The Mysterious Pendant, Sonia Awakens

Hironado Station

A teenage boy and girl made their way through the crowd, attracting astonished looks from numerous passersby. But it wasn't because they made such a well-matched pair. It was because...

Erza silently followed beside Yuri, pulling a handcart piled high with a mountain of luggage.

She had so many questions she wanted to ask the boy before her, but when she opened her mouth, she didn't know where to begin.

"If you've got something to say, say it, Erus. Beating around the bush isn't like you."

Perhaps Erza had made it too obvious, because Yuri saw right through her.

Erza hesitated, but couldn't resist correcting him. "Um... my name is Erza."

"Got it, Eisha," Yuri replied readily.

"I told you, my name is... never mind." Erza's anger flared, but after a moment's thought, she sighed.

She had lost count of how many times she had corrected him about her name along the way, but he didn't seem to have any intention of remembering it.

Even someone as stubborn as her could do nothing about it.

Besides, the guy in front of her might even be a fellow member of her guild.

Until she confirmed that, she couldn't very well lose her temper, so she asked something else instead. "How did you do it?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean what happened to Sonia." Erza spoke rather vaguely, since they were out in public.

To reiterate, she was just rather straightforward and a little airheaded. She wasn't a single-celled organism, nor was she brainless.

"Oh, that." Understanding dawned on Yuri, and he said casually, "I didn't really do anything. I just gave her a little stab, that's all."

"???"

Erza was utterly baffled. He had turned a half-Devil who'd had demonic blood since childhood completely human, and he called that not doing anything?

Wasn't he being a little too modest?

Yuri saw Erza's confusion and spread his hands. "With your intelligence, it'd be hard to explain."

Erza: "###"

There he went again, being so infuriating. If she could beat him, she'd tear that mouth of his apart.

Time went back to the dawn when Yuri defeated Cain.

After the battle, Yuri, whose injuries had mostly healed, went over to Sonia.

Erza asked anxiously, "How is she? Can she still be saved?"

"Whether she can or not, we won't know until we try." As Yuri spoke, he crouched down and placed a living heart into Sonia's hollowed-out chest. He had taken it out before Cain vanished.

Then he used his own Devil Power as a guide to activate the magic within the Demon Heart.

Sure enough, the Demon Heart, which held the combined power of Cain and Qliphoth, soon sprouted "tendrils of flesh" that connected to the various organs in Sonia's body. Her injuries steadily healed at a speed visible to the naked eye.

But even after quite some time had passed and Sonia's injuries had completely healed, there was still no sign of her waking up.

"Why isn't she awake yet?" Erza asked, puzzled.

"Maybe her heart and consciousness haven't synchronized yet," Yuri guessed, rubbing his chin.

"Then what do we do?"

"Out of the way, let me handle it." Griffon squeezed through the gap between them and came up in front of Sonia. "You still have to rely on yours truly at a critical moment. Watch me give her some electrotherapy!"

With that, purple electricity began flashing around him, and he slapped Sonia right over the heart.

Bang!

As though her heart had been jolted back into rhythm, Sonia's body jerked involuntarily, but there was still no sign of her waking up.

Griffon leaned back in a tactical retreat, unwilling to believe it. He immediately began hitting harder.

Purple lightning flashed incessantly as Griffon slapped Sonia's chest again and again. She bounced up and down like a ball...

"Is this... really okay?" Watching the brutal treatment, Erza couldn't help breaking out in a cold sweat.

"Her body won't have any problems, anyway," Yuri said, spreading his hands.

After who knew how long, Griffon collapsed on the ground, panting heavily. Unwilling to accept it, he said, "H-how could this happen... this isn't scientific!"

"You're a nightmare. What do you know about science?" Yuri said with a smile as he stepped forward.

He had been watching from the side for quite a while and had finally spotted a clue.

If there was nothing wrong with Sonia's body, then the problem could only be psychological.

At heart, Sonia was kind. It was only because of the enormous shock she had suffered and the influence of the Devil Power within her that she had chosen to go to extremes.

What she had said before setting out might not have been entirely lies. In her subconscious, she didn't want to hurt anyone, so she had chosen to remain asleep with the Devil Power.

But if that was the case, things were a little troublesome...

Yuri told the other two what he suspected, but neither Erza nor Griffon had any good ideas either.

Although Griffon looked like a demon, he was ultimately a "nightmare" by nature. He was fine at causing people pain, but as for being a therapist...

And Erza was a troubled child with psychological problems of her own. It was good enough that she hadn't withdrawn into herself, never mind asking her to counsel someone else...

As for Yuri, well... he was good at provoking people, but helping them work through their problems...

The two humans and the bird exchanged glances and found that not one of them was fit to take the field.

After a silence that was neither too long nor too short...

"How about we just bury her?" Yuri suggested.

"Agreed. That would count as respecting her wishes," Griffon chimed in.

"You two!!!" Erza had listened as long as she could bear. She unleashed a furious torrent of scolding on the two jokers.

"Don't be mad, Louisa. We don't want this either, but there's nothing we can do, is there?" Yuri said, waving his hands repeatedly as he got the girl's name wrong yet again.

"Exactly. Since we knew her, we can at least make her a coffin. And it just so happens I have a burial object right here." Griffon nodded as he spoke, producing a pendant from who knew where. A closer look revealed it was the one Sonia had always worn. He had picked it up during the earlier explosion.

The air around them fell silent once more...

"Bang! Bang!"

Without even stopping to correct her name, Erza joined Yuri in each landing a punch on the stupid bird's head. In unison, they said, "Why didn't you take that out sooner?!"

"I... I only just remembered it," Griffon said, dizzy.

Yuri snatched the pendant from Griffon and put it around Sonia's neck.

Erza had told him earlier that the reason Sonia had become a complete demon seemed to have something to do with this pendant. The moment Yuri touched it, he did indeed sense traces of magical fluctuations on it.

If nothing unexpected had happened, the pendant should have had some kind of magic array engraved on it, which would activate once certain conditions were met.

But there was no time to worry about all that now. After all, it was their only hope of waking Sonia.

Sure enough, shortly after it was placed around Sonia's neck, the pendant began to glow.

It slowly floated up and rested against Sonia's forehead. Gentle magic flowed slowly from it, gradually entering her mind.

"Mom..."

Sonia murmured, her long eyelashes trembling slightly and her fingers twitching. Slowly, she opened her eyes.

"Miss Erza... Mr. Yuri... and... Mr. Silly Bird?" Sonia was dazed for a moment.

"Yours truly is Griffon!" Griffon roared.