The normal-looking man watched Rupert and Veronica throw up. It disgusted him that they couldn't handle his movements. For his entire life, he had always gone fast. He was an addict, and speed was his drug. Faster and faster, speedier and speedier, until the almighty System itself acknowledged him with his personal skills.

Amateurs.

It took several minutes for the couple to cease their hurling. After the initial vomiting, the rest was just dry heaving. Not a pleasant experience. They had heaved so hard that blood vessels popped in their eyes. It was only due to their faster healing speed that they were able to recover so quickly.

Rupert couldn't hold it back. Regardless of who this man was, no matter how powerful he was, he needed to let him have a piece of his mind, "What the fuck was that?"

The man seemed amused, "That? That was me running. Well, running along with a skill. Well, running along with a combination skill. Well..."

Rupert burst out, "I get it!"

Veronica comforted her husband. She was in much better shape than him due to her strength stat being 4 points higher than his. Rupert was just jolted, his brain thrown into panic, so he lashed out. It was unlike his usually reserved character and Veronica noticed this.

It's starting.

The man performed the most superfluous bow, "Introductions are in order; my name is Zeul, The Speed Demon. And before you ask, no, I am not actually a demon. I've been looking into it though, the process would be...painful to say the least. The speed boost would also be smaller than just training for it...so yeah."

They wondered what the man was going on about. Becoming a demon? Like the Hell kind? Like fire and flames and death and torture? Is that allowed in this new world? The man's single pre-emptive question only lead to a dozen more.

He took a single step and appeared between them, slowly placing his hand on their shoulders. They shuddered at the implications of this small action, just having experienced it firsthand. Instead of the jolt they were expecting, they were lifted by their shoulders and started moving at car speeds.

The initial jolt was somewhat uncomfortable, but they adjusted. The man had a bored expression on his face. I could be moving 10 percent the speed of light right now. Though he was sad he had to go so slow, he obliged Yual. He was asked to train them, not traumatize them.

They were moved to the top of a canyon, right at the edge of the dropoff. The beige rocky landscape was presented before them. Kilometers of nothing but chasms snaking through the ground. It was comparable to the grand canyon, but deeper, and filled with sifting black spots.

Zuel grinned at the sight, taking in the metallic scent, "This, it Blood Canyon. A couple eras ago, a monster rooted herself somewhere in the deepest recesses of the canyon and started to lay eggs. The eggs hatched into larvae, and the larvae grew into big-ass insects. They become so numerous that they physically fill the canyon. Every year, it is the job of someone from the Harbingers to clear it out."

Before they could ask questions, he pushed them off the edge of the canyon.

He yelled after them, "Congratulations, you have officially joined the Harbingers!" They were not amused and started to scream as they fell off the ridge. They tried to grab each other, but Veronica was too far away from Rupert for him to grab her. He watched, with fear and fury in his eyes as his wife was falling to her doom.

I was supposed to protect her, and now we are going to die at the bottom of this dumbass canyon. What kind of husband am I?

Veronica was thinking almost exactly the same thing.

I was supposed to protect him, and now we are going to die at the bottom of this dumbass canyon. What kind of wife am I?

Zuel grinned. "I've had my fun; time to stop them. Hahaha, I'm so funny." The world slowed around him. He took a step right off the edge and onto the overhanging canyon wall. He stuck to it as he started to walk down the canyon wall. The world continued to barely move, everything looking so peaceful. He loved this feeling, being beyond the reach of standard time. Moments were turned into minutes.

The only problem with his speed was that the world grew slightly darker. With the world around him slowed, even the light bouncing around was slower. Darkness didn't bother him, in fact, he relished in the fact that he could one day beat it. For now, though, he waited beneath the falling Otherworlders.

He let time move a bit faster so he wouldn't be waiting, slowing it again when they were just above the ground. He positioned them so that they were upright, landing perfectly on their feet. Using a skill, he prevented their organs from shredding themselves. The first time he moved them, it was to let them experience true speed, but now it was just for point A to point B.

Time resumed its flow; Rupert and Veronica still screaming. It took them a moment to realize that they were standing perfectly fine on a ledge in the canyon. Beneath them were the undulating waves of black insects. They looked like spiders, but the legs of the spider were replaced with gorilla arms. The fingers of each arm ended with eagle talons and every eye was glowing red with hatred.

