Episode 1. Choice
[Achievement Unlocked: The Hand of Midas]
[Congratulations! You have successfully viewed the endings of all publicly available faiths!]
Isaac smiled at the pleasant notification sound.
Having achieved the ending of the 'Golden Idol,' Isaac saw the entire world, including its people, stained with gold, silver, and precious jewels.
It was the result of Isaac manifesting in the world as an agent of the Golden Idol.
He had no idea what would become of the world now, but Isaac had seen the ending, and what came after was none of his concern. This was because this was the eighth time he had seen the ending of Nameless Chaos, a game notorious for its brutal, fiendish difficulty.
Developed by a studio called 'Unknown Software,' this game was infamous for its insane difficulty and unfriendly design. But at the same time, in inverse proportion to that, it boasted a devoted, maniacal player base thanks to its absurd degree of freedom, open-world setting, and painstaking detail.
Soon, darkness fell, and eight characters appeared.
Human, Orc, Elf, Giant, and so on... They were the characters Isaac had made and played until now. Looking at them, Isaac muttered, his voice tinged with regret.
"Mmm... I think I've squeezed this game's content completely dry by now. Maybe there's nothing left to do?"
Nameless Chaos was a game where you selected from eight faiths and races to achieve the goal set by your god. Depending on your choices, interactions and the story changed so wildly that it was endlessly immersive and impossible to grow tired of.
But having seen the endings of all faiths meant he had enjoyed virtually all the content there was. Hesitating to log out with slight regret, an unfamiliar message appeared before Isaac's eyes.
[In commemoration of the world's first achievement unlock, a new faith has appeared.]
[Hidden Faith: You may select the Nameless Chaos.]
"Huh?"
In the new character creation slot, a selection for a ninth faith he had never seen before had appeared. It was an eerie crest of tentacles with red eyes flashing. Isaac was bewildered by the name, 'the Nameless Chaos.'
"...A monster faith?"
The major faiths existing in Nameless Chaos were called the 'Nine Faiths.' But in reality, only eight were playable; the ninth faith was not selectable.
The ninth faith, 'the Nameless Chaos,' was a faith from the outer universe worshipped by monsters—specifically, mindless, bizarre tentacle abominations, swarms of maggots, and writhing lumps of flesh. As such, even amidst the endlessly tangled relations between gods, the Nameless Chaos was treated as an unconditional enemy.
'Is this really a hidden faith?'
Just in case, Isaac searched for the Nameless Chaos, but not a single strategy site, wiki, or forum mentioned anyone obtaining this faith. There were only rumors claiming it was bait precisely because it was the only unselectable faith, but nothing more.
It was hardly a surprising result. Nameless Chaos had a world devoid of dreams or hope, a difficulty that was excruciatingly unmatched, and a system where your character was mercilessly deleted if you died even once, making it hard to find anyone who had cleared it even a single time.
Isaac, who had cleared all faiths, was a peculiar case.
'Come to think of it, it did say 'world's first' achievement... It's only natural there's no information.'
He immediately began creating a character.
"Let's see... how can I make an interesting character?"
Since he had obtained an unusual faith anyway, Isaac decided to really commit to the concept.
Nameless Chaos was a game with diverse jobs and races, but above all, it was a game centered on faith. To draw out a special faith's concept, the priest class would be ideal, but he had seen the priest endings so many times that he was growing tired of them.
'Should I go Paladin?'
The more he thought about it, the better this option looked. If the Nameless Chaos truly had features befitting its concept, it would likely be hostile to all other faiths. Priests had almost no survival skills, but a Paladin—the so-called 'paladin cockroach'—could survive tenaciously.
'I can change jobs freely while playing anyway. For now, I'll aim for the Paladin ending.'
Race: Human.
Isaac rolled the character creation dice, and the visage of a beauty with gray hair and ashen eyes appeared. While the game's nature guaranteed high freedom in character appearance, he didn't particularly like grotesque looks referred to as 'hardcore veteran fashion.'
'Nothing beats having a good-looking character, after all.'
Fortunately, the random appearance presets were mostly beautiful. But Isaac wasn't satisfied and painstakingly adjusted his character's looks. It didn't mean much, but Isaac's philosophy was that the more effort he invested, the more attachment he felt toward his character.
Once character creation was complete, a window to allocate stats appeared. He slowly looked over the status window divided into Strength, Agility, Constitution, Intelligence, and Faith. Raising a Paladin meant it was best to focus on Constitution and Faith. But without much thought, Isaac dumped every remaining point into Faith except for the essential stats required to equip early gear.
'If it's a special faith, I should enjoy the concept.'
Having already stagnated to the point of utter boredom, Isaac didn't worry in the slightest about dying early on. Once he grew to a certain extent, a Paladin's powerful defense would guarantee his survival. A Paladin akin to a priest was the image Isaac had in mind.
And then, the final choice appeared.
[The Nameless Chaos gazes upon you.]
[The Nameless Chaos wishes to grant you an Authority. Please choose one of the following.]
[Dead God's Entrails: Partially absorbs the stats and traits of a devoured target.]
[Cry of the Flock at Midnight: Opens a door to another world to summon your kin.]
[Beneath the Skin: 'Devours' a target's insides and uses their hide as your outer shell.]
"..."
They were grotesque choices. But rather than feeling repulsed, Isaac was first surprised by the sheer power these authorities wielded. These were top-tier authorities that other faiths would only grant after achieving some major accomplishment.
'They give this kind of authority right from the start?'
