It's there. A man in a red hood. He is crouched on the edge of the window. His hood hides most of its face, letting only his mouth visible and white beard. A smiling mouth, showing all his teeths. He doesn't move. It's not the same man as in his dream, but still the feeling is the same.
Kazuki could swear he saw things moving around the red figure. Everything around him starts to move and Kazuki tries to keep his balance. It's not real, but still it's happening. The room is real. But the movements aren't. His mind isn't able to draw a line between the reel and the imagination.
Or is he ? Is everything around him a dream ? Or is everything around him real ? What can he trust ? The young man isn't capable of processing those kinds of thoughts yet. But he can unconsciously think of something similar. He doesn't understand what to trust. The smile of the red hooded man becomes bigger and bigger, filled with joy and sadism while watching the kid struggle.
But something interrupts the silence of the night and the movements of the rooms. He looks in the direction of the end of the corridor. The noises of footsteps approach. Kazuki takes a step back. A humanoid silhouette appears in the dark. Half of its body is illuminated by the light of the moon, filtering through the widows of the corridor. It's a man. A tall man with long straight hairs of a pure black, attached behind in a warrior's tail. He wears a black kimono. On his side is a sword, sheathed in its scabbard attached to a brown leather belt. His face isn't visible, hidden behind a red mask with a skull-like shape. Only his red eyes are visible through it, glowing in the dark like the gaze of death. He looks towards
The man makes one step forward. Every light in the corridor suddenly disappears. At the same time, a sudden pressure pins Kazuki to the ground. He isn't even able to breathe correctly, gasping for air. He starts sweating. His mouth starts to salivate a lot. He has difficulties thinking. He is on his four, not able to get up because of the pressure in the corridor. It's forcing him to get to the ground.
Kazuki looks through a window. The moon is still there. But no light is able to illuminate the corridor. As the two red eyes start to get closer, Kazuki searches for somewhere to get out. His room still has light. He looks in the room and sees the man in a red hood. He doesn't smile anymore.
Fear travels through the young boy's spine. The thing that scares him the most… stopped smiling. The pressure is even stronger. Kazuki can't move his body anymore. He can only turn his head once to see the two eyes approaching. The fear keeps growing and growing as it gets closer. He starts to choke. The pressure is so strong that he can't even breathe anymore. The man now stands next to Kazuki. He is killing him without moving. He is killing him just by being there, by his mere presence. This masked man made the red hooded man stop without even being in sight. Kazuki's vision starts to blurry. But this time, it's not a dream. Then, pressure stops.
The masked man turns face to face with the other man, who takes a step backward. But the eyes of the masked man are turned on Kazuki who is catching his breath. At the youngling's surprise, he talks to him.
"You sensed us, didn't you ?
Kazuki doesn't understand what he is talking about. The masked man seems to understand it by the confused look on the boy's face.
"I see. It's either too soon or too late."
The man starts to walk towards the window. As he does so, Kazuki witnesses something incredible. The man who he fears, the man that he saw in his nightmare.. is emanating fear. His whole stance, his face.. everything hints the fear that the masked man creates to the red hooded man. Kazuki doesn't know how to feel about it. It's overwhelming. It's like an alarm ringing in him. This masked man is a threat on another level. He can feel it. He is way more dangerous. So dangerous that his fear fears him. As he watches the masked man from behind, he can see that, among his hairs, he has horns. This man is not just a threat, it's a whole demon. He can just contemplate the dreadful show.
The masked man starts talking, with a very severe tone. It's like he is scolding the lesser threat.
"You know you shouldn't be there."
It seems like they know each other. Kazuki is trying to guess what link they might have. Maybe they are like him and Tian-Han. He remembers Tian-Han severely reprimanding him too.
A red aura appears around the red hooded man, blasting everything in the room. A pressure is applied on Kazuki again, but this time less powerful. As a response, the masked man surrounds himself with a dark red aura, instantly destroying the door and crushing the wood around the man.. This time, Kazuki is immediately pinned to the ground. He isn't even able to call for help, choking again on the ground powerless.
He almost can't see what is happening. Of the bit he is able to watch, he can see the dark aura eating the red one. He can hear footsteps coming from behind him. The last thing he can see before he faints is the masked man launching on the red hooded one, and the two of them passing through the wall and the window to disappear in the sky.
Kazuki is ejected onto a wall behind by the blow of the move, and the only thing he can hear before being totally knocked out are the footsteps and the voice of Tian-Han calling his name. And slowly, Kazuki's mind fades into darkness.