And I find another problem in my current situation, Iâm unarmed and accompanied by two civilians, of course, police officers, but theyâre in danger here.
Ramond and Matteo are trained police officers who handle ordinary people, occasionally someone with a mental illness that makes them dangerous, but they are not trained to deal with the mystical.
To make matters worse, my weapon is at home because my stupid brain didn't anticipate a Yoguai in the morgue; it seems like a forced conflict situation to generate some interest.
While trapped in my thoughts, I feel a tug on my left shoulder, snapping me out of that state and directing my gaze to the causeâRamond.
âWhat are you distracted by? Weâre here to assess the bodies, not stand around in the street,â I probably prayed too loudly just now; I need to focus more.
âIâm sorry; Iâm thinking about a few things,â I say, looking back at the morgue.
I click my tongue and walk toward the door, where Matteo is already waiting, with Ramond following closely behind, complaining.
I could grab a pistol... no, modern weapons are useless against Yoguais, I need to use an older-style weapon.
The morgue door is unlocked, and the three of us enter the place, quickly arriving at the reception, which is empty.
Matteo sits on a bench, picking up a newspaper available there to read, while Ramond leans on the counter, pressing the bell, irritated.
For my part, I immediately go to the entrance bathroom, I need to improvise a weapon.
Upon entering the bathroom, I close the door and lock it, then I look at the available items.
A half-full trash can, some rolls of toilet paper, a bottle of soap, a bar of soap, and lastly, dental floss.
Toilet paper or dental floss; those are my two options. I can summon Proverbs 5:22 or Ezekiel 3:25, the sound of someone pounding on the door behind me pulls me from my thoughts.
âSomethingâs wrong around here; get out fast,â Ramondâs voice is nervous; the receptionist must not have shown upâprobably dead too.
I grab the dental floss tray and stash it in my jacket pocket, unlock the door, and step out of the bathroom, facing Ramond.
âA woman shouldnât be rushed in the bathroom, Officer,â I say, feeling foolish, Ramondâs expression shows his urge to curse.
Matteo is at the reception, his gun drawn in his right hand, a Beretta APX.
Ignoring Ramondâs complaints, who starts walking toward the door separating the bodies from the reception, I take my phone out of my pocket and use it to send a message to Seth.
Yoguai in the morgue, be careful out there, I put the phone away and hold the dental floss tray in my pocket.
I watch as Ramond opens the door, leading to a short corridor with a door at the end; he enters first, with me following closely behind and Matteo bringing up the rear, his gun pointed backward in case of an ambush.
Covering the flanks without even being ordered, huh? I underestimate this kid, I glance to both sides of the corridor, trying to analyze the details I canât see in Jeremielâs dream.
First of all, a large corridor with white walls and floor, normal for places like this, is also filled with small cabinets for storing smaller equipment, like scalpels, gauze, and masks.
There are also two sinks, one on each side, with soap, alcohol, and detergent in plain sight.
I could grab a scalpel or a bottle of alcohol, much more useful than dental floss.
Unfortunately, I donât see a scalpel visible; I would have to open the drawers to search for one, and that would be strange, just like grabbing a bottle of alcohol.
Damn luck.
We reach the door, and Ramond orders us to stop walking.
As far as I remember, Iâm his superior in this applied illusion...
Ramond carefully opens the door, the mouth of his gun going through the door first instead of his body, for safety in case he gets attacked or shot at.
The door opens without any problems, no attack, just the putrid odor of the corpses invading our noses, along with an unfortunate sight.
In the middle of the floor, I find the corpse of the coroner, or at least what is left of the body.
First, the head is nowhere to be seen; I can only see the severed neck, blood oozing, along with visible flesh and bones.
Second, the legs are mangled, one of them twisted 180 degrees, the knee pointing upward while the bone protrudes, piercing through the flesh, while the other leg is blown apart, the femur bone ripped out, flesh opened with blood forming a pool inside.
Finally, the chest of the body is open, most of the organs scattered along with a pool of blood. I can identify a bit of large intestine, a lung, a kidney, and a liver; the rest is too damaged to be identified from afar.
I push Ramond aside, who stands paralyzed, staring in horror at the scene before our eyes. Out of the corner of my eye, I can hear Matteo covering his mouth and holding back vomit.
