There is always a bigger one

It's there. Right there, sitting at the edge of the room's window. A man in a red hood, crouching like some kind of freak instead of just sitting. His hood hides most of its face, letting only his mouth visible and white beard. Kazuki's gaze stops on his pure white teeths. The mysterious man is making a big smile which completely reveals his dentition. Kazuki looks at him for the moment. 

The stranger doesn't move. There is something weird about this man. It is a familiar sensation. And for a glimpse of second, he sees the bedroom destroyed. He feels the hands grabbing him from everywhere and some of the long fingers against the throat. Kazuki takes a step back. The red hooded man starts to make a smothered laugh, like what Kazuki just saw was just something funny to him. 

Kazuki is very confused about this man. He just saw the dream of the monsters reappearing before his eyes right after they faced each other. There is this feeling inside him. This man isn't exactly the same as in his nightmare, however the sensation is almost identical. 

Neither of them is moving, but Kazuki could swear he saw things moving around the red figure. Then suddenly, everything around him starts to slowly move in a way which shouldn't be possible. The floor, the walls and une ceiling dances in waves before his eyes and under his feets. Kazuki tries to keep his balance. His brain cannot comprehend what is happening. 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. A green of only pleasure of destruction and craziness.

Something interrupts the silence of the night and the movements of the rooms. Kazuki looks in the direction of the end of the corridor. Whatever is there is gradually becoming closer. He hears a slow but regular "clap" on the ground. It is the noises of footsteps approaching. Kazuki takes a step back. A humanoid silhouette appears from the dark, like out of thin air. 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 pure evil. He stands there, dominating Kazuki by his height. He turns his eyes on him. 

The man makes one step forward out of the darkness. Once his foot touches the ground, every light in the corridor suddenly disappears. At the same time, a sudden pressure pins Kazuki to the ground. It is an invisible force, pushing him down. He tries to fight back this pressure but he is only buying time. He is on his knee. The pressure is so powerful that it starts to shred his kimono. Breathing becomes difficult as the pressure pushes on his lungs, and seemingly on the air affected by this strange effect. 

He starts sweating heavily, as it requires a lot of effort for his body to maintain himself sitting. His mouth starts to salivate a lot. The pressure is messing with his body and its weak child's strength. The pain is overwhelming and thinking starts to be difficult, even just to scream for help. 

He falls on his four, not able to resist more against the pressure to stay sitting. His strength is coming to a limit, he is getting weaker. It's forcing him to get to the ground. There is nothing he is able to do. It's a power way beyond anything a human like him can do. 

 Kazuki looks around, with the hope to see something which could help him, and his eyes stop on a window. Through the window, he can observe the night sky. The moon is still there. But no light is able to illuminate the corridor. Not a single bit of the moon's light. Not a single ray of light. Kazuki doesn't understand. The moon is there, so should be the light. The moon lights up everything outside. But it doesn't go through the windows, in the corridor. 

As the two red eyes start to get closer, Kazuki still 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 stopped smiling anymore. And there, this realization kicks in his head. As the mind is not operating, it is the Instinct which triggers these thoughts. If the smiling man stopped smiling, then how terrifying is the masked man? A non-rational and instinctive fear travels through the traumatized young boy's spine. 

The footsteps are getting closer in the complete darkness and the pressure becomes even stronger. Kazuki can't move most of his body anymore, unless he lets the pressure push him through the floor. He doesn't know it, he feels it. It's something else than his own mind which is telling him to hold on. The pressure is strong and he can only turn his head once to see the two eyes approaching. The fear keeps growing and growing along with the pressure as whatever is hiding in the shadows gets closer. 

Kazuki starts to choke. The pressure is so strong that he can't even breathe anymore. It's even worse than the hands on the smiling man. It's almost crushing his throat. He won't last long at this rate.

The man now stands next to Kazuki. It's so close that the power of the pressure forces him to lay. His body is even starting to push through the wooden floor. The red eyed man is killing him without moving. He is killing him just by being there, by his mere presence. And there he stands, doing nothing but watching the kid getting crushed by the pressure. This masked man seems so powerful that he made the smiling man stop without even being in sight. Kazuki's vision starts to blurry, he is about to pass out because of the pressure. But this time, it's not a dream. Then, the pressure completely stops being there. 

The Red eyed 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 and the lack of answer make the intruder answers by himself f. 

"I see. It's either too soon or too late, then."

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. His mind cannot say anything but "danger". 

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 Master Yi. He remembers the old man 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. It made him knee at its most. 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, laying on the ground. He isn't even able to call for help as his throat is pushed against the ground and not allowed to move. He is choking on the ground again, powerless. 

He almost can't see anything of 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 Master Yi calling his name. And slowly, Kazuki's mind fades into darkness