As midnight fell, the academy fell deathly silent.
The corridor lights flickered as if breathing.
However, beneath the silence, a storm was brewing.
Hirai Shuji, the head of the Night Walker Club, was originally Li's most reliable ally.
However, under the dual pressure of the rift and the Mark of Sin, his beliefs wavered.
Two in the morning.
He snuck into the sealed area of the Spirit Realm. Layer after layer of spiritual energy protection crumbled behind him.
With each step, he felt as if he were walking on glass, which threatened to shatter at any moment.
While Li was patrolling the student council office,
Meanwhile, Hirai Shuji had already reached the second layer of the seal.
Hirai Shuji stretched out his hand, his palm glowing red.
The second seal began to disintegrate in a spiral—the runes locking the spirit world energy shattered one by one as if sliced open by invisible blades.
A strange aura began to permeate the air.
Spirit world energy surged forth, crashing through the entire academy like a tidal wave.
The student council's protective array instantly flashed a warning red light.
Bai Ya frowned, sensing the abnormal soul fluctuations immediately.
"Li, the second seal!" he whispered.
Li rushed toward the sealed area where the Sin Seal pulsated violently, as if warning and calling at the same time.
After the second seal collapsed, the spiritual pressure within the school surged instantly.
Red patterns appeared on the floor.
The walls appeared separated by a thin membrane with faint cracks emanating from them.
Students screamed as their soul projections began to tremble and intertwine.
Some students even saw their own shadows moving—not themselves.
"This...this is..." someone cried out.
Li felt the image of sin in her chest being pulled.
The boundary between spirit and human began to dissolve.
Everyone's inner fears and sins were amplified and made visible.
Li finally caught up with Hirai Shuji.
"What are you doing?!" Li roared.
Hirai looked up, his eyes glowing red and a strangely calm smile on his face.
"I'm just giving the academy a real choice.
"The order here has long been manipulated and corrupted by the judgments of your student council."
Letting the spirit world's energy surge forces everyone to confront the sins within their own hearts."
Li's palm stung, and the image of sin felt like it was tearing his chest apart.
"You don't understand!" Li roared.
"This isn't something you can control!" Hirai's smile deepened.
"Precisely because of this, it's all the more real."
With the second seal broken, campus order collapsed completely.
The student council's protective array could no longer fully contain the soul fluctuations.
In the classrooms, the students' soul projections were in complete chaos. They began to erode each other and manifest fear in one another.
The boundary between spirit and human became increasingly blurred, and some experienced fleeting hallucinations of soul swapping.
Li clenched his fist, and the black imprint of sin came alive, emitting a faint glow.
He whispered to himself,
"Is this war or judgment?"
The wind howled in the corridor, and the red light within the cracks slowly opened like eyes.
The second seal was broken, and the campus was no longer fully under human control.
Li and Bai Ya stood before the shattered seal.
Bai Ya frowned and whispered,
"If this spiritual energy continues to spread,
Not just the students, but the entire academy could be engulfed."
Li's gaze was grave; the black mark of sin pulsated slightly.
He realized that this time he faced not just a traitor and a misjudgment,
—but the entire academy and the entire spiritual realm in response to judgment.
The whisper from the crack echoed again:
"Suitable one... awaken."
Li looked up, his black eyes flashing.
The true climax of the third act had only just begun.
The second seal had been broken, and the campus no longer belonged to the realm of humanity.
Li stood before the shattered seal, the black mark of sin on his chest bulging slightly, like an invisible eye stirring.
After the Night Walker Club defected, spiritual energy surged.
Students in the classroom began experiencing supernatural shadows, their reflections intertwining with projected images of their souls.
Those whose sinful imprints had not yet been activated were instantly affected by the fluctuations; their inner fears manifested as hallucinations that turned into real attacks.
One student screamed as his shadow pushed him down, while his classmates could only watch in horror.
Through the "Eye of Judgment," Li saw that these phenomena were not just fear; rather, they were souls splitting under the influence of the cracks' whispers.
The cracks were not just observations.
They were actively shaping the academy,
Every soul was part of the judgment.
By the time Li caught up with Hirai Shuji, he was already standing at the center of the energy manipulation. Red lines flashed across his palm as if he were directly connected to the crack.
Hirai's tone was icy.
"Your student council has always wanted to control the judgment.
But order itself is a constraint."
He waved his hand in the air, and spiritual energy surged from the center of the seal like a river of blood.
Li felt the image of sin on his chest being pulled toward the crack, nearly consuming his consciousness.
"You want to be the center?" Hirai smiled sinisterly.
"I'll let the academy judge itself!"
The students' fears, sins, and fantasies were absorbed by the energy and transformed into living projections that began attacking their surroundings.
Li watched as layers of black mist spread from his eyes.
The campus lights flickered erratically and red cracks appeared on the floor of the corridors.
The line between spirit and human began to blur in the classrooms, dormitories, and playground.
Some students were trapped by projections and felt as if part of their soul were being "judged."
For the first time, Li realized that this was not just a simple act of defection or a mock trial.
This was the academy's response to judgment itself.
Bai Ya stood beside Li, his face grim.
"This time, it's not something he can control. This energy has begun to operate autonomously."
Li stood at the center of the chaos, his dark eyes gleaming coldly.
He saw every student in every corner of the academy as embodiments of fear, sin, and illusion.
If he didn't intervene, they would be consumed.
But if I do, my judgment will become the new center.
The mark of sin on his chest throbbed violently, and a whisper echoed from the depths:
"Bear...the suitor."
Li clenched his fist, realizing for the first time that he was no longer merely an observer.
He was not just a symbol of the judge.
—he was the executor of the judgment itself.
A crimson light spread throughout the academy from the crack, as if countless eyes were staring at everyone.
Shuji Hirai stood within it, smiling sinisterly.
Ryou's black eyes flickered and a thin crack appeared in the Mark of Sin on her chest.
A whisper echoed once more:
"Suitable one, rise.
Let the true judgment begin."
The academy no longer belonged to humanity.
The next step was for Ryou to take the initiative.
Otherwise, everything would spiral out of control.