At four in the morning, a thick black fog shrouded the academy.
The air was heavy with the scent of damp earth and a faint odor of blood, as if the entire academy were enclosed in an invisible cage.
From the North Building to the sports field, spiritual pressure surged suddenly, making each step feel like walking on shaky ground.
Kazama Rei stood in the center of the sports field, his fingers trembling slightly and his eyes fixed on the runes left by the ancient seal above the auditorium.
His heart pounded like a drum and his breath came in short, sharp bursts.
Just as his eyelids twitched slightly—
—a crack appeared.
It tore through the air like a saw, and black spiritual energy surged forth like a torrent, engulfing the night.
The surrounding light flickered, and the shadows of the trees on the sports field twisted into bizarre shapes as if about to leap from the ground and attack.
Students, members of the Night Walkers, and ordinary people imbued with spiritual energy were forced back by this force.
Some screamed, some fell, and some were overwhelmed by the shockwave. In the air, karmic imprints awakened like living beings—red and black light spots bursting from the students' bodies and crashing across the entire arena like an undercurrent.
Rei heard a familiar voice in his ear—not Mio's, not Hai's, but another version of his own: deep, cold, and carrying an irresistible pressure.
"The next scene is judgment."
These words struck him like lightning, directly in the heart.
Rei's pupils contracted slightly, and the red and black light of his "Eye of Judgment" flickered faintly as if about to explode.
He took a deep breath, feeling the entire world tremble in sync with him.
On the playground, students stumbled and screamed due to their spiritual pressure imbalance.
The Nightwalker Club members panicked but still struggled to maintain the barrier and resist the rampaging spiritual energy.
Kaito roared as he grabbed a lower-year student who was about to be sucked into the rift. "Grab onto me!" he yelled. Don't run!" Mio's forehead was sweating and the amulet in her hand felt like it was burning her skin. Still, she steadied her breathing, trying to stabilize her spiritual pressure with a spell.
The black energy from the rift spread across the playground as if alive, stretching out countless tentacles and trying to grasp every breath.
Rei's gaze suddenly locked—
Within the rift, blurry spirit figures danced and scattered like black feathers across the playground, bearing the weight of ancient sins.
Fragments of memories—the black ledger, the lost spirit seal, and the white raven fragments—flooded Rei's mind like a torrent, pressing down on him until he could hardly breathe.
Rei clenched his teeth, black and red light overflowing from his pupils. His hands trembled slightly.
His heart screamed:
"This isn't my fault, but I must bear it."
Then, a deep voice echoed from the depths of the rift—not from the spirits outside or the students' cries, but from the spiritual pressure itself.
"Rei, all of this is related to you."
He felt spiritual energy surge toward him like a tide, oppressing his will yet simultaneously drawing him in.
He wasn't passive, yet he couldn't control everything.
"What should I do?" Rei murmured, almost to himself.
At that instant, Yuuki Mio's voice rang out, clear yet penetrating.
"Rei, you must believe in yourself! Judgment isn't just destruction; it can be redemption too!"
Rei gritted his teeth, his eyes mingling with the black energy of the rift.
His hands felt as if they were grasping the weight of the entire playground. All the memories of sinful marks, spirit shadows, and the black ledger surged into his blood like mercury.
He finally understood—
He wasn't just a witness.
He was the core trigger, the key connecting the past and the future.
The rift widened further, the spiritual pressure surging to its limit. Students screamed, talismans burned, and the barrier shattered. Everyone struggled to survive.
A black-feathered spirit hovered around the cracks as if urging Li to look toward the erased history.
Li took a deep breath, and a black and red light exploded from the depths of his eyes. Amidst the chaos, he felt his true power for the first time.
The sound of the wind, the smell of blood, the spiritual pressure, and the mark of sin reminded him of something.