Stray Cat Strut - The 2024 Stray Cat Strut Fanfiction Contest - Reading Phase!

Humanity has been gradually transported to the Abyss by a bored god to compete against other races and monsters.The problem is… humanity failed. In a last desperate push the strongest survivors chose a comrade to travel as far as possible back in time.

Severin Reignhart was just an ordinary gamer—until a truck accident sent him into the world of Legacy of Heroes, a novel he had once read.But instead of becoming the protagonist or even a powerful villain, he finds himself reborn as a complete nobody. An extra with no screen time, no future, and worst of all… no real strength.His so-called Talent Ability—Command—doesn’t make him stronger. Instead, it grants a 300% boost to the abilities of those who are bound to him and follow his orders. A powerful buff, but utterly useless when he is weaker than even the lowest-ranked students at Zenith Hero Academy.Thrown into a world where strength is the only law, Severin quickly learns that if he can’t fight, he’ll be crushed. Refusing to accept the fate of an extra, he turns to manipulation, deception, and blackmail, using his intelligence to twist the battlefield in his favor. If he can’t be the strongest, he’ll control the strongest.With the looming threat of world-ending catastrophes and prodigious heroes destined to take center stage, Severin must navigate the deadly hierarchy of the academy. He will recruit, betray, and outwit both heroes and villains—because in a world where power is everything, strategy is his only weapon.And one thing is certain: he refuses to die a nameless extra.

After an unexpected accident, An Luo was reborn as the young master of a business family. Even as his grandfather’s favored grandson, he seems to only be a cannon fodder in the brothers’ struggle to seize power. However, the most frightening thing is… the strange emotions that flicker in his little brother’s eyes as he looks at him. At that moment, overwhelmed by his brother, An Luo angrily thought: Could it be that he is doomed to never escape this vicious cycle of “brotherly love”?

An Luo(frowning): After rebirth, I don’t want to be together with some strange person.

Someone(suddenly appearing in the back, smiling): What did older brother just say?

An Luo: …Nothing.

- Description from Novelupdates

What is worse than being the worst team in the world?

For Dave Richards that was a very easy but heartbreaking question to answer, a goalkeeper who performed poorly between the sticks, he was still available as a first-choice goalkeeper because Unique FC didn't have any other goalkeeper.

He was slow on his feet, couldn't jump properly and worst of all, he didn't know how to hold the ball properly.

The only way that Unique FC was able to survive taking in a massive goal-fest sometimes was because of the extra effort they put in their defence.

After a terrible match in which Dave wasn't able to make any saves and also made a lot of mistakes, he was seriously scolded by the managerial staff and almost received a beating from his angry teammates.

He got home sad and also angry at all those who told him he looked like his grandfather and would therefore inherit his goalkeeping skills.

He discovered a hidden door below his room and when he got down there the only thing he could see was a black box.

He found the box to be quite familiar and when he opened it the last thing he saw was a bright white light when the light was gone he could see something in his field of vision.

[ Welcome Dave ]

[ You have activated the Goalkeeping system ]

A female voice read out the messages.

This is a story about how an ordinary man who didn't know his place between the sticks went from nothing to pro.