"Heroes who save humanity become Heroic Spirits. Those who save oni become guardians."
"Those who warn oni, investigate oni, and kill oni—those who save all oni through such means are the Guardian Oni."
"Light that is too intense will cause flowers and grass to wither. Night that lasts too long will freeze and starve animals to death..."
Ushi-Gozen paused briefly, shifted into a more comfortable position against a broken stone pillar, then looked deeply up at Samael.
"Just as light and shadow have two sides, to this peaceful world, we are not disasters that need to be eradicated, but necessary evils that maintain the boundary between life and death..."
"Why tell them any of this?!"
Amid the ruins, Shuten Doji, slumped on the ground, laboriously raised an arm and tipped back a mouthful of liquor. Amid violent coughing, she cast a mocking glance at her colleague.
"Don't tell me you still want to be the shogunate's loyal dog, Lady Yorimitsu?"
"...!"
The shogunate Heroic Spirits present all wore expressions of disbelief.
Minamoto no Yorimitsu? Hadn't she already lost herself and fallen into an oni? Why was Shuten Doji still calling her by her real name?
As their gazes fell upon that face, tranquil yet tinged with exhaustion and bitterness, the shogunate Heroic Spirits could not help but feel something absurd.
Could it be that she had been conscious all along?!
The ancient serpent's gaze swept over the King of the Suzunomori Demon Kingdom and the Ooe Mountain Oni King, and he muttered as if he had realized something.
"You are the Guardian Oni?"
"So what if we are? So what if we aren't?"
Shuten Doji shook her sake gourd, then gloomily tossed aside the empty vessel and snorted.
"Either way, we've lost. The victor is king and the loser is