25 The Black Figure

The flow of blood coming from his mouth blends into the dark water. Kazuki tries to roll and gets on his back with difficulty. The masked man walks towards him with a light and calm walk. This fight is light work for him, and he doesn't hide. It's not even enough for a warm up, he is just playing with the young boy and seems to appreciate bragging about it.

"Already down? I'm not even using Art. You think you stand a chance with your current abilities ? You're nothing but a joke."

Kazuki tries to get up, but the suddenly man's feet hit his chest once more and he is pushed away, cutting his breath for a short while.

"Give up. Let me take over. If it was me instead of the old man, you would know everything already."

The young boy catches his breath while his opponent is approaching. He is confused by the masked man's words. His curiosity goes beyond his fear. He feels, deep inside, that there is more. He knows that the old man doesn't tell him everything, but he also knows that there might be a reason for this. He needs to know what's going on, in what situation did he just ended up in.

"What are you talking about? What do you want? Why are you doing this?"

The masked man reaches Kazuki and takes him by the collar of his kimono.

"Don't you know? You're a Threat. Don't you know WHAT you are?"

The masked man throws a punch directly on Kazuki's face, but he does not put enough strength to break something. It's like he is trying to make it last longer, like a slow and painful end. For what reason? And what is he talking about? The questions he asked don't make sense to him.

"Of course you don't know. Nobody told you. There is nobody else up there, after all. This old man didn't tell you. He fears your powers. I'm not the only one who is interfering with your spirit. Face it."

Another punch hit his forehead. The mind of the kid starts to go faster. Too fast. Fears drive his thoughts and become overwhelming. Pains resonate through his whole world. Despair grows stronger. The declaration of his opponent makes him confused on top of everything else. Does the man like seeing the expression of fear and confusion on his face? Or does he like seeing him suffer? He is shaking. The situation is hopeless, yet he does not want to break right now and give up against the masked man. His master would be disappointed if he gave up. He takes a mental deep breath but his voice reverbs his hesitation.

"Y-Y.. You are a liar..! Master Yi.. Master Yi would never lie.. To me! He told me everything!"

Water starts to be troubled and to move around them. Waves rise up and hit the masked man, making him release the kid. The masked man looks at his hand then back at Kazuki. He laughs loudly.

"Oh so you want to use Art now? How interesting. You weren't able to breathe when I just stood next to you and you think you can overcome me with your weak power?"

Waves of dark and clear water rise up again and rushes to the masked man, surrounding him. But before any of them could reach him, the waves of dark water stopped and turned against the clear water. The masked man didn't move from an inch.

"See? That's the difference between you and me. It's a gap you will never close without embracing what you are."

Kazuki's opponent starts to run towards him. The young boy wants to move but he is restrained by something. He looks under his kimono to see the darkness spreading on his body, reaching through his throat like tentacles expanding infinitely. At the same time, the darkness spread to the clear sky above their heads.

"What's this..?"

He hears a wet sound in the direction of the masked man. As he turns to see what's happening, the stole of a foot goes through a wave and reaches his torso. He is projected on the rock structure, far away from the masked man. At the impact on the rock, Kazuki hears a crack. Even more blood spills from his mouth. He starts vomiting again. The masked man get closer.

"Tell me, who are you? Can't answer? Only blood flowing from your mouth.. Yeah.. Blood.. That's what you are. You're blood."

The structure shaked as Kazuki collided with the pillar. It makes the next droplet of water fall faster in the pond. The falls of the droplet make a high-pitched whistle. Once it touches the water, a clear sound, like crystal tinkling, resonates through the inner world. As the echoes of the sound spread, it is followed by an invisible shockwave pushing away the darkness. A part of the inner world around the fountain is clear again, and so is a part of Kazuki. The masked man looks at the young boy and becomes suddenly quiet. He knows something isn't right. He can sense that they are not alone but can't tell who is there.

Kazuki turns around and looks at the fountain, but spills blood in it while trying to stand. The blood dissolved in the water. Another droplet falls in it. Another shockwave, but this time it reaches to the masked man. While Kazuki feels nothing from it, the intruder has to protect himself from it and resist the invisible force pushing him away. Kazuki turns to the masked man. He is being pushed away by an invisible force. It's like in his dream. The masked man gets back up. He is now the one confused by the turn of events. He look at the kid with a bit of anger and a little spoon of curiosity.

"What is this?! What kind of power did you just use? It is powerful. This sensation is pretty familiar."

And a third droplet. This time, the pond overflows. The mix of water and blood spills on the water of the inner world. The masked man sees that something is preparing, so he commands and launches dark water on the fountain.

"Whatever is going on, it won't happen!"

The dark water rushes to the structure, but its course is stopped by the liquid pouring from the pond. The dark water is absorbed by it. Both Kazuki and the Masked man stay still, in silence, waiting for a sign of any event. A black spot appeared where the dark water disappeared. A sound of a small bell can be heard echoing through the inner world. The water of the fountain behind Kazuki starts to go back up. In the sky, it forms a celestial body. It looks like a golden eye. Like in Kazuki's dream.

The eye starts to glow. It spread its light on the inner world, slowly erasing the darkness and making stars appear in the sky. When the light reaches the black spot, a hand gets out of it and holds to the border of the spot . This hand is completely black. A second hand emerges from the spot. It starts pushing on the border to make something bigger get out of the water.

"What is this..?"

The Masked man throws more dark water in order to touch whatever monstrosity is coming. However the water is purified by the light way before it could touch the thing.

From the spot emerges a head. A with totally black, without a face. On its forehead, there are large golden diagonal strips and an eye looking like the one in the sky but vertically. It emits the same light as well. Its hair is long, gray and constantly standing up. It keeps getting out, revealing a black muscular body with golden marks on it. There are large strips and spirals, sometimes merging together. As it finishes emerging from the spot, it produces a bright golden light while putting its hands in the air. After the end of the entrance, Kazuki's forehead starts to burn. A mark appeared, looking like the Entity's eye.

The entity puts its hands down and looks at Kazuki. It doesn't have a face but still has the shape of it. It's easy to see where the eyes and the mouth should be. It puts a hand on Kazuki's head, with a familiar movement, and Kazuki's wounds start to heal in a warm golden light. Once it's done, it turns it back to the young boy and looks in the direction of the intruder.

The entity stands there, looking at the Masked man. The opponent looks at both the entity and Kazuki, especially their forehead. That's the moment when he realizes something. He does have knowledge about this specific mark, this eye on the forehead. He seems to know and understand something that is beyond Kazuki's knowledge, and expresses his thoughts without hiding anything.

"Tian-Han Yi.. Old ape.. So you're the one behind this."