Resonance

Griffon had long known that, despite the way Yuri went around smiling all day and seemed easy to talk to,

once he got stubborn, nobody could talk him around.

Just like when they had first met: the kid had been terribly frail, yet he had never been willing to ask Griffon for help.

Words like "help" and "save me" had never seemed to have anything to do with him. Only after they had spent a long time together had Griffon occasionally gotten a chance to lend a hand.

Still... although Yuri never asked anyone for help (except for money), he did not resist helping others.

He was no indiscriminate do-gooder, but he was never stingy with his strength when it came to people he acknowledged.

Perhaps he had seen his former self in Mirajane, and that was why he wanted to help her this way.

Yuri looked at Mirajane before him. Her body was now completely covered in deadwood-like skin, with purple eyes whose pupils darted wildly covering her from head to toe. Branchlike horns jutted from either side of her forehead, and her eyes glowed blood-red. She had clearly gone berserk.

And this was precisely the result Yuri had deliberately brought about.

In this world, there was a peculiar type of magic known as "Unison Raid."

What made it peculiar was that it had to be cast by two or more mages together.

It was an advanced form of magic that could only be used after the casters' magic powers passed through a series of stages: synchronization, resonance, fusion, and qualitative transformation.

Though it sounded simple, it actually required a high degree of rapport and magical compatibility between the casters to succeed. Ordinary people could spend their entire lives without mastering it.

On the other hand, compared with magic cast by a single person, a Unison Raid was several times more powerful and could also provide an elemental bonus.

Yuri was not planning to cast a Unison Raid with Mirajane, however. He only needed to draw out the Devil Power inside him, so reaching the stage of magical resonance was enough.

Of course, given the gap in their strength, successful fusion would have been nearly impossible anyway.

Back in Xiro Village, he had noticed that the Devil Power inside him could affect the Devil Power inside Mirajane.

That was how he had been able to guide and bewitch it at the time.

What he was doing now was amplifying that effect to the point of resonance, drawing out the Devil Power inside Mirajane.

That had led to the sight of Mirajane going berserk before him now.

In truth, just as Griffon had said, Yuri had many ways to help Mirajane overcome her emotional burden.

He could use the Yamato to separate the Devil Power from her body, for example, or cut away only that lingering nightmare.

Though there were some side effects, both methods were convenient and highly effective.

Yet Yuri had chosen the most troublesome one.

"Roar!!!"

The roar shook the mountain forest and whipped up a gale, making Yuri's coat snap around him.

He vanished from the spot in an afterimage, planted a palm on "Mirajane's" face, and slammed her against the cliff, leaving a human-shaped dent. Then he drove her head into the mountainside, punch after punch.

Suddenly, the eyes all over "Mirajane's" body began to emit a dazzling purple light. A massive surge of magic welled up, and a violent explosion swept through the area in an instant. Great quantities of rubble collapsed, throwing up a towering cloud of dust.

Yuri leaped out above the dust cloud. The Devil Bringer flared with light, and a gigantic magical arm lunged into the dust.

At the same time, a claw formed from a raging torrent of purple-black magic came sweeping toward him.

The two claws locked fingers, and azure and purple-black magic pressed against each other in the air.

"You've got some nerve, challenging me to a contest of strength!" Yuri grinned. The Devil Bringer swung backward like a whip, and the magical arm mirrored his movement, yanking the giant purple-black claw around behind him.

"Boom!"

A figure followed the giant claw, and Yuri slammed it violently downward, smashing out a huge crater and sending spiderweb cracks spreading across the ground.

But it was not over. Still in midair, Yuri raised his right leg high and brought it down like a battle-axe, stomping straight for "Mirajane's" head!

War Stomp: High-Altitude Fall Version

"Boom!!!"

As Yuri brought his axe down, the crater expanded a second time, collapsing over a wide area.

Yuri stood at the center of the collapse, silently watching the rubble beneath his feet.

Before long, a purple-black flash suddenly lit up the gaps between the stones burying her.

Terrifying magic turned into a torrent that soared skyward, instantly breaking free from beneath the ground and surging straight at Yuri.

Yuri held the Devil Bringer in front of him. The magical shockwave seemed to meet an impassable obstacle and split off into the sky on either side.

A slightly ferocious smile appeared on Yuri's face. "Not quite enough."

In boundless darkness, a beam of light fell like a spotlight. A delicate white-haired girl sat huddled within it, her eyes vacant. She did not know who she was, or why she had appeared here.

She knew only that she was so tired, so sleepy, and wanted so badly to "sleep."

Around her, things that resembled both skeletons and evil spirits drifted through the darkness. They extended grotesque, twisted limbs like the roots of dead trees, constantly trying to reach into the only light in this world and devour the girl within.

Unfortunately for them, that indestructible barrier of light held them back.

Unable to do anything else, they concentrated their malice into foul filth that passed through the barrier and continually ensnared the girl.

[Get out! Get out of our village!]

[Get out, you devil-possessed freak!!]

[How much longer are you going to stay in the village?!]

[A cursed family! It's because of you that disasters keep coming!!!]

At first, the girl had cried and tried to defend herself, but as time passed, she grew tired.

She sat on the ground, with nothing to lean on and no one to confide in. It was as if she were all alone in this place...

She was so tired, so sleepy, and wanted so badly to sleep, but whenever she closed her eyes, those hideous evil spirits appeared before her, and the vile curses echoed in her ears, never letting her find peace.

A profound sense of helplessness and loneliness filled the girl's heart, and she could not help murmuring.

"Someone... please help me..."

"Someone... please help me..."

An "echo" reached the girl's ears, but she paid it no mind. Only when she heard faint sobs did she realize it was not an echo.

The girl's vacant eyes trembled slightly, but the world before her was nothing but darkness.

She turned her head and suddenly saw pitch-black ripples gathering beside her, forming a huge mirror that reflected a boy in tears...