Ghost, Snake, Chainsaw

Aki lies broken on the floor after the strike that dropped him. Sawatari judges his hunter suit thick enough to keep the wounds from killing him, so she tells Katana Man to deliver the finishing blow. Refusing to abandon her partner, Himeno begs Power to step in, but Power backs off, certain the enemy is beyond her. The Ghost Devil that Himeno calls on also recoils, terrified of Sawatari, until she surrenders everything she has left to it. That bargain unlocks its towering true shape.

Each swing the giant Ghost takes against Katana Man costs Himeno another piece of herself. Fading, she dwells on Aki, struck that he could still weep when most hunters lose the ability to feel. She pleads with him to survive so that at least one person will mourn her. Sawatari then looses the Snake Devil, which consumes the Ghost entirely and leaves only Himeno's empty clothing behind. The killers turn to claim Denji's heart, never noticing the Ghost's severed hand drifting to his chest and pulling his ripcord. Reborn and snarling, Denji knows his enemies on sight and throws himself at them, gleeful that no one will scold him for slaughtering people he calls bad guys.

Himeno gives her whole body to the Ghost Devil to protect Aki, and the Snake Devil devours both Ghost and Himeno, leaving nothing but her clothes. The Ghost's last act, a floating hand, reactivates Denji's transformation. Chainsaw Man rises again mid-ambush and charges Katana Man and Sawatari.

The installment opens the third volume's bloodletting in the Katana Man arc and ran in Weekly Shonen Jump issue 2019-28, dated June 10, 2019. Its events were adapted across episodes 8 and 9 of the anime. Himeno's death is the emotional anchor, framing her final wish around Aki's rare capacity to cry.