âFocus; we donât know if the perpetrator is still here,â I grip the dental floss tray in my pocket.
âAs for the wicked, his iniquities will trap him, and he shall be held with the cords of his sin,â I slowly whisper the prayer as I approach the corpse, looking around.
There are two steel stretchers in the area, one beside the other; the one on the left has a woman with a gaping wound in her stomach, and I can feel saliva sliding down my throat.
The other stretcher, which should contain the skinned man, is empty, why?
I crouch next to the body, with Ramond arriving right after while Matteo stands guard at the door.
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What terrible luck, due to the lack of a head, identifying the person will be difficult. Unlike Assan, I canât see the last moments of a dead person; only Gargoyles in the Church have that ability.
Once again, I focus too much on the mystical and forget the mundane. Ramond, beside me, grips one of the corpse's hands, looking at it sadly.
âShe only had two years left until retirement, poor Saraâ¦â I stand up and step away from the body, allowing Ramond to have his moment.
Itâs still early, hopefully, the attendant isnât on duty, I approach the steel stretchers, examining them carefully.
There is a trail of blood from the stretcher to the body; the attack must have happened there.
The female stretcher is untouched, while the body has a scalpel fallen on it, with some blood leading toward the waist. The coroner was attacked from behind and began to move left to escape.
Turning to the stretcher, I see it has been pushed in the opposite direction from mine, pushed back by something that should have been on the stretcher.
Did the body become the Yoguai, or is the Yoguai hosting it? I grab my cross and take it from around my neck, then place it on the stretcher, moving it back and forth.
A blue smoke rises from the stretcher, floating toward the cross and being absorbed by it, freeing the stretcher from the traces of the Yoguai.
Blue is possession, the wizard must have planted it as a trap, but the being acted too soon, Despite the situation, I canât help but smile. If the Yoguai acted at the wrong time, it means the wizard doesnât have much control over them, perhaps I can use this to my advantage.
I look back at the corpse, Ramond has already stepped away and is assessing the other side of the room, so I take a look to see if I can find anything more.
As I reach the corpse, I first notice some red footprints leading to the back, shaped like eagleâs feet.
I choose to check this later and do the same thing I did on the stretcher, moving the cross over the mangled body, searching for any traces of magic on it.
There are no traces of magic on the external wounds; the body was torn apart by a sharp blade with no magic involved, the internal damage and organs were inflicted by claws.
I feel the cross start to vibrate as I pass near the lung area, i store the cross inside my clothing and return to the previous corridor to grab some gloves.
I pass by Matteo, who is still keeping watch, having already recovered from the shock of the scene, and search for gloves and a protection outfit.
I go back to the corpse, now wearing gloves and a protective garment, and crouch to the left of the body.
âRamond, I need light here,â I say. Ramond approaches, taking the flashlight from his coat and illuminating the desired part of the body.
I shove my hands inside the mangled chest, taking advantage of the lack of lungs to explore the body, with the gloves and garment keeping me from getting stained with blood.
After a few minutes of examining the body, I find the diaphragm, gallbladder, and stomach, but no sign of the spleen. I withdraw my hands from inside the body, followed by the gloves and protective garment.
The Yoguai stole the spleen, an organ of Neptune; it must have hidden the head so I wouldnât identify the wizardâs mark.
Where is that damned thing...
âWhat did you find?â I meet Ramondâs gaze upon hearing the question.
âThe damage to the body isnât just an act of madness; the spleen was brutally extracted. Iâm sorry.â
âWhy would someone...?â
âOrgan trafficking, cannibalism, fetish; endless possibilities.â I canât say itâs a wizard trying to summon a demon.
âReturn to the precinct, inform them of what happened, and declare a citywide alert. I will investigate the rest,â Ramond and Matteo agree, especially Matteo, eager to get out of there.
Now, where are you, you little shit? The most annoying part of hunting a Yoguai is always finding them; those bastards are great at hiding, especially when the Yoguai is smart, which hopefully isnât the case here.
To begin with, this Yoguai leaft paw prints, and it also left traces of possession magic; to make so many mistakes, it must be a young Yoguai trying to prove itself, or a trap.
