When I opened my eyes, I was standing in the middle of a white room.
...Huh?
"Hold up, hold up, hold up—where the hell am I!?"
I should've been sitting in my room browsing the internet like usual.
So this can't be some kind of kidnapping while I was asleep or anything!
I mean, I'm just some nobody without money or status... though I guess they could've picked me at random.
But kidnapping doesn't explain this situation anyway. You'd need some kind of instant knockout drug like that kid detective with an adult's brain uses in his tranquilizer gun.
Alright, my heart's still pounding like crazy, but I need to calm down.
First things first—figure out what's going on.
The white room isn't that big. Maybe eight to ten tatami mats, about the size of an apartment room.
And there are no doors or windows... wait, am I screwed? Plus there's this obvious sign right in front of me.
I guess I've got to read this thing to get started.
"Let's see, what's it say?"
★----------★
★ Reincarnation Room
Congratulations. You have died, but through lottery selection you have earned the chance at a new life with your memories intact.
When you finish reading this, a red door and blue door will appear.
The red door allows reincarnation into a manga or game world with your memories and special perks.
The world and perks you receive will be randomly selected from your knowledge.
The blue door leads to normal reincarnation.
You may remain in this room for up to one hour. After that, you will automatically be sent through the blue door.
Please consider your options carefully and have a good next life.
P.S. Your cause of death was a meteorite.
★----------★
"..."
WHAT THE HELL!?
There was a lot of important stuff in there, but I can't focus on anything except the P.S.!
A meteorite? What do you mean, a meteorite!? I mean, I know what a meteorite is, but still!
Was it a big one? A little one? Please tell me it was just a tiny meteorite and I'm the only one who died!
I'm not exactly a humanitarian, but I've got at least that much conscience... right?
Anyway... let's move on! No point thinking about it now.
After I finished reading the sign, a timer appeared floating in the air above it, and two colored doors materialized. With all these fantasy sci-fi elements appearing right in front of me, I could finally accept that I'd probably died... or at least ended up in some seriously weird situation.
I had 57 minutes and change left. I needed to decide before that ran out.
Red door or blue door...
The blue one didn't need much thought—normal reincarnation meant my memories would be wiped, so whatever my next life was wouldn't matter.
...I wouldn't want to be reborn as some shiny black cockroach, but if my memories were gone, it'd all be the same anyway. I'd never know.
So the real question was the red door. Keeping my memories and getting perks sounded tempting enough to jump at immediately.
But the random world selection was what worried me most.
Since it'd be from my knowledge, it wouldn't be completely unknown, but that didn't guarantee a happy world. It could be some ultra-lunatic hard mode setting.
Like a world where Resident Evil was happening, or Drakengard where goddesses and baby angels would cheerfully devour me with big smiles...
"Yeah, no way. I'd kill myself first."
So what should I do..
--
Before I knew it, only about ten minutes were left.
What would've happened if I hadn't noticed time running out? Well, I probably would've just gotten normal reincarnation.
But I'd made my decision!
Actually, it was decided from the start!
"Alright! I'm going with the red door!"
I psyched myself up and opened the red door.
In the room beyond the red door, a massive slot machine sat right in front of me with [REINCARNATION DESTINATION] written above it.
"Random means a slot machine!?"
Well, it's not weird... I mean, they said it was random, so it's not actually weird, right? Everything about this situation is weird, so I'm getting confused.
I shook my aching head and took another look at the slot machine. It had buttons labeled START and STOP.
"So I press these, huh."
I hit START and the reels began spinning. Way too fast to follow with my eyes.
Anti-cheating measure, I guess... makes sense.
Now for the STOP button.
This was the biggest turning point that would determine my next life.
Even if the perks sucked, I could live as a normal person in a peaceful slice-of-life world and enjoy my second life.
But what if it wasn't like that? That possibility was why I couldn't make up my mind back in the first room.
"Come on! I've come this far, so I need to commit!"
I pressed the STOP button and my afterlife was decided.
★----★
[HIGH SCHOOL DxD]
★----★
Whoa, should I consider this a win or a loss?
High School DxD was a world where you could get close to all kinds of cute girls.
In that sense, it was definitely a winning world.
But the protagonist always gets out of trouble with boobs, so it never gets properly serious even though the battle side of things is pretty brutal.
