Chapter 209

Backtracking to the eve of Kenjaku's clash with Tsukumo and Choso, a foreign military force breaks into the Culling Game. The troops believe they have come to Japan to round up jujutsu sorcerers, yet Kenjaku has reserved an entirely different fate for them.

In the small hours of November 14th, American military forces push into the colonies. Every soldier is approached by the shikigami Kogane and brushes it aside, and because teleportation only fires for players who answer Kogane's call, the troops advance freely. Leading Uraume down into the wrecked disciplinary chambers of the Zenin clan, Kenjaku explains the quirk, calling it a hidden rule while Uraume counters that it reads more like a glitch. Uraume judges the space a fitting spot for a bath that even Sukuna might appreciate.

Over in Tokyo Colony No. 1, the soldiers scoop up Remi and many other weak players with ease, even turning it into a contest over the biggest haul. One female soldier breaks in to describe a far deadlier player crowned with a helicopter propeller, against whom her squad had to resort to lethal force just to live. She insists sorcerers come in tiers: the captured weaklings, the monsters fighting back fiercely, and likely something stronger above them. Among the players who shrug off the invaders is Iori Hazenoki, and after identifying a fallen soldier as a foreign agent, he wonders whether this is the major reveal Reggie predicted would reshape the game. Uraume guesses Kenjaku means to charge the colonies with enough cursed energy to start the pre-merger with Tengen, keeping the troops as backup. Kenjaku says the guess lands close: since dying non-sorcerers, foreigners included, release plenty of cursed energy, he has unleashed a swarm of cursed spirits to butcher the soldiers rather than pit them against the players. As the Angel reaches the same conclusion, Yuji, Megumi, Hana, and Fumihiko cross paths with soldiers in the hotel. A tossed grenade is kicked clear by Yuji before it detonates, the troops open fire, and Megumi, certain they are no JSDF and not there to shield anyone, resolves to question them face to face.

Opening Volume 24 within the Culling Game arc, the chapter exposes the true purpose of the military invasion as a cursed-energy sacrifice rather than a sorcerer hunt. It weaves two threads: Kenjaku and Uraume's discussion in the Zenin chambers, and the skirmishes in Tokyo No. 1 Colony. Hazenoki returns, and the events tie back to Reggie Star's earlier warning about a reveal that would change everything.