Amid the heated public opinion, the case of Madarame Ikryusai also came to an end.

Just as Ai Li had expected, the sentence Madarame Ikryusai himself was not severe. Japan has a crime called "abandonment resulting in death or injury" which is specifically used to punish those who "do not rescue" others from death. According to this law, those who fail to rescue others and cause the death of the victim are generally sentenced to more than two years in prison.

Therefore, Madarame Ikryusai was also sentenced based on this for causing his student's illness and eventually leading to his death. In addition, he also plagiarized his students' paintings and was punished for multiple crimes. Taking into account that he himself surrendered and repented, he was finally sentenced to five years and three months in prison, a fine of 150 million yen, and tens of millions of yen in compensation - this was the price he paid for his evil deeds.

That's it.

Of course, social media don’t care about these “little things”, they are more concerned about the Phantom Thieves. Unlike before, this time after the Phantom Thieves posted the notice, Madarame Ikryusai did take the initiative to surrender and confess everything, which caused many people to talk about the existence of the Phantom Thieves.

This naturally made Ryuji Sakamoto very excited. Even after arriving at school, he held his head high and chest puffed out, looking quite excited.

"Hey, Joker, did you see yesterday's report? Hahahaha, we have been recognized."

“Ah… Yeah.”

However, contrary to Ryuji Sakamoto's expectations, when he excitedly found Amamiya Ren, who was also a member of the Phantom Thieves, to share his joy, the other person's expression looked very complicated.

"What's wrong? Are you unhappy?"

"No, actually, I received a notification..."

As she spoke, Amamiya Ren opened her cell phone with a complicated expression and presented the content of the text message to Sakamoto Ryuji.

"What? The home supervision order for suspect No. 1145, Amamiya Ren, is terminated immediately? And he is ultimately found not guilty?"

“Isn’t this a good thing?”

At this moment, Takamaki An also came over and couldn't help laughing when she saw the text message on her phone. She and Sakamoto Ryuji naturally knew what happened to Amamiya Ren before he transferred here. In fact, Amamiya Ren had a conflict with Kamoshida before, and after that, Kamoshida publicized Amamiya Ren's crimes to the students. This is why most students stay away from Amamiya Ren. Although the reason is unclear, students with a criminal record... everyone definitely doesn't want to associate with him.

Only Sakamoto Ryuji and Takamaki Anne, who didn't care about these things and became friends with Amamiya Ren, learned the truth from him.

"This is of course a good thing, but... I don't understand why it suddenly..."

Looking at the text message, Amamiya Ren's mood was also complicated. Although he usually acted calm, his criminal record still made him bear a heavy burden. This was true for both his family and school. Now that his criminal record had been erased and he was ultimately found not guilty, Amamiya Ren's resume became clean again, and the past would vanish into thin air.

But why now...

"Notify, notify."

However, just when Amamiya Ren was puzzled, suddenly, a voice came from the radio.

"Amamiya Ren, Sakamoto Ryuji, and Takamaki An from Class 2B, the student council president wants you to come to the student council room immediately."

When they heard the broadcast, the three of them were stunned.

"Student Council President? What do you want from us?"

"have no idea……"

"Anyway, let's go take a look first."

Although they looked confused, the three of them still came to the student union room. The moment they walked into the student union room, the door that was originally open closed completely with a "click", and then the chair with its back to the crowd slowly turned around.

"Welcome, members of the Phantom Thieves."

"Why?"

The three of them were shocked when they saw the girl with white hair and red eyes sitting on the chair in front of them. Then Gao Juanxie waved her hand hastily.

"Um...I, we're not...what on earth are you talking about?"

"It's no use pretending to be stupid. I was watching you all the time when you entered Madarame Ichiryusai's spiritual world."

Ellie smiled and crossed her arms, staring at the three people in front of her.

"I didn't expect that you could actually change other people's wills by stealing their desires. It seems like you guys are really good at it."

"What on earth do you want to do?!"

Sakamoto Ryuji had a hot temper to begin with, and when he heard Ai Li's sarcastic words, he clenched his fists and started shouting. Ai Li just glanced at Sakamoto Ryuji with contempt.

"My request is simple. Stop the Phantom Thieves' actions immediately. And you must tell me how you knew that you could change other people's cognition by entering their mental world and put it into practice."

"Why should we tell you this?"

In response to Ai Li's high-pressure questioning, Sakamoto Ryuji responded unhappily.

"We didn't do anything bad! Since you followed us in there, you should know that it was Madarame Ikryusai who committed the unforgivable crime!"

“Unforgivable…?”

Hearing this, Ellie smiled coldly, then she raised her right hand and threw a document in front of everyone.

"What's this?"

"This is the verdict of Madarame Ichiryusai. He was sentenced to a fine of 200 million yen plus compensation, and a prison sentence of five years and three months... Are you telling me that this is unforgivable?"

“How could it be…?”

After hearing Ai Li's explanation, Ryuji Sakamoto's face suddenly changed. He rushed to the table, picked up the judgment document and started reading it, then slammed the table with a pale face.

"Don't be ridiculous! He didn't even bother to save Yusuke's mother! This is murder!"

