Defeated in a Single Blow

Yuri, full name Yuri Redgrave.

That was the name he had given himself after his new birth.

There was a reason he had chosen that name. In a sense, it was also to distinguish himself from his past self.

In fact, he was a transmigrator, though his circumstances differed somewhat from those of an ordinary transmigrator.

Strictly speaking, he had indeed been born into this world, so rather than saying he had transmigrated, it would be more accurate to say he had... remembered his past?

That day, Yuri, who seemed to have been asleep for a long time, opened his eyes and immediately spotted a large talking bird.

The bird chattered nonstop in his ear about things like [separation], [demons], and [contracts]... awakening the memories that remained in his mind.

The only thing in his head was a game called Devil May Cry.

If he remembered correctly, this chatterbox of a bird, with its blue-black feathers and bird-of-prey appearance, was named Griffon. He was a creature called a "nightmare" in the game.

As the name implied, they were born from a person's psychological scars and could be said to be the memories that person least wanted to recall.

Only after making a contract with him did Yuri finally remember his past life and use the information he had to piece together a rough picture of his situation.

Why only a rough picture?

Because the memories had been brought back by a nightmare, they naturally contained none of the good parts. That meant they were incomplete and filled with nothing but sad memories.

Still, one thing to be "thankful" for was that they were barely coherent.

What a "tragic" life...

He—or rather, the original [him]—was a transmigrator with [Sparda blood] as his cheat, a half-demon who had inherited demonic power.

After transmigrating to this world, [he] had stabbed himself with the legendary demonic sword Yamato, which possessed the power of [separation], for some unknown reason, splitting himself into his "human" and "demon" sides.

Yuri was the human half. Aside from a little residual magic and a few memories, he had been left with nothing.

As for Griffon, his situation was similar to Yuri's. Perhaps to make his demon side purer, [he] had also separated all the nightmares within himself.

That was why Yuri had met Griffon and made a contract with him.

Both of them were discarded parts. If they didn't band together, they would only meet their own separate ends, so they had naturally come together.

As things stood, the situation wasn't good, but it wasn't too bad either.

The good news was that, unlike in the original Devil May Cry, Yuri, as the discarded human side, had not inherited a body that was gradually falling apart, nor was he burdened with a fate of certain demise.

The bad news was that he had no other information apart from his memories of Devil May Cry and the memories of his past life that Griffon had brought back.

So he didn't know what his former self had been planning to do that required going to such lengths.

One thing was certain, though: it definitely wasn't anything good.

After all, the demon side, which had inherited the vast majority of his power, was no pushover. That guy had gained more than just immense power; he had also inherited the darkest part of [his] heart.

He was a monster who acted purely on instinct, a madman pursuing the obsession in his heart.

Even if he suddenly appeared one day and declared he was going to destroy the world, Yuri wouldn't be surprised in the slightest.

A large part of the reason Yuri now traveled around the world was to search for traces of his demon side.

"I'm not so carefree that I'd let my guard down in front of an enemy."

Erza stared fixedly at Yuri, unable to understand why this guy could be so different from one moment to the next.

Just before, he had been like a cold, ruthless, bloodthirsty demon, but now he was like a mischievous problem child.

"Understandable. Girls going through puberty are always more sensitive." Yuri spoke lewdly as he casually twirled his revolver twice and returned it to his waist. "Little girl..."

"Erza." She frowned and interrupted him before he could finish. "My name isn't little girl. My name is Erza Scarlet, a mage from Fairy Tail."

Though they were enemies, Erza still gave him her name like a knight.

"All right, it's all the same to me." Yuri gave a perfunctory smile. He wasn't good at remembering other people's names, especially those who had lost to him before. "Er... za, right? Listen to me. Be a good girl and hurry home for dinner. I've got an adults-only dance with some big sisters to get to, and I don't have time to play around with a brat like you."

"I refuse!" Erza declared righteously. "Since I accepted the commission, I'll naturally see the job through to the end."

"Stubborn, aren't you?" Yuri covered his forehead, finding her a bit troublesome. He really wasn't good at dealing with stubborn people like her.

Because getting someone like that to give up through "talk no jutsu" alone was practically impossible.

The best way was to forcibly "beat them into agreement."

"In that case... I'll have to ask you to leave the stage right here!" Yuri's gaze suddenly sharpened as he chuckled.

"Requip: Heaven's Wheel Armor!"

Suddenly, the magic around Erza surged, and in the blink of an eye, a suit of silver-white armor encased her body.

Four silver-white wings stretched out behind her like an angel's. Metal gauntlets covered her hands, and her ornate battle skirt had a commanding presence. On her head was a circlet with little wings extending from it.

Aside from the swords she held in each hand, more than a dozen blades circled her body.

This armor was the main reason the guild master had agreed to let her come out and carry out the commission alone.

"Heaven's Wheel: Circle Sword!"

The moment her Requip was complete, Erza leaped into the air without hesitation. The blades that had been circling her body rose with her.

They arrayed themselves neatly behind Erza, circling her in ring after ring like the face of a clock.

She looked as valiant as a valkyrie dancing with swords.

She suddenly swung both swords in her hands, and the blades all turned their points toward Yuri, becoming a surging torrent of sword light.

The wind howled as they tore through it, reaching him in an instant.

Though it was a brilliantly sunny noon, everything was now shrouded in an icy gleam that made the hairs stand on end.

The overwhelming assault swept down from above, its airtight, razor-sharp ferocity leaving no room to breathe.

A revolver with a capacity of only six rounds was clearly not enough to shoot down every blade, and the relentless attack gave him no time to reload.

In this theater, with nowhere to retreat, Yuri seemed to have only one fate left: being turned into a sieve.

At that very moment, his left hand reached for the hilt of the sword on his back.

A surge of fierce heat suddenly rushed forth, and the roar of an engine from somewhere instantly echoed throughout the theater.

The wild sound made his blood surge, as though he were racing a Harley at full speed across the open wilderness.

Then a blazing red light filled the blade in the blink of an eye, and a scorching trail of flame burst from its spine.

Yuri leaped into the air, brilliant sparks exploding around him as he shattered the streaks of icy light in an instant.

With a thunderous boom, a figure flew backward, smashing into a massive statue standing at the edge of the venue and being buried beneath the falling rubble.

"Not quite enough."

The fighting spirit that had only just risen gradually subsided along with the cooling engine. Yuri let out a quiet breath and vanished from the theater roof in the blink of an eye.