Chapter 192

Because Naoya was not killed with jujutsu, he came back as a vengeful curse as horrid as it is strong. Maki and Kamo coordinate to bring the twisted enemy down, but every hit they land only drives his transformation forward.

A flashback to before the Kyoto Sister-School Goodwill Event shows Gakuganji quizzing Noritoshi, as the two plotted Yuji's death, on what to remember when killing a rival sorcerer. Noritoshi answered that the foe must die by jujutsu to keep them from becoming a curse afterward. In the present, Maki lies pinned by the reborn Naoya and assumes he turned because she killed him with her fists rather than cursed energy. Naoya corrects her, revealing it was actually her mother who ended his life, and announces he has come to Sakurajima to kill Maki, mocking her for fighting without conviction.

Noritoshi's arrows rain down to drive Naoya off, and Naoya gripes that he hates Blood Manipulation. Unlike Maki, whose presence is hard to read, Naoya is easy to track, letting Noritoshi snipe him from a distance. When Naoya dismisses the next volley as too slow, Maki throws him into the arrows; the blood stuns him and she slashes him across the body. Bleeding heavily, Naoya pretends to feel remorse for all he has hurt, then instantly drops the act as his body implodes and begins to metamorphose.

Realizing Naoya is a cursed womb taking a cocoon shape to evolve, Maki tells Noritoshi to shoot it down since it has drifted out of her reach. He draws a blood pack, applies convergence, and fires Piercing Blood straight through the cocoon for a direct hit, and Naoya seems to scream as the shell fades. Noritoshi feels relief, thinking how much worse it would have been had Naoya gained speed, but as the dust clears his final form has survived. Now smaller, humanoid, and skull-faced, Naoya radiates murderous intent. Maki warns Noritoshi, yet the evolved curse is too fast for him, sending him crashing through several trees with a lightning-quick punch and sneering that he was trash who never understood his place.