The insects scampered over each other while the three of them watched. The Otherworlders' faces were filled with abject horror. The creatures were the first true beasts they had seen in this world. Their first encounter had been rats with mushrooms for goodness sake!

Rupert and Veronica didn't think they could fight the veritable ocean of level 7 creatures. They were only level 2. Their ability to even wound something that many levels above them was suspect. It didn't seem to bother Zuel.

"You are going to be culling the herd; so to speak. They aren't really a herd, more so like a hive. In fact, they are kinda like ants, those big bastards. Even the ant analogy is off a bit..."

It was Veronica's turn to get him back on track, "Ahem! How do we fight so many enemies over our level?"

Zuel snapped to attention, "Oh, that. You haven't figured it out by now? I am gonna rave down, grab one, restrain it without doing a single point of damage, racing back, and you two will beat the ever-loving shit out of it. Rinse, repeat."

Before they could get in a word, one of the spider-like beasts appeared before them, all its arms limp by its side. Zuel had his hand squishing a certain part on its neck, crushing an artery to its brain, giving it what was essentially a stroke. Even with the enhanced physique of the beast, it couldn't deal with the strength of Zuel's stroke-giving grip.

It went entirely limp. "You have, like, 6 minutes before it dies for real. Kill it before that." Rupert registered what he said and sent a [Wind Blade] at it. He stuck purely with wind blades for now, since it was his only real damaging attack. Veronica went with [Slash] over and over, unempowered by Rupert's skill.

The attacks landed on the immobilized creature. Wounds opened up all over its body. Veronica aimed for where she thought the heart might be while Rupert went for the tried and true decapitation method. Three attacks in and it showed them that the 5 level difference was a lot larger than they initially thought. Neither of them had even gotten through the muscle layer under the exoskeleton.

Their six minutes were up, and the spider thing died.

[Hairy Minion Beast LVL 7 defeated. +86 xp]

[Xp split based on contribution]

[Veronica Vance: Lvl 2 || Xp: 86/100]

[Rupert Vance: Lvl 2 || Xp: 57/100]

Rupert was shocked, "Wow, that's TRIPLE what I got for the rat, and we barely injured it! How much did you get Zuel?"

Zuel threw the corpse back into the chasm, producing another immobilized one. "Nothing. You don't get XP from creatures below your category. Now keep fighting! Only ten million more beasts to kill!"

The two of them launched attacks again, holding back the question of what 'categories' meant. This time, they had some insight into the creature's weak points, but still couldn't do much damage. The muscle layer was just too thick.

Veronica made some success with puncturing instead of slashing. Her blade rapidly became dull against the hairy minions. The iron sword would need to either be sharpened or entirely thrown away. It was just too dull now to do anything but bludgeon the beast, which she absolutely did.

The time limit was up, and so was Rupert's mana.

[Hairy Minion Beast LVL 7 defeated. +113 xp]

[Xp split based on contribution]

[Human Veronica Vance has leveled up]

[ LVL 2 --> LVL 3]

[Human Rupert Vance has leveled up]

[ LVL 2 --> LVL 3]

[Veronica Vance: Lvl 3 || Xp: 37/200]

[Class: Warrior]

[Hp: 150]

[Mp: 130]

[Strength: 15]

[Agility: 11]

[Intellegence: 13]

[Rupert Vance: Lvl 3 || Xp: 19/200]

[Class: Mage]

[Hp: 80]

[Mp: 600]

[Strength: 8]

[Agility: 6]

[Intellegence: 30]

Both of them were stunned. They had spent 12 minutes wailing on a beast and had leveled up. They felt invigorated Rupert's mana regeneration was now at 11/ min, slowly falling behind his rapidly growing mana pool. They laid back on the ground, completely exhausted. Using everything they had to get to level 3 felt amazing. The concrete numbers helped boost the feeling that they were doing something.

Outside of the numbers, Veronica felt much stronger; maybe even with her blunt sword, she would be able to do some damage. Rupert's mind spun faster than before, feeling a small headache as his neurons rewired themselves into more streamlined and complex patterns.

