"Dark Speedster not allowed."
"Why?!"
"You guys are too corny and edgy, always making it all about yourselves! Why don't you just sulk in the corner instead?"
"Yeah, kick that wannabe cold-ass out!"
Grumbling, the edgy-looking man stormed out of the venue, boos echoing behind him.
Some threw empty cans, others hurled rotten tomatoes.
"Ah, crap, gotta run!"
With his abyssal speed, he dodged the tomatoes and cans with ease, swiftly making his way out of the stadium.
Today was the running competition, with Speedsters from various cores coming to participate.
Although there were no entry bans on any specific type of core user, the venue staff generally disliked the abyssal core ones. Their stereotypical looks and unsocial behavior made them unapproachable and difficult to deal with.
Even if a complaint were filed against them, it was often more encouraged among them to face the punishment than to deal with the abyssal core players.
"They've gotta be kidding me! Corny me? I'm the coolest dude in the whole universe, and that's a fact."
He turned toward the grief addressal block, which was just a meter away from the main stadium.
With his abyssal speed, he could have reached there in seconds, but with the space compressed to prevent such actions, the corny man had to slowly move toward the Griefing officer.
"An edgy-runner is coming this way!"
A small lady with orange hair and brown skin, her eyes shaped like a dog's, a beastwoman she was, used her predator sight to spot him from afar.
"Yes, I can see. Why don't they just ban them permanently?" grunted her senior officer.
This man was tall, with spectacles perched on his nose. He looked more like a nerdy scholar than an officer.
Combing his jet-black hair into two parts, he clasped his hands, ready to greet the approaching man.
"Welcome to the Grievance Redressal Office, how may I assist you today?"
"Yes, help me! I've been disqualified from the competition simply because I used an abyssal core!"
The officer retained a smile, though his mind was spewing venom at the man before him.
'What do you mean by that? Of course, it's logical to discriminate against someone like you.'
"A logical and sensible person wouldn't do that. Don't worry, just fill out this complaint, and we will get back to you."
The officer turned to his assistant, who quickly went into the office and returned with a complaint form. Calling it a form felt misleading, it was practically a book.
After receiving it from his assistant, he handed it to the man. "Here's the complaint form. If you have any questions, you can ask my assistant."
The officer gestured toward her and said, "This is Sopia Mars."
The corny man extended his hand promptly, "Nice to meet you, Sopia. My name is Caligo Cordis."
Sopia shook his hand with a smile, "A pleasure to be at your service, Mr. Cordis."
Caligo placed his hand on the counter, the senior officer ready to create a barrier between them.
"Is there any way to bypass this form and complain directly to the tournament organizers?"
Sophia gave a faint smile and spoke softly, "No, Mr. Cordis."
"Seriously? This can't be filled until the tournament ends!"
"There has to be some other way."
Sopia maintained a courteous smile as she attended to the complainant, yet a trace of unease flickered across her expression, one she could not entirely conceal.
These subtle signs did not escape notice. The senior officer, watching from a distance, worried that her behavior might soon draw unwanted trouble, though he could not have guessed how wrong he was.
For the one Caligo observed, the fool mistook her strained politeness for affection.
The fool thought that she was flirting with him.
He slowly moved towards the table and started actually filling the form.
Both the senior officer and his assistant looked at each other, bewildered; they hadn't thought a person could be so lost in their own head.
Caligo read through the documents, noticing unnecessary details scribbled all over them.
"This is too much, to be honest. I'll be missing the tournament anyway," he muttered.
He paused, then walked back to the desk. "On second thought, I won't file the complaint, but there's a catch, you'll have to come watch the tournament with me."
With a smug expression, he declared his terms.
Fortunately, there was no one else around to hear what came next.
A sharp smack landed on his face, loud enough to make his ears ring.
"Bastard! What the hell did you just say?"
The strike came so suddenly and swiftly that he didn't even notice who hit him. Slowly, he turned his head toward his assailant, a man.
"What?!"
The officer roared.
"Get your freaky ass out of here!" He grabbed him by the collar and shoved him out of the office, ripping his shirt in the process.
"I have to take a bath," the officer muttered as he went inside.
Caligo lay on the street with a torn shirt, wondering what had just unfolded.
"What did I do?"
"You exist! That's why," a voice replied from his right.
It was a man with stark white hair and gray eyes, white lights shimmering behind his pupils. His tall, slender frame was majestic. Dressed in a pristine white tuxedo with a white hat perched atop his head, he exuded an angelic aura. He looked truly divine.
"It looks like a fever dream, Lux."
Lux chuckled softly, nodding as he gradually faded from sight.
Caligo turned his head to the right, hoping to catch another glimpse of Lux Aeterna of Eternal Light, but he was already gone.
"Quick as ever," Caligo grumbled.
He stood up, brushing the dust off his clothes, and headed toward the hotel he had booked. Though he couldn't compete, he could still watch the competition, which was why he hadn't left Guno City yet.
On his way, he encountered numerous participants of the annual Universal Speedster Competition. They ranged from humans to outright monstrous beings, some of whom had to be chained to prevent them from going on a rampage.
The only rule for participation was that contestants had to meet certain speed limits, allowing virtually anything to take part.