Unaware of the turmoil he had caused, after ensuring that no one was following him, Amon quickly returned home. He was certain that by now, his wife would be worried about him, after all, it had been more than three hours since he left.
Taking a deep breath, he exhaled and stepped inside, putting a calm smile on his face.
The moment he stepped inside, Kayla turned to glance at him, worry flickering in her eyes.
Noticing that he was fine, she exhaled in relief and rushed up to him with the baby in her arms.
Little Ciara stared at Amon with wide eyes filled with curiosity.
Giving his wife a light kiss on the lips, Amon gently nudged the little infant, causing her to blink repeatedly.
"Sorry, it took a while," he apologized. "I had to handle something at work."
Kayla gave him a suspicious look and wrinkled her brows in confusion before asking, "I thought you were on a break?"
"Yeah, it's just something I had to do." Amon tried to shrug it off as he stepped inside calmly, his steps even as he tried not to give away any signs of his injuries.
Kayla gave Amon another suspicious look, her eyes flickering with doubt, but she ultimately decided not to dwell on the details of his departure.
Walking back to the piano stand, Amon sat down, lightly exhaled, and his fingers began moving rhythmically once more.
The beautiful, slightly melancholic tone filled the room, bringing warmth to the lovely family once more.
Looking at the current Amon, no one would believe he had just casually gone out and brutally slain two level 10 awakeners.
It was a drastic contrast to the ruthlessness Amon had displayed.
'Perhaps this is what being a father is all about…' Amon exhaled, a warm smile grazing his lips as he watched his wife and daughter in happy moods.
Excited giggles erupted from the little infant, and Kayla constantly teased her.
'I want those smiles to remain on their faces forever…'
…
Time moved exceedingly quickly… in the blink of an eye, more than a week had gone by since the previous incident.
Bang!
The head of a man exploded gruesomely, akin to a watermelon, splattering into the surroundings.
Casually, a man draped in a black coat, wearing a cute cat-face mask, wiped his hand clean before casually walking away.
Sirens blasted into the air as the armed awakened forces rushed in the direction of the murder.
Noticing this, the man with the cat-face mask quickly scaled through the buildings and vanished into the distant horizon.
A few minutes later, the sirens blasting through the surroundings grew louder and louder before two vehicles drove into view.
The vehicles screeched to a stop, and from the first one, three men along with a professionally dressed lady stepped out.
The moment their gazes landed on the gruesome sight, their expressions darkened, their eyes dropping slightly.
Toby, a young man beside the lady, wrinkled his brows and glanced around.
"It's the butcher again. Only he can be so brutal."
"Fuck!" the lady spat, slightly tugging at her hair in frustration. "This bastard just keeps making things worse for us. How haven't we caught him yet? This is the twentieth murder this week. All done by the same person!"
She turned to the three beside her.
"What good are you all if you can't catch one man?!"
"But… ma'am," one of them tried to interject.
"WHAT?" the lady cut through his words with a glare.
The man felt the words he was about to speak catch in his throat. Even so, he forced them out.
"It's… the butcher."
"So what if it's the butcher?" Glancing at him sharply, she clicked her tongue. "He is just one man!"
No longer bothering with them, she walked toward the three corpses littered in the alleyway.
Upon closer look, she recognized one of them. He was one of the three who had been convicted previously for dealing with illegal artifacts, which they had confiscated.
Shaking her head, she sighed and wore her gloves.
From the other vehicle, two men stepped out, dressed in suits.
They approached the lady, gloves already on their hands.
Reaching the location of the three corpses, they began examining the scene for clues.
"Found anything yet?" the first man, Loki, asked the lady, Joy.
Joy gave him a sidelong glance and clicked her tongue before shaking her head.
"No… no fingerprints. He is extremely thorough. Thankfully, this time we were able to recover the bodies before he did his signature move on them."
Loki nodded, his eyes flickering with contemplation.
"We'll have to take this to the higher authorities. This case is getting bigger than us. There's barely any crime being committed in this part of the city. Everyone is scared of the man wearing a cat mask suddenly killing them."
Although Joy knew that was the right decision, she still shook her head in reluctance.
"No, I will definitely catch him. I just need a single week! Just one week!"
Loki gave Joy a deep look. After some time, he exhaled and shook his head.
"Alright. Just one week is all you have. After that, I and my comrade are definitely reporting it to the superiors."
Joy's eyes flickered intensely as she nodded, clenching her fist tightly.
The masked man wasn't aware, but he had touched her lifeline.
Her dad. He usually committed fraud, and she had known for a long time but didn't do anything about it, because it was from such money that he was able to send her to school and take care of her and her siblings.
However…
Recalling the gruesome sight of her father's charred back, Joy felt cold sweat run down her spine along with an unprecedented hatred for the butcher.
'I must catch him no matter what!'
Turning toward the corpse, she tightened her fist until her knuckles turned white.
'This is the first time we've been able to recover the bodies. I can feel we're getting closer to the truth of his identity!'
Exhaling, she continued using her skill, biometric detection, to track for DNA traces.
…
Not minding the commotion he had caused, a young man with raven-black hair and lightly trimmed beards casually adjusted his shirt and knocked lightly on the door.
"Honey, I'm home."