Gathering

"Are you... Sonia?" Erza stared in shock at the girl before her, whose appearance and bearing were vastly different from before.

"It's me," Sonia admitted. "Your mission is complete. I'll open the 'birdcage' sealing off the town now, so you and Mr. Yuri should leave as soon as possible."

Ignoring her cold expression and suggestion, Erza pressed, "Why did you become like this?"

She felt that something was wrong with Sonia. Although Sonia had shed her demonic features and returned completely to being a normal human girl, she still gave off a chilling aura.

Though Sonia had looked like a demon before, she had actually been an understanding, strong and brave girl who made others feel warmth. She was nothing like the person before Erza, who sent a chill through her at a glance.

She had to get an answer!

Faced with Erza's persistent approach, Sonia shook her head. "I don't want to fight you, but if you insist on stopping me, I'll have to make you fall here."

With that, Sonia raised her palm toward Erza, and a huge, hideous maw instantly extended from her arm.

"What is that?!"

Before Erza could recover from her surprise, she suddenly felt her body go light. Something had grabbed both her arms and lifted her off the ground.

"Boom!"

The giant man-eating flower missed.

"Hey, strawberry girl. Even if you want to die, don't be in such a hurry. If you still can't get over it when this is all done, I can help you." After carrying Erza to safety and casually tossing her onto the ground, a great blue-black bird shimmering with a faint light descended from the sky.

"Are you... a demon?!" Erza immediately went on guard at the sight of Griffon.

But no one could blame her. Anyone who saw Griffon's distinctive three-part, split beak, along with the serrated teeth and blue tongue inside, would never mistake him for a friendly little bird.

"Calm down, little girl," Griffon explained. "I'm with that smug brat who's cleaning out the sewers."

"Why should I believe you?"

A longsword materialized in Erza's hand, frightening Griffon into taking two quick steps back.

"Hey, hey, hey, I just saved your life! It's bad enough that you're not thanking me, but now you're pointing a weapon at me?"

"Oh! What an ungrateful girl. You've really broken this bird's heart. I don't even know why I had to get stuck with this job."

"If it weren't for you, I'd be lying on a nice, soft bed, sound asleep, instead of wasting my life out here in the wilderness and being treated like this..."

"..."

Listening to him chatter on, Erza wordlessly lowered her sword... She believed him.

Aside from Yuri, she really couldn't think of anyone who could raise a bird with so much personality.

"I'm sorry. I apologize for acting rashly just now," Erza said earnestly.

"Since you put it that way, I suppose I can bring myself to forgive you," Griffon said haughtily.

Fortunately, neither the girl nor the bird was the difficult sort, and they quickly made up.

"Do you know what's happened to Sonia... the girl from just now?"

Erza took the opportunity to ask Griffon about Sonia's strange condition. After all, he hadn't denied being a demon, so he might know something.

"Devouring. It's a perfectly common way for demons to evolve. That demon girl had demonic power in her too, and from the looks of it, she was highly compatible with that potted plant," Griffon explained.

"Then is there any way to change her back?" Erza asked.

"Change her back? Why would you want to?" Griffon asked, puzzled. "What's wrong with becoming a demon? Besides, it was her own choice."

"But she was human!"

"But she's a demon now, isn't she?"

"You!!!" Erza was furious.

"All right, all right, don't get angry. It's not like there's no way." Griffon spread his wings and, meeting Erza's eager gaze, said, "But we'll have to find Yuri first. I can't do that sort of thing."

"Then let's hurry and—"

"Who's calling me?"

Just as Erza was about to take Griffon with her to find Yuri, a white-haired head suddenly popped out from a nearby manhole.

Yuri leaped out of the sewer and turned to see Griffon and Erza. "Yo! How are things going over here?"

"..." Erza fell somewhat silent. All of a sudden, she didn't know how to explain everything that had happened to Yuri.

Griffon, on the other hand, seemed quite excited, circling Yuri nonstop. "You're just in time. Listen, buddy, we've got an emergency. The boss has entered phase two, and we need someone to clean up the mess."

"Don't make me sound like a junk collector." Yuri retorted speechlessly, then pointed to the side. "Also, is she the boss you're talking about?"

The girl and the bird looked back to see that Sonia had appeared beside them at some point.

"Yo, Sonia. We've only been apart a little while. How did you get so much uglier?" Yuri greeted her, then turned back to Griffon. "Come to think of it, I remember telling you to keep the situation under control. How did it end up like this?"

Griffon averted his gaze and stammered, "Uh... well, it's a long story. Basically, things got urgent and it all happened so suddenly. I wasn't paying attention for a moment, and..."

"You went off to play, didn't you?" Yuri saw straight through Griffon's lie. He knew this guy too well.

"Uh... sorry." Griffon hung his head dejectedly.

Yuri rubbed his forehead. "Forget it. This was my oversight to begin with. I can't put all the blame on you."

"Hehe, I knew you were the most understanding, Yuri." As soon as Griffon heard that Yuri wasn't blaming him, his whole attitude changed.

His shameless display left the other three present speechless.

"Well then, let's deal with the problem in front of us first."

Ignoring Griffon's antics, Yuri turned his gaze to Sonia, who was waiting quietly to one side.

"Mr. Yuri, you don't seem surprised at all?" Sonia was somewhat puzzled by his reaction.

Normally, anyone who knew her and saw her as she was now should have had at least some of the same reaction as Erza.

Why was this freelance mage she had casually picked up "by the roadside" acting so strangely? She had thought he was simply rather clever before, but now it seemed things weren't that simple.