During the lunch break, the school bulletin board was suddenly updated.
Students initially just glanced at it as they passed by. The next second, however, the entire corridor erupted into chaos.
'Wait a minute, no way! Is this club still around?"
Wasn't the Spirit Summoning Research Club banned ten years ago?"
'How did it come back? Who approved it?'
Discussions, panic and confusion spread like wildfire.
The Night Walker Club was notified immediately.
Jinguji Hai simply gave a cold order:
'Rei and Mio, you two go and investigate immediately. The rest of you, seal off the entire clubhouse.'
Kazama Rei and Mio Yuuki walked through the dimly lit building of the club.
The deeper they went, the heavier the air became.
Mio stared at the tablet in her hand. 'The official club roster has definitely been updated.' The system shows that the Summoning Research Society has been 'reactivated'. It's not an error; it's as if someone has gained administrative access and opened it manually.'
Rei frowned. 'Even the Nightwalker Club doesn't have the permissions to alter the club roster privately. Who could do that?'
Mio replied softly: 'Unless... it's someone of a higher level.'
A sense of unease rose in both their hearts simultaneously.
They stopped at the deepest point: Room 302. The door was cracked and mottled, as if it had survived a fire or been warped by some force.
Mio gripped the handle and took a deep breath. 'I really don't like this feeling,' she said.
Rei pushed open the door.
The scene behind the door resembled the ruins of a ritual.
The room was pitch black and devoid of any items you would typically find in a club room.
The tables and chairs had been moved to the corner.
In the centre stood a rough, circular arrangement of chalk lines, crooked yet exuding a strange sense of oppression.
The walls were covered in talismans, all of which were upside down, with the backs facing outwards as if deliberately preventing the release of power and sealing something away.
Mio gasped. 'This isn't something an ordinary student would do...'
Rei silently walked to the centre.
The chalk array was still warm.
'Something must have happened here no more than two hours ago.'
Rei raised his hand and felt the lingering sinful energy in the centre of the array dissipate.
'And someone was taken away.'
Six student IDs lay at the very centre of the array.
The eyes in all six photos had been obscured with black ink.
The names had been scraped off, leaving only bloodstains.
Mio stared, her fingers trembling slightly. 'This... this ritual isn't summoning spirits; it's a sacrifice.'
Li's eyes darkened. 'Six former members of the "Spirit Summoning Research Society", all of whom have gone missing.'
'But why now?' Mio murmured.
Before she could finish, a cold wind swept through the classroom.
All the upside-down talismans fell to the ground with a thud.
The classroom seemed to be suddenly released.
Li's eyes instantly turned cold.
'Someone's waiting for us outside.'
His tone was like that of someone forced to draw a sword.
The next second, the chalk lines in the centre of the array began to float on their own.
It was as if they were being redrawn by an unseen hand.
The lines rapidly pieced together a symbol.
Li stood at the front, feeling as if something was pulling at his chest. 'Rei!' Mio cried out. 'You can't get too close! It's resonating with you!'
The instant the chalk array was complete, a folded letter silently 'fell' in the centre of the circle.
No, it was placed.
Rei reached out and picked it up. The paper was rough, as if torn from an old student file.
He opened it.
Only two words were written on it:
'He has awakened.'
Mio's face instantly turned deathly pale. 'Rei, this isn't a warning. This is a notification.'
Rei gripped the letter tightly, feeling something gently tapping deep within his heart.
It was as if it were saying:
'You should wake up, too.'
Suddenly, footsteps echoed from the end of the corridor.
They were irregular and dragging, as if someone was walking with a contorted body.
Li reflexively turned his head, his pupils narrowing.
'Mio, step back.'
Mio instantly pressed against the wall, her hand on her talisman.
A shadow appeared at the end of the corridor.
Not human.
It was like a twisted shape torn from the wall, its form strikingly similar to the overlapping silhouettes of six people.
Six faces, six postures, but only one hoarse, incoherent voice.
'Not... enough...'
Li's hand trembled slightly.
It wasn't fear, but some kind of instinctive resonance related to sin.
Mio's pupils dilated. 'Are those the six missing people?!'
The shadow took a step forward and the entire corridor froze instantly.
The multiple shadows looked at Li.
As if 'recognising' him.
'...The Key...or...'
Mio gasped. 'What did it call you?!'
Rei pursed his lips. 'I heard it. It said... The Key.'
The shadow wriggled again, as if trying to move closer.
Rei took a step forward and black markings instantly appeared on his arm.
But the instant he prepared to activate his spiritual power—
—the shadow was forcibly pulled away, as if by a higher power from afar. It twisted into a black crack and vanished without a trace.
Only a chilling afterimage of spiritual pressure remained.
Mio slumped against the wall. 'Six people fused into one...'
Rei looked at the letter. 'He has awakened.'
Mio asked softly, "Who exactly is 'he'?"
Rei didn't answer.
He instinctively knew that it wasn't the six students calling out.
It was a being that had long slumbered, sealed deep within the academy.
conveying a single message to him:
"Come quickly."