Chapter 29

With Nanami joining in, the fight against Mahito presses forward. The curse expects to handle Nanami while keeping Yuji busy, yet he badly misreads their pooled strength and ends up backed into a corner. Energized by the thrill of facing possible death, Mahito drives his sinister abilities to their absolute peak.

Skipping any lecture, Nanami asks Yuji for a simple report. A dejected Yuji owns up to failing both Junpei and the boy's mother, and Nanami, struck by how Yuji frets over others rather than himself, asks again how Yuji is actually doing. Yuji waves off his injuries and mentions the staff and students knocked out in the gym. After confirming that Yuji bloodied the curse's nose at the start and that Mahito did touch Yuji in return, Nanami states plainly that his strikes land no effect at all, which jolts Yuji. From this, Nanami deduces a limitation in play: perhaps the curse simply cannot turn his power on Yuji, or perhaps something stays his hand from killing the boy. Whichever it is, the gap favors them.

The duo settles on a paired rhythm, Nanami pinning down Mahito's movement while Yuji opens the chances to strike. Mahito grows an extra eye on one hand so he can keep watch on Yuji and reshapes himself into a needled, spiked form, but the sorcerers parry and nearly land a fatal blow before he shrinks away. Leery of Yuji's raw power, the curse heaves up transfigured humans and sics them on the boy, gambling that Yuji will not cut down what were once people, and uses the lull to slam Nanami into a wall. Driven onto the roof, Yuji freezes when one of the mutants pleads to be killed.

Mahito sneers at the boy as a fool too softhearted to kill, only for Nanami to brand the curse the true idiot. Yuji then drops back from the roof, having mercifully released his transfigured foes, lands atop Mahito's swollen hand, and frees Nanami. A heavy punch from Yuji chains into a follow-up from Nanami, and on the edge of death Mahito finds the inspiration to remold his soul and let loose his full power. Four hands take shape within his mouth to weave the seals, pulling Nanami into the Domain Expansion known as Self-Embodiment of Perfection; Nanami recognizes the worst case as Mahito thanks him for unlocking the form. Set at Satozakura High School in Kawasaki City, the chapter opens the Yuji and Nanami versus Mahito clash and ran in 2018.