Just like on the first floor, Kazuki did not find anything in Class One of sophomore year.
He had fully prepared himself to engage in a long battle. There was no doubt that this evil spirit was patrolling Akichi High School. However, there was a possibility that it had left the teaching block and wandered somewhere else.
However, Kazuki was not in a hurry. If not much progress could be made today, he would come tomorrow night again. He could even camp at the door of the sports warehouse, as that evil spirit would surely return home at some point.
Kazuki had maintained his composure from the start. After all, both humans and spirits coexisted in the past life. As a doctoral student of the Spiritual Academy, even though he could not cultivate his skills, he had nonetheless encountered all sorts of ghosts throughout his life.
Standing in the dark corridors of the second floor of the teaching block, he did not feel the slightest fear, even despite the horrifying rumors.
He had voluntarily come to search for evil spirits after knowing of their existence in Akichi High School, what was there to fear? Of course, before actually meeting the evil spirit, there was still the need to stay wary.
Kazuki's right hand never left his Sun and Moon Sword. While his left hand was clutching onto three enchanted talismans, for exorcism, stabilization, and spiritual fire respectively.
As he was the only one present within the building, he had no need to conceal his identity.
Ringgggggggggggg!
All of a sudden, the shrill sound of the bell sounded from an unknown direction. The sudden loud ringing breaking through the silence of the teaching block could easily cause a person to panic. However, Kazuki merely lowered his gaze contemplatively and tightened his grip on the enchanted talismans.
Kazuki immediately exited through the back door of Class Two of sophomore year. The loud ringing sound made the dark corridors seem more terrifying, digging up all fear residing deep within one's heart.
Even so, this did not affect Kazuki at all, and he remained calm. Carefully listening while moving in the direction of the ringing, it was not long before he found the source.
Class Four of sophomore year!
With his quick thinking, Kazuki immediately understood what had happened.
Most likely someone had left their phone in Class Four of sophomore year, though it was also possible that it was a prank by evil spirits. He was leaning toward the former as Class Four of sophomore year was the place where Aoi and the rest had given Suzuki Aichi a huge scare.
Even if they didn't want to show their true forms in front of humans, the spirits could have taken this chance to kill Aoi and the others.
As for who the phone belonged to, he could not be bothered to guess. He would find out once he picked up the phone.
Bearing this in mind, Kazuki walked quickly. If the phone rang, it must be because someone had returned to Akichi High School, or had used a number to locate the missing phone.
Most likely, at least two people had returned.
He had better hurry up and pick up the phone and get them out the way to avoid any possible trouble.
Although the ringing did not scare him, it still made him somewhat uneasy. After all, he had been wary to avoid being ambushed by the evil spirits, especially since he was not fully aware of the spirits' ability. Lost in his thoughts, he quickly arrived at the back door of Class Four of his sophomore year.
As he stepped into Class Four of sophomore year, his eyes subconsciously swept the room. His pupils constricted, and his hand flew to the hilt of his sword.
At that moment, a few dozen pairs of eyes were on him.
Class Four of sophomore year was filled with people. The tables and chairs were arranged neatly, and each seat was occupied by a person… or rather ghosts.
These 'people' were different from normal humans. They were drained from color, all wearing school uniforms; their pupils were pitch black, and the whites of the eye could not be seen at all. Both their complexion and school uniform were completely white.
They were sitting rigidly at their desks, there was a photo frame placed every table. When Kazuki looked at them in detail, he realized that each photo in the frame looked exactly like the person seated there.
Everything was in black and white as if the dead people had come right out of the photo frames.
Each black and white student had their palms placed together, praying to their framed selves.
The phone was still ringing at this point, but the students did not seem to care. Instead, their eyes were all set on Kazuki, the uninvited guest.
With their palms placed together, their pitch-black eyes followed the 360° rotation of their necks to stare straight at Kazuki.
Kazuki's returning stare was cold. Although these spirits did indeed look terrifying, it was still not enough to scare him. He had seen evil spirits far more horrifying than the ones in front of him now in his past life at the Spiritual Academy's laboratory.
He just never thought that there really were ghosts in Class Four of sophomore year.
He came to Akichi High School knowing of the existence of evil spirits, intending to devour them to increase his cultivation. But upon exploring, he thought that the evil spirits had gone somewhere else. He was sure that there were no ghosts in Class Four of sophomore year. There was no way Aoi and the rest would be unharmed if there were.
While contemplating, Kazuki's hands clutched the enchanted talismans, deciding whether or not just to activate them.
At that moment, a student with a slightly larger build stood up and slowly walked toward Kazuki.
As he came closer, Kazuki could smell an intense burnt smell, accompanied by a wave of scorching heat. He tried to hold back from coughing out loud, wanting to avoid displaying suspicious behavior, which may cause the spirits to launch their attack on him.
He clutched the Sun and Moon Sword tightly without taking his eyes off the student standing before him. His eerie jet black pupils displayed no emotions. However, the minute it made any suspicious movements, he would immediately cut it down with his sword.
"P-please… pr-pray… for… us."
The spirit standing in front of him struggled even to finish one sentence. The words were stuttered in a disturbingly hoarse voice, which sounded like its vocal cords were being torn apart.
The next moment, the spirit was welcomed with a sword to its face. Without a word, Kazuki had drawn his sword, and with just one lightning-fast swing, the evil spirit was cut into two. His heart sank as he felt the light resistance to the sword's swing.
The usual evil spirits were just ordinary souls, and under normal circumstances, they were hollow souls.
Hollow souls had no substance. This would be the reason why the typical spirit could pass through walls at will, while human beings were unable to do so.
If souls had gained substance, there could only be one explanation.
This spirit has metamorphosed!
Spirits which had metamorphosed, whether good or evil, were able to walk under the sun and strolled through crowded areas without being harmed by the intense Yang energy.
Without even taking technique into account, the immensely strong reiki released by the body of the metamorphosed evil spirit would be enough to crush him completely.
His brain turned quickly, but Kazuki's movements also did not fall behind. He absorbed the reiki into the three pieces of talismans in his left hand and blasted the energy out. He was not explicitly aiming at anybody. He just wanted to use the three talismans to secure himself a chance at escaping.
The difference in power was just too vast, so he had to run rather than stay and die. At his level of capability, he stood no chance against metamorphosed evil spirits.
As for praying for these ghosts? He did not have a death wish. As a doctorate student from the Spirit Academy's enchanted talisman division, he had often crossed paths with the students from the battle division.
After all, the enchanted talisman division was considered extremely important due to their research on new talismans.
Although researchers are unable to cultivate, they were much fewer and thus more valued in comparison to the heaps of students from the battle division in the recuperation of reiki period. That was why tons of people from the battle division came over to the enchanted talisman division every day, hoping to get some newly created talismans in advance for battle.
The enchanted talisman division allowed its members to use talismans like toilet paper. This led to battle division students sucking up the enchanted talisman division.
Of course, other than the enchanted talisman division, the battle division also had to suck up to the alchemy division, weaponry division, strategy division, etc. You could say that they were pros at sucking up.
That was how Kazuki knew that when facing an evil spirit, one should never agree to its requests, and should kill it immediately!
Because evil would always be evil. As long as it was an evil spirit, killing would still be the right decision. It would never be a wrongful murder.