Downtown, Dragon Ridge City.

The walk back from Blue University usually took over twenty minutes by car.

But inside a run-down apartment complex, in Room 125, time was running out.

A loud ruckus was going on inside, but the neighboring tenants were very used to it. They knew that was where the Langleys lived, and they knew all about their terrible financial situation. Every day, one new loan shark or another would come with a group of thugs to tear up the place.

Today was no different...

Chrome’s father was quite an old man. It wasn’t a natural thing either. After all, this man was only 45, and yet he looked like he was in his 60s. He even had a bad back and a walking cane to boot.

His name was Bernard Langley.

He’d been a cleaner most of his life, so all that built up stress, plus the fact that his wife left him and the kids with a mountain of debt, would make pretty much anyone look like an old bag of bones.

Taking very sluggish steps, Bernard walked toward the group of men dressed in suits who looked like mafia.

"Please..."

Bernard begged, looking at the tall, brown-haired man in front of him.

"I just got back from a cleaning job. It doesn’t pay much, but I made about $30 today. If I add that to what I’ve been saving for you guys for the past six months, it totals up to a little over $5,000."

The tall man just yawned.

That’s Kingsley. He’s an enforcer for Big Mama, the crime boss that Bernard’s wife owed a huge sum after lying to said crime boss that she had a sports car worth $3 million and could afford to gamble with her and her gang.

In the last four years, Bernard had seen Kingsley more times than he’d seen his own wife.

Kingsley snapped his fingers.

"Bring the money."

"R-, Really?!"

Bernard happily brought out a small piece of cloth where he had wrapped the five grand and handed it over to Kingsley.

The enforcer looked at the wrinkled money with a face of worrying disgust.

PUI!

He spat right on Bernard’s face.

One of the other gang members frowned.

"Hey, that’s not right. You can’t embarrass the old man in front of his granddaughter."

The guy who spoke was a bald man named Jackson. It was almost as if only he could see the way a scared Lili hid behind her father’s legs, or maybe he was just the only one who cared.

Kingsley scoffed, glaring at Jackson.

"I can do whatever I want, shithead. And that’s the old fool’s daughter, not his granddaughter! But yeah, he really does look like an old fart!"

Kingsley quickly turned back and threw a sharp slap to Bernard’s face.

SMACK!

The force sent the old man straight to the floor.

"DADDY!" Lili cried out.

She rushed to her father’s side, going down on her knees to see if he was okay.

Bernard forced a weak smile and patted his daughter.

"It’s fine... Daddy’s fine, Lili."

This only made Kingsley angrier.

"Fine my ass! Let me fix that real quick!"

BAM! BAM! BAM!

Kingsley kicked the old man repeatedly in the chest until Bernard was coughing up blood.

"How dare you give me a measly five grand when your useless wife is owing over six million?!"

Kingsley shouted furiously.

"You must be stupid! You’re dead if you don’t provide the money, and it better be neat goddammit!"

Bernard held back his cries as the boots kept hitting his ribs. He tightly closed his eyes because he didn’t want his little daughter to see him crying.

Jackson was furious at this. But because the other gang members said nothing, he too decided to keep quiet. He was equally scared of Kingsley.

Lili couldn’t take it anymore. Getting mad, the little girl stepped right between the furious enforcer and her beat-up father.

She spread her small arms out wide.

"Stop hurt my Daddy already!"

"Get out of the way, brat!" Kingsley roared.

He shoved Lili so hard that she flew backward and hit her head against the tattered couch.

Bernard saw this, and a feeling of parental panic gave him the power to try and help her.

"LILI! ARE Y—"

But Kingsley kicked him hard in the face and sent him crashing back to the floor.

PANT... PANT...

Kingsley sighed, fixing his suit.

"Come on, old man. You’re making me look like the bad guy here, whereas we’re the ones who’ve been treated unfairly. Big Mama needs her money, and she needs it like yesterday, is that clear?"

He chuckled softly.

Bernard weakly nodded his head.

But even this got Kingsley mad.

He kicked him in the face again and shouted.

"I SAID IS THAT CLEAR?!"

A trembling Bernard quickly went on his knees.

"Yes, sir! Yes, sir!"

Kingsley shook his head mockingly.

"Honestly, what am I going to do now? I can’t go back to Big Mama with just five grand."

The old man nodded like an obedient dog.

This made Kingsley happy.

"He’s kinda like a dog, ain’t he guys?"

He looked back at his gang.

Most of them were already laughing like jackals.

Kingsley snapped his fingers at Bernard.

"Hey, old man. Bark like a dog for us, and we’ll leave you guys alone for today."

The old man looked at his little girl who was crying by the couch and knew what he had to do.

Hesitantly, he opened his mouth to bark.

But before a single left his lips—

BOOM!

The apartment door flew open like it’d been blown right off its hinges.

All of the gang members turned around and standing at the entrance was Chrome.

He’d run all the way from Blue University to this downtown apartment, making it in less than two minutes.

By car it’d take over fifteen minutes.

Chrome’s eyes swept the room. He looked at Lili, and then he looked at Bernard bleeding on the floor.

An anger was boiling in him.

"Grrr..."

Chrome grunted as his face darkened completely.

He rushed forward to help them, but Kingsley instantly held an arm out to block him.

"Hey, punk!" Kingsley sneered.

Suddenly, a powerful killing darkness began to seep out of Kingsley’s aura. Inside the shadows, numerous demonic red eyes opened up, twisting around scarily before glaring down at Chrome.

The room was soon drowned in darkness.

Kingsley gave Chrome a death glare.

"You walked in here without greeting your seniors. Are you a masochist? You got a death wish?"

The killing aura spiked fiercely and sharp fangs began growing out of the red eyes.

Bernard and Lili whimpered in fear.

Even the gang members took a step back, terrified.

But Chrome just stood there.

To him, it was nothing.

He gave Kingsley a cold, narrow-eyed glare.

"Move out of the way... senior."

Kingsley felt completely mocked. His face twisted.

"You’re dead meat—"

He didn’t even get the chance to finish his sentence or launch an attack.

Chrome completely out-thought his speed and gently rested a hand on Kingsley’s shoulder.

SHATTER!

The moment his hand touched the suit, the dark aura was eviscerated. It vanished into thin air. It was almost as if Kingsley himself wanted to attack, but his own powers were too terrified to try anything against this blonde-haired young man.

"What is this—"

"Senior..."

Chrome spoke coldly as he gave the frozen enforcer a friendly shoulder pat.

"...Don’t embarrass yourself."

He walked right past Kingsley without another glance and stepped over to Bernard and a crying Lili.

Chrome knelt down and his handsome face softened as he looked at his little sister.

"Lili, are you okay?"

Lili wiped her tears, trying to form a very strong face.

She puffed out her chest.

"Hmph! She’s super strong like big bro!"

Chrome couldn’t help but smile.

He reached out and gently patted her on the head.

"Hehe!" Lili giggled happily.

It’s good that she’s no longer scared.

Behind them, Kingsley watched the entire thing with a face of veins-popping rage.

To think this no-name blonde bastard just discarded him like total garbage! And in front of his gang too!

"You’re dead!"