As Kano and the Black Dragon wreak havoc around the globe, a young warrior named Kenshi will have to rise above his own limitations and take on the looming threat of Outworld.
Kano is hellbent on taking over Earthrealm, viciously attacking town after town with the aid of three cold-blooded Black Dragon mercenaries. Those who don't submit are annihilated. One young man won't bend the knee to Kano: Kenshi. Cocky and undisciplined, Kenshi loses both his eyesight and his confidence after Kano and his clan attack him. Kenshi then comes under the tutelage of Kuai Liang, now retired and reluctant to train Kenshi - but also the only fighter powerful enough to challenge Kano. Along the way, Kenshi rediscovers the hope he had lost and a possible path to redemption ... but will that be enough to stop Kano and save Earthrealm?—IGN
Earthrealm has been overrun by undead revenants and reduced to a desolate collection of remote cities decades after Shao Kahn's defeat in Mortal Kombat. With their leader Kano claiming to be king, the Black Dragon clan, which includes Kira, Kobra, Ferra/Torr, Drahmin, Kabal, Erron Black, No Face, Dairou, Tremor, and Jarek, as well as an elderly Shang Tsung, has seized these cities.
In the meantime, an elderly Kuai Liang has given up his Sub-Zero title and is now a farmer. After attacking him and robbing him of his supplies, Kabal, Kira, and Kobra enter an unexplored city that is inhabited by the brazen young warrior Kenshi. The trio escapes but later returns to the city with Shang Tsung and fellow clansman Tremor following them after he defeats them in combat but spares their lives. When Kenshi uses his full name to introduce himself, Shang Tsung notices his last name, Takahashi, and after Tremor defeats Kenshi, he steps in and stops his execution.
He tells Kenshi about a strong sword known as "Sento" that could be used to vanquish the Black Dragon while posing as "Song." When Kenshi opens the Well of Souls, which is located in a desert, energy blasts out of it, blinding him. Shang Tsung absorbs it and is given a younger form, then he throws Kenshi into the well and lets him perish. Kenshi, however, takes the mystic sword and escapes the well after hearing Sento speak to him telepathically.
Later, Shang Tsung attacks Kano, killing a number of his Black Dragon goons before Kano kills him after he can not eat his soul because Kano is cybernetic. However, not before revealing that he had foreseen Shang Tsung's betrayal, suggesting a more ambitious plan for his rule.
After discovering Kenshi straying through the desert, Kuai Liang adopts him and trains him by improving his other senses. He discloses that he had confronted the revenant wave and, in a last-ditch effort to put an end to the battle, killed everyone but himself in an ice storm. He took an oath to never use his powers again, though, because the casualties included both civilians and members of his clan.
Kenshi argues that they must aid the townspeople when Kano takes over another city, but Kuai Liang rejects, leading to a brawl. After killing more Black Dragon, Kenshi decides to enter the city, where he is captured, despite Kuai Liang's last-ditch attempt to help him return to a normal life.
In order to call forth Scorpion, Kuai Liang destroys his farm and takes on the persona of Sub-Zero. They band together and travel to the city to rescue Kenshi from Kano's torture. Kano is beheaded after the other Black Dragon members are killed, but he lives and quickly makes his way to a room that holds Kronika's Hourglass, which Kano used to construct a different timeline in which he unleashed the revenant infestation to acquire his enormous power. The entrance to the chamber self-destructs to keep those from the outside out, and Sub-Zero kills him before he can use the Hourglass to remove the cryomancer from the world. Sub-Zero leaves for the Netherrealm after promising Scorpion that he would take him if he ever used his powers again, making Kenshi the new Earthrealm protector and the Lin Kuei's heir.
