Maki Zenin, Hagane Daido & Rokujushi Miyo vs. Naoya Zenin

Maki Zenin, Hagane Daido & Rokujushi Miyo vs. Cursed Naoya Naoya is a battle fought by Tokyo Jujutsu High second-year student, Maki Zenin and Culling Game players, Hagane Daido and Rokujushi Miyo against the vengeful cursed spirit, Naoya Zenin. It takes place in the Sakurajima Colony after the two newcomers enter Maki and Noritoshi's fight with Naoya.

Prologue
Noritoshi can't hold off Naoya for a significant enough amount of time for Maki to recover from her injuries. She returns to the fight after only three minutes to stop Naoya from killing Noritoshi. Two newcomers add to the chaos as they arrive on the scene. Oneis a wrestler and the other is an elderly man who asks for Maki's katana. Seeing as she and Noritoshi can't make any headway against Naoya, Maki tosses her cursed tool to the old man, Hagane Daido. Daido is a peerless swordsman and outlier among Culling Game players who can wield a blade but not cursed energy.

The Samurai that Sees Everything
Everyone around Daido stops in place momentarily as the sensation of his aura overwhelms them. It was not cursed energy that they felt, but his sheer lethality holding a katana that overcame them. He immediately slashes the katana at Naoya, who mostly avoids the blow and escapes with a slight graze. Displeased, Daido asks Maki if he's wielding a bewitched sword and then berates the sword itself for disobeying him. Naoya rushes at Daido while he's distracted and Maki tries to warn the old man before it's too late.

Daido avoids Naoya's lunging tentacles as they crush the side of a building. He asks if he's fighting some kind of evil spirit with Maki, who's surprised to learn he can't see curses. Daido claims that he can see everything else, so there is no difference. With a single proper strike, Daido bisects Naoya at a diagonal across his torso. He asks Maki why she didn't do that in the first place and she struggles to fathom why her attacks didn't have the same effect. Maki realizes that she's not seeing whatever it is that Daido can see and asks herself what's the difference between herself and that monster.

A Lesson in Sumo
Rokujushi Miyo, a lover of sumo wrestling, notices Maki struggling and invites her into his Simple Domain. Maki needs to release her stress and agrees to sumo with Miyo, much to his delight and Noritoshi's confusion. Maki asks herself what she's not seeing again as the match begins. She rushes toward Miyo with maximum effort and he's surprised by her raw physical prowess. However, he skillfully slips behind her and avoids her grasp. Maki turns around and tries to grab him again, but Miyo ducks under her arms before interlocking them with his own. Using a shoulder throw, Miyo uses Maki's own momentum against her and sends her skidding on the ground to the edge of the ring.

Victorious, Miyo emphasizes that he loves Sumo. He enjoyed their match but he knows Maki has much more to offer. He could tell right away that she is much stronger than he is. He can also tell that something bothering her is taking away her edge. He politely asks Maki to tell him what's disrupting her focus and for the first time, it occurred to Maki that she could use someone else's guidance to make herself stronger. She tells Miyo what's wrong and he quickly gets the gist of her blight. The only way he knows how to explain is through sumo, so he tells her to continue wrestling with him so he can show her what the samurai meant.

Engaging in numerous repeated wrestling matches, Miyo explains that Maki has become entangled. Her peers, curses, and the life she's lived as a jujutsu sorcerer are holding her back. While sumo is all bout entanglement, wrestlers have to be prepared outside the ring in order to pressure their opponent inside it. At the moment of impact, preparation flows into the combatants without having to think about it. The sensation is comparable to smelling light or seeing sound, all senses blend together and opponents can sense everything about one another. In that state, one's opposition and even victory become meaningless because they become what the samurai was describing, free. In order for Maki to experience this for herself, she and Miyo Sumo wrestle over and over for over a thousand bouts.

Time flows faster inside the barrier of Miyo's Simple Domain. The time it took for a thousand rounds of sumo only lasted one minute outside the barrier. When the barrier collapses, Maki emerges with Miyo on the ground, declaring that she's at her best. Noritoshi and even Daido can tell that she's grown and don't understand what could've taken place in such a short amount of time.

