The Price of Vigilance

[Unknown POV]

[24 hours ago...]

"Klick," the camera flashed, capturing the gruesome image before it.

'I've seen a lot of crime scenes, but this... what kind of sick person would treat a human life like this?' My shock was evident, and the Captain, who had been called in personally, noticed.

"You okay, Manu?" he asked, concerned for my well-being.

"To be honest, no, but I'll be fine, Captain. Don't worry... It's just, what kind of monster could have done such a thing? Not even leaving a single one alive—it's an affront to God."

"We have no leads currently, except for one. The initial forensic analysis of the bodies shows they were killed by a single individual, but even the forensic experts have never seen anything like this before."

"Yeah," I understood the captain's frustration, recalling the initial disbelief in the existence of the underground arena in Heilong-Jiang. "It's like their heads just suddenly 'exploded.'"

"Yes, but the team found no residue of gunpowder near the arena, other than within the pistols of the guards. But even those poor bastards weren't able to fire a shot before being killed."

"And then there's this..." The captain let out a sigh of defeat while pointing to a hanging body, showing signs of extensive torture before being killed. "No one deserves this..."

"Were you able to find anything about his identity?" I asked, noting the distress on the captain's face as he analyzed the scene once more.

"Yeah, we found this in his pocket," he answered, handing me an evidence bag. "A name tag, we believe."

Despite the growing disgust churning in the pit of my stomach, gnawing at me with each passing second, I decided to offer one final prayer before requesting a break. The air around me seemed thick with unease, but I closed my eyes and whispered my plea, hoping for a moment of respite from the oppressive atmosphere.

'Mr. Mitsuki, I hope you rest in peace.'

[Uncle Ikaria POV]

[In the near future...]

"Ding, dong!" The doorbell rang, informing the mansion's residents of guests.

'That's strange. I haven't been informed of any visitors by the security team outside.' I decided not to take any chances under the young master's instruction and followed the necessary protocol.

I tried to contact the team outside repeatedly while making my way to safety, but received no response. Despite my rising heart rate, I paid it no mind as I ran to the young master's room, the knocking on the door growing more intense by the second.

Just as I entered the secret base constructed within his closet, ensuring my safety, I heard a loud thud as the secured front door was breached.

Fortunately, the cameras the young master had recently installed inside the house were still working, despite my insistence that it went against his father's wishes.

'How can that be? Locating and destroying all of them would be impossible from the outside.' My question was answered when I saw the man leading the team of assailants into the house.

My heart dropped as I recognized his face from one of Miss Elizabeth's tales.

'No, it can't be him.' It was as if my worst nightmares had come to fruition.

I was unable to see the man for myself, only his right-hand man leading the charge. But even so, just the possibility that this man was hunting down members of the family was enough to initiate the worst-case scenario.

'I'm sorry, young Miss...' I made my way to a separate section of the safe house as the assailants ransacked the house, still in the main living room area.

I hovered over the big red button that required countless facial recognition tests to access, including a retinal scan. 'Really, young master, I don't know where you come up with these things...'

It was impressive, no doubt, considering the young master had accounted for such a scenario.

'Still, that doesn't make what I must do any easier...' I made the sign of the cross over my chest in forgiveness while pressing the button, lamenting the loss of the manor I had spent so long within.

"BOOM!!!!!!!!!!"

[Kuzan POV]

[Present Day]

Instead of answering my question, my opponent only gave me a smile in turn, as if admonishing my 'childish' behavior.

"You're no fun..." I let out my final wailings with a pout before the match officially began.

The man struck forth with a kick from the side, followed by a Seiken strike of all things, as if to catch me off guard with a simple Karate move.

The man was certainly qualified in a sense, his mastery of Kendo showing from the grace of his movements. The elegance of his moves, however, was overshadowed by the dance I was currently performing in front of him.

Sidestepping his kicks, dodging his fists—it was just too simple with my skill in [Ultra Instinct]. I would rather have ended the match much sooner with a simple blow to his face, but I thought it better to showcase my mastery of martial arts before I started my true carnage.

'Plus, I can't let the match get too bloodied now, can I? For their sake at least.' Although I had invited my family to watch my participation in the Raitai Tournament, I had done so out of necessity. That nagging feeling in my head just wouldn't go away until I invited them over to see.

Thus, I made a deal with them that they could only watch the first match, under the guise that I wouldn't be able to perform my best while being scrutinized in person for the rest of my matches.

For that exact reason, I was caught a bit off guard when I was unable to locate them in the audience stands, only finding Mr. Lander there to support me in person.

Still, despite my moment of worry, I was again able to dodge the man's left hook despite how close he had come to grazing my cheek.

'No way.' I was perplexed, unable to believe that I had just evaded the man's blow despite being clearly preoccupied just a moment ago.

It had been so simple, so easy to finally overcome that hurdle after so long.

'Why? There's no way this man is pushing me to such an extent, so why?'

My mind worked furiously, finally arriving at a simple conclusion: 'Maybe it's just luck.'

Sometimes, all it takes is a little spark to break through after a century of accumulation, like a container finally overflowing after years of building a solid foundation.

I decided to save my questions for after the match, growing increasingly bored of dodging his predictable blows. The longer I fought, the more apparent his lack of variety became. Whereas before I could respond with just a thought to his attacks, now it felt like I could almost predict them with certainty, moving to dodge his blows before he had even fully committed to his next move.

'So boring.'

Despite the many cheers of the spectators, any discerning eye could see my lack of enthusiasm to continue the match. Thus, I decided to end it with a simple "grazing" jab to his chin while sidestepping another one of his punches, knocking out the man with surgical precision.

"We have a winner!"

I exited the arena under the satisfied gazes of the audience, having given them their money's worth—a 'perfect' fight with a 'perfect' conclusion. A simple contest of martial arts, nothing more, nothing less.

I made my way to the audience stands from behind the arena to talk with Uncle Lander about the whereabouts of my family and 'friends'.

"Haha, Kuzan, don't worry, they just decided to skip this fight since they wanted to save their chance for viewing till your last one."

I was obviously confused by the man's statements, seemingly not on the same page. "What are you talking about?"

"Well, you see, apparently you said that they could only watch one of your matches, so they're waiting till it's the last one before you win it all. They all believe in you so much!"

The man seemed jubilant while I had an internal meltdown at having been outsmarted by the little munchkins. 'Damn it, it must have been Melissa's doing, twisting my words around like that...'

I continued to recall the earlier conversation, only to arrive at the conclusion that I had indeed never explicitly mentioned that it had to be my first match, just that they couldn't watch any more after their first match.

'Sigh, whatever. If it's carnage that you want to see, then don't blame me for scarring you little sis.'