Testing and a transformation

"You've been worrying about this all evening?" At some point, Yuri had slipped his fingers between those of Mirajane's demon hand, tightly interlocking them.

"W-what are you doing?! Let go!" Mirajane came to her senses and immediately tried to pull away, but Yuri held her fast.

He brought their joined hands between them and met her gaze without hesitation. "What's there to worry about?"

Mirajane looked away. After a moment's hesitation, she said, "It's disgusting, isn't it..."

"Didn't I tell you before that it could be changed back?" Yuri asked, puzzled.

"But you also said... this magic called Devil Take Over is extremely rare. Doesn't that mean it's hard to learn? Can I... really master it?" Mirajane sank into deep self-doubt.

As the saying went, the greater the hope, the greater the disappointment.

Having been an orphan from a young age, Mirajane understood that all too well. That was why she always preferred to approach things expecting the worst.

It wasn't that she didn't want to, but that she didn't dare.

She didn't dare hope for success, afraid it would all come to nothing and leave her even more disappointed.

Setbacks and blows had long since shattered the thirteen-year-old girl's confidence.

"Probably not." Yuri looked her in the eye and spoke bluntly.

"Shouldn't you be encouraging me at a time like this? Do you have any emotional intelligence at all?" Mirajane shook her head with a wry smile. Things were just as she had expected.

"I mean, you probably can't as you are now."

Ignoring Mirajane's "complaint," Yuri continued to "discourage" her. "The power of magic comes from the heart."

"Only someone with a strong enough heart can master magic just as powerful."

"And your heart is in too much turmoil."

"..."

Mirajane fell silent. She had lost count of how many times she had gone quiet that night. The boy before her seemed almost able to read minds, always seeing what she was thinking.

"Actually, you have no reason to feel inferior. Magic is a power only a very small number of people in this world can master. Everyone with a talent for magic is blessed by the heavens, and on top of that, you awakened the magic best suited to you on your own," Yuri said, trying to comfort her.

"What magic..."

"What do you mean, best suited..."

"Are you saying I was born a demon?"

"When the heavens blessed me, why didn't they ever consider how I felt?!"

Mirajane suddenly lost some control of her emotions. She flung Yuri's hand away, sank helplessly to the ground, and buried her head between her legs.

Yuri watched her in silence for a while.

He knew something like this would be hard to come to terms with in a short time.

The experiences of the past few days had gradually become Mirajane's nightmare. Comfort from others and a few hollow platitudes could hardly do much to help.

If Mirajane was to truly accept it all, she would have to do it herself.

"In that case, do you want to try something?"

A brilliant blue light bloomed beside Mirajane, reaching her eyes through the gap between her legs. She raised her tearful eyes like a wounded little animal.

Soon, Mirajane's eyes slowly widened as she stared at Yuri. "Your... hand?"

Yuri raised his fearsome Devil Bringer, revealing it fully before Mirajane. "Didn't I tell you before? I'm a demon too. Did you think I was joking?"

Yuri chuckled. "Since you think you're no longer human, let's do another test. Consider it compensation for deceiving you before."

Mirajane: "?"

Late at night, Erza was having a pleasant dream in her tent.

Most of the time, she slept quite well. Even though she was out in the wilderness, she had trustworthy companions by her side, so there was nothing much to worry about.

But suddenly, an enormous surge of magic power reached her, jolting Erza awake.

"What's going on? Is Yuri fighting someone?"

Erza pulled open her tent and hurried toward the disturbance, frowning. She immediately saw the scene before her.

For some reason, an evil black aura clung to Mirajane's demon arm, and the purple orbs resembling eyeballs on the back of her hand began to stir.

Pupils appeared in them as if they were real eyes, and they kept rolling around, staring in every direction.

The next moment, the purple orbs blazed with light, releasing a violent, chilling surge of magic power that formed a pillar of light and completely enveloped Mirajane.

"This is Devil Trigger! How did this happen? What on earth happened?"

Erza raised her arms in front of her to withstand the terrifying surge of magic power. She hadn't forgotten that something similar had happened to Sonia before.

Yuri calmly watched the scene before him, the rising gale stirring the loose strands of hair across his forehead.

"Just a little test. No need to be nervous."

"A little... test?" Erza looked at the scene before her in disbelief.

"Mira!"

"Big sister!"

Before long, Lisanna and Elfman also noticed the commotion and came out of their tent. Seeing that something was wrong with their sister, they immediately tried to go to her.

"Don't go near her! She's very dangerous right now." Erza stopped the two children behind her and frowned at the scene ahead.

Yuri rolled his neck and wrists and instructed her without looking back, "Esaru, take them farther away. What's coming up isn't quite suitable for children."

Erza hesitated for a moment, but chose to trust her companion. She nodded and forcibly took the two children away.

"Yuri, are you sure you should be doing this?" After the others had left, Griffon flew out of the magic mark and landed on Yuri's shoulder.

"There's nothing wrong with it," Yuri said calmly. "If she passes this test, she'll completely resolve the knot in her heart."

"Her heart still isn't strong enough." Griffon looked straight ahead at Mirajane.

"True, she might not be ready yet, but you're wrong about one thing," Yuri corrected him.

"?"

"When a person has something she holds fast to in her heart, she'll become more tenacious than anyone else. And that's a kind of strength too! Even if it isn't enough to help her break free of Devil Trigger, it won't let her become a real demon."

"But you could clearly use the Yamato to separate the demon inside her directly. Why go to all this trouble?" Griffon asked, puzzled.

"I told you, this is compensation for deceiving her before," Yuri explained with a smile.

"But you don't have to..." Knowing what Yuri intended to do, Griffon tried to dissuade him, but when he saw that Yuri's gaze was unmoved by others, he could only sigh. "Forget it. Have it your way."

Yuri suddenly smiled. "Thanks, buddy. I'll be counting on you to lend a hand in a bit."

Griffon's moods came and went quickly. Rarely asked by Yuri for help, he instantly became full of enthusiasm. "Leave it to the great Griffon!"