[NSFW]

“Pfft, as if I would give a shit about your opinion. Do whatever you want, I will have Lena.”

“Is that so?”

“What do you think?”

“One million. I don’t want my daughter to ever see you again.”

“Wow, this is amazing. Rich people actually do this? What's next? Will you send someone to break my leg? Kill me? Are you even an actual person?”

“… Are you willing to bear all the responsibilities that come with marrying my daughter?”

“Nope. I have a life to live, you guys can just make another kid.”

“…”

From the side her father sparked up.

“You bastard!”

He began the motions of tossing his plate toward me.

“Don’t throw that, you will regret it.”

He calmed down like the good dog he was and took a seat. Her mom seemed to have finished processing my nonsensical answers. She turned to the other family and spoke.

“What are your thoughts on this?”

“Is this an insult?”

“This is by no means an insult, we found out about this at the same time you did.”

“Young man, are you aware of who’s affairs you are meddling in?”

“Yes, humans. I’m meddling in human affairs.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“I mean that just like a human you are still mortal.”

“Are you threatening me?”

“Yes, what are you going to do about it?”

“…How can you allow this violent thug to remain in your home!”

Despite saying that none of the guards made a move. After observing the spectacle for long enough the young man decided to speak.

“Let’s end this here, it would be useless for us to spend any more time here.”

“Finally, someone sensible! I was scared that you weren’t an actual person.”

“I’ve learned not to fight another man for his woman.”

“No, no, that's wrong. If you love a woman then you should be willing to fight for her.”

“…?”

“Anyways, what's your reason for not fighting? Do you already have a lover? Are you just not ready? Or… perhaps, you don’t like women?”

Instead of responding to me he turned to his parents.

“Father, Mother, I’ve been meaning to tell you about this. I’ve found a woman I wish to marry, I have already signed the papers and our wedding will be held next weekend.”

Clap! Clap! Clap! Clap!

“Wow! Congratulations my guy. Standing up against your parents' oppression!”

“…”

Everyone stared directly at me in silence until the man's parents stood up.

“Let’s go! We shall discuss this at home!”

Following this announcement their family quickly exited the premises and we were left in awkward silence.

“Ok Lena, it’s time you stop this farce. As for you, I want you out of my sight.”

“It's not like that mom! We’re real lovers, we’ve even done that!”

Why was this idiot so good at perpetrating misunderstandings? Her mothers face swiftly transformed from its calm and composed demeanor into that of demon’s who had finally crawled out from the deepest pits of hell. She turned to me and spoke in a gritted voice.

“Is this true?”

“She meant a kiss, but the next step will be happening soon so there’s no need to worry.”

Hearing the first part of my sentence lightened her mood but the rest of it sent her spiraling back into madness.

“Wait, before you get upset I have something to say.”

“Speak!”

“You can join us if you wish.”

To be fair she was quite beautiful, the mother of a beauty was bound to be one as well. Plus, I had always had the long time wish of tearing off the facade of a noble woman.

“Vaun!”

“You!”

“I'm just kidding! It’s ok Lena, I wouldn’t do that to you.”

“Leave! This is your final warning!”

“Yes ma’am! Please take care of Lena for me.”

I quickly pecked Lena on the lips before getting up and dashing out of the house and into my car. I still had other things to finish before the night was over. I drove down the ridiculously long driveway and collected my tools then made my way home.

…

Once arriving at my house I checked up on Elaine. Just as before she was still laying on the sofa sleeping. Who would waste their time sleeping when there were so many fun things to do? I grabbed a pillow nearby and smacked her face with it.

“Wake up.”

“Ack- I’m awake, I’m awake!”

“Have you eaten?”

“Uh… not yet.”

“Then go eat, there’s plenty of food in the fridge. I'm going to sleep, if you need any kind of woman’s stuff just rummage around my sister’s room.”

“I don’t need anything.”

I went back into my room and left my phone on the bed playing music. After that I searched through my closet for some dark clothes, a clown costume I had bought for Halloween, and an old backpack. I put the clown costume on and then taped the mask on so it wouldn’t jiggle around too much. Then I layered a dark hoodie and baggy pants over it. I also grabbed a second pair of gloves and layered them over the ones that came with the costume. I put on a pair of boots, covered the wacky hair with my hoodie, and slipped the backpack on then hopped out of my window and started sprinting.

My destination wasn’t particularly far away but every single second wasted was another second I wouldn’t be able to spend hunting. It didn’t take very long for me to get to the neighborhood with the highest rate of crime, in particular, unprosecuted crime. Around me were apartment complexes and buildings of all shapes and sizes that looked like they were built an entire era ago. The system had given up on this place entirely. The number of gang members in this area probably outnumbered the number of gang members in all the surrounding districts combined.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

Hopefully it wouldn’t take me too long to find someone who would be able to play the role of the criminal. I sprinted through dark alleyways and open streets looking for anyone of interest. The only bad thing about an area with high crime was that activity at night was highly concentrated and only in obscure places. Running around like a headless chicken would get me nowhere. I paused and started thinking.

