WAKE UP. THE GAME IS STARTING.

What is this voice?

Is it talking to me?

"Agh, my head hurts like crazy..."

My face was pressed up against the cold hard ground, which wasn't exactly the most comfortable position to be in.

I stood up and surveyed the area around me, albeit with a minor headache and some ringing in my ears.

At the current moment, I was stuck in the middle of a forest with very low visibility and no landmarks to discern where I was in this place.

The last thing I could remember was me walking to school and suddenly blacking out.

"Hey, you awake now?"

Hearing the sudden voice come out of nowhere, I turned towards the direction of the voice and got into a defensive stance.

"You don't have to be so guarded, y'know? I'm your partner after all," the blonde-haired teenage girl shrugged as she looked at me in exasperation.

"Partner?" I asked, confused.

"Did you not listen to the instructions over the intercom?" The girl responded.

"Ah... I think I was asleep. Oops."

"Oops?!" The girl screamed at me. "If you haven't noticed already, we're in a serious situation right now!"

A serious situation? The forest looks pretty peaceful to me.

"Please elaborate then, Miss..."

"Akari Akazawa," she responded. "Call me Akari."

"Takei Tanaka. Call me Takei."

We shook hands and then Akari began to explain the current situation to me.

"So we were basically forcibly kidnapped and thrown into this death game. There are 100 players that are in pairs of two. Since it's just us here, it's pretty obvious that we're a pair. Winner gets whatever they wish for. Pretty simple, right?"

"What's the catch?"

There's always a catch whenever it comes to these types of genres or else it'll be too cliche.

"Smart guy," Akari praised. "Grab the phone out of your pocket and look at the [Abilities] tab. Everyone is given a single ability to help even the playing field. Here's mine for example."

Akari grabbed her phone and showed me the ability that she was given.

[Photon Blaster]

Spawns a gun that shoots laser beams with unlimited ammo, albeit with an overheat mechanic.

Eh? Isn't this pretty overpowered?

"Let's see what I have..."

I grabbed my phone from my pocket and clicked on the [Abilities] tab.

[Cursed Katana]

Spawns a sword that saps away the user's stamina in exchange for power.

Hey hey hey, doesn't this kind of suck compared to Akari's ability?

This ability literally hinders me!

What can I even do with a sword against someone with a ranged weapon?!

"Pfft!" Akari started laughing uncontrollably. "Do you even know how to use a sword?! Oh my goodness, we are so screwed."

I mean, she's not wrong.

This ability f*cking blows!

Do not disregard the ability just yet. There are some hidden features you have yet to find.

"Who said that?!" I screamed in surprise.

"Why are you screaming?! No one said anything since it's just us here!" Akari yelled back.

So the voice is just in my head... How convenient.

Haha, I guess I'm going crazy then.

Two enemies approaching from the west. Get ready to fight.

Oh great, the voice tells me when enemies are coming too.

Let's just not question it for now.

"There's two enemies coming from the west. Let's get some cover," I told Akari.

"How do you know? I don't hear or see anything..."

"Ah, just trust me on this one. Let's climb up a tree and observe them first."

"Mhm, okay."

Both of us climbed up a relatively tall tree and hid in the shadows as we waited for our two enemies to pass by.

After a minute of us climbing up the tree, two people showed up under us.

"Oi, I thought you said there were going to be people here?"

"My compass ability is telling me that they're here right now. Maybe they're underground?"

There were two adult men that looked like they were gangsters.

I definitely don't want to fight these guys.

"What if your ability is broken?" The other guy asked.

"I doubt it, the game master said all of the abilities are working as intended."

Sh*t, there goes our plan of waiting then out.

Sooner or later, they're going to look up and discover us.

I really don't want to engage them in a battle, but it's the only choice.

"We're going to have to fight them," I whispered to Akari. "Can you get a clean shot on the other guy with the unknown ability? I don't feel like finding out what kind of busted ability he has."

"Okay," Akari nodded. "I'll shoot the unknown ability guy with my photon blaster while you jump down and handle the compass guy with your cursed katana."

After I nodded my head, I raised three fingers and started lowering them one by one. "3...2...1... Go."

Immediately after I finished counting down, Akari whispered her ability's name and aimed at the unknown ability guy's head. "[Photon Blaster]"

Just like that, the guy with the unknown ability no longer had a head.

"J-Jimmy?!" The compass guy screamed as he rushed over to his headless friend.

Perfect timing for me. Now be nice and still.

I jumped down from the ledge of the tree and summoned my ability. "[Cursed Katana]"

An ominous feeling began to fill my body as a pure-black obsidian sword spawned in my hand.

This sword really takes its name too seriously.

As soon as the sword manifested in my hand, I could feel the instability within the very sword as it screamed in anger and rage.

The guy heard me jumping off the ledge, so he unsheathed his iron sword and got into an offensive stance. "I'm going to kill you for killing my best friend! Arghhh!"

He rushed forward and aimed the sword at my chest.

Even though I had never wielded a sword in my life, I managed to block his attack with my sword and roll over to a safe distance.

He's fast... but I'm faster.

Channeling my very essence into the katana, I could feel my stamina getting drained as the sword's stats began to increase.

At the current moment, I think I could hold out for about five minutes in this enhanced state.

The guy missed the attack on me and ended up falling onto the ground losing his sword in the process.

It's obvious that he's even more inexperienced than me.

Since I was able to set up this opening, I rushed in with the cursed katana oozing evil energy and got my sword in a position to easily cut off his head.

I've never killed a human before, but...

It's killed or be killed.

Without any resistance, my cursed katana easily cut through his neck and ended the man's life before he could even beg for mercy.

"This really is... a battle to the death..." I muttered as I stood over the man's unmoving body.

Before I could think of anything else, my phone buzzed in my pocket.

I opened it up and looked at the [Abilities] tab that had somehow received an update.

Right under [Cursed Katana], there was something new there.

"What...?"

[Compass]

Points in the direction of the nearest enemies.

Somehow, I had the same ability as the guy I just killed.

Special report. [Cursed Katana]'s secret sub-ability has been unlocked.

Hidden Sub-Ability:

[Soul Eater]

Consumes the souls of the people fallen by this blade and steals their abilities.

The plot just keeps on thickening, huh?

Looks like this world has a lot more to offer than meets the eye...

—

Serious-san: Man, I want to get isekai'd

Sugar-chan: Without me?

Serious-san: Of course not.

Sugar-chan: Hehe, I see.