Boogeyman

Turning his head to the side, Vlasfimia was faced with what looked like by all means like a man dressed in exclusively dark clothes, shirt, pants, waistcloth, tie and a hat that didn't seem very common, weirdly enough the man and himself seem to be wearing the same or a very similar mask.

The man was a bit shorter than common, he simply stood there in a 'well, well, well' kind of pose, Vlas could just hear it by looking at him.

Not wasting any time, Vlas flung a knife right at the man but the knife simply stopped and fell after traversing a short distance.

"Nice try, however, this is my world and I am untouchable here" said the man, a slight theatric tone was drowned in the malevolence he emitted, as he spoke, on the featureless mask appeared some sort of purple flames forming two eyes and a mouth that very much ressembled the conception of these parts by a child drawing on paper.

Only the extremities of those fake parts were actual flames the rest inside looked for like a portal than anything else.

The man tipped his hat, clearly revealing that his hands looked like that of dall made of a dark alloy and the movements he made were all accompanied by the sound of metal grinding against metal.

"I am everybody's worst nightmare even when awake, I am the boogeyman" the man started speaking about himself.

"So cower in fear in front of-, are you miming a violon player?" suddenly asked the man with a clear surprise.

"Why are you so relaxed?! I am a walking disaster! Have people forgotten me since I got swallowed by this dungeon or something? I plunged the world into chaos by invading the dreams of even the strongest and killing them like that! I am the boogeyman, B-O-O-G-E-Y-M-A-N, does that not ring any bell?" he dropped the theatrics immediately.

"Boogeyman is just a word though, to describe a thing mostly used to scare children" responded Vlas, pulling out another few throwing knives.

"What, that's my fucking name and title, it's written on my system, unique title: Boogeyman!" the man was clearly angry, understandably so, it was as if a someone wrote something to inspire people and found out that after their death their words had been interpreted in the opposite way.

"Cope and seethe man, nobody remembers you but at least you're still around to tell everyone how low you have fallen, do like everyone else and go become a farmer in a far away place or something, I heard that all tyrants do that" responded Vlas as he threw more knives, all were stopped before their target and fell to the ground.

"Alright, that will be enough of this" spoke the boogeyman, as the steam machiney all around seeemingly melted and started reshaping themselves into spikes, all lunging toward Vlas, which he promptly avoided by using the other machinery as shield.

The surroundings all bended in impossible ways, trying to kill Vlas, after a while, the scenery suddenly changed, Vlas landed into a museum of some sort and before he even got to look around, the things painted on the various paintings on the walls took life and broke out of their paintings.

The creatures weren't that dangerous and Vlas managed to avoid any hit until the scenery once again changed, he was suddenly thrown into an ocean, he had already grown used to it after a while and he was already expecting to be attacked by some monsters but he was disappointed when he saw that it just a regular shark not even a great white or megalodon.

He simply let it approach and when it got close punched it in the snoot, as is with common sharks it got disoriented and Vlas then turned it upside down, like that it went into a sort of hypnosis and was harmless.

The scenery once again changed and Vlasfimia was back at the steam machinery area and the boogeyman was looking a bit distraught.

"How are you still not dead?!" he asked, his theatrics seemed to have come back.

"Well, obviously because your power works by using fear" responded Vlas and the boogeyman stayed frozen for a second.

"So, you do know me!" he said with glee, his portal-like mouth expanding over all of his mask.

"Anyways, since you don't seem capable of reacting like a normal human being..." spoke the man before his steel hands suddenly sharpening and grew in length.

He swung his claws with great speed, cutting through the machinery as if it was butter, Vlas focused on dodging as he waited for an opportunity to do something.

Indeed, unlike what Vlas had implied at the start, this guy hadn't been completely forgotten, he was still very present as a character used to teach various things to children, for example, he was used to try and make children overcome their fear because if they didn't, 'the boogeyman would be able to kill them in their dreams', using fear to defeat fear was a strange thing to do but no one seemed to care about that contradiction.

And since Vlasfimia had always not given much thought about all of this, he had instead had asked the maid that used to read him bedtime stories to instead tell him about the character rather than the crappy stories and this is how, he knew exactly how to murder that guy, he already had the advantage because he wasn't afraid of him so it should prove easy.

Waiting for him to swing his right claw in a certain way, as in trying to stab Vlas with them, the moment he did, Vlas grabbed his arm and swiftly moved behind him and putting his right arm in a lock on his back, he then grabbed the other arm and asked for the assistance of the fire.

Vlasfimia's body in the real world felt a strong burning sensation, forcing him awakeand because the Vlas in the dream had been holding on to the boogeyman, they was suddenly an extra person on the small boat.

"Oh, by the gods, my weakness is known?!" complained the boogeyman as he immediately tried to punch Vlas, his claws gone has this was only achievable in the dream, in the real world, the boogeyman's strength wasn't low due to his mettalic body but he was much weaker than in the dream, he still had the power of what was made his fake eyes and mouth but he wasn't able to use them as he got caught into the grasp of Vlas again and thrown over his shoulder right into the water.

The boogeyman had never been pulled out of the dream ever since he made it inside the dungeon as a boss, so he no idea that an ocean was on the other side.

He immediately started sinking, his body was but a mettalic skeleton shaped puppet, he couldn't swim at all with his thin limbs and the weight of the metal pulled him to the depth.

At least, he wouldn't drown since he didn't need to breath but he wasn't able to dodge what was coming for him, a bright orange pulled was shot out from the surface, taking a most strange path as it looped around constantly but it ended up piercing right through the boogeyman's mask and head, even as metal puppet this was vital to him and he died.

His soul was taken back by the dungeon and he was reborn immediately, only, he wouldn't be able to attack Vlas anymore unless Vlas himself wanted to, just like any other boss that kept the entrance to another floor.