"I'm back, Papai (Daddy)."
Celso stood at the doorway looking inside the room. The room itself was large but had a cosy vibe with pictures of him and his sister, along with wedding photos of his parents. Inside the room, a man sat on a bed. His skin was tanned and rough, which seemed to be the result of years of staying in the sun for long periods. His beard was bushy but well-kept. His face was stained by years of hardship, but he still appeared dashing with his fuzzy black hair tied in a ponytail.
"Welcome back, Celso."
The man stood up and a clang could be heard. Celso kneeled and closed his eyes. His father lifted his leg and kicked Celso so hard his body flew out of the room and hit the wall. As he brought his foot down, a metallic prosthetic leg peeked from out of his pants.
"I appreciate you deactivating your ability to make me hit you properly."
Celso slowly got to his feet.
"I deserve it, after all."
He dusted himself off before looking at the wall he had hit.
"Luckily, it's not damaged."
"Don't underestimate the fortitude of the walls built for the rich."
His father sat back on the bed while Celso re-entered the room.
"Do you know why I hit you?"
"Because I stole your car?"
His father shook his head.
"It's not the first time you've done something like that and it probably won't be the last."
He clenched his fists so hard they trembled.
"It's because you risked your life for us without caring about how we would feel seeing you in danger!"
"......."
He slapped his knee.
"And what makes it worse is my failure to provide for my family drove you to do it!"
He shook his leg and clangs could be heard.
"A parent whose incompetence forced their child to give up their life for them is nothing but a failure!"
Celso said nothing and just watched his father grit his teeth in silence. After some time had passed, Celso opened his mouth.
"A failure of a parent is the last thing I'd call you."
His father looked up.
"After all, you were able to stir a heartless monster like me on the right path."
Five years ago. Barga, Portugal.
"Ah~!"
An over-exaggerated sigh came from an alley. This sigh came from a teenage boy. He sat with a bored expression as he rested his head in his hands.
"This just doesn't hit the same anymore."
He looked down at the stack of bodies he was sitting on and sighed again.
"It's no fun fighting kids my age anymore."
He stood up and groans reached his ears. He walked off the pile and turned around to face his victims. He grabbed the nearest one and lifted him off the ground.
"Hey, where's your leader? Maybe he'll give me some excitement."
The victim pointed at the wall where a burly teen was half embedded in the building.
"Seriously? Isn't he the first one I took out?"
He threw his victim to the side and facepalmed.
"Come on, man. If you're gonna lead a gang, you have to be strong....Wait, that's it."
A smile appeared on his face.
"Wake up, you good-for-nothings!"
His voice was overflowing with excitement as he declared—
"I, Celso Araujo, will be your new leader!"
He burst out laughing.
"Why didn't I do this earlier? I can just take everything over!"
He cracked his fists.
"Alright, let's go around destroying rival gangs."
With such a casual tone, Celso became a gang leader on a whim. Despite that, he was anything but casual when it came to destroying and taking over gangs ran by teens his age group. He quickly made a name as the Young Sovereign of Braga.
"What the hell are you doing?!"
The Young Sovereign, Celso, was slapped across the face by his fuming mother. She held his collar with trembling hands.
"You've always been the violent type, but I could get by because you were targeting bullies and troublemakers, I thought you had a strong sense of justice deep down....But you becoming a gang leader?!"
She lifted her hand to hit him again.
"Mamae, I know you're angry."
He caught her hand before she could hit him.
"However, a slap to the face is the greatest sign of disrespect."
He brought his face closer to hers.
"And I don't like being disrespected."
His mother stared blankly at him for a while before slapping him with her free hand.
"Who are you mouthing off to?! Do you want me to end your life now?! I'll do it! I'll kill you and then kill myself!"
His mother rained down an onslaught of blows that Celso had no choice but to defend by curling up in a ball.
"Idiot, why did you piss off Mae even more?"
His sister watched from the side with a smirk on her face.
"Wait until your father gets here!"
After taking out her anger on her son, Martha left huffing. Celso lay on the ground writhing in pain. His sister stood over him.
"Just so you know, you deserved that."
She left him while laughing.
"Dammit."
Celso struggled to his feet.
"I was just trying to intimidate her so she would back off....She didn't have to go so hard."
He sat on the ground with a frown.
"Wait until he comes home, huh?"
He mumbled before lying on the ground, staring at the ceiling. He did this for hours until a shadow cast over him. He looked up and his father was looking down on him.
"I'm surprised. I thought you would've run away by now."
His father sat on a chair with a small groan. Celso sat up and began observing his father. His face was stained with exhaustion, his clothes were dirty, and his hair was ragged and unkept.
"What? Why are you looking at me so intensely?"
"I was just thinking, did you enjoy your job?"
"Being a construction worker? No. Since I dropped out of high school, I'm not qualified to be promoted and having super strength means I do most of the physical labour. However, it puts a roof over our heads and food on the table."
Celso frowned, seeing this, his father did the same.
"Why did you ask?"
"Why don't you use your strength to make money, a lot more money?"
"....Do you mean like breaking the law?"
Celso nodded.
"You're not a True Superhuman like me, so you don't have powers, but you're still a Pseudo-Superhuman so you have the basic abilities like Super strength and regeneration. You're a walking weapon and yet—"
"And yet I'm working an honest living?"
