"Oh my, letting you see me in such a wretched state, truly..."
She tugged at the corner of her mouth. Everything before her had turned violet and white, swaying so wildly that she could not make out their outlines, so she simply closed her eyes.
Hebe raised herself slightly.
A savage crack extended down from Shuten-dōji's broken horn, slowly spreading across her entire face like the branches of a tree.
Violet-white lightning flickered and crackled within the fissures, turning every bit of flesh and bone it touched into slurry of the same color.
A rich scent of alcohol brewed within Shuten-dōji's skull and drifted into Hebe's nostrils.
—God-Poison Wine.
In the history Hebe knew, God-Poison Wine had been a treasure bestowed by three gods midway through Minamoto no Yorimitsu's campaign. It was through this poison wine that she had gotten Shuten-dōji drunk and beheaded her.
During those few seconds of hesitation, the violet-white lightning crawled down her nose bridge, making it soften and bend to one side. Her face, which had once retained a fragmentary beauty, was completely ruined into a muddy mass where none of her features could be distinguished.
Shuten-dōji let out several low breaths of pain. Her chest rose and fell twice as she forced a voice out of her chest.
"Mount Ōe was destroyed by Ushi Gozen, and the Oni Host has been wiped out... A century's work, destroyed in a single day... White and vast. It is not so bad."
"Miss Tamamo, I released those mixed-blood people long ago. Mount Ōe no longer exists, and they will slowly recover as well..."
She let out two more faint breaths.
"Ōtakemaru of Mount Suzuka has a young son... Unlike ordinary oni from birth, he does not eat human flesh and does not enjoy fine wine... I placed