The strongest piece of evidence in favour of Aldritch’s humanity, distorted and rotten though it may be, was Barzai — the eidolon awoke within Krahe, twisting and turning in his formless state, not unlike a dog might do upon the leash when presented with fresh meat. Could a truly hollow psychopath be so tormented by the knowledge of his impending punishment as to entice the palate of an astral beast with a taste for the suffering of evildoers? In the end, the content of his character and whether he was or was not a psychopath didn’t matter. What he had done was undeniable. He was a corpse awaiting its burial — as were his co-conspirators.

  When it came to the interrogation of Radanov and Calvus, they proved themselves significantly less useful than Aldritch. They readily spilled the morbid details of their deeds, but unlike Aldritch, they lacked any knowledge whatsoever in regards to the aforementioned Helmeted Man or the comic artist. Unlike Aldritch, they had very much shut down, complying at every step of the way.

  Once all was said and done, Yazata wrapped each of their heads in her Black Bindings, causing them to fall unconscious. At that point, the witch-inquisitor glanced about the room, and it felt as though the outermost layer of her untouchable personage peeled off. Her aura of enigmatic untouchability remained, it just seemed as if she was no longer actively trying to exude it in order to intimidate the subjects of her interrogation. She quickly found what she was looking for — Aldritch’s surviving arm — and picked it up from across the room, once more using those black wraps of hers.

  “This is no graft I am familiar with. Certainly non-standard. May or may not be heretical, and may or may not contain further contingencies. I believe it would be best to send this to a forensic grafter for inspection. Do you take any issue with this suggestion, Blackhand?”

  Her instinct was to suggest having Firminus investigate it, but she was well aware that she couldn’t just default to him for things he was likely not well-suited to.

  “So long as the grafter can be readily contacted and you give me the means to contact them,” Krahe agreed.

  “Acceptable,” Yazata said. With a few gestures, she mummified the arm in the same manner as she had done to the perpetrators’ heads.

  “I am curious. Why did you answer so quickly?”

  “Because you called, and because it sounded as though you had a good reason to do so. That is all. I presume you intend to take the girl to a grafter you trust, yes? I shall take these miscreants into custody for the time being, unless you had other plans.”

  “She wanted to take his eyes out herself,” Krahe said, gesturing towards Aldritch.

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  A complicated expression came over Yazata.

  “I cannot say it would be better if she simply became a traumatized wreck… But this is not a good outcome either,” she said.

  “There is no good outcome to what took place here,” Krahe added.

  “A phrase far too true in regards to far too many incidents,” the Inquisitor sighed. “When you take her to your grafter, inform her that her request can be arranged as part of the executions. If she so wishes, she may even be the one to carry out the sentence. We can’t entirely undo what she has suffered, but this much — this much is within our power. I could sentence them right here and right now, but I believe if nothing else, she ought to be given the satisfaction of seeing them punished properly.”

  They left the Herebor household under the watchful eyes of the Red Hoods, taking the three unconscious perpetrators to be held in the short term at the nearby Seven Spokes shrine while Krahe carried Juno on her back, having commandeered one of the Red Hoods’ motorbikes. Yazata also provided Juno with a more proper article of clothing, a simple red robe emblazoned with the Seven Spokes sigil in white across the back and over the left breast. The motorbike was rather similar to the one Casus had provided some time ago, but quite a bit larger and far more powerful, although Krahe didn’t dare push it to any significant speed for Juno’s sake. They then visited Ogura, subjecting him to Yazata’s method of interrogation. He unsurprisingly didn’t know any more than Krahe had already extracted from him. Having handed off all four perpetrators to the witch-inquisitor, Krahe and Juno finally made for Firminus’ clinic.

  The ever-stressed grafter was waiting for her.

  “You could’ve just come for a normal checkup, you know,” he said accusingly.

  His anger only grew when Krahe handed Juno over into his care, but he didn’t voice it, knowing that though blind, the girl’s hearing was intact. He began manipulating the blue smoke of his cigarettes, entrapping it within cages of azure light to form words, carrying on a silent conversation with Krahe whilst reassuring Juno that she’d be alright all throughout the battery of examinations which he subjected her to. The girl cooperated with an unsettling degree of calm collectedness. Her physical state aside, anyone would find it difficult to believe why she was in that state.

  Finally, after around an hour and a half, after having given the girl a shower, the grafter had her drink a sedative tea. It was then that he and Krahe properly got to talking, with Firminus interrogating her on the details of the case while also performing the checkup which he had earlier accused her of avoiding.

  “This was the first case of the Crow and Raven agency? If I didn’t know any better, I would suspect you were cursed to only encounter the worst of the worst. Now harden your fist. Open. Keep it hardened. Close. Good, good flexibility… Alright release. Very good. What is your transmutation rate?”

  Krahe checked, and relayed the pertinent information.

  Current blood transmutation ratio: 100%

  Current tissue reinforcement ratio: 79%

  Current Black Blood reservoir: 318/340ml

  Current lymphocyte reservoir: 30/30%

  “Good, good. Even faster than I had hoped. I have a new batch of beetle-fruit for you to take home after this. The girl… I’ve seen worse, but that is not saying much given the state you were in. I can’t fix her all on my own, but rest assured that she will be well taken care of.”

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