Unsafe Word

(Moros, Aoi, Xana, Yamata no Mizuki)

She can hear them from here. The spirits are wailing. Given the size of the magistrate's mansion, the walk through the gardens will take her a couple of minutes. They'll be long ones.
She steps through the cordon and presses on beyond the gate.

The case is fresh, and so are the spirits. They haven't had much time to stabilize, they were weak, just a distraction. Otherwise, they'd have sent a proper exorcist squad. But no, this was a job for an Overseer.
Still, their grudge made her skin crawl.

The metaphysical hollering gets louder as she approaches the main building. With a quick gesture, Aoi sends the spirits hanging over the two bodies in front of the entrance to their final rest. The guards' heads had been crashed into the walls. The force sent pieces of skull and brain matter everywhere.
She carefully steps over the puddles of blood and makes her way inside.

There are more bodies here. They bear similar fatal injuries. Like rag dolls, carcasses with chunks torn off and crushed are strewn about the floor. It's as if a wild beast broke into the house and trampled everyone in its path.
She hears muffled whimpers from deeper inside. She heads there.

The doors to the master bedroom squeak loudly as she pushes them open. The sight inside makes her wince. The Magistrate is still alive, but the state his body is in... The only reason she recognizes him is due to the headwear as befitting his rank. It contrasts with the physique unbefitting of a human.
She takes a deep breath, and starts to examine it.

He's hanging from the canopy of his bed, tied to it using his grotesquely mangled limbs. She looks at what remained of his face. The first thing she notices is that there are no eyes. They weren't gouged out, they just aren't there, not even the eye sockets, just a flat surface. The nose and ears are similarly missing. The mouth is still there, releasing a gurgling noise from behind, a swollen tongue hanging limply outside of it. It stretches unnaturally long, down to the obese belly, which is split open. The guts are spilled all over the floor, but they seem oddly clean, with no haemorrhaging.
It's clearly a work of a sorcerer.

She can hear the raspy breathing slowing down and feel the spirit releasing. She can't stop it, but she can ease its passing. Guide it towards the Light, before it can turn malevolent. She initiates the ritual.
But in the back of her head, the questions rise.

Who'd do such a thing? And why? She has an idea, and the sight of the red sash neatly folded and resting on one of the pillows confirms it.
It's them again.

Moros lifted his hands from the girl and wiped off her blood.

"Don't worry. You'll get better soon. It won't even scar. And if it will, then I'll deal with it. Just hold out for now."

He stood up and walked over to the desk behind which an apothecary was mixing the medicine.

"Mizuki, I've done my part. I've set in the new eye and teeth. Now it's your turn."

"I could have done yours too, but it deed speed up the process. Xana wanted to see you." She answered without bothering to look at him as she finished measuring out the medicine.

"Thanks. I'll go to her right away."

She just waved him off as she made her way to the patient.

Moros left the room, and headed downstairs. Each floor below the ground was more opulent than the one before, until at last he reached the oversized gilded doors leading to the office of the leader of Redlight. He pushed them open and entered.

Inside, lounging on a couch upholstered with red silk, was his sister.

"How is she?"

"Alive. We can deal with the injuries, but it'll take some time for her to get together."

She clicked her tongue in displeasure.

"Another loss. A day in bed is a day she should spend earning."

"She will, once she gets better."

"I know that."

There was a sharpness in her voice that made him look down.

"You know what the worst part is? The magistrate had my permission to play rough with her. He offered to order his people to look away from our business this month. But you know what I've heard?"

He nodded in response. Their new warehouse got raided this morning.

"I think he's belittling us. And I don't like to be belittled. So, I'd like you to go and pay him a visit. A final one. I'm done playing with him. If he won't do his job, then I can at least put him to work by acting as a message to others."

"Understood."

"I don't want it done quietly. I want it to spark imagination. Be creative with it. Oh, and I want everyone else in his house to be disposed of, too."

"Is it really necessary?"

"I wouldn't ask you if it wasn't. Five slit throats speak louder than one."

"As you wish, sister."