His father stood up.
"Honest? I've met your boss. That bastard is far from honest."
Celso also stood up.
"He takes all the money your hard work makes and gives you scraps like a dog. Is that an honest way of living? If so, I'll live a grimy and dirty life where I'll never need to bow to someone lesser than me for money."
The two stood face to face.
"Celso, if you do that, you'll regret it. That path only suits sinister bastards like my piece of shit boss. Despite what you think, you're a pure soul."
"Hundreds of thugs in casts would say otherwise."
Celso pushed past his father and moved towards the exit.
"I waited here for you because I wanted to make sure I was doing what's best."
He stopped and looked back at his father.
"After seeing your sad state from your honest work, I'm certain."
He opened the door.
"Using force is the right way to move up in life."
"Where are you going?"
"I'm moving out. Your wife was upset about my new lifestyle and I don't want you to waste your hard-earned money on a lowlife like me."
His father sighed.
"Stop being dramatic. I know you; you probably became a gangster on whim without much thought because you're bored. There's no need to escalate the situation like this. It's unnatural and idiotic."
Celso smirked.
"Didn't you know, Ruben? I'm only good at fighting and nothing else. So I won't waste my time trying to think too hard and just swing my fists until things go my way."
"Calling your father by his given name?"
Ruben returned the smirk.
"Trying to seem tough, Kid?"
"I'm just making the status of our relationship known."
Celso stepped through the door.
"Take care of Fatima. Unlike me, she actually has promise."
He left, closing the door behind him. Ruben shook his head and sighed.
"Seriously, you're truly my son. You're as stupid as your father."
Celso had left home at the tender age of 15 and became a full-fledged gang leader.
"Boss, the Cancelo Boys have decided to rebel!"
Several months into being a gang leader, one of Celso's subordinates burst into his hideout shouting. Celso was in the middle of an online game and continued to play without saying anything.
"Boss? Did you hear what I—"
"I'm in a Ranked Match."
Celso cut them off without looking at them.
"Match? Boss, this is—"
"Fuck!"
Celso slammed his fist on his desk.
"That motherfucker must be cheating because there's no way!"
He clicked his tongue and stood up. His sharp gaze landed on his lackey, which caused them to flinch.
"Who did you say rebelled?"
"T-The Cancelo Boys! They said they're leaving the gang and joining the Guimarães Syndicate!"
".....Who are the Cancelo Boys?"
"Huh?"
Celso and his lackey looked at each other in silence for nearly a minute before the lackey spoke up.
"You don't remember them? They're the first gang you took over."
"Oh, so that's their name?"
"....."
"So, who's the Guimarães Syndicate?"
The lackey's jaw hit the floor.
"Boss, haven't you been paying attention to the underworld news?"
He took out a magazine.
"There's even a weekly subscription for the latest info on Portugal's crime world."
"Seriously?"
He took the magazine.
"Wow, they're pretty casual about criminal life and shit."
He started skipping through the magazine with curious eyes.
"Boss, what are you going to do about the Cancelo Boys?"
"Just leave them be."
"Huh? Are you sure? Won't this look bad on you? People will say you're weak for allowing it."
"Don't really care about that stuff."
Celso flexed his biceps.
"If they have a problem, they can come talk to me."
"....Okay, boss."
Over the next couple of weeks, more of Celso's subordinates left to join rival gangs in other towns and cities around Braga. It had reached a point even he couldn't ignore. Especially because it affected the money he was receiving.
"Those unloyal bastards."
Celso gathered the remaining members of his gang and started to hunt the deserters. He went to Guimarães and attacked the Guimarães Syndicate that started this mess.
"Destroy those fuckers!"
He roared as he charged into their bases, destroying them one after the other. Even as a teen, Celso was a force. He blew away everything that stood in his path, like a rampaging hurricane. It didn't take long before Guimarães was plunged into chaos.
"Wait, are you insane?!"
Three days into his assault, he held the boss of the Guimarães Syndicate by the throat. A middle-aged man was being dangled off the roof by someone young enough to be his son.
"Do you realise what you've done?"
"Return the disrespect I received."
Celso spoke with an uninterested tone.
"Disrespect? Kid, you just attacked a real gang, not that social club of brats you run! You've entered the underwo—"
Celso dropped him without listening to what he was saying. The boss crashed into a car below, alive but severely damaged.
"I don't have time to listen to your cliche loser monologue."
He jumped down and landed next to the car.
"Teenagers? Adults? Age doesn't matter in the world of violence."
He clenched his fist.
"All that matters is strength."
He turned to one of the lackeys.
"How's that? Did I sound cool?"
"Y-Yeah. Really cool, Boss."
Celso ignored his lackey's awkwardness and laughed loudly. Afterwards, he robbed the Guimarães Syndicate's resources and returned to Braga with the traitors.
However, this was the beginning of his troubles.
"Where are they?!"
Roaring in the burning remains of his childhood home, Celso was slamming his fist repeatedly in the face of a man. Around him were dozens of disfigured thugs that were being slowly approached by the flames reflecting Celso's anger.
"I said, where are they?!"
He picked up the man and pushed his back into the flames. The mouth opened his mouth to scream, but it was plugged by Celso's fist. The man's very soul trembled as he locked eyes with the demon before him.
"Where is my family?!"