"Giving up already? I hadn't pegged you two as quitters. Two beasts in and you are already dead on the ground as if you had run around the planet. I've done that, and still wasn't as tired as you look. Get up, stand tall, and fight. In the wild, there won't be someone as overpowered as me to help wipe your ass and protect it from beasts trying to kick it. You need to learn to run on empty."

Rupert was the first to stand, the fire in his mind igniting. He was ready, he was prepared, he was tired. Zuel said to run on empty, so he'd run on empty. Seeing his power reflected against his own weakness awoke something in him. A small little voice at the back of his head gained volume, right next to the mana voice, telling him to slaughter, fight, and grow. Rupert didn't notice them explicitly. The two voices, unlike his own, vied for dominance at the back of his mind, influencing his actions.

Veronica gained that same little voice. Slaughter, fight, grow. Contrary to Rupert, her voice had nothing fighting it, giving it more and more control over her actions. Every strike was filled with a small strand of red energy, a different red energy than her skill created. It was infused in the very act of her moving.

With them both at level 3, the damage they did to the beast was even greater. Its muscles were now less like steel and more like stone. Rupert was able to get a single [Wind Blade] past the muscles before it died from the stroke.

[Hairy Minion Beast LVL 7 defeated. +137 xp]

[Xp split based on contribution]

[Veronica Vance: Lvl 3 || Xp: 80/200]

[Rupert Vance: Lvl 3 || Xp: 79/200]

The beast's eyes lost their life and Zuel threw the now decaying corpse to the other beasts. Though instead of instantly grabbing a new beast, he stopped and listened closely. His body flashed, running a circle around the entire canyon on the inner wall. The dust cloud left behind was the only evidence that he had moved at all.

Rupert and Veronica had no clue what was happening. Things seemed fine, other than them standing above a writhing see of Minion Beast bodies. Zuel wasn't as calm, "Something is wrong; very, very wrong. Brace yourselves."

Zuel reinforced their organs with his skill, letting them withstand his full speed. The world ground to a halt as he bounded up the wall of the canyon with the two Otherworlders fluttering behind him. He put his all into his running, reaching 8 percent the speed of light, a little below his best due to his luggage.

They disappeared in a literal flash, reaching the Harbinger's compound instantly. Zuel threw them like dirty dish rags onto the ground and once again disappeared. When he was visible again, he was in Yual's office.

Zuel was panicking at this point, "He's here. We are so fucked. I'M so fucked. Am I really next? I thought there was three more before me?"

Yual tried to calm his oldest friend, claiming little success, "Calm down, it's alright. You can beat Him." Speaking his name was taboo for those who knew it, as That Man was one with the very air. He could hear his name from anywhere on the planet; and those that were old enough to know it, they were all on his hit-list. At the very top of the list right now was Zuel.

Before Yual could say anything, Zuel disappeared, running as fast as he could, nowhere in particular, just SOMEWHERE, anywhere but THERE. His legs carried him away from his preditor because right now, he was the prey. Even as a Catagory 12 being, his brow was slick with cold sweat. There was only one being on this planet he couldn't out-run.

Rupert and Veronica quickly found Yual, who was slowly walking through the compound. As always, they were confused. Rupert asked his barrage of questions, "What's going on? Where did Zuel go? Why is he running? What is happening?"

Yual held up a hand, "Patience. I never thought you would need to worry about this until you were Cat 12's yourselves, but I guess this is a teaching moment..."

---------

Zuel ceased his running, instantly coming to a stop and falling on his ass. In front of him, a man cloaked in white and black flames emerged from the air. His eyes pierced through Zuel's body, confirming his prey.

Target Identified.

Pursuit Confirmation Requested

Approved

Pursuit Confirmation Received

Beginning Termination

His suit of scale male steel armor was perfectly fit to his body, showing off his impressive musculature. It looked like he was chiseled from a block of marble. He took a step closer to Zuel, who recoiled.

"Stay back! I swear! Please!"

---------

"To make it short, Zuel has been targeted. At this very moment, he is now currently the oldest person on the planet. And that means he will be hunted, to his last breath; hunted by the nameless man. The Immortal Killer."