Pain.
Unimaginable pain.
It spread through Jin Ryu's body like wildfire, tearing through his veins, his bones, his very soul.
He screamed.
But no sound came out.
The masked figure hesitated.
"What is this…?"
A faint glow began to emanate from Jin Ryu's body.
Not light.
Not quite.
It was… ash.
Gray particles swirled around him, forming a vortex.
The ground beneath him cracked.
The air trembled.
"This energy… it can't be…"
The figure took a step back.
For the first time—
They seemed uncertain.
Jin Ryu collapsed onto his hands and knees, his body shaking violently.
Memories flooded his mind.
Fragments.
Visions.
A burning sky.
A mountain reduced to dust.
A figure standing amidst the ashes, eyes glowing like dying embers.
And a voice—
"The Heavenly Ash Scripture… is not learned."
"It awakens."
Jin Ryu's eyes snapped open.
They were no longer the same.
Where once there was fear—
Now there was something else.
Something deeper.
Something dangerous.
The masked figure reacted instantly, raising their hand again.
"We cannot allow this."
Energy surged.
But before they could strike—
Jin Ryu moved.
He didn't think.
He didn't plan.
He simply… acted.
His hand shot forward.
The ash around him condensed, forming a crude, unstable force.
It collided with the masked figure's attack.
The explosion that followed shattered the silence of the night.
BOOM—
Smoke and debris filled the air.
Jin Ryu staggered backward, barely able to stand.
"What… was that…?"
His own voice sounded foreign to him.
The smoke slowly cleared.
The masked figure stood unharmed.
But—
There was a crack on their mask.
Silence.
Then—
"…So it's true."
Jin Ryu's heart pounded.
"You… awakened it."
The figure's voice had changed.
There was… excitement.
"Interesting."
They took a step forward.
"You may yet be valuable."
Jin Ryu clenched his teeth.
"I won't let you—"
Before he could finish—
Darkness struck him.
A sharp blow to the neck.
His vision faded.
The last thing he saw—
Was the masked figure standing over him.
Watching.
Waiting.