Everything outside faded the moment the first Keeper lunged.
Aira's blade of light clashed against a crimson axe, sparks flying. Momo summoned a spectral charm and yelled Riku's name—but he didn't hear it.
He was no longer there.
The physical world twisted, melted, and reformed.
He now stood inside an empty temple, quiet and ethereal, floating within an infinite void. There was no ceiling, no floor—only a hazy reflection of space around him, like walking on glass atop a sea of stars.
And at the center…
A massive, ancient mirror towered over him. Its frame was carved from bone and obsidian, pulsing with faint red light. Strange sigils—like the ones that had appeared on Riku's skin—coiled around the edges, alive and breathing.
As he stepped closer, his reflection rippled—not like water, but like something alive behind it was watching him.
He stopped.
Then the mirror spoke.
> "You are incomplete."
Riku narrowed his eyes. "Who are you?"
> "I am what remains of what you were. And what you may yet become."
His reflection shifted.
It still looked like him—silver hair, golden eyes—but darker. More regal. Its eyes burned like smoldering embers, and a faint crown of flame hovered above its head.
Riku took a step back instinctively. "You're… Sukuna?"
> "I am a fraction. A sliver. The echo of the King of Malevolence. When the real one was shattered, parts of his soul were embedded in things. That horn you touched?" The reflection grinned. "One such shard."
Riku clenched his fists. "Why was it in me?"
> "Because someone made you to contain it. To succeed him—or to replace him. Perhaps both. The ones who did this… wanted a god on a leash. But you've already proven you won't be controlled."
The mirror flickered.
Suddenly, Riku was surrounded by images—his battles, his first summoning of Max Elephant, the training under moonlight, his soft conversation with Aira, and Momo's shy smile that morning.
> "You're not like me," the mirror whispered. "Not yet. You laugh. You protect. You care."
"But you think I'll become you."
> "I know you could. With enough power… kindness becomes a weakness. Love becomes leverage. And when you finally lose something, you'll break. Like I did."
Riku gritted his teeth. "Then I won't lose anything."
> "No one escapes loss."
The mirror cracked—just a hairline fracture down its center.
> "But perhaps… you can become more than me. If you choose evolution, not destruction."
Riku looked at the image of himself—the cursed version, the darker self—and slowly stepped forward until they stood face to face.
"Then teach me," he said. "If you're part of me, then help me understand it all. The powers. The seals. The shadow in my blood. I'm not afraid of it anymore."
The mirror smiled.
> "Then look deeper."
He touched the surface—
—and was blasted backward by a surge of soul force.
Images poured into him like thunder.
A battle between two Sukuna-like figures tearing apart cursed beasts across the skies.
A girl with lavender eyes sobbing over a shattered mirror.
A hand, cloaked in celestial tattoos, placing something into a boy's chest.
His chest.
Riku gasped and collapsed on the invisible floor.
"Someone put me here," he whispered.
> "Yes," the mirror echoed. "You were planted in this world like a weapon waiting to awaken. But you've grown your own soul. That is what they didn't count on."
Outside, the shrine trembled. Aira screamed his name.
Riku's eyes snapped open.
"I'm not you," he told the mirror. "I'll use your power—but I'll decide what it becomes."
> "Then go," it whispered. "Show them what you are."
The mirror shattered.
And Riku woke up.
The moment his eyes opened, an aura of cursed energy exploded from him in a ring—sending all the Keepers flying back.
Momo fell beside him. "Riku! Are you okay?! What happened?!"
He stood, expression calm, but different.
Stronger.
More defined.
"I talked to myself," he said.
Aira blinked. "And?"
He looked at his hand, where cursed script now pulsed like a heartbeat.
"And I decided who I'm going to be."