Yuri's Concerns

"Griffon, tell me... is it really all right for me to stay here?"

While the kids elsewhere were curiously exploring Yuri's origins, Yuri lay alone on the roof of the house he had temporarily rented, gazing expressionlessly at the sky as he asked the question in his mind.

"What's wrong with it, buddy? This is our home, isn't it?" Griffon's voice rang out in his head.

They were having an "encrypted call" through the contract they shared.

"You know what I mean." Yuri signaled for Griffon to stop playing dumb. "If I stay here, sooner or later I'll bring disaster to everyone else. Maybe... should we keep wandering, like we used to?"

Seeing him like this, Griffon sighed helplessly. "You don't have to push yourself so hard, Yuri. Everyone has the right to pursue the life they want. There's nothing wrong with that."

"But... wouldn't that be too selfish?"

"People are selfish, and devils even more so. You should think more about yourself," Griffon continued. "Besides, aren't the master and that monster of an uncle still around?"

Yuri fell silent. "..."

"Look on the bright side, buddy. Didn't we find some clues this time?" When Yuri said nothing, Griffon continued trying to reassure him. "Besides, nothing's happened in all these years. Maybe Devil never intended to bother with us in the first place, so stop worrying over nothing."

"I suppose so."

At Griffon's words, Yuri managed a faint smile, seeming to have convinced himself for the time being.

As mentioned before, Yuri's travels around the world had a great deal to do with his other half, Devil.

Devil was strong, truly strong. Even as he was now, Yuri would definitely not last ten exchanges against him. Even the master and Gildarts might not be able to beat him.

So he was worried, worried that one day he would bring disaster to everyone. After all, he had something the other man wanted.

The Yamato, the Rebellion Sword, and the Force Edge were the three legendary devil arms left behind by Sparda.

Of the three, the Yamato had the power of separation and was in Yuri's possession. His Devil Bringer was where he normally stored it, and in a sense, it could be considered a sheath.

That was how he had left an unhealable scar on Cain's chest and pierced Sonia's heart with the Devil Bringer, helping her fully regain her human form.

The Rebellion Sword and the Force Edge, meanwhile, were in Devil's hands.

Although it was fortunate that the Force Edge had yet to be unsealed, that was also what worried Yuri most.

In the original story of "Devil May Cry," the Rebellion Sword had the power of fusion. (Note 1)

What it fused with was the unsealed Force Edge.

Yes, the Force Edge was still sealed, and the key to undoing that seal was the necklace Yuri always wore around his neck.

There were two necklaces in total, one in Yuri's possession and the other in Devil's. Only when both were brought together could the Force Edge's seal be undone.

Whatever Devil ultimately planned to do, as long as he still sought greater power, the simplest way was to snatch Yuri's necklace, use it to undo the Force Edge's seal, and then absorb it with the Rebellion Sword.

That way, Devil's power might surpass that of his "self" before the separation in one stroke, reaching a new level.

Perhaps because Yuri had the Yamato, however, Devil had never come looking for him of his own accord.

After all, the Yamato could separate space. Even if Yuri couldn't beat him, he was also an expert at running away.

That was both what gave Yuri the confidence to seek him out and why he didn't want to stay at the guild.

If he were alone, there was no way Devil could catch him. But once he formed attachments, his steps would slow.

So he never stayed long at the guild, and whenever he went out, he always operated under the name of a private agency.

Ever since Gildarts had brought him back to the guild seven years ago, he had grown fond of the place.

No one was an idiot. Although they didn't know his true identity, they all had their suspicions to varying degrees.

They simply never mentioned it in front of him and had warmly welcomed him.

Perhaps everyone could also sense the faint "barrier" between him and them. He didn't want to talk about it, so they didn't ask.

The master only reminded him from time to time, "Stay safe, and remember to come home."

He always readily agreed, but in truth, he had never written so much as a single letter.

He didn't know whether he didn't want to, or didn't dare...

He had sent plenty of bills, though. That counted as a different sort of message to let them know he was safe, didn't it?

That was how Yuri convinced himself every time.

Perhaps being alone was his fate. It was a little boring, but fortunately, he still had Griffon for company, so it wasn't too bad.

It was just that, whenever he grew tired of walking, he would occasionally wonder whether he should stop and settle down.

To put it bluntly, what did Devil's plans have to do with him? He was just a discarded minor character.

There were so many powerful people in this world. Even if the world really were going to be destroyed, they would be the first... forget it.

Yuri tried to avoid it, but in the end, he still couldn't convince himself. He couldn't exclude himself from it. Just as he had said before, perhaps it was all fate.

All he could do was silently accept his fate.

But just a week ago, the clues discovered in Caro Town had given him a glimmer of hope of finding Devil.

Yuri reached into his coat pocket, where there was a magical "core" glowing with bloody light, as well as an utterly ordinary pendant.

The core was the part of Sonia's heart that belonged to a devil. The pendant was a gift Sonia had given them to thank them for everything they had done, saying it might be of some help in Yuri's search for clues.

Of course, she had taken her mother's photograph out of it.

Sure enough, after studying them for some time, Yuri had discovered that both things were most likely connected to Devil.

Back in the sewers, he had thought Qliphoth's branches looked familiar. Now that he thought about it, wasn't it just a miniature version of the Demon World Tree? And Cain, the so-called Blood Devil, was precisely the nourishment used to water the Demon World Tree!

The Demon World Tree was a gigantic devil tree.

Because it grew in the devil world, it was the opposite of the trees in the human world.

The Demon World Tree's trunk and branches took root underground, while its thorny roots grew above the surface, eventually reaching into the sky beyond the clouds.

It grew by feeding on human blood, and once it had received enough nourishment, it would bear fruit. Any devil who ate it would gain incomparably powerful strength.

And that power was no weaker than what could be gained by absorbing the unsealed Force Edge.

By rights, something like that should never have appeared in Caro Town, or even in this world, because it was a plant from the world of Devil May Cry.

He didn't know how that guy had managed to find something so similar in this world.

Or had they created them artificially in the first place?

The more Yuri thought about it, the more terrifying it seemed...

Note: The ability of Rebellion has never been explicitly stated by the official sources. Some say it is "revenge," while others say it is "fusion," but what it does in the story is indeed fuse and absorb. Therefore, for the sake of the plot, its ability is consistently treated as fusion in this book.