Where would I be at night if I was a low tier criminal? I would be hanging out with my buddies and looking for problems. Now where would I be relaxing? Somewhere well lit, an open area, easily accessible, and most likely close to a business of some kind. In this case I just had to listen for where the most noises were coming from. I calmed down and used my ears to listen as I quietly walked around.

It didn’t take long for me to find a bustle of noise and make my way to the source. After turning a corner I finally found my living power ups. At the other side of the street I counted exactly eight people wearing clothing of the same color, which now meant they were part of a gang, at least to me. With only my pocket knife, killing all of them without getting shot was going to be difficult, that is, if I didn’t use a bit of deception.

I went back to the previous alley and walked to the backside of the building they were gathered around. Using my newfound strength I slowly climbed up the building and got on the roof. I took out the empty gun and banged it on the side of the building facing away from the street, not loud enough to startle them but still loud enough for them to clearly hear. From my spot on the roof I couldn’t see them but I just had to wait for one of them to walk past the corner.

I continued banging on the wall and patiently waiting for one of them to turn the corner. Soon enough a pair of carefully placed legs appeared from around the corner, I pulled myself behind the cover of the rooftop and tossed the gun down. After throwing my distraction I ran to the other side of the roof and quickly slid down the wall. As I reached the other side of the corner I pulled out my pocket knife and heard them yelling.

“It's a gun!”

“What?”

I quickly leapt out from behind the corner and grabbed the person nearest to me by the mouth and plunged the knife into their neck and forcefully jerked it left and right to expand the wound. I dropped them onto the ground where they gurgled for air. Most of the gang members had already turned the corner and only three people who were slightly slower were lagging behind. I swiftly crept behind the next closest one and repeated my method of silent killing with great success.

By now the one closest to the corner had disappeared from sight and the one in the middle was close behind. I quickly crept to them and just before they could get past the corner I grabbed them and turned their throat into a useless piece of flesh. One of the three I had killed had to have a gun. I quickly checked their waistbands for anything of interest, finding two pistols in less than a dozen seconds.

I quickly cocked both of them and peered around the corner with the guns. As soon as my eyes passed the wall I madly pulled the trigger and watched as they dropped one by one. One of them almost managed to pull out a gun and shoot back but they were mowed down by my shower of bullets before they could do anything. I tucked the handgun back in my waistband and pulled out my pocket knife, as I searched them I drove the blade into their throats and caused fountains of blood to come pouring out. Every new gun I found was tossed into my backpack.

While searching them one of the less injured people tried to resist my penetration of their throat, which made me happy because it reassured me that the extra cautions I had been taking were in fact required. I briskly finished him off and continued searching. When I finished I had three new pistols lying in my backpack. I emptied the two guns I had already used into the nearby walls and placed them next to the corpses as well as the other gun I had used as a distraction.

With a bit of luck it could be labeled as a gang conflict and cause some confusion. After getting to a safe spot I took out all the guns and carefully checked each of them to ensure they wouldn’t misfire into me. Finished with my safety inspection I tucked two of the guns into my waistband and continued my little nighttime adventure. Anyone nearby who hadn’t run away was likely to be on high alert now. While I wandered around I tested myself to see if I had gotten any stronger.

My speed had increased from slightly over two and a half times my original speed to around three times my original speed. Overall I had killed an estimated thirty to thirty-five people which had resulted in an increase in my abilities by two times. Which could mean that I gained a level of strength for every fifteen or so people I killed, but could also be calculated differently. I’d have to keep growing stronger in order to figure out the pattern.

As I meandered on a random street I suddenly heard footsteps pitter-pattering from the alley. I looked into the alley and waited for the footsteps to come into sight. As they rapidly grew louder a small girl dressed in ragged clothing ran into my vision, to be honest I nearly had a heart attack seeing that. I didn’t fear much in this world but ghosts were one of the few things I did fear. It wasn’t that they could kill me or anything but rather the thought that they could catch me at an inconvenient time.

Like if I was pissing and all of a sudden a horny ghost started groping me. Or if I was showering and a ghost started groping me. Or if I was getting dressed and a ghost started groping me. It would be fine if they were beauties but more likely than not they would look like amalgamation of ashes, dirt, and ugly people. Anyways, I returned my attention to the girl and as she ran by I grabbed her.

“Ahhhh!”

