[Scene opens – Northern Wastes, just after midnight]
The ash storm howled across the ruins.
Jin Kuroya pulled his cloak tighter, the black crown fragment strapped across his back alongside Tenrou. His boots crunched over dead spiritstone, each step pulling him deeper into the wasteland beyond the Rekikan's protected territories.
He wasn't chasing Raikou anymore.
He was being led.
[Internal thoughts as he walks]
Every step is deliberate.Every marker planted.He wants me to find him.Or he wants me to die trying.
Renzai's voice echoed quietly in his mind.
"Careful. This trail doesn't just lead to him.It leads to everything you've tried not to face."
[Scene shift – Ruined Temple at the edge of the Soulveil]
A broken temple stretched before him, shaped like a dying hand reaching from the earth. Cursed vines wrapped around shattered statues of forgotten gods. The sky above pulsed unnaturally—like a heartbeat out of rhythm.
And at the center of it—
A second crown of thorns.
This one half-sunken into a pool of corrupted spirit water, swirling with black mist.
Jin approached cautiously.
Tenrou burned hotter against his back, warning him.
Too easy.
[Sudden Ambush – Thornborn Beasts]
The ground exploded.
Three creatures emerged—spirit beasts twisted by Kuragami corruption, stitched with thorns and blindfolded, their claws dripping pure soul decay.
They screeched—a soundless vibration that rattled Jin's teeth.
No time to think.
Only move.
[Fight Begins – Jin vs Thornborn]
The first beast lunged. Jin flash-stepped, Tenrou slicing through its side—but the creature didn't bleed.
It laughed.
The wounds stitched themselves shut with black vines.
The second beast struck from behind. Jin pivoted—his flame barrier absorbed the hit, but the impact sent him skidding across the cracked stones.
"They're not alive," Renzai muttered."They're soul constructs. Feeding off the ruin itself."
Jin gritted his teeth.
"Then I'll just burn the whole ruin down with them."
[Jin unleashes – Wildfire Dance]
He loosened the reigns on his soul energy.
The air ignited around him.
Every swing of Tenrou left arcs of living flame that carved sigils into the ground.
He leapt between beasts, slashing, spinning, setting the battlefield on fire.
"Soulburn Style: Wildfire Dance!"
The beasts howled—caught in the growing spiral of soulfire that collapsed inward, crushing their false forms under the weight of true flame.
[Victory – but something's wrong]
The beasts fell.The air cleared.
But the pool at the center…
It wasn't just corrupted.
It was awake.
[Reveal – Thorned Mirror of Regret]
The water trembled.
And from it rose a mirror framed in black thorns.
Inside, Jin saw himself—
But twisted.
A future where he wore Raikou's cursed armor.Where his flame wasn't red and gold—but black and rotting purple.
A voice hissed from the mirror.
"Every step you take brings you closer to becoming me."
[Jin's mind fractures slightly]
He stumbled back.
Visions slammed into him:
Himself slaughtering Squad Six.
Himself standing over the ruins of the Rekikan.
Himself… laughing with Raikou at his side.
Jin dropped to one knee.
"No… That's not me."
But the mirror pulsed again, louder.
"Not yet. But you will be. It's inevitable."
[Final moment – Jin's Resolve Reignites]
Renzai roared inside him.
"The future isn't written in stone.It's written in blood and flame.Yours to carve."
Jin stood.
He raised Tenrou—
And shattered the mirror in a single roaring slash.
The cursed pool erupted into ash.
The visions broke.
And for a moment—just a heartbeat—he heard Raikou's voice carried on the wind.
"Closer, little brother.Closer."
[Final Scene – Jin walking onward, cloak burning at the edges, eyes burning brighter than ever]
"You can lay thorns in my path, Raikou," Jin muttered under his breath.
"But I'll burn my own road."