The top floor of the Science Building was the place closest to the sky — and also the place where one could reach out and touch another world.
The once-normal campus had begun to show signs of mutation. More and more students dissolved into blood threads, becoming hideous monsters.
They wailed throughout what had been a peaceful campus. Those accustomed to a life of beauty could never have imagined that they had once endured such suffering.
For every second the blood-red mirror shrouding the Ghost School continued to exist, several blood threads would shatter. The memories locked within them vanished, and the last traces of their owners in this world were erased.
The Painter's East and West campus districts were undergoing irreversible collapse. And as their master, the Painter now stood on the top floor of the Science Building.
He picked up the shattered drawing board. As his palm rose, dark-red blood appeared across its surface.
"You want to kill me?" Chang Wenyu sat on the edge of the building, legs dangling into open air. "You've gained the recognition of half the students in the Ghost School, but the will of the other half still eludes your control. Kill me, and the school's will will be swallowed entirely by that city."
"I've never killed anyone, and yet many have died because of me. I use my drawing board to record their final expressions, and sometimes take it out to admire in my spare time." The Painter gripped one corner of the board. His pale fingers dipped into the still-wet bloodstains. He seemed entirely indifferent to what Chang Wenyu had said, merely talking to himself, saying whatever he wished.
"You've never killed anyone?" Chang Wenyu crossed her legs and spread her arms wide. "You can always find justifications for what you do. That's what I hate most about you."
The stench of blood atop the Science Building grew heavier. Chang Wenyu rose to her feet, blood-red flames burning in her eyes. "Do you know why I came back, even after I had already escaped this school?"
The Painter shook his head slightly.
"I saw some of the children's families outside the door. They were keeping vigil over their unconscious children, waiting for them to come home." Chang Wenyu stood at the building's edge. Above her hung the reflection of the blood-red world. Below her, the East and West campus districts were crumbling into blood threads. "But I knew it was impossible. The door bound them — what appeared to be salvation was, in truth, nothing more than casting them into deeper despair."
Her long black hair whipped in the blood-red wind. Her right eye pulsed with red light, while black blood seeped from the empty socket where her left eye had been gouged out. "So I came back. I can't save all the children here. All I can do is destroy this door, bury you all, and make sure our story is never repeated on anyone else."
Blood blossoms bloomed across her coat, one by one. The expression on Chang Wenyu's face grew increasingly wild. "No matter the cost — I will destroy this place."
"Can you? Without the Ghost School's will recognizing you, you'll only grow weaker. Everything you learned in this school, you'll eventually have to give back." The Painter's tone was flat, as though he were merely asking whether she had eaten breakfast.
"I don't need the school's will to recognize me. As long as someone in this school does, that's enough." The atmosphere atop the Science Building grew ever more tense, and Chang Wenyu had already prepared herself for a fight.
"Having your own convictions is one thing, but why did you summon the ghosts from that city?" The Painter's gaze drifted past Chang Wenyu and settled on the blood-colored city beyond the Ghost School. "The contest for the school's will, becoming the new Door-Opener — that's between us. Why drag them into it? Are you still afraid of me?"
"I know you won't make the same mistake twice, so this is my only chance. Before you become the new Door-Opener, I have to destroy this place completely."
"Destroying the school's door. Summoning the ghosts of the blood-colored city. Contacting every Red-coat who once resisted me and simultaneously possesses the qualifications to become the Door-Opener — is that your entire plan?" The Painter's fingers slid gently across the drawing board. "Actually, I'm curious how you managed to open the school's main gate. All vengeful ghosts are suppressed by the school's will. No one can approach that door. This is the one thing I hadn't anticipated."
"Vengeful ghosts would be targeted, but living people wouldn't necessarily be." Chang Wenyu wiped the black blood seeping from her empty left eye socket. "I found the Door-Opener's left eye inside the Ghost School. I kept it hidden outside the door for years, all for this day. The school's door was ultimately opened by him, and only his eye can deceive the school's will. So I had a living person carry the Door-Opener's left eye and push the main gate open — just a crack."
The blood blossoms on Chang Wenyu's coat continued to bloom. This top-tier Red-coat was revealing her true form. But it seemed that because she stood within the East and West campuses the Painter had constructed, she was being suppressed at every turn, her aura flickering between strong and weak.
"I spent years turning this graveyard into a paradise, and you spent years figuring out how to destroy it all." The Painter let out a slow sigh. "It seems I truly can't have any expectations of you people. If I want to focus on my own work, the only option is to ensure you stay silent forever."
"Stop deceiving yourself. No one can create a paradise. All you've been dressing up is hell." Chang Wenyu stood at the place closest to the sky, her coat now almost entirely red. "Painter, from the very first time I saw you, I knew the school's will would recognize you — because in this entire school, you're the only one who still believes what lies beyond the door isn't a cage of despair. What I never imagined was that one day you'd go this far, nearly succeeding in controlling everything."
This time, the Painter said nothing. His pale fingers moved across the drawing board.
"What are you doing?" Only the area over Chang Wenyu's heart remained un-red on her coat.
"I'm drawing." The Painter held up the battered drawing board. "I like to capture what they look like just before they die."
On the shattered board was a painting of a woman in a red coat — one eye crimson as blood, the other gouged out, leaving only a dark void.
"What kind of death do you think she'd prefer?"
The Painter drove his blood-stained finger toward the woman's heart in the painting. At the exact same moment, Chang Wenyu toppled backward from the edge of the building, a manic laugh tearing from her mouth.
"Then what do you suppose I was stalling for?"
Amid the laughter, Chang Wenyu transformed into a blood blossom. Her body shattered into countless blood threads, and in the air there remained only a coat — every inch of it dyed red, except for the spot over the heart.
"So you knew my ability and hid your heart in advance?" The Painter gazed at Chang Wenyu on the drawing board. "She lost her body, but cost me one of my paintings…"
The Painter did not look again at the blood-red coat drifting in the air. Instead, he turned his gaze toward the Ghost School's main gate. Through the thick, blood-colored fog, a new threat was emerging from the blood-colored city.