Hopefully, the conceptual poison will be powerful enough to incapacitate a Servant without killing them, but you don't know just what sort of strength the poison created from Truth will have. It may not even be enough to phase this damn smug oni!

You open your magic circuits, as many as you can without bringing harm to yourself, and begin to pour your energy through you and into the bottle of alcohol, using it to shape a new truth about the object within your hand. The process is smooth and goes just like how it normally does in practice. No sudden alarming shifts in your magical energy and Shuten, while apparently interested in just what it is you're up to, she doesn't seem so interested that she'd do something ridiculous like snatch away the last bottle. In fact, you don't even know where you got the notion that she'd do something like that anyway! Despite her threatening words, Shuten has been very patient with you for the entire duration of this meeting, so it's not like she'd break out of that passive attitude now just to snatch something away from you.

Instead, the small woman eyes you and then the bottle you hold before smirking. "Oho? Is that your last gambit then? A bottle of poison?" You flinch backwards in surprise as Shuten effortlessly discerns what it is you just did. "Don't be so surprised that I know what you're up to. Do you think I'm stupid or something? A magus uses a huge amount of magical energy on the last bottle which then proceeds to begin to emit a toxic aroma? Why you didn't just prepare the poison beforehand is beyond me though... It's almost funny, having somebody mix the poison they intend to use on you before your very eyes." You remain silent, prepared to give the single word you need to Caster the moment you feel like things have taken a turn that you won't be able to recover from.

Part 11