Chapter 198

At the climax of the colony struggle, Naoya finally springs his domain expansion. The freedom Maki has earned lets her absorb everything he sends her way, reducing his ultimate technique to no real threat.

Naoya traps Daido and Miyo inside his domain, Time Cell Moon Palace. Because its guaranteed hit looks harmless, both push forward, only for cuts to tear open across their bodies the instant they move. He explains the domain enforces Projection Sorcery's twenty-four-frames-per-second rule, refining the technique to strike individual cells; break the rule and your cells destabilize, bleeding from instantly conjured wounds.

Miyo drops as Naoya congratulates himself, until he notices Maki still cannot be found. Daido's arm shears off mid-attack, and Maki grabs the katana from the severed hand to drive it into Naoya's back. With no cursed energy, she reads to the domain like a building, free to come and go; absent her consent or a structure used as the barrier's outer shell, as Megumi once managed back at the Tokyo No. 1 Colony, there is no caging her. On the shore where her consciousness once said farewell to Mai, the twins reunite, join hands, and Mai rejoices that her sister broke free; the blade Mai left is a perfect copy of Toji's Split Soul Katana, wieldable only by those who sense inorganic matter.

Naoya cranks his head a full half-turn into a more curse-like shape to strike, sure she has cornered herself, but the auto-hit cannot land on a target carrying no cursed energy. Maki cleaves his head upward and exorcises him for good. As he perishes the domain unravels, both Daido and Miyo live, and they watch a warrior matching Toji himself stand fully realized.

This Culling Game Arc chapter ran in issue 43 of 2022 and released on September 26, 2022, collected in Volume 22 with Naoya on the cover. It ends the bout of Maki, Daido, and Miyo against Naoya. Featured powers include the Split Soul Katana, the Time Cell Moon Palace domain expansion, and Projection Sorcery. Mai Zenin appears alongside a Toji Fushiguro flashback. A full dozen years on from Toji's passing, the narration marks the arrival of a demonic fighter on par with him.