EX Second Gear

The Red Queen was the greatsword Yuri had always carried on his back.

It was also Nero's signature weapon from the Devil May Cry series.

Like the Blue Rose, it had been personally modified by Nero, so Yuri also remembered how to make it and had made an identical one. Compared with the Blue Rose, the Red Queen's design was just as impressive.

Besides the toughness and sharpness possessed by all quality weapons, its most distinctive feature was undoubtedly its unique charging system. An internal combustion engine mounted on the greatsword allowed its slashes to strike with greater force.

On the back of the blade, near the guard, were three pairs of exhaust ports like those on a motorcycle engine, connected to the spine by a red device.

The hilt was made of two parts. The half nearest the guard was red, and together with a control lever extending from the guard, it formed something like a motorcycle throttle.

[Exceed] was the charging device used to increase the power of the sword's strikes, also known as the EX System.

Simply twisting the red grip on the hilt ignited the charge, converting its powerful driving force into destructive power.

Every slash blazed and exploded!

"Ready? This farce will be over quickly," Yuri said, looking at Sonia, whose demonic transformation was nearly complete.

"Roar! Roar! Roar!"

What answered Yuri was no longer Sonia's shriek, but a series of unintelligible roars. Clearly, compared with the utterly composed Yuri, the demonized Sonia was far more impatient.

Her arms had once again transformed into man-eating flowers, and thorny roots resembling spider legs extended from her back.

But unlike before, Sonia had converted her magic into blood and injected it into them. In an instant, both the man-eating flowers and the thorny roots became scarlet and frenzied, as if pumped full of stimulants, and grew a whole size larger.

"Roar!!!"

With a roar from Sonia that echoed through the mountain forest, the frenzied man-eating flowers and rampaging thorny roots charged at Yuri together like a stampeding herd, each vying to reach him first.

Their abyssal maws breathed out a foul wind, and their sharp needles glinted coldly. Like hideous fiends come to claim a life, they descended from above, bringing endless chill with them, as if to drag him into the cruelest hell.

Their enormous bodies completely blocked out the bright moonlight, swallowing Yuri in an instant.

"Plenty of presence, but don't you have any other moves?"

Yuri's mocking voice suddenly came from the small mountain of frenzied man-eating flowers and rampaging thorny roots.

The next second, the furious beat of a motorcycle engine roared to life, and dazzling fire appeared through the gaps. With a thunderous boom, the thorny roots and man-eating flowers piled on top of him were all blasted away.

Yuri fought his way out of the encirclement with the Red Queen in hand, two tongues of searing flame jetting from its spine and heating the blade red-hot—EX Second Gear.

The EX System was the Red Queen's most essential mechanism, with three gears in total.

When he had defeated Erza earlier, he had only used first gear. Now, second gear was enough to "wake up" the rampaging Sonia.

As for third gear... it was troublesome to use, so Yuri rarely used it under normal circumstances.

But even in second gear, the greatsword known as the Red Queen had already begun to radiate a sense of "restlessness." If she were conscious, she would definitely be even more irritable than her master, Yuri.

Bang!

An explosive crack instantly set the blade humming. Yuri vanished from where he stood, sword in hand, shooting straight at Sonia as an afterimage. The only trace of him that could be caught was the fire dancing on the blade.

Magic surged wildly through his body, and the blade roared beside his ear.

Facing the "herd" that had come charging back to block his path, Yuri swung his blade with force.

The elongated trail of flame was like a meteor streaking across the night sky. Behind the scorching azure flames came an even more dazzling golden yellow, like the first ray of light breaking across the horizon at sunrise, illuminating the darkness in an instant and dispelling the chill in people's hearts.

As that line of blazing fire swept across the sky, every frenzied man-eating flower and rampaging thorny root in its path was cleaved in two.

On their severed corpses, the dawn fire that purified darkness lingered, continually burning away their sins.

"Warm-up's over. I told you this would end quickly." Yuri put the Red Queen back on his back and walked unhurriedly up to Sonia. "Be good and come over here so I can stab you once, and we'll call it even. Otherwise, I can't guarantee what'll happen next."

As Yuri approached, Sonia, who had been so aggressive at first, instinctively wanted to turn and run.

Although her human reason and judgment had fallen dormant, her demonic instincts kept telling her just how dangerous the man before her was.

Both demonic powers within her, Qliphoth and Cain alike, were trembling with fear and wanted nothing more than to flee.

Yet whenever "they" tried to do so, another surge of resentment rose from the bottom of her heart, urging her body to kill the man before her.

The instincts of the two demonic powers and the inexplicably rising resentment constantly fought for control of her body, leaving Sonia frozen in place as if she had seized up.

One moment she was afraid, the next resentful; one moment she turned to flee, the next she bared her fangs and claws...

"Still putting up quite a fight. Looks like you haven't been completely devoured." Yuri found the strange performance before him amusing.

But suddenly, a frenzied man-eating flower rose from the ground without warning, clamped down on Yuri's waist, and pushed him high into the air.

Sonia took the opportunity to turn and run. In the end, the demon's instincts had won out...

Yuri narrowed his eyes. He had forgotten there were actually three of those damned flowers. Seeing Sonia use her arms to transform into them all this time, he had subconsciously assumed only two were left. So this one had been waiting for him here.

But if she thought she could escape him like this, she was being a little too naive.

Bang!

Without warning, the frenzied man-eating flower clamped around Yuri's waist burst apart, becoming a wisp of fireworks in midair.

Come to think of it, wasn't something wrong?

The man-eating flower's purpose seemed a little too clear.

Knowing full well it couldn't hurt him, it had acted only to buy time for her to turn and flee. That was hardly something chaotic demonic instincts could have done; it seemed more like a premeditated plan.

As for Sonia's consciousness, if it had been her, she would never have chosen to run. Her seizing up just now was the best proof.

Besides, how far could she get in so little time?

This entire area had already been turned into a clearing during the battle. Unless she fled into the dense forest in the distance, using the cover of night, she might have had a chance.

But how could Yuri let her leave? Just as he was about to pursue her...

A shadow gradually emerged from the edge of the dense forest, blocking Sonia's path.

Moonlight shone on him, revealing his ghastly pallor.