The air in the room didn't just shift; it shattered.
As the black tattoos of the King of Curses etched themselves onto Megumi Fushiguro's skin, Yuji Itadori reacted on pure instinct. There was no hesitation, no processing time—just the animalistic drive to kill the parasite before it could settle.
Yuji lunged, the floorboards splintering under his torque.
But Sukuna, now wearing Megumi's face like a trophy, merely smirked.
Sukuna: "How dull."
His arm moved in a blur. A single punch, delivered with the casual indifference of swatting a fly, connected with Yuji's gut. The sound was wet and heavy, like a sledgehammer hitting a side of beef. The impact sent Yuji flying backward, crashing through the hotel walls, through the concrete, and out into the Tokyo skyline.
Yuji was gone.
Hana Kurusu stood frozen, her eyes wide with horror as she looked at the boy she loved—warped and desecrated. The Angel within her, however, recognized only the threat.
Angel: "Hana! We must purge him now! Before the vessel fuses completely!"
Hana screamed, her grief channeling into power. Wings of light erupted from her back, blinding and pure. She raised her trumpet, and the ceiling of the hotel dissolved into a column of divine radiance.
Hana: "Jacob's Ladder!"
The pillar of light slammed down onto Sukuna. It was a technique designed to extinguish evil, to burn away the cursed objects incarnated within vessels.
Sukuna screamed. It was a raw, guttural sound as his skin began to bubble and hiss under the purification. The tattoos on his body flickered, the Cursed Energy stripping away from his flesh like peeling paint.
Angel: "Output maximum! We erase 'The Fallen' right here!"
Shin shielded his eyes from the blinding brilliance, Playful Cloud ready in his grip. It's working, he thought. If she keeps this up, she can strip Sukuna out of Megumi.
But then, the screaming stopped.
Through the searing light, Megumi's silhouette looked up. The tattoos were fading. The malicious aura retracted. The face that looked up at Hana wasn't the King of Curses. It was the boy who had saved her years ago. His expression was pained, soft, and pleading.
Megumi: "Hana... it burns..."
Hana froze. The output of the light wavered.
Megumi: "Hana, I'm fine now. Sukuna is under control... it's me again. Thank you."
Angel: "Do not be decieved! It is a trick! Hana!"
But Hana couldn't hear the voice of reason. She only saw Megumi. She deactivated the technique, the pillar of light dissipating into sparkles. Tears streamed down her face as she floated down toward him.
Megumi changed his stance, opening his arms for a hug.
Hana: "Megumi!"
Shin saw the tilt of Megumi's head. He saw the glint in the eyes that was far too predatory to be Fushiguro.
Shin: "Don't!"
Shin launched himself forward, Playful Cloud sweeping out to hook Hana and drag her back. But before he could close the distance, the floor erupted between them.
A wave of liquid metal surged up, solidifying instantly into a jagged wall. Shin skidded to a halt, deflecting a sharp tendril that aimed for his throat.
Yorozu, inhabiting Tsumiki's body, stood atop the metal wave, smiling manically.
Yorozu: "Don't interrupt their reunion, you rude little stray. This is love!"
Shin gritted his teeth, forced to backstep as Yorozu launched a barrage of metallic spikes. He parried them with his staff, the clang of metal ringing in his ears. He was cut off.
He looked past Yorozu, desperate.
Shin: "Hana! Get away from him! That isn't Megumi!"
Hana, completely blindsided by her affection, landed softly in front of Sukuna. She reached out, her hands trembling, to cup his face. She looked back at Shin, her expression confused, innocent.
Hana: "Why? He's back. He said he's..."
She turned back to Megumi.
Megumi smiled. But the smile didn't stop at his cheeks. It kept widening. His jaw unhinged, the skin stretching and tearing with a sickening wet sound. His head enlarged grotesquely, transforming into a maw of jagged teeth that dwarfed his human frame.
Angel: "HANA!"
The jaw snapped shut.
There was a crunch—loud, brutal, and final. Blood sprayed across the room in a crimson arc.
Hana didn't even have time to scream. Sukuna bit down on her shoulder and right arm, severing the limb completely from her torso. He jerked his head back, ripping the flesh away, and then, with a casual flick of Cursed Energy, he blasted her mutilated body out of the building.
Shin felt a cold pit open in his stomach. We just lost our only win condition.
Desperate, Shin gripped his staff, ready to charge blindly into the monster, but the wall beside him exploded inward.
Yuji Itadori returned.
He didn't walk in. He crashed in. He was bleeding from the head, his uniform torn, but the look in his eyes wasn't human. It was the look of a predator that had stopped caring about its own survival.
Shin paused. His heightened senses picked up something terrifying. Yuji's body was screaming with power. It wasn't Cursed Energy. It was raw, physical torque. He was bursting with a physique that rivaled the Heavenly Restriction.
