Perfect Preparation, Part 2

Both twins lie cut open and abandoned by their father to die. Mai, however, stays conscious, having always expected this day to come. Understanding that jujutsu binds her and Maki as one, she resolves to make a brutal sacrifice so her cherished sister can live.

Ogi hauls his daughters' bleeding bodies toward a large opening, boasting that Maki lost by closing in and treating him like a swordsman rather than a sorcerer. He repeats that fatherhood, not Naobito's Projection Sorcery, decided the headship; the only thing that mattered was whose children turned out stronger. He pitches them into a pit packed with grade 2 and weaker cursed spirits set to devour them, sneers at Maki's Heavenly Restriction, and walks off bidding the stains on his life farewell.

Before the curses close in, Mai sits up, cradles Maki's head, and feels a faint heartbeat. Knowing what she must do, she opens Maki's mouth, mutters that this sucks, and breathes life back into her. Maki wakes in a dreamlike beach, lying beside Mai, who reveals she will conjure something with Construction and then perish from the toll her wounds demand. Mai walks into the water, wishing her twin luck. As Maki chases after her, Mai explains she long knew twins are an ill omen for sorcerers: jujutsu treats them as one person, so while Mai holds the cursed technique and refuses to grow stronger, Maki can never fully develop. Once Mai is gone, that ceiling lifts.

Mai offers to leave a single thing and take the rest, carrying away all the cursed energy between them as she dies, asking only that Maki promise to destroy everything. Maki accepts a small reed from her hand and flashes back to them as little girls. Returning to reality, she finds the reed has become a sword handle and her sister limp in her arms. Grieving, she lays Mai down as cursed spirits swarm, then exorcises them all at once. Ogi turns back in alarm and is struck with old terror: Maki now resembles Toji Fushiguro, the only other warrior with no cursed energy. He ignites Blazing Courage around his broken blade and threatens to burn her, but Maki bisects his head in a single strike too fast to see. With Ogi dead, she grips Mai's last gift, the Split Soul Katana, and tells her sister it is time to begin.

Within the Culling Game Arc, the chapter is set in the Zenin Clan's disciplinary pit and concludes the bout Maki Zenin vs. Ogi Zenin. Maki, Mai, and Ogi appear in the present, with Naobito, Naoya, and Toji Fushiguro shown in flashback. The Split Soul Katana, Construction, and Blazing Courage feature, and the events adapt into Episode 51.