Naoya's Curse vs. Maki's Best
Noaya flies off to pick up speed again after stating he doesn't care about what happened. Noritoshi can't fight anymore, but Daido and Miyo step up in his place. He asks who the newcomers are but they reply that it doesn't matter. While they're talking, Maki gets ahead of them and Naoya is unable to catch her. Frustrated, Naoya dashes around frantically, crashing through several buildings with increasing speed, yet still unable to hit Maki. Maki runs across rooftops as Naoya rushes ahead of her from above. He turns around and rushes up the side of the building she's on to try and intercept her. He attacks at supersonic speeds, ripping the building apart but Maki avoids any damage as she falls through the air.

Through repeated bouts of sumo, Maki has experienced the sensation of true freedom. This new mental clarity lets everything flow into her as Miyo instructed. She was content being like everyone else and that entanglement was holding her back. Maki knows now not enough for her to be like the others and that she must excel at only what she can do. Maki can perceive the souls of inorganic matter, including minute differences in temperature and air dentistry. She can grab ahold of these scattered surfaces to move through the air, even avoiding Naoya's high-speed attack by doing so. She continues moving through the air, bouncing off normally imperceivable surfaces to punch Naoya down to the street level.

Unharmed, Naoya taunts Maki for hitting him without cursed energy. Miyo suddenly headbutts Naoya while he's distracted and Daido follows up with another slashing attack with the katana. Daido bisects Naoya once again, and before he heals, Maki kicks the top half of his body clean off. Frustrated, Naoya repeatedly denies the situation and rejects Maki's strength. A replica of Naoya's human body emerges from the bottom half of his cursed spirit body. After loudly proclaiming that he will be the one to stand beside Toji and Satoru, Naoya activates Domain Expansion: Time Cell Moon Palace.

Daido and Miyo meet the gaze of the giant eye inside Naoya's domain and are both struck in the neck by film strips that enter their body due to the domain's can't-miss attack. It doesn't have any immediate effects on either of them, so they simultaneously decide that it's do-or-die time and attack. However, as soon as they try to move, small bleeding injuries rip and tear open all over their body. Inside Naoya's domain, everyone must abide by the 24FPS rule or they will be disrupted at a cellular level. This results in the rapid appearance of these injuries across Miyo and Daido's bodies. Miyo collapses and Naoya regains his composure until he realizes that he can't track Maki inside his domain.

Daido attempts to slash Naoya and his arm comes off as a result. Naoya doesn't pay him any mind as he's thinking but Maki grabs onto the sword and stabs Naoya through the back with it while he's distracted. Barriers treat Maki the same as a building and she can move freely through the domain. In her heart, Maki meets with Mai and confirms that she was able to break away from everything. Now able to unleash the full power of the weapon Mai left behind, the Split Soul Katana, Maki uses it to pierce Naoya through the chest. Naoya believes Maki can't move due to the domain's rules and morphs his neck into a more curse-like state, threatening to devour Maki. However, the domain can't target Maki without cursed energy and she effortlessly raises the sword through Naoya's head to cut it in half vertically, killing him once and for all.

Aftermath
The barrier comes apart and everyone is released from the domain due to Naoya's demise. Severely injured, Daido and Miyo are surprised they survived. Amazed, they look over at Maki, who has become fully realized and a war god equal to Toji Zenin twelve years after his death. Afterward, Maki goes to check on Nortoshi, who like the other two, is heavily injured from the fight. Maki tells him that she won thanks to the other and that she'll carry them later.

Maki asks about Noritoshi's new attitude and they're able to connect due to the complicated relationship they share with the Big Three Families. Noritoshi feels that he doesn't have anywhere to belong due to being outcasted from the Kamo clan and his mother's new family. Maki reveals that maybe she was wrong when dealing with her own mother and convinces Noritoshi that he could be doing the same. She encourages him to talk to his mother and not to make the same mistake she did.