"The crime of abandonment resulting in death can be sentenced to more than two years in prison. Considering that he has shown remorse and surrendered himself, there will be considerations for reducing the sentence..."

Ai Li folded her arms and stared at the three people in front of her with a smile on her face.

"I guess you never thought about this when you were 'doing justice'. Now, a criminal who has committed many crimes has been redeemed. He can stay in prison for five years, and then enjoy his old age without any regrets and wait for his death."

“…”

Facing Ai Li's ridicule, the three looked at each other, not knowing what to say. As Ai Li said, they were just innocent high school students after all, and they thought that as long as they let the criminals confess their crimes, they would be judged by the law and severely punished.

As for how to "punish severely", they have no idea.

But now... it is obvious that this verdict is far from the "severe punishment" they expected.

"If you ask me, based on the criminal history that Madarame Ichiryusai revealed in the spiritual world, he should have been punished in a painful, desperate, and horrific way. This would have been worthy of everything he had done. However, because of your ridiculous self-satisfaction, it ended up like this..."

"What the hell are you talking about!!"

Ryuji Sakamoto obviously disagreed with what Ai Li said.

"If it weren't for us, Madarame Ichiryusai would still be his genius painter! It was us who exposed his crimes! Neither the police nor anyone else could have discovered it, right? It was because of our efforts that the old man's crimes were exposed!!! What right do you have to blame us?!!"

In response to Ryuji Sakamoto's speech, Ai Li silently drank a sip of tea, then she glanced at the yellow-haired bad boy in front of her with contempt.

“It’s really ugly.”

"What?"

"I mean the weak ones without power, it's really ugly to see them immersed in power after suddenly getting it."

"What did you say?!!!"

Hearing this, Sakamoto Ryuji clenched his fists angrily and was about to rush forward, but was quickly stopped by Takamaki Anne and Amamiya Ren.

"Because the police didn't investigate Madarame Ichiryusai's crimes, they are incompetent? Then what about you? Everyone? While you were enjoying your school life, someone was also suffering from the pain and torture of crime in a place you didn't know about, so why didn't you stop it? You are different from ordinary police officers, but heroes with mysterious powers, right? If you think the police are incompetent when they are unable to do anything, then what about you watching people die without helping them?"

“You…~!!”

"Long Si, stop it now!!"

While desperately pulling Sakamoto Ryuji who was about to rush out, Takamaki An looked at Ai Li.

"So, what do you say we should do?"

"It's simple. Just work hard to become stronger."

"……Why?"

"Do you know why I want to become a magician?"

Completely ignoring Sakamoto Ryuji who was like a mad dog, Airi looked at Takamaki An and Amamiya Ren and asked a question, but they were both stunned and shook their heads when she suddenly changed the subject.

"The police are indeed law enforcers, but I also know that the police are ultimately executors within the system. However, magicians are different. Because we have to deal with dangerous magical crimes, magicians have a certain degree of discretion. In other words, if we encounter a criminal who has committed heinous crimes, committed heinous crimes, and killed countless people, perhaps all the police can do is arrest him and hand him over to the law for punishment. As for what kind of punishment can be imposed, it is not within their jurisdiction. But magicians can make a certain degree of discretion according to the situation... In other words, those scum who kill for fun will not even have the opportunity to travel to the court or be sentenced to a fixed-term imprisonment in my hands."

Having said that, Ellie leaned back in her chair and looked at the three of them with a smile.

"This is power and ability. Only when you have great power and ability can you do what you want. For the weak, there may be certain things they cannot do no matter what, but for me, it cannot be simpler... For example, someone's not guilty verdict."

"That's you...?"

Hearing these words, Amamiya Ren and Takamaki Anne suddenly lost their composure. Even Sakamoto Ryuji, who had been struggling desperately just now, stopped and looked at Ai Li in surprise.

"That's right, but don't get excited. I didn't do this just for you. At first, I investigated you because I thought you had something to do with the late-night TV murder case, so I investigated your intelligence and learned about the conflict between Amamiya Ren and Director Shido Masayoshi. Since Shido Masayoshi was related to the case I was investigating, I was curious about how he got into a fight with a high school student. Then I investigated it and learned the truth. Then, I used my power as a demon attack officer to cancel your criminal record and ruled you innocent. How is it? It's simple, right?"

“…”

“That’s the power.”

Ellie stretched out her small fist, clenched it tightly, and waved it in front of the three people.

"Do you know why all the chivalrous thieves and traitors in history died miserably? The reason is very simple. They did not understand what power was. They just thought they had power, but in fact, in front of this society and this world, they were still powerless weaklings, like ants trying to stop a chariot with a mantis arm. Therefore, their end was ultimately miserable, because no matter how strong they were, they could not fight against and change this society."

“…”

This time, none of the three spoke. Even Sakamoto Ryuji, who was the most straightforward and had the worst temper, kept his mouth shut and remained silent.

"Okay, I didn't ask you to come here to talk nonsense with you."

Seeing that the three people finally stopped talking, Ai Li leaned back in her chair again.

"I asked you to come here to borrow your strength."