Shin: "Yuji, get Sukuna. I'll get Yorozu."
Yuji didn't nod. He just vanished.
He cleared the distance to Sukuna in a fraction of a second, the ground shattering under his takeoff.
Shin turned his attention to Yorozu. She was distracted, her eyes glued to Sukuna with a twisted flush on her cheeks.
Yorozu: "Oh, look at him! Even in another vessel, his brutality is divine!"
Shin: "Keep your eyes on me, witch."
Shin lunged, swinging Playful Cloud. Yorozu reacted late, constructing her Insect Armor around her skin. The carapace formed instantly, biological and chitinous.
Crack.
The three-section staff slammed into her ribs. The impact was heavy, but the armor held. Yorozu skidded back, but she was barely damaged.
Yorozu: "Annoying."
She waved a hand, and the liquid metal around the room sharpened into spears. She launched them at Shin.
Shin didn't block. He moved. Moving with the erratic, ghost-like agility, he weaved through the spikes, using the debris as cover. He went silent. He erased his presence, slipping into the dust kicked up by Yuji's fight.
Yorozu lost track of him. Her attention immediately snapped back to Sukuna. She watched as Yuji Itadori, a boy with no technique, walked through Sukuna's Cleave attacks, tanking the invisible slashes with sheer durability, and smashed a fist into Sukuna's face.
Yorozu: "How dare that brat touch him! That body belongs to—"
WHAM.
Shin emerged from her blind spot. He had uncoupled the three sections of Playful Cloud, swinging the central piece like a flail. It connected solidly with the side of her helmeted head.
The force was tremendous. The insect armor cracked, and Yorozu was launched sideways, crashing through the hotel wall and tumbling down into the street below.
Shin didn't chase. He spun on his heel.
Shin: "Two down. Now the King."
The room was now a ruin. It was just Shin, Yuji, and the monster in Megumi's skin.
Sukuna spat blood. He looked annoyed. Yuji lunged again, screaming, a flurry of heavy blows raining down. Sukuna blocked, but his arms buckled slightly under the weight.
Sukuna: (Internal) My Cursed Energy output... it's dropping. It falls below ten percent when I try to strike these brats. Megumi Fushiguro... you're resisting me from the inside?
Sukuna's smile vanished. His face grew serious.
He raised his hand to slash Yuji apart, but he felt a presence at his flank.
Shin was there.
Shin paced himself perfectly with Yuji's rhythm. When Yuji struck high, Shin swept low with the staff. When Yuji took a breath, Shin jabbed. They suffocated Sukuna with violence, forcing the King of Curses onto the defensive.
Sukuna sent out a web of Dismantle slashes. They carved deep cuts into Yuji's arms and legs, but Yuji didn't stop. The slashes missed Shin entirely—Sukuna couldn't focus on the Zenin boy's lack of presence while dealing with the heavy tank in front of him.
While they sparred and pushed, Shin picked up a familiar lack of presence entering the room.
A ghost was here.
Shin smiled. He dropped his weapon and lunged, grabbing Sukuna's wrists with all his might.
Shin: "Got you."
Sukuna's eyes widened. He looked down at Shin, realizing he had been pinned for a split second. He raised a knee to crush Shin's ribs, but before he could strike, a black blade pierced through his chest from behind.
Shk.
The blade of the Split Soul Katana emerged from Sukuna's sternum.
Sukuna turned his head, genuine surprise coloring his features. He hadn't noticed her. Not until the steel was inside him.
Maki Zenin stood behind him, her face a mask of cold fury, twisting the blade.
Maki: "Die."
She prepared to rip the blade upward, to bisect him vertically.
But the air temperature in the room plummeted to absolute zero.
"Frost Calm."
A massive glacier of ice materialized from the hallway, engulfing the entire room in an instant.
Shin, Yuji, and Maki were frozen mid-motion, encased in cursed ice that stopped them cold.
Uraume stepped over the debris, their hand extended, breath misting in the freezing air.
Uraume: "Master Sukuna. I apologize for the delay."
Sukuna ripped himself free from Maki's blade, jumping back. He looked at the frozen trio, then at the hole in the wall where he had thrown Hana.
Sukuna: "We're leaving. I need to complete the ritual to sink this brat's soul."
He made a hand sign, Cursed Energy flaring darker and denser than before. Shadows pooled beneath him, bubbling like tar.
From the abyss, a shikigami rose. But it wasn't the Nue that Megumi used. This was an abomination of electricity and flesh, titanic in size, breaking the roof of the hotel as it screeched.
Sukuna and Uraume boarded the giant Nue. As they ascended into the night sky, Sukuna looked down at the frozen figures of Yuji and Shin.
Sukuna: "Look at you. You look like pathetic statues. How fitting."
With a crack of thunder, they vanished into the clouds, leaving the survivors freezing in the ruins of their failure.