Jujutsu Kaisen: The Sorceress of Control

After Makima spoke those words, the tiger lunged at her like a blur, barely perceptible to the human eye. In an instant, the massive figure of the Mourning Tiger was in front of her, and its giant fist descended with terrifying force. Makima barely had time to brace herself, reinforcing her arms with cursed energy. However, the power of the impact was overwhelming. She felt her bones fracture instantly. But in the next moment, the reverse technique restored her injuries automatically.

Before she could catch her breath, the tiger launched another blow directly to her stomach. This time, the impact was even more devastating. Makima felt as though her internal organs had been liquefied. A large amount of blood spurted from her mouth, staining the ground in front of her as she staggered backward.

"So this is what it feels like..." she thought, with a mix of awe and calm. She had anticipated something like this, but it didn't worry her. After all, she knew she couldn't die. What mattered most now was experiencing firsthand the strength of the ninth shikigami. The tenth, Mahoraga, remained an absolute enigma. No one, not even the wisest among sorcerers, knew exactly what it could do.

As the tiger raised its leg to deliver a devastating kick, Makima fixed both eyes on it and activated Ranta's Extreme Fixation. The pressure in her eyes was immediate and suffocating. She felt as though they would explode at any moment.

"Fascinating..." she thought as she endured the pain. She was one of the sorcerers with the largest reserves of cursed energy, only surpassed by Rika. Even with access to Rika's reserves, she barely managed to hold the shikigami still. It was evident that this technique required an exorbitant amount of energy to control such a powerful summoning.

As the reverse technique quickly repaired her shattered organs, Makima reflected: "I must develop the reverse cursed technique on my own... relying solely on Rika could be a grave mistake." Her voice was cold and calculating, though she didn't avert her gaze from the tiger.

Suddenly, she noticed a warm, wet sensation on her face. She touched her left eye and saw blood on her fingers. Her brain was being overwhelmed by the prolonged use of the technique.

"Your strength is impressive, but so far, I've seen nothing to suggest how you could help defeat Mahoraga," she commented to the tiger with irony, deactivating the Extreme Fixation.

Immediately afterward, she extended an endless array of golden and gray chains that converged toward the tiger. However, it dodged with superhuman agility, closing the distance between them in the blink of an eye. Just as the beast's fist was about to strike her face, something stopped it cold.

A thick, viscous tongue caught the tiger's arm. Makima watched as the shadow of the beast produced the head of a toad, whose tongue was firmly wrapped around the shikigami's limb.

"I gave it a good amount of my cursed energy," said Makima with a confident smile, as the tiger's fist stopped inches from her face. "I warn you, it won't be easy to crush."

The tiger roared in fury, its overwhelming strength straining the toad's tongue nearly to the breaking point. Makima knew she couldn't maintain this advantage for long. The toad, though reinforced with a significant amount of her cursed energy, was no match for the shikigami's raw power.

The tiger violently twisted its body, breaking free from the toad's trap and hurling it into the air. The creature's impact against the ground shook the earth, scattering trees in all directions. Makima barely had time to react before the shikigami disappeared in a flash of movement.

The next blow struck directly at her torso, so fast and precise that she couldn't avoid it. Her reinforced defense shattered again, like glass under pressure. Makima felt her chest cave in and her ribs shatter into countless pieces. Blood gushed from her mouth as her body was hurled backward like a rag doll.

"It's stronger than I expected..." she thought as she fell, her vision blurred by pain and blood loss. But even then, the reverse technique began to repair her. Her chest regenerated.

Makima landed heavily, spitting more blood as she struggled to her feet. Despite her battered body, her expression remained cold and unperturbed. "If this is all you've got, you'll never be enough against Mahoraga," she provoked, more to herself than to the shikigami.

The tiger growled and, without giving her respite, leaped at her again. This time, Makima unleashed a barrage of gray chains, which glowed faintly with a dull energy. Some managed to briefly trap the tiger, but its strength was such that it broke them like paper.

Makima pointed her finger at the shikigami. "Bang," she said firmly. But the tiger, as if anticipating the attack, dodged with a fluid motion, moving out of the trajectory before anything could happen. A moment later, a nearby tree fell with a deafening crack, felled by the missed attack.

"So you're clever, huh?" Makima murmured, a slight smile crossing her face. The tiger suddenly appeared by her side, and although she managed to shield herself instinctively, the shikigami seized her left arm with crushing strength. Before she could react, the tiger tore her arm off with a brutal yank, throwing her backward like a doll.

In midair as she fell, she mimicked a slash with her remaining hand, and a line of cursed energy slashed through the shikigami's torso, forcing it to retreat.

Makima stood calmly despite the blood pooling beneath her feet. She watched as the tiger discarded her arm onto the ground like trash. "What a shame. That was my favorite," she commented with a tone of nonchalance, almost mocking.

"No matter," she added coldly, raising the bloody stump of her arm. "I still have more."

Before the tiger's eyes, her arm began to regenerate. First the bone, then the tendons, veins, muscles, and finally the skin. The entire process took less than a second, leaving her arm as if it had never been torn off.

The tiger growled, preparing to lunge at her once more, as Makima observed calmly.

"You're fun," she said to the beast with a twisted smile, ignoring the blood dripping from the corner of her lips. "Last round?"

The tiger didn't need to respond. With a deafening roar, it charged at her again, like a whirlwind of pure destruction. Makima analyzed the situation in milliseconds. "I can't beat it, not now. If I die, the purification will be deemed a failure. I haven't even managed to graze it with my golden chains to force the purification."

A flash of frustration crossed her mind. Rika must be at her limit. Healing my fatal wounds is exhausting her. She's still slow to reverse cursed energy...

Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the air splitting. The tiger was close again. Despite everything, a spark of admiration flickered in her mind. Truly fascinating. I don't even want to imagine what you'll become, Mahoraga.

Makima narrowly dodged the blow with millimeter precision and took a step back. "Let me tell you, you're getting predictable," she taunted, though inside her mind raced frantically. I have an idea.

With desperate effort, she activated the Extreme Fixation again. Her eyes immediately began to bleed, the pain piercing her brain like burning needles. However, she managed to hold the tiger immobile, if only for an instant.

"This is all or nothing," she murmured, summoning a golden chain. The brilliant structure snaked toward the tiger, charged with her cursed energy. For a moment, Makima smiled as the chain advanced unimpeded. However, just as it was about to graze the shikigami, something invisible repelled it with brutal force.

"What...?" she managed to murmur, incredulous. Before she could process what had happened, the tiger broke free of the immobilization with a thunderous roar. In the blink of an eye, it seized Makima's head with its massive claws and slammed it into the ground.

The impact echoed like thunder, scattering debris everywhere. Without giving her time to recover, the shikigami began smashing her head repeatedly against the ground. Each blow resounded like a hammer on stone, gradually reducing Makima's face to an unrecognizable mass.

Blood and cursed energy mixed in the air, but Makima couldn't react. Her body stopped moving after the third impact. Finally, the tiger roared one last time before beginning to dissolve into a black shadow. The purification had failed.

Makima lay motionless on the ground, her body irreparably damaged. Her attempt at purification had failed; she was dead.