Chapter 251

Wounded by his own Shrine, Sukuna meets a tireless pair set on saving Megumi. Yuji and Yuta pour everything into a last surge against the King of Curses, betting on a scheme they believe holds no gaps.

His face split by the technique Rika stole for him, Sukuna learns that she devoured the final cursed object so Yuta could copy Shrine. Yuji slams the wound with a right hook, only for Sukuna to seize him and tear his torso with Cleave. By spitting blood to blind half of Sukuna's eyes, Yuji opens the way for Yuta's uppercut, which knocks him loose. Rika next throws Sukuna into a Manji Kick, making him drop Hollow Wicker Basket and grasp for a world-cutting Dismantle, just as the sorcerers foresaw. Rika and Yuji restrain three arms while Yuta drives a hand into the stomach mouth, rips out the tongue, then slashes Sukuna's mouth to halt the chants and cuts away his last free hand as Yuji's blood erupts.

A flashback covers the strategy session. Citing Yuki Tsukumo's soul research, Yuji noted two souls only blend so far and never fully become one, and that a host soul sinks deeper but never vanishes. The reason, he explained, lies in how vast the cursed energy gap runs whenever a cursed object meets a non-sorcerer. Choso fretted that Megumi's soul might already be fused, but Yuji clarified that only Mahito's Idle Transfiguration can truly merge souls, so his punches could rouse Megumi awake. Hana Kurusu suggested the Angel's Technique Extinguishment to extract Sukuna while sparing Megumi, since splitting the souls first lifts his survival odds.

Back in the present, Yuta unleashes Maximum Output: Jacob's Ladder, swallowing Sukuna in a column of light, then severs in half the arm Yuji had pinned. Yuji hits the soul boundary and begs Megumi to wake, only to find him groveling, stripped of any will to live. That blind spot grants Sukuna time to complete the Dismantle chant, which fells Yuta, then Rika and Yuji, as the domain shatters. Seemingly triumphant, Sukuna is undone by a tactic he should have predicted, an ambush on a foe sure of victory, as Maki Zenin pierces his heart with the Split Soul Katana.

The chapter sits in Volume 28 and ran in issue 12 of 2024. Featured cursed tools include the Split Soul Katana, while Choso, Hana Kurusu, Yuki Tsukumo, and Mahito appear in flashback or reference. Maki's surprise blow caps the chapter as its decisive turn.