Li stepped onto the playground; the night air was eerie.
With each breath, it felt as though he was inhaling the pulse of the spirit world.
The campus was no longer just desks and corridors that he knew well.
Red and blue lights flickered faintly in every corner; the shadows of the students' souls were clearly outlined by halos.
The air was filled with the whisper of cracks, trembling and breathing, as if the entire academy had come alive.
Li gazed at the souls floating in the air as he reached out.
Some still took human form, their eyes either vacant or filled with fear.
Others had shattered into countless tiny fragments, floating like shards of glass.
Traces of the sham trial, like dark streaks of light, slowly traversed the surface of the souls.
The students couldn't see these shadows,
Yet they were affected — a sudden pang of panic or emptiness gripped their hearts.
Each gasp and scream seemed to echo the rhythm of the crack.
Li felt the mark of sin on her chest being pulled, as if it were resonating with this space.
This was not an illusion.
The crack was breathing; the entire academy had become its lungs.
Li closed his eyes and scrutinised the trajectory of each soul flowing through the Eye of Judgement.
He suddenly understood.
The pulse of the soul, its fear and its reaction to the imprint of sin were all synchronised with the rhythm of the rift.
The rift was not just a void; it had its own consciousness and could sense the students' emotions. It even chose the most vulnerable as the source of their reactions.
Some souls seemed to whisper to the rift, their fragmented thoughts being absorbed and amplifying its energy.
Li felt an unprecedented pressure.
The rift was not passive; it influenced the world, shaping the stage for judgement.
In the playground, a group of students' shadowy souls began to float in the air and form a semi-transparent circle.
They aligned themselves spontaneously, as if guided by an unseen force.
One student, affected by the false judgement, had vacant eyes and a distorted aura around his soul. He tried to escape, but was pulled away.
Another student appeared to be protected by a faint field of light surrounding his soul, preventing him from being completely absorbed.
Li watched all this, breaking out in a cold sweat:
The school was no longer a place that humans could fully control.
The link between the false judgement and the rift was turning the entire academy into a giant judgement arena.
Li clenched his fists as the mark of sin on his chest began to throb violently.
He could sense the fragility of every soul and the rift's imminent arrival.
The rift whispered:
'Suitable one... come. Will you wield judgement, or be devoured?'
For the first time, he understood.
Every breath and observation was recorded by the rift.
He was no longer just an observer or just a judge.
He was the medium through which the rift resonated with the academy.
At that moment, Li's gaze became cold and clear.
'Since this is a battlefield, I must take the initiative.'
The black Mark of Sin expanded slightly, spreading along his arm as though it were a living entity.
It was three in the morning.
The campus was dark, yet brighter than during the day.
It wasn't light, but the density of souls was too high.
Li stood on top of the teaching building and looked down.
The entire academy resembled a gigantic, pulsating organ.
The corridors were the blood vessels, the classrooms were the chambers and the playground was slowly expanding and contracting.
For the first time, he was certain of one thing.
The crack wasn't parasitic on the academy.
The academy was becoming part of the crack.
The alarm didn't sound.
No one knew why it should.
Dazed students emerged from their dormitories.
, as if sleepwalking.
Their souls were no longer fully integrated with their bodies — their shadows stretched long and some even walked ahead of them.
One student suddenly stopped, muttering to himself.
'I think... I heard someone call my name.'
The next second, he felt his soul being tugged.
A black breathmark pressed against him, then quickly receded.
Li's pupils contracted.
The crack was testing the waters.
Not an attack, but a test.
Like lungs confirming which air is usable.
'Bai Ya's voice came through the earpiece, the signal heavily distorted:
'Don't contact any students who actively approach the rift.'
'They aren't victims; they're people about to become nodes.'
Li gritted his teeth.
'Nodes?'
'Yes.'
'The person with the most concentrated emotions, the one most eager to be judged, will naturally form a node.'
'Once it's fixed, the rift can function without you.'
This sentence was heavier than any warning.
Li finally understood the ultimate purpose of the fake trial: not to replace him.
It was to render him superfluous.
Crouched on the ground at the edge of the playground, a girl covered her head with her hands.
Black breath had entangled her soul, as if it were about to be dragged away from her body.
She whispered the same sentence over and over:
'If only someone could tell me what I did wrong.'
It wasn't a crime.
It wasn't a sin.
She was just about to collapse.
The imprint of sin on Li's chest reacted violently.
It automatically generated a path of judgement — if he opened his eyes, everything would be 'resolved'.
But this time, he didn't.
Li crouched down, not touching her, and lowered his voice:
'You haven't been judged.
'You don't need to be defined now.'
Her soul trembled.
The black breath paused, as if it had been rejected at the entrance.
For the first time, the rhythm of the crack skipped a beat.
The air suddenly turned cold.
Li could clearly feel it — the rift had noticed him.
Not anger.
It was confusion.
It had expected either a 'judgment' or 'no judgment'.
But Li gave a third reaction:
Not to pass judgment, but to disrupt the very concept of judgment.
White Raven whispered in the earpiece:
'You're rewriting the rules.'
Li stood up and looked at the enormous rift in the night sky that was invisible to the naked eye.
Yet perceptible to the soul.
'Then let it get used to it.'