Chapter 215

Megumi keeps fighting Sukuna from inside his own body, and Maki Zenin lines up beside Yuji to give him a real shot against the King of Curses. None of the combatants realize that other sorcerers are quietly drawing nearer to where Sukuna stands.

Yuji connects with a right cross while Megumi pins Sukuna's cursed energy output as low as ten percent. Maki turns up out of nowhere, apologizing for arriving late and asking for a fast briefing. Sukuna observes that Nue's sloppy attack failed to harm her and pegs her as no lightweight. The three trade blows at blistering speed, Yuji and Maki working in tandem; she manhandles Sukuna in close quarters while Yuji clamps a gate around his arms. A kick sends Sukuna into a wall, but he climbs out unhurt, prompting Maki to muse on whether her Split Soul Katana could leave wounds his reverse cursed technique cannot mend. She gets Yuji to confirm the aim is to halt Sukuna even if Megumi dies, then warns that the speed is about to spike.

The trio re-engage even quicker. Yuji and Maki throw a feint to force a mistimed block, Maki hurls Yuji into Sukuna for a body shot, and the two pour on a barrage Sukuna parries. Grasping that his power weakens most when he aims at Megumi's friends, he targets the floor instead, firing Cleave: Spiderweb to blow out the ground under them, then catches Maki off balance with a punch she brushes off. The fight stops cold when a swell of cursed energy is felt: Uraume appears and unleashes Frost Calm at full output, sheathing Yuji and Maki in ice while sparing Sukuna. Apologizing for the interruption, Uraume mentions deliberately keeping Yuji largely free of the ice as a precaution, but Sukuna says the boy has already served his role and his fate is now irrelevant, commending Uraume for aiming the bulk of the attack at Maki. Sukuna summons Nue, calls his form still unfinished, and asks after the Bath, which Uraume reports is already prepared. The two board Nue and lift off as Yuji shatters his ice only to be tethered to the ground, left to watch helplessly as they vanish from reach.

Part of the Culling Game arc and collected in Volume 24, the chapter closes out the battle of Yuji Itadori, Maki Zenin, and Hana Kurusu against Sukuna through Uraume's intervention. It puts Maki's Split Soul Katana, Sukuna's Spiderweb extension of Cleave, and Uraume's Frost Calm under Ice Formation on display, while teasing the readied Bath as Sukuna and Uraume escape aboard Nue.