The rampage began at 5:30 am.
Before dawn, a thick fog had engulfed the entire academy, leaving only the flickering streetlights, as if they were being choked.
When the Night Stalker Club assembled for an emergency drill,
A massive crater, torn open by spiritual pressure, had appeared in the centre of the playground.
Inside lay a high-ranking vengeful spirit, completely out of control — its form resembling a human, but twisted like a worm and emitting piercing screams.
Three lower-year patrol members were already kneeling under its weight, gasping for breath.
'Damn! This one's A-rank or higher, right?!' Kaito was sweating profusely.
Mio's hand trembled as he held the talisman. 'Its spiritual pressure... it's strange. It's as if it's been "infected".'
Everyone else was still preparing when one person stepped forward:
Kazama Rei.
He walked slowly,
as if the spiritual pressure didn't weigh him down at all.
—or as if this pressure was nothing to him.
The vengeful spirit noticed him instantly.
The next second—
— it fled. The entire Night Stalker Club froze.
'Brother, is it afraid of you?' Kaito's jaw nearly dropped.
The vengeful spirit twisted its entire body backwards, as though it were an insect being stepped on.
Just a moment ago, it had been rampaging.
Now, however, it looked as though it had spotted a much larger predator.
But Rei's expression wasn't good.
It wasn't just the vengeful spirit.
The other 'sinful auras' in the mist also retreated simultaneously.
Like a herd of unseen beasts,
avoiding the same natural ruler.
Mio's forehead was covered in cold sweat. 'Rei, your aura is a bit off...'
But Rei didn't care.
The vengeful spirit suddenly attacked the three patrolmen who had been pinned down.
Without thinking, Rei charged forward.
The next second, the vengeful spirit's body was brought to an instant stop.
Not by physical force.
Nor by magic.
But by some unseen, viscous, pitch-black 'sin' — like black chains shooting up from the ground and binding the spirit completely in mid-air.
The vengeful spirit was forcibly compressed, and the sound of bones cracking echoed out.
Kaitō's voice cracked instantly: 'Holy crap—who can stop this?!'
Mio was stunned speechless. 'This isn't ordinary sin... this is a completely different level...'
Rei realised what he was doing, wanting to stop but being unable to.
The chains of sin tightened more and more as if he wasn't controlling them but rather the sinful energy itself was 'sentencing' him.
His heart began to pound rapidly and painfully.
His vision suddenly turned dark red.
His breathing became unnatural.
Then his pupils changed.
In an instant, it felt as if the air had been sucked out of the room.
Everyone in the nightclub knelt down simultaneously.
Not voluntarily.
They were forced to.
It was instinct.
It was fear.
When Jinguji Hai arrived, the first thing he saw was Rei standing in the mist.
His pupils were split into shapes that couldn't possibly belong to this world.
like the outline of scales of judgement.
like an abyss that could see through all sin.
Like the eyes of judgement described in ancient texts.
The vengeful spirit was frozen,
in pain but unable to utter a sound.
Finally, it crumbled into grey-black fragments of light.
The mist dissipated.
The chains of sin vanished.
Only Rei remained, standing alone in the centre of the shattered playground.
breathing rapidly.
His hands trembled,
His back was soaked with cold sweat.
Gray approached, his voice carrying a distinct pressure for the first time.
'Kazama Rei.'
'What did you just see?'
Rei looked up; the judgemental lines in his eyes had not yet fully faded.
His throat felt as though it were stuck in a razor blade.
But he still managed to squeeze out, "I...
'I wasn't controlling them.'
They were controlling me.'
The wind stopped.
Everyone held their breath.
For the first time, Rei felt fear.
Not fear of the spirits.
It was of himself.
Was that impulse to tear the vengeful spirits apart a loss of control?
Or was it that instinct that should have belonged to the 'key'?