She immediately burst into ear piercing screaming and I placed her back on the ground. She returned to a sprint but before she could get far I picked her back up and waited for her to scream. Instead of screaming she looked directly at me and in heavily accented English she spoke while pointing at herself.

“Help! Help!”

By now I had figured out that she was asian. Whatever the case, I should probably take her to the police station. Just as I was about to sprint away a multitude of footsteps echoed from the alleyway and numerous men with knives, sticks, and hammers stepped out from the shadows. I placed the girl back on the ground and behind a wall then lifted her hands up to her ears as well as made her close her eyes. Afterwards I turned back to the gang, the man at the front of the gang began to speak.

“Give us th-”

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

Before he could finish his sentence I had already taken out both guns and repeatedly pulled the trigger while running towards them. The closer I was the easier it would be for me to accurately hit them. It would also increase the difficulty of them shooting me without accidently hitting each other. After the first shot everyone turned around and started running, stumbling, stampeding, and pulling one another in a desperate bid to not be at the end of the gun barrel. I guess none of these idiots had brought guns with them.

I, on the other hand, carefully managed the situation and nearly pressed the gun barrel against their skulls before pulling the trigger. A strange phenomena that I had noticed was that everyone was now moving extremely slowly, around a third of the speed a normal human should be moving. Even I was moving slower now, but I still retained the speed of a normal human, although every step still pushed me much further than usual. Every person I shot didn’t fall but rather, floated towards the ground and the blood and brain matter carefully glided through the air before splashing onto me.

It quickly clicked. My perception of time has slowed down. Everyone was moving at their normal speeds, I just saw it at a different speed. Pretty cool I guess. I continued collecting my power-ups until there was only one person left. Overall I had killed about sixteen people in that encounter alone, which meant that if the math I did earlier was correct then I should be four times faster. As I suspected, I was not correct. When chasing the remaining power-up I was only about three and a half times faster than normal.

After catching up I kicked his leg out from under him and stomped on the back of his knee once he kissed the floor. He broke into a scream of pain but since I didn’t feel like having my ears violated I quickly flipped him around and slapped some sense into him.

“Where are the rest?”

“What?”

“The kids, slaves, whatever you call them. Where are they?”

“Just kill me.”

Not this bullshit. I grabbed his jaw and hastily ripped off his shirt then stuffed it into his mouth so he couldn’t bite down on either his tongue or whatever suicide pill he had in his mouth. Following that I flipped him back over and grabbed his hand before pulling his fingers backwards and rotating all of them in a wide circle one by one.

“Mmmppphhh!”

“Normally I’d let you answer but just in case you kill yourself before I get any answers I’m going to do the other hand, if only you had told me what I wanted. I mean even if they’re threatening your family you seriously think your family won’t immediately be thrown into the trade after you die?”

“Mmm! Mm! Mmm!”

“Yeah, sure, I can break your legs too.”

As he continued to scream in pain I relocated all the fingers on his other hand. This definitely wasn’t enough motivation. I stood up and grabbed his arm then twisted it as far as I could. Once I was in position I yanked as hard as I could and felt his arm go limp. I did the same with his other arm then went and found a hammer that had fallen on the ground. With my hammer in hand I turned him to his side and set his leg straight. I lifted the hammer up and heavily slammed it into the side of his knee cap, popping it out of place, as always symmetry was a must so I made both his knees the same. I flipped him back to me and grabbed his jaw then yanked out the rag.

“You can tell me where they are and once I find them you get to die or you can hold out and I’ll let you slowly rot to death in a trash can. Make your choice.”

“Th- the- the- comp- comp- plex- ne- next- to- the- the- mas- mass- massage- par- parlor.”

“Is that so? I don’t believe you just yet. You’ll come with me to see if you were telling the truth.”

With that I shoved the rag back into his mouth and threw him over my back. I returned to the girl and found her still covering her ears with her eyes closed. I gently poked her forehead and she opened her eyes slowly. Upon seeing that it was me she tried to look around the wall to see what had happened but I quickly pulled her back. I grabbed her by the hand and led her a couple blocks away until I found a convenience store. I walked inside the store and pointed a gun at the clerk.

“Call nine-one-one. Tell them you’ve found a kidnapped child, if I don’t find her registered in the police system tomorrow I’ll find you and kill everyone in your family.”

The clerk quickly called the police and I left the girl with the clerk.

“I will find out if you do anything fucked to her and when I do I’m gonna come back and tear your intestines out of your ass and feed them to you.”

After ensuring the child’s safety I left the store and started trying to figure out how to find the massage parlor.

“Where’s the massage parlor? I’m gonna point in a direction and you’re going to make a noise if I’m correct, understand?”

“Mmm.”

“If I’m not going the right way anymore, make another noise.”