Also, it's a world where dragons are either pitiful or disappointing...
If I stayed a normal person it'd be fine, but if I got involved in the supernatural side, I'd need at least ultimate-class devil-level combat power to feel even minimally safe...
Well, I could think about it after getting my perks.
But where do I get them? There's just one slot machine and no other doors...
Then I heard a Whirrrrr sound from above. Looking up, I saw the [REINCARNATION DESTINATION] text rotating and new text dropping down.
★----★
[REINCARNATION PERKS ≪THREE CHANCES≫]
★----★
Oh! I get three perks!?
This might actually be worth getting excited about!
Even if just one of them was decent, that'd be plenty. I'm allowed to dream big, right?
Maybe Gate of Baby... Babylon (fully stocked)! I definitely wasn't the only one who wanted to try the wine from that conversation between kings!
I immediately hit START and the reels began spinning!
Building up expectations for the first one, I pressed the button and what came up was...
★----★
[1. Ittou Shura (Rakudai Kishi no Cavalry)]
★----★
Ittou Shura! A technique that boosts your abilities dozens of times for one minute.
That sounds amazing, but naturally there are drawbacks. It's literally a technique that squeezes out your full power, so when the time limit ends, you collapse from exhaustion. It's a super-decisive battle technique.
The upgraded version is Ittou Rasetsu, which compresses everything into one second for hundreds of times the boost.
However, your body can't handle that level of enhancement, so you end up 'exhausted + completely broken' and near death.
"It's hard to use, but it's the protagonist's technique and full of romance. I'll take it. Let's move on."
Then I spun the roulette to determine the second perk and pressed the button! The first one was decent, so I couldn't help getting excited. What would the second perk be!?
★----★
[2. Verg Avesta (Fake Copy that Records All/Sacred Gear Slot)]
★----★
Hmmm?
Which part should I complain about first?
The fact that according to its original owner, Fate's Angra Mainyu, it's a piece of shit third-rate Noble Phantasm?
Or the "(Sacred Gear Slot)" part?
No, I get what they're trying to say...
Couldn't there have been a better perk though?
Verg Avesta is a curse of retribution that reflects whatever wounds you receive back onto your opponent.
It only works once per opponent, and to use it effectively you have to take a fatal wound (naturally your opponent is attacking with killing intent).
Activation is voluntary, so you have to endure what's probably excruciating pain while triggering it. Plus if your wounds heal, your opponent's wounds heal too, so you can't immediately use Phoenix Tears after activating it.
I'm apparently getting this as a Sacred Gear, so what, am I supposed to hope for Balance Breaker? The FGO version was actually pretty usable.
It returned double the damage you took and could be used multiple times on the same opponent, affecting multiple targets... Retribution? So the idea is to take out everyone who opposes you?
But still... they used Balance Breaker pretty casually in the series, but it's not normally that easy. Plus you still have to take massive damage, making it even harder to use than Ittou Shura.
"Can't be helped. I'll pin my hopes on the third one. Please let at least one of them be normally usable."
So I decided to spin the final slot.
"Come on! Come on! COME ON! BABYLO...N!"
I desperately wished for the Hero King's treasury skill, but seconds later I was left speechless by the displayed perk.
★----★
[Self-Destruct (Pokémon)]
★----★
"...Huh? Wait! What!?"
Hold on, hold on, hold on! Is this even something that should be included as a perk!?
Self-Destruct (leaves you fainted when used)—shut the f up!
I don't know who programmed this thing…. but they've definitely got a twisted personality!
It's gotta be some evil or malicious devil.
In Pokémon it's cutely written in hiragana as (fainted), but it means you're literally five seconds away from croaking!
And it's Self-Destruct! If I'm gonna faint—no, nearly die—couldn't it at least be Explosion!?
...No, that wouldn't be good either. Actually, this makes me worry that one perk might be Self-Destruct and another might be Explosion... no, I shouldn't think about it.
So my third perk was (reluctantly) decided, but what happens next?
The doors from when I first arrived disappeared at some point...
Just as I was thinking that, the floor suddenly turned into a pitfall.
"Whoa!"
And as I fell, I definitely thought:
Yep, whoever built this room is definitely devil.