impact of a Prodigy trait in the game was entirely different.
Having just one could easily propel you to the pinnacle of that field if nurtured well. That was the power of the Prodigy trait.
However, Noah assigned two of them.
There was a clear reason why he was able to do that.
It was because this game had a feature called "Trait Penalty."
This meant that by assigning negative traits or penalties to a character, you could add additional positive stats or traits.
It was a feature that beginners couldn't utilize well, but for him, it was not difficult at all.
He was a master, after all.
Scrolling down the screen, Noah stopped at a particular point and stared at the word that caught his eye.
[Terminal Illness]
It was the condition he was suffering from and the disease that this character would inevitably suffer from in the future. No, more precisely, it was not a disease but a predetermined, uncontrollable fate, akin to a destiny.
Anyway, by assigning the huge penalty of [Terminal Illness] to the character, Noah was able to add both [Prodigy] traits into the character.
A glass cannon. To put it simply, he created a character like that.
"That should do."
With this, the character would die within a year after creation.
It might be possible to prolong life to some extent with various artifacts, but it certainly wouldn't be easy.
He had no regrets.
Noah had already played this game countless times. Moreover, the idea of roaming the continent as a character identical to himself excited him even more.
Although Noah doesn't remember much, it seems that challenging himself to such an extent was ingrained into his bones.
"Shall we begin?"
And with that, as soon as he moved the mouse cursor over the character creation button and clicked, it happened.
Crackle!
In an instant, accompanied by the sound of sparking flames, a sensation of electricity surged through Noah.
It felt as if he were being swallowed up by a whirlpool, and his breath was taken away as if he was underwater.
His vision darkened, and at the same time, he felt an intense pain that seemed to stop his heart.
What on earth is happening?
The pain Noah was experiencing was unfamiliar, something he had never felt before. In an instant, a single disturbing thought spread through his mind.
"...Could it be that I'm dying right now? While playing a game, just like this?"
Death was familiar and close to him as someone with a terminal illness but he didn't want to die like this.
At least not when he wasn't prepared for it.
Noah hoped to meet death on his own terms, in the way that he desired.
But... is it ending like this, until the very end?
There were still so many things he wanted to try, so many foods he wanted to eat, and so many games he wanted to experience...
That's when a panel appeared at that moment.
"You have successfully created a character."
"The character name you entered is invalid."
"The character's name has been forcibly changed!"
'My name... has been forcibly changed?'
Along with that, the intense pain that had been tormenting him just moments ago suddenly subsided. His darkened vision returned to its original state, causing his eyes to be blinded by the sudden contrast. A light settled upon his closed eyelids.
And then, as Noah regained his senses and opened his eyes, he couldn't help but be bewildered once again.
"Where am I? Wait, could this be?"
Surrounding him were dark curtains and a brown-colored rug beneath them. And there was even a soft, cozy blanket.
This place was unfamiliar to most people on Earth, yet it was very familiar to him.
The game he had played relentlessly for the past two years.
That's right.
The place he had woken up in was an inner sanctum in the game Inner Lunatic. And to make matters even more surprising, it was the interior of the mansion belonging to one of the game's major villains, the Reinharber family.
One of the darkest strongholds in Inner Lunatic, closely associated with the world's worst criminal organization, Lunatic, and its deep connections.
Quickly scanning his surroundings, Noah rushed to a nearby mirror to see his reflection.
Sure enough, there was a familiar face.
Snow-white hair cascaded smoothly down his shoulders and his translucent lavender-colored irises seemed to shine like morning dew. Covering him was a silk garment with distinctive black patterns embroidered on its hem.
In addition, there was that handsome face that would make anyone turn around at least once.
Noah's mouth hung open as he touched his forehead.
He had been reincarnated as Nox von Reinharber, the greatest villain within Inner Lunatic and the youngest son of the Reinharber family.
At that moment, he couldn't understand why that particular phrase came to mind.
"It all starts with a crash landing."