Other faiths also gave fairly good authorities from the get-go, but even so, these were all so broken that you could rightfully call them cheats.
But Isaac also thought the opposite.
Nameless Chaos was never a game that gave handouts. If it gave you something like a grand gift, it definitely had a massive catch waiting behind it.
After some deliberation, Isaac chose the first authority, 'Dead God's Entrails.'
He still didn't know what kind of ability 'devour' was, but being able to absorb an opponent's stats and traits was a powerful advantage.
Traits mattered more than stats. There were some traits that couldn't be learned no matter how much you wanted them.
Even with a low probability, obtaining those traits would be more than worth it.
The moment Isaac made his final choice, his vision began to turn white.
Now, finally, it was time to start the real game.
And soon, his mind grew hazy.
***
[The Nameless Chaos gazes upon you.]
The first thing he encountered was a brilliant blue eye.
It was a beautiful eye. The problem was that it wasn't just one or two. To be exact, there seemed to be over a thousand, surrounded by red flesh, writhing muscles, and pulsating veins.
It was a grotesque sight unlike anything Isaac had seen during his previous eight playthroughs.
He felt as though he would faint, yet he could neither close his eyes nor look away.
In the end, Isaac had no choice but to engage in a staring contest with thousands of eyes without being able to blink or evade. It was hardly a favorable situation.
Blink.
Yet despite that, the thousands of eyes blinked first. But he didn't feel like he had won. There should be no sound in opening and closing one's eyes, but when the eyes numbered in the thousands, it was a different story.
[The Nameless Chaos, instead of this fake,]
[guides you to a world truly suited to you.]
Isaac felt that the message—that name—was somehow familiar. Just as he tried to pin down what it was, a voice rang out again.
"...Get a grip and bring the sword, Isaac!"
Squelch.
The mass of eyes and flesh that had filled his vision vanished instantly, replaced by the sight of a burning village. Isaac immediately felt dizzy from the acrid smoke and the stench of blood.
Boom! Rumble...
The darkness of night rippled eerily. A giant stone tower collapsed with a thunderous roar. Houses were burning. Within the churning flames in every direction, dry figures were swarming in silently.
"Isaac!!"
A scream-like cry came from somewhere. Isaac turned his head. He saw a middle-aged man struggling to fight three skeleton soldiers with a broken sword. Only then did Isaac realize that the man's cry was directed at him, and that he held the name Isaac.
Isaac, who had been sitting slumped, realized he was cradling a sword in his arms and tried to rise to hand it to the man. But before he could even get to his feet, the skeleton soldiers' rusted blades pierced the man.
"Kuk, huk...."
Isaac couldn't get up either. His head spun. When he touched his forehead, thick blood came away on his hand.
Amidst his dizzying senses, Isaac recalled the memory of building debris pouring down on him. He had been sure he would die then, yet somehow he was alive.
'What is this?'
Building debris? This was clearly not his memory.
Hadn't he clearly been playing a game? Isaac felt dizzy as he fumbled through his memories.
But those memories were not of 'Isaac'—they were foreign, alien memories.
They were memories not of Isaac, but of 'Isaac.'
Isaac's head began to spin from the flooding memories of a fourteen-year-old child. Agonizing pain that could never be felt in a game, the smell of burning, the slippery sensation of blood. And above all, memories that he couldn't possibly have.
Only then did Isaac see his own reflection in the glass of the collapsed building.
Gray hair with lifeless, ashen eyes. A slender physique—a boy who looked to be at best in his early teens. It looked exactly like the character Isaac had created before entering the game, only young.
Then, a strange window appeared before his eyes.
[Isaac (EX+) / Shock, Exhaustion]
[Race: Human/Nephilim]
[Class: Child (F)]
[Abilities: Dead God's Entrails, Touch of Chaos]
'What?'
Even in his dizzy state, Isaac intuitively grasped what it meant. Isaac was the name he had given his character. But his race was Nephilim? He had never selected the Nephilim race.
In the game's lore, Nephilim were the half-breed offspring of angels and humans.
With a beautiful, captivating appearance and absurdly high innate Faith, but conversely, due to the trait 'Cursed Blood' which carried the curse of the gods, they possessed frail bodies.
'I heard it was a race granted only through extreme luck during character creation, but why now of all times?'
Thinking so, Isaac recalled the process of creating his character. He had blindly maxed out Faith, painstakingly sculpted his appearance, and chosen a faith with the worst relationship with the gods. He realized all those variables might have led to the racial trait of Nephilim being conferred upon him.
Only after fumbling through those memories did Isaac realize.
He had truly entered the world of 'Nameless Chaos,' devoid of dreams or hope, and now he had to live as the character he created, 'Isaac.'
Swish—!
A sharp sound like wind whistling came from somewhere. The skeleton soldiers that had killed the middle-aged monk had discovered Isaac and were approaching.
"Ugh...!"
Isaac hurriedly began to flee. He briefly considered picking up the blade to resist, but fighting was impossible when standing was difficult enough.
But not long after he started running, Isaac quickly began to run out of breath.
It was due to the Nephilim's notoriously worst physical aptitude.
In exchange, they were said to enthrall people with an inexplicable charisma, but Isaac doubted that charm would work on undead.
Isaac suppressed his nauseous stomach and moved while avoiding the skeleton soldiers' gaze as best as he could.
As he moved, he recalled the catchphrase used to promote Nameless Chaos.
[This is a world ruled by giants and gods.]
[You will die here worthlessly and meaninglessly.]