The transition from life to death didn't feel like a sunset; it felt like a catastrophic system crash.
One moment, Arthur Spencer was staring at the grey, rain-slicked pavement of a Tokyo sidewalk, watching his own life-blood retreat into the gutter.
The next, the screaming of the grieving widow and the frantic sirens of the late-arriving paramedics were replaced by a silence so absolute it had a weight of its own.
The void wasn't black. That was a human misconception—a failure of the optic nerve to process the total absence of matter.
Instead, it was a shifting, translucent gradient of colors that didn't exist in the visible spectrum: hues of bruised ultraviolet and screaming infrared that swirled like oil on water.
In the center of this impossible expanse stood Arthur. He wasn't looking at a monster or a god in the traditional sense; he was looking at a shimmering reflection of himself.
It was a cosmic entity that mimicked his features like a mirror made of compressed starlight, its edges blurring into the background of the "Between."
"So, let me get this straight," Arthur's voice echoed. It was steady, devoid of the frantic panic one might expect from a man who had been declared clinically dead for all of two hours.
"If I want to live again, I have to bring chaos into a world? That's the catch? I'm the divine wrench in the gears?"
The entity tilted its head. It was an ethereal gesture, fluid and unsettling, as if its neck were made of liquid light. "Chaos is merely the disruption of a predetermined path, Arthur."
Arthur's gaze hardened. A simmering, deep-seated resentment fought with his natural, cold curiosity. Only hours ago, he had been gasping for air, the copper tang of blood filling his throat.
The woman who killed him hadn't been a professional; she was a ghost of the Sword Art Online tragedy.
She had plunged a kitchen knife into him repeatedly, her eyes wide with a localized, frantic insanity, screaming about a lover lost to the "Black Swordsman" and the "Death Game."
It hadn't been Arthur's fault. But in the court and public opinion, being the Chief Technical Officer and second-in-command at Argus was a death sentence.
'Kayaba Akihiko, you magnificent, arrogant bastard,' Arthur thought, his fingers twitching with a ghost of the anger that had defined his final months.
In the real world, Arthur Spencer had been a prodigy—the "Engine under the Hood." While Kayaba dreamt of floating castles, Arthur had built the stability, the neural mapping, and the sensory feedback architecture that made the dream physical.
When the "soft launch" turned into a digital slaughterhouse, Kayaba had vanished into his own creation, leaving Arthur to face the cameras, the subpoenas, and the handcuffs.
Even Nobuyuki Sugou, that sniveling credit-thief, had been dragged down. But the world didn't want a thief; they wanted a monster to blame for the two thousand dead. So naturally, they couldn't find Kayaba, so they got the second best option, Arthur.
The transfer to the detention center should have been routine, but the incompetence of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police had allowed a grieving civilian to get within striking distance.
Arthur Spencer—the man who helped build the future—had bled out at twenty-two on a dirty sidewalk.
"I refuse," Arthur said, his voice ringing out in the void.
The entity's form pulsed with a soft, golden light. "May I ask why? Most souls would crawl through glass for a fraction of this offer. You are being offered a second act."
"I spent my life building things," Arthur said, his jaw set. "I watched a man I respected ruin a world and take ten thousand lives just to satisfy a whim. I won't ruin another world just because I'm afraid of staying dead. I have a conscience, even if the Tokyo DA didn't think so."
The entity let out a sound like wind chimes caught in a gale—a celestial laugh. "Child of man, you misunderstand the nature of the 'chaos' I require. I do not seek the blood of innocents. What I want dismantled is what your kind refers to as 'Protagonist's Plot Armor.' I want the script burned. I want the guaranteed victory of the 'chosen' to be replaced by the raw, unpredictable potential of a soul who shouldn't be there. I want a world where the ending isn't written until the final breath is drawn."
Arthur paused, his brow furrowing. "Plot armor? You're sending me into a story?"
"A world that functions like one," the entity clarified. "Specifically, a world centered around virtual reality development. Your 'zone.' Do not worry about your lack of martial prowess; you won't be expected to swing a sword against dragons on day one. Besides, weren't you the highest-rated player in the SAO beta? You unlocked an Extra Skill that even Kayaba didn't anticipate. Your 'fighting experience' is etched into your soul, Arthur."
Arthur's heart—or the metaphysical core that served as one—skipped a beat. "How do you know about the Beta? I kept those logs encrypted on a private server. Even the government couldn't crack those."
"A soul is an open book to me," the entity shrugged. "So, if the 'chaos' you bring is simply being a better player, a more disruptive developer, and a more potent force than the 'destined' hero... do we have a deal?"
Arthur looked down at his translucent hands. If he said no, he would face the "natural cycle." Reincarnation. A cleansing of the soul where Arthur Spencer would be wiped clean like a formatted hard drive, leaving nothing but a blank slate for a new life.
He would cease to exist. The memories of his struggles, his genius, and his betrayal would be vapor.
The chill of that thought was far worse than the memory of the knife.
"If I do this," Arthur said, his voice gaining a sharp, predatory edge, "I want a new life. A real one. No more running, no more scapegoating. I want the power to ensure no one can ever put a knife in my back again—metaphorically or literally."
