CHAPTER 70: WHO?

The Silver Night passed by in a blur. Ishiki practiced with his sword a little, his body went through familiar forms while his mind was elsewhere. Afterwards, he had an almost hefty meal, of some monster meat that Nina brought for him.

Now he laid in the same, old rags that had served as his bed for quite some time now.

He scowled. ’Bed my ass, its like sleeping in a pile of garbage.’

It was scratchy fabric that smelled faintly of mildew. But it was better than freezing to death on bare floor, so he didn’t complain.

Outside.

In the eternal starless sky, the Silver celestial body was suddenly consumed by shadows. Darkness spread across its surface like ink and then it was set aflame at the edges.

The oppressive darkness of the night was chased away by the strange crimson luminance that bathed the world in a ghastly illumination. Everything took on the color of old blood.

Far away, almost beyond the horizon, a lone structure rose from the ground. It climbed to impossible altitude, reaching toward the burning moon like a skeletal finger pointing at heaven.

The crimson light moved around it forming patterns. Against the starless horizon, it looked like a scar upon the very fabric of world, pulsing with light of the sinister moon.

Below, the green forest transformed. Leaves shifted from emerald to burnished gold in a wave that spread outward from some unseen epicenter. The slumbering trees woke up, revealing lines of jagged, sharp splinters that acted like teeth.

The golden leaves moved in perfect synchronization with the wind, creating melody that was filled with death and despair. Yet, sweet enough to seduce most into laying down their lives. Into accepting the eternal embrace of those dreadful trees.

Ishiki shifted uncomfortably, closing his eyes with visible effort.

’Goddamn it! Stop thinking and sleep.’

But he couldn’t.

Closing his eyes during Crimson Night felt like inviting disaster. He was terrified that he would see the same reality twisting nightmare again, afraid that someone will attack him while he was unconscious.

He was certain nobody else would sleep tonight either.

Fear... is deeply embedded within human souls and it just needs a tiny spark to turn into a fire that burns through every other emotion. Right now, everyone in the clearing was afraid and suspicious of their own kind.

The foundation of their fragile community had developed cracks.

It was the hard truth that, they all had magical abilities now. Sam’s accusation wasn’t easy to dismiss because nobody really knew what everyone else was capable of. Not everyone shared information about their skills.

Some were paranoid and some were forced to keep secrets.

Like Ishiki.

Their cooperation had been built on mutual interest in survival in this harrowing forest. It was like a thin sheet of ice stretched over deep water.

But now that they suspected one of them was actively working against that goal, the ice was slowly cracking. It just needed a small disturbance and the whole thing would shatter into chaos.

Ishiki was sure, now that the spark has been ignited... it won’t be long before it spreads like wildfire.

***

Some time later—could have been hours, time had stopped meaning much. Ishiki found himself sitting on his roof with expression that could charitably be called bleak.

He had not been able to sleep at all.

And just as he had expected, mostly no one did. There were movements throughout the clearing. Shadows shifted within houses. People were too anxious to rest in such dire situation.

A situation that no one knew of.

His heart had finally calmed down and his hands were no longer shaking.

’Hmm, things are a lot different than they used to be.’

He sighed, looking up at the sky and out at the forest. It had been almost three months since the Scenario started. The Crimson Canopy had been utterly terrifying back then—an alien environment filled with unknowable threats.

Now it was something they understood.... Sort of.

The Withering Beasts had been existential threats at first, but at the end they had become livestock’s for the humans.

Ishiki chuckled quietly at the thought.

It wasn’t that humans were superior.... not really. The truth was simpler and more unsettling, they had been either very lucky or catastrophically unlucky, depending on the perspective.

Lucky because they had not yet encountered a high-tier Demon. The only ones they saw regularly were Xenons—the weakest of the weak. Bottom feeders of whatever horrible hierarchy existed in this world.

From his Trial, Ishiki knew there were stronger entities in the category of demons. Tainted Demons that served something called Eclipsed Rulers. And above them, vessels of Demigods known as Demon Lords.

He frowned.

’Xenons. Tainted Demons. Eclipsed Rulers. Then Demon Lords.’

"Does that even make sense?" he whispered to empty air.

The hierarchy felt incomplete. There had to be something missing. He felt like that it was not that simple, after all anything never was.

The term "Eclipsed Ruler" particularly bothered him. The reason being, that it didn’t fit right. it was Like a puzzle piece forced into the wrong space.

But, leaving that aside. They were unlucky because they had never witnessed the stronger demons in action and they had no gauge of their strength or weakness.

All they knew with certainty was that horrors beyond their comprehension lurked somewhere deep in the all devouring Forest.

Ishiki shuddered despite himself

He had actually encountered Tainted Demons during his Trial and even survived the pursuit by five of them... but, only because of the Shinobi’s intervention. Without that...

’I hope I never see them again.’

The memory alone made his skin crawl.

Eventually, the cycle of nights completed.

The Burning Moon was swallowed by silver moon again. Cold, pale light returned, bringing with it the true darkness of night. The trees slept and the rushing of footsteps and horrors running around returned.

Under that pallid illumination, twenty-six figures stood in grave silence.

They wore uniform expressions dark, anxious and deeply frightened.

Two more had vanished during the last Crimson Night.

And no one knew... Who?