In 17th-century Japan, during the Sengoku period’s lingering shadows, warlords wage endless battles while peasants suffer under corruption and famine. Takeshi Kuroda, a masterless samurai (ronin), is betrayed and slain while defending innocents from a cruel daimyo. At the edge of death, his soul is bargained away to Mephisto, who binds him with the cursed Spirit of Vengeance. Resurrected as the Ghost Rider, Takeshi rises as a flaming, spectral samurai who punishes the wicked with hellfire and chains. But vengeance comes with a cost his humanity. As Takeshi battles warlords and corrupt monks, he discovers Blackheart, Mephisto’s son, is twisting Japan’s civil wars to claim dominion of Earth. Guided by the spectral wisdom of Carter Slade, the first Rider from the West, Takeshi must choose: remain Mephisto’s weapon of fury, or break free and forge his own code of justice, becoming a legend feared by demons and men alike.
