Ishiki pushed the gates with his eyes closed and... the gates didn't open. They creaked once and then stopped.

'Huh?'

Ishiki looked up, with a bittersweet smile.

'Goddamn piece of metal.'

Then he pushed them once again with all the strength, the rusted hinges creaked with sound that echoed through each and every corner of the abandoned settlement.

Ishiki was pushing with all his might and that was making his head spin, and yet the gates just moved little to nowhere.

"Damn it!"

He pushed with a sudden surge of power once more and out of nowhere, the gates fell with a deafening crash of metal on stone. They were torn from their moorings.

CRACKKK!

He shuddered at the noise, then looked down at the rusted metal gates now laying at his feet like fallen sentinels. Has he gotten stronger?

'No way in hell, I am almost at half my original strength.'

The almost two weeks he had spent here had eaten away on muscle mass. If anything, he should be weaker now.

Anyways, the gates were finally open. Ishiki stepped through the threshold, jumping over the rusted metal and entering the perimeter that was created with walls that still stood.

And discovered something that made pale smile bloom across his face despite dire circumstances.

Inside the walls, everything was consumed by wild flora.

Vegetation had claimed this space with aggressive enthusiasm. Grasses grew waist-high, swaying in wind. Trees sprouted from cracked stone, roots breaking through pavement that had long since turned to dust. Vines crawled up on every surface, creating green curtains that obscured details.

"Jackpot."

Honestly, they could just eat the leaves by boiling them and use the sticks to make fires. Well, considering they were not poisonous.

Ishiki summoned the Curved Bone and cut his way through tress and grasses, that were approximately his size.

'This is kinda strange, there is not a single tree on the outside, and inside the perimeter of this temple, its flourishing like crazy.'

Were the deities here for real? Did the Gods of NEXUS actually did miracles?

He did see impossible things since coming here. Trees that sang and ate people. A moon that transformed into a burning... sun.

'Huh? Isn't sun actually burning.'

Compared to all that, divine intervention protecting a temple's grounds seemed... plausible. Mundane, even.

Soon, he found himself completely surrounded by wild vegetation on all sides. If someone looked from outside the temple walls, he wouldn't even be visible—swallowed entirely by green curtain that rose higher than his head.

'Its scary damn it!'

Of course, even with the strange light of the Crimson moon, it was still night. So everything around him lay in darkness or rather deep shadows.

Still, it was the best time. The silvery night would make even looking at his own hand here impossible and there existed nothing like day under this starless sky.

So the crimson twilight represented optimal conditions. The best they would get.

Ishiki shuddered at that depressing thought, but continued on and finally found himself standing at the stairs that led up to the temple's wooden gate, which to his surprise stood as if they were constructed yesterday.

They were imposing and Ishiki felt a strange urge to run away as soon as he laid eyes on them.

He was afraid... afraid of the unknown.

Then narrowing his eyes, he focused and saw some scribblings on the wooden doors. He looked at them for a few seconds.

Then scowled.

'What the hell... looks like children's scribbling.'

The symbols defied comprehension. Could have been language, or artistic expression, or in the worst case scenario, warnings left by previous inhabitants.

He couldn't understand what those strange markings meant. But one thing was certain:

They were no good.

So, he didn't climb up the stairs and left them as it is.

Instead, looking around with [Ghost Blade]'s enhanced perception, he located the tallest tree within the temple perimeter—one that would let him reach at least the first floor of the temple structure.

From there, he would continue by finding footholds in the old wood, which looked brand new.

Ishiki was no athlete, he was just an average human thrown into something that most people wouldn't even wanna imagine.

Fueled by desperation to get out of this hellscape, and the idea that information can make a life or death difference, Ishiki climbed the tree.

To his discomfort, the tree was hostile.

Not carnivorous like the Crimson Canopy's golden-leaved bastards, but unwelcoming. Its bark bore needle-like splinters that pierced skin with each handhold.

Still somehow, after falling five times, Ishiki finally made it to the first floor and from here. Things were only going to get more messy.

As soon as Ishiki set foot on the polished wood of the temple, his whole body trembled under an unseen pressure.

Still he sighed with relief. 'At least there are no splinters here.'

The wood was smooth. Perfectly maintained despite it being centuries old.

With that he started carving out small blocks in the wood with his sword.

The ascent was harrowing.

Each carved block required multiple strikes. Each handhold needed careful testing to ensure it would bear weight. Each movement upward took minutes of exhausting effort.

And then Finally, Ishiki reached the top.

Here, a large stick-like structure rose from the center of the roof, its spire pointing at the sky above like accusing finger directed at the very heavens. If they existed here that is.

Using the spire as support, Ishiki climbed to the temple's highest point and collapsed against the central structure.

He let out shaky breath, his body trembling with exhaustion.

'I'm really tired... '

But he couldn't rest. He had just about an hour before the Crimson Night ended and the whole world will be wrapped in the darkness once more.

From this height, the Crimson Canopy looked like a golden ocean.

That was the only comparison his exhausted mind could conjure. Waves of yellow foliage extending to horizon.

It was beautiful in terrible ways, glorious in its scale and magnificent in its deadliness.

The sight was breathtaking. Literally, it hade his breath catch in chest with mixture of awe and dread.

And still, beneath that aesthetic appreciation, Ishiki felt profound unease.

As if he'd come nearer to the burning moon, that looked like a cosmic eye watching from sky above.

'Stop being paranoid, fool.'

Shaking his attention from the moon he looked around in search of salvation and then he saw something that made his eyes widen.

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