"Agreed," the entity said. "And as is customary for such transitions, I shall grant you five wishes and a System. We shall call them Chaos Points. The more you derail the 'plot,' the more you can evolve."
"And who exactly am I talking to?" Arthur asked. "Every story has a name for the God at the beginning."
"In your lore, I am the One Above All. TOAA will suffice."
Arthur blinked. "TOAA? Seriously? I thought I'd get a generic 'Random Omnipotent Being' or some minor deity of luck."
"I am currently hiding from my wives," TOAA said, a flicker of genuine, all-too-human anxiety passing through his cosmic eyes.
"I am messing with timelines, which is... frowned upon in my household as domains like fate, justice, war, luck, magic etc were under them, and me playing around will lead them to little extra work but they are tolerant so you don't have to worry as long as your chaos within reasonable boundaries."
A literal relief washed over Arthur as he wouldn't be erased midway by TOAA's angry wives.
"We must be quick. Tell me: where are you going, and what do you need?" TOAA urgerd him.
Arthur didn't hesitate. He had spent little time thinking—not just about his reincarnation, but about the mechanics of the industry he loved.
He knew the world he wanted. He wanted the world of Satisfy. The world of Overgeared. It was a world of infinite complexity, where a single blacksmith could change the fate of empires.
It was the dream he had tried to build with the NerveGear before it became a nightmare. "The world of Overgeared," Arthur stated. "And here are my terms."
Arthur paced the shifting colors of the void, his mind already spinning like a high-end processor. He wasn't just choosing "cheats"; he was designing a framework.
"First," Arthur began, "I want the Manas: Divine Intelligence Core, Ciel. From the Tensura archives. I need an analytical partner that can process data at speeds the human brain can't touch. If I'm going to out-develop a world, I need a supercomputer in my soul to handle the calculations. I need to be able to see the code behind the 'God' Morpheus."
"Accepted," TOAA nodded. "A powerful choice for a world built on code. Ciel will act as your internal OS, managing your growth and filtering the 'Chaos System' interface."
"Second," Arthur continued, "I want the 'Healthy Body' from the Isekai Nonbiri Nouka Archives. I know it sounds like a utility pick, but in a world of high-immersion VR, the physical body is the bottleneck. That body ensures I never tire, never sicken, and maintain peak condition regardless of my lifestyle. If I'm going to be in gaming pods twenty hours a day, I need a vessel that won't break under the strain. I want immortality—not through magic, but through perfect biological efficiency."
TOAA raised an eyebrow. "A workhorse? Very well. Longevity is its own form of power."
"Third," Arthur's eyes turned cold and calculating. "I want Einzbern Homunculus Technology, the perfected version. No premature aging, no inherent defects. I want the ability to manufacture biological vessels that can interface with the soul."
TOAA looked amused. "You are thinking about giving the NPCs of Satisfy a life outside the game, aren't you? You want to bridge the digital and the physical. A true architect's ambition. Granted."
"Fourth," Arthur said, leaning forward. "I want to be born into a Major Global Conglomerate in South Korea with heavy military and tech ties. My family should hold at least 10% of the global economy. Money is the greatest 'cheat' in a capitalist VR world. If I have the resources of a tycoon, I can buy the equipment, the developers, and the time I need to dominate before the 'protagonist' even finds his first rare item. I will not be a commoner begging for a quest; I will be the one who owns the land the quest is on."
"A foundation of gold and steel," TOAA whispered. "And the fifth?"
Arthur's expression became utterly serene, yet terrified of the concept he was about to invoke. "For my final wish... I want the First Magic: Denial of Nothingness from Fate verse. I want the power to create existence from nothing and return everything to nothing.'"
"Heh, good choice, but may I ask why is that?" TOAA said as his curiosity building up.
"Dunno, maybe to be ready if something unexpected happens in reality I can just erase everything." (A/N: This choice would save earth as years later when the asteroid called Ghamid was about to collided with Earth, Arthur would deny it's existence with this magic.)
"Good thinking. I'll grant this ability but you have to ask for permission whenever you use this ability. This ability is something that can erase the whole world's population if you ever wished so I'll put this restrictions, do we have an agreement?" TOAA asked.
"Alright, I'm not a mass murderer anyway, it's just a safety measure." Arthur said reassureingly.
TOAA's form beginning to swirl like a galaxy. "Off you go then." The area churned with the force of a collapsing star. The colors shifted from translucent to a blinding, searing white.
"You have your memories, Arthur Spencer. You have your skills. And you have the Chaos System. Go forth and break the world of Satisfy. Make them forget the name 'Grid' and fear the name 'Arthur.' Or better yet... make them realize that the man who builds the world owns the world."
"Wait!" Arthur shouted as his body began to dissolve into shimmering particles of light. "What about my starting location in the game? Where do I drop?"
"You're a genius, aren't you?" TOAA's voice faded into a distant chime. "You'll figure it out! And remember—chaos is just another word for freedom! Try not to let my wives find you!"
The white light intensified until it was a physical weight, crushing Arthur's consciousness. Then, the sensation of falling—not into a grave, but into another reality.