"Every cursed technique is a story… and I am a walking library of sins."
—Akashi Ryuunosuke
Shibuya — Subterranean Utility Corridor
6:43 PM, October 19th
Akashi's boots smacked that concrete like he was dragging every ghost in the city behind him. Not tired, nah—just felt like the air was thick with old grudges, history that stuck to your skin. Cursed energy here didn't just hang around. It lingered. It watched.
Panda lumbered along, actually quiet for once (miracles do happen). Maki, up front, spear out, already mopped up a few little curses—nothing special. But up ahead? Nah, this wasn't your jump-scare, run-at-you kind of nightmare.
This was the lurking kind. The patient kind.
Maki glanced at her reader, jaw tight. "Readings are spiking. We're close."
The corridor? Tight squeeze, walls sweating under the flicker of backup lights. And then—glyphs, spiraling out of the concrete, slow and shifty, like they were checking you out. Like they were breathing.
Akashi let out a breath, rolling his shoulders. His cursed technique started to shimmer—Dragon Tongue, curling around his arms all smokey and deep purple.
"They're… bleeding memory," he muttered. "This place is copying Spiral Script."
Panda blinked. "Like a cursed echo?"
Akashi smiled? Not a happy one. "No. Worse. This whole place is a cursed echo. We're inside a living curse's memory."
FLASHBACK TO THE PAST— Ten Years Ago
His mom's scream still cut through everything. The Revenant tore up that shack, shadows crawling the ceiling. He was six, bleeding, hiding behind her body. Helpless. And on the walls—those same damn glyphs. The ones right here, right now.
The curse didn't just kill her. It stamped him. Branded him.
BACK TO THE PRESENT NOW
He stopped. Not scared. Not really. More like—oh. Recognition. Old pain with a new coat of paint.
"It's the same one,huh" he whispered.
Panda nudged him. "Akashi—hey. Snap out of it, man. You're spiraling."
Akashi just grinned, wild-eyed. "Exactly."
Then the floor shook. Like—really shook. Corridor split open with a crack and, whoops, down they all went. Bye-bye, gravity.
Spiral Sub-Core — Layer Two
They hit ground hard, dust everywhere. No lights. Just glyphs glowing up above, twisting, spinning, making you dizzy if you stared too long.
A voice slithered out of the dark.
"Ryuunosuke… Ryuunosuke… Why did you let me die?"
His mom's voice. Real as rain.
Akashi didn't flinch. But his fists clenched, aura flaring red,eyes glowing.
Maki spun her spear, rolling her eyes. "Illusion curse. Trying to drag out old memories. Textbook stuff. Don't fall for it."
Akashi? Cold as ice. "It's not pulling anything. It's just pressing play on the scars I already got."
The Curse Shows Up: Echo of Kizu
At the Center of the room—some horror rises up. Looks like a kid that's been dug up after a week, stitched masks stuck all over its torso. Faces he knew—teacher, friend from the slums, his mom. You know, just your average nightmare fuel.
"You again…" Akashi spat.
The spirit grinned, torso splitting open, mouth twisting into a spiral of glyphs.
"We are the price of your survival. Come write with us."
Akashi shook his head. "Nah. I'm here to erase you."
Fight Time
Dragon Tongue: Shatter Bloom—Akashi shot forward, cursed fire blazing out like a lotus in full bloom. The Echo barely blocked it, masks shifting.
Maki hit from the left, spear slicing through some cursed clone. Panda—straight up brawler—punched a tendril into mush.
But the curse? Wasn't stupid. Every hit, it got smarter. Learned their moves. Started to morph, adapt.
Akashi swore. "It's building a Domain Fragment! If it finishes that, we're toast like a bread!"
Akashi's New Move
Glyphs flared up his neck, inked his face, blood dripping from his nose. Yeah, it hurt. Didn't matter.
"Cursed Reversal Technique: Spiral Glyph—Thoughtbinder Seal!"
Runes exploded out, not trapping the curse, but its memories. Locked 'em down.
Kizu froze, stuck mid-mutation.
Akashi didn't miss his shot. Launched himself up, roared:
"Dragon Tongue: Terminal Fang!"
His strike hit home, erasing all the curse's stolen memories. Every mask shattered.
The curse let out a scream—relief, not pain. Then it just… faded. Gone. Dust.
Aftermath
Silence. Akashi dropped to his knees, glyphs fading, breath coming ragged.
Panda hauled him up. "Bro, that was nuts."
Maki wiped her spear off. "If that was one Spiral Echo, we're in way deeper than we thought."
Akashi just stared at the spiraling ceiling. Quiet. Then—
"They didn't want to kill me. They wanted me to join up. Finish something."
Panda frowned. "Finish what, man?"
Akashi's eyes never left the glyphs.
"A story. One that started long before me."
Now at Spiral Monolith, Shibuya Veil Core
The Spiral Monolith throbbed, red light burning through the gloom. A new name etched itself, blood-bright:
AKASHI RYUUNOSUKE.
Below that, a glyph flickered:
REVENANT POTENTIAL: AWAKENED.
And in the shadows, a hollow-eyed figure whispered:
"He remembers too much."