".Assassin."
Standing at the gates of Ryudou Temple, Issei Ryuudou swallowed nervously and looked toward the center of the temple courtyard.
Shuten Douji stood there—she had shed her disguise, no longer pretending to be a human girl, and had returned to her original form—the form of a true oni.
She wore a revealing robe, held a sake gourd in one hand and a massive Gourd Sword in the other. Two horns that looked like they should have been fleshy grew from her head, and her face bore an intoxicated expression, with even a trace of liquor at the corner of her lips.
"Oh my, Master?"
"Honestly, it's been a 'long' time, hasn't it~"
Her voice sounded drunk, and an intoxicating aura like purple mist hung about her. She even staggered slightly as she walked.
She looked toward Issei Ryuudou and smiled.
But Issei Ryuudou could clearly hear it in her tone—
The resentment and mockery.
Though perhaps it was not directed at him.
After all, in that morning's incident, his role had been more that of an impulsive Master under someone else's control.
"This Holy Grail War really has had quite a few powerful Servants joining the battle, hasn't it?"
Shuten Douji smiled as she walked toward Issei Ryuudou.
"Powerful enough to suppress even me, the ruler of Mount Ooe, in battle."
Watching Shuten Douji approach like that, Issei Ryuudou instinctively took a step back.
"Are you—afraid of me?"
Shuten Douji tilted her head down slightly, narrowing her eyes as she looked at Issei Ryuudou.
That was an oni's smile.
When an oni wore such a smile—nothing good would ever come of it.
That thought immediately surfaced in Issei Ryuudou's mind.
"Yet on the night I first came to the temple, you weren't afraid of me at all. So why