Regardless of which it is, I have to kill it, I open my phone again and send a message to another contact, informing them of the situation and summoning a cleanup crew, after that, I put my phone away and head toward the back of the morgue.
The back consists of a large storage area for equipment, machines for more specific evaluations, first aid equipment, and an immense quantity of storage boxes for gauze, scalpels, clothing, gloves, and masks.
The place seems perfectly normal, if it werenât for a hole in the wall leading to the alley behind the morgue, with a wrecked X-ray machine on the ground outside.
I cautiously approach the hole, activating the power of the prayer to hunt the wolf, my vision changes; all colors disappear from my sight, with the exception of a trail of blue energy in the air.
The trail is the residual energy from the Yoguaiâs spell, and the cross allows me to use it as a sort of GPS to follow the creature.
Obviously, the trail leads out to the alley and curves to the right. I carefully cross through the hole to reach the alley without making noise and attracting the enemy.
As I look to the right, the wolf-like creature is facing away, looking up while a blue and yellow bird flies upward, a blue-forehead canary, holding a piece of meat in its claws.
How do I know this? Wizards often have familiars from their homeland, and being able to identify them is important for understanding the target; thatâs one use of the memory prayer.
I take the dental floss tray out of my pocket and pull the floss out. The floss emits a faint yellow glow and grows longer, becoming something akin to a whip.
The toilet paper would be more durable, but the floss is faster.
I walk carefully to the center of the alley, preparing to attack, raising the floss overhead and letting it fall over my back, my wrist lowering to follow the weapon and prepare the thrust.
The tray transforms into a handle, growing in size in my hand, confirming that the weapon is ready. I lunge at the Yoguai in a surge of motion.
The creature quickly turns upon hearing the sound, moving its sword in front of its body to defend against the initial attack, using its right arm, but itâs already too late.
With a downward motion, I release the whip, the sound of a crack echoing through the air as the tip of the weapon strikes the creatureâs armed arm, severing it upon contact, as if it had been hit by a powerful sword.
The creature canât even react to the next attack; it merely stares at its fallen arm as I adjust the weapon and execute a subsequent horizontal attack upward, another crack resounding, the sound of the weapon breaking the sound barrier.
The whip strikes the creature from its right thigh and rises to its left shoulder in an instant, splitting its body in half.
The two halves of the creature fall to the ground in opposite directions, but itâs still alive; from a distance, I can see its legs transforming, all the fur disappearing, the paws turning into human feet, completely skinless, revealing muscles, tendons, and tissue.
I approach the upper part of the creature, which I crouch down while holding the improvised weapon, the creature moaning in pain.
âKnow something cool about whips? The tip can break the sound barrier when used correctly. Now imagine one done through a prayer and strengthened against wolves like you,â my smile is so mocking that I donât even need a mirror to know it.
The creature raises its head, growling at me.
âCan you talk? If you answer everything I want, Iâll let you live, okay?â Itâs not like I can extinguish a Yoguai; I can only send it back to Yama temporarily.
The creature doesnât respond with words but shakes its head in denial.
âYou donât speak; what a shame...â I stand up, frustrated, then I release the whip and take the lighter out of my pocket.
âBlessed Archangel Michael, defend us in this hour of conflict.â A golden light surrounds the lighter.
âBe our safeguard against the wickedness and snares of the devil, and may you, Prince of the heavenly host, by the power of God, cast Satan down to the depths of hell and with him the other evil spirits.â The creature begins to thrash in fear, trying to rise with its arm, but the flames from the lighter move and become bindings.
âWho roam the earth and bring ruin to souls. Amen,â the flame from the lighter grows larger, becoming a bonfire that reduces the Yoguai to ashes, just like the skinless legs nearby; the creature screams in pain and agony, the smell of its burning flesh invading my nostrils as I watch the scene.
Ironic... the flames extinguish after a while, leaving only dust where the Yoguai once existed. I sit on a nearby box, putting away the lighter and taking out my phone.
Upon opening my phone, I notice two messages. The first is a confirmation from the cleanup team; the second is a message from Seth.
We found three Yoguais. I managed to capture two of them, but the third escaped.
What a hassle; I wonât be able to brag.
I send a message informing that the cleanup team is coming to the morgue and turn off my phone, then return inside the morgue, heading to wait in the reception area.