Chapter 28

The fight between Yuji and Mahito ignites. Cut off from Sukuna, Yuji channels raw anger into his strikes, while Mahito stays cocky yet runs into trouble after carelessly brushing against Sukuna's soul. The curse still tears savage wounds into the boy before Nanami steps in to save him.

Acting on Geto's earlier advice that hostages are pointless against someone careless with his own life, Mahito sets out to make himself an unwinnable opponent so that Yuji's rage will push him to lean on Sukuna. He is even prepared to slaughter everyone at the school to corner Yuji into a Binding Vow favoring the King of Curses. The plan rests on Mahito being the stronger of the two, but he soon feels the menace of his true enemy stirring within Yuji. Enraged like never before, Yuji lashes out, and Mahito dodges by reshaping his soul to sprout wings.

Watching how freely Mahito distorts his form, Yuji abandons any thought of grappling and keeps swinging relentlessly. Mahito turns one arm into a spinning mill of blades that shreds the surroundings, though Yuji escapes through a hole punched in the wall. Mahito follows with a drill-shaped limb fired like a projectile; Yuji slips the tip, seizes the connecting flesh, and despite thorns piercing his hands refuses to release, hurling Mahito through the air with sheer strength. A heavy right hook lands clean, yet Mahito shrugs it off and grins before driving fresh spikes into Yuji's midsection.

With Yuji reeling, Mahito insists the boy cannot win and demands he swap places with Sukuna, then attempts to remold Yuji's soul with Idle Transfiguration. Sukuna halts him cold, warning the curse never to touch his soul again and sparing him only because they had shared a laugh at Yuji's expense. The failed attempt leaves Mahito exposed, and Yuji answers with a fierce headbutt, a refusal to switch, and a vow to kill Mahito himself, followed by a roundhouse kick. Mahito slips behind him with a mace-shaped hand, but Nanami's Ratio Technique deflects the blow just in time. The chapter takes place at Satozakura High School in Kawasaki City, concludes the Yuji Itadori vs. Mahito battle, and ran in issue 43 of 2018.