"Speech"
'Thoughts'
["Speech Through Technology"]
|
…
Seeing Original Dante back away, I removed myself from the wall. The feeling of sickness that had overcome me had finally left.
So, I was now able to see stands. Overlooking both of ours, I realized we both had The World.
Though my version of The World was way more muscular, it stood at 6'2, was yellow-gold in color, and had a headpiece that covered the top half of its face to the nose, slanting at an angle. The back of both of its hands bore simple clock face indents. Twin, ridged, and puffed straps went over both of its shoulders and covered both front and back. On its back were two oxygen tanks, each with two pipes connecting to the base of the neck. On the chin was a small red heart, followed by two slightly larger red hearts serving as knee guards, and lastly, two hearts, one above the other, in the center of the waist. Both of the hearts on the waist were red. However, the larger one had cracks going through it.
I could feel the connection, see through its eyes, and even feel how its hands clenched and flexed. It was a surreal, almost out-of-body, type of experience.
"How do you have my stand?!"
And of course, it was ruined by Original Dante's shout.
"You never finished part three, right?" My mocking tone wasn't lost on him as his frown grew deeper. "It makes sense considering how long you stole my life for."
The World, my stand, clenched his hands into fists and then slammed his knuckles into each other.
Original Dante's stand, also The World, held the same frown as its user before pulling its hands back up in response.
"We're the same person, asshole!" I shouted as I pointed at Original Dante. "It's obvious that what you have, I should have too. After all, those are the rules of stands."
In other words, the reason I felt sick, the reason I felt nauseous, the reason I felt so weak, and the reason I gained The World, is because of Original Dante.
This wasn't my power, it was his! The reason I couldn't adapt to anything was precisely that I was adapting to the stand virus.
"That makes no sense!" Original Dante once again shouted. "You shouldn't be able to piggyback off my effort!"
My stand moved first, quickly closing the distance. Original Dante's stand pushed out to meet its opponent, while at the same time staying defensive.
Using my combat knowledge, The World took a boxing stance, throwing three heavy, precise jabs into the opponent's stand guard.
To his credit, Original Dante didn't stay still, nor did his stand. Both got closer. Original Dante's The World threw in jabs just as my stand had.
My stand dodged the first two, sleekly.
"Piggybacking off your effort?! You piggybacked off my entire life! You stole everything from me!" The rage that I felt at him claiming that I rode his effort, while he took everything from me to build himself up, began eating at me. The hypocrisy in every word he spoke made me want to vomit.
As the third jab came toward my stand, it faltered. Original Dante paused, both he and his stand pausing. Their expressions, in sync, both seemed to be that of distasteful realization.
My eyes widened at that. I planned on counterattacking after he made a mistake, throwing more punches to put pressure on his guard, but this was even better!
The World quickly pulled back its fist. The punch flying forward hit Original Dante's stand cleanly in the center of its chest.
Both stand and user wide-eyed, went flying through the house and out onto the street.
I paused, only momentarily, as I realized something. There was a way to win this fight.
I was going to brutalize his ideology, tear down his wannabe saint false reflection, and I was going to KILL him.
I quickly ran through the house and jumped through the hole Original Dante made, The World in tow. Running through the grass, down the street, past people, getting a view of Original Dante, readying The World, pulling back my stand's fist—
Original Dante's eyes widened, his stand throwing a punch as fast and hard as possible.
*BANG*
A window-shattering shockwave resounded from the two clashing stands. The incredible speeds at which I ran played a part; the force was much more than anything before it.
However, both stands seemed to be knuckle locked, even with the added speed.
The grind of fist against fist faltered as my stand threw a second punch from the opposite hand. Original Dante's stand responded, exactly the same as my stand had, without a moment of delay.
Both fists connected.
Slowly, after being locked in strength, another punch was thrown. Both stands, both throwing punches, remained locked.
And then quickly, it began ramping up. Punch after punch, the same happened, but the speed only increased.
After a certain point, it became an all-out barrage! Both stands rushing in blow after blow.
"MUDA, MUDA, MUDA, MUDA! MUDA-MUDA-MUDA-MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA!" Original Dante's stand shouted after each punch.
My stand, even with the ongoing active barrage trading, remained quiet, without a single moment of utterance.
"WWWWRRRRRYYYYYYY!!!!"
Original Dante's stand continued to cry out, probably absolutely enjoying itself.
Seeing the clash going nowhere, I employed The World to use more finesse. I knew multiple different fighting styles. The World needed to start making use of them!
With that, I started to see some progress! My stand began systematically breaking down the barrage trading, and began landing some small grazes.
After a few seconds, my stand dodged a punch, ducked another, and slipped the third, only to counterattack devastatingly with a quick and heavy jab to the chin.
Both Original Dante and his The World slid back from the force of the punch, the damage reflecting on both of their faces.
"Look at you!" I sneered. "Causing so much property damage, ruining the lives of those around you!"
A car horn, one that couldn't be heard over the clash, was blaring. Multiple to be factual.
Original Dante looked around, his eyes held shut for a second as his eyebrows twitched. "It wasn't supposed to go this way. You're fighting me, going overboard; I have to defend myself." Original Dante took in the scene around him as he spoke.
People were hurt, both in their houses and on the streets we fought across. Many died just because of our infighting.
"Is that what you're going to tell yourself? That these casualties were just the result of an unavoidable occurrence?!" I let my words hang in the air.
"How about that truck that exploded, hmm?" I tilted my head away from Original Dante as I said it. "You're telling me I just flew into him by accident? That the universe just led me to him with an unreal amount of force?"
I could see the guilt growing on Original Dante's face.
"I don't think so! You know what I think? I think you punched me into him!" I could see Original Dante grit his teeth harder and harder the longer I spoke. "I don't think I'm the only participant in this 'unavoidable' confrontation!"
"That shouldn't have happened!—"
"Just like I shouldn't have had my life stolen?!"
Original Dante's hand pressed against his face in remembering.
"I tried to give it back!—"
"After you allowed me to wallow in the same scenario you left?!"
Original Dante's stand began showing an expression of regret, its fingers twitching every so often.
"I'm still trying to give it back, I don't want to fight you!"
At that, I frowned.
"Tell me, if you steal my credit card, max it out, and then try to give it back, is that ok?" As soon as I finished speaking, I found Original Dante silent.
"Oh, quiet now, are we? Then let me continue!"
"After you 'TRY' returning that maxed-out credit card, you want bygones to be bygones! Do you think that fixes anything?! ANYTHING AT ALL?!" I spat my venom, the depths of my feelings, everything I've ever felt since coming here.
"I didn't mean to, I didn't understand the weight of my actions—"
"You didn't 'MEAN TO'?" I cut Original Dante off before he could finish, which made me even more livid. "You knew what you were doing! You told me, you told the camera, exactly what you were doing!"
By this point, Original Dante's hands were weakly resting at his sides. His face ashen, ashamed, and he was looking down directly toward the ground.
"I-I'm sorry." Original Dante's voice rang out weakly.
"Sorry doesn't fix anything."
"Is there any way I can fix this?"
"Let me kill you," I said with utmost seriousness. "That's the only way you can fix this."
"For real? Is that–is that really what you want?" Original Dante's crestfallen voice turned to disbelief and confusion, yet still kept that depressing tone.
"That's what I want."
"Why? Surely there's another way—"
"THERE IS NO OTHER WAY!!" My fists clenched as I shouted. "You've already ruined everything! You cannot return what you stole from me! There's nothing left you can do!"
"Surely—"
I rushed over, not hearing Original Dante out, my stand's fist met the face of his stand.
"I'm sick and tired of your holier-than-thou bullshit!" Both Original Dante and his stand were sent flying backward, bouncing multiple times down the street.
I gave chase.
And when I found him, Original Dante lay on the ground weakly.
"You're a hypocrite!" I shouted as I lashed my hand through the air. "You spout about being better, doing better, and trying to uplift others, but your actions and words don't align! You've done nothing but ask to fix this, that, and the third, but haven't actually tried jack-shit! Inthe end, you're a lying hypocritical bastard who should've stayed cooped up in that hole he was in!"
In the end, Original Dante didn't respond. He only lay on the ground where he landed, exactly like he always did. And it only made me angrier.
Closing my eyes and taking a deep breath—
"Holier… holier-than-thou?"
'What?' I opened my eyes, finding Original Dante trying to get up.
"I'm sorry it came off that way. I only wanted to be better." Original Dante's weak voice hit my ears as I saw his feet finding the ground.
"Yeah, you kept trying to be a saint, spouting about lies as you tried." I spat the words with disgust.
"Saint? I never wanted to be a saint. I only wanted to bring others up. I was happy if I could become an ordinary person and bring up others around me." As Original Dante spoke, his eyes didn't reach mine. Instead, he stared at his shaking hands.
"Look at you, still denying everything. You won't change, you refuse to even allow me to be right in the slightest." I shook my head and crossed my arms. Pulling The World forward, I made sure it pulled back its fist and—
"No, you're right."
My eyes widened at that.
"What? I don't think I heard you."
"I said you're right." Original Dante's head slowly began looking toward me. "I went in thinking that if I could leave a good impression, say the right thing, and try to uplift people through being better, that I was doing better.
I hadn't seen it from your perspective at all. I only thought that if I could return to you your life, it would all be well. I now see that I was wrong. People have history, make history. It would be wrong of me to force my viewpoints onto others with no regard for how they'd feel.
I've done much wrong today. People have died because I didn't think things through, because I didn't think of their best interests from their points of view. I came here saying a lot, while doing much of nothing, worse than much of nothing.
But now, I also see that people have self-destructive habits. You can't make everyone happy, you can't have everyone love. So, I'll change. I'll make that change. Starting with you, Dante."
I was absolutely flabbergasted. My lip twitching, rage building, all of what I was hearing was holier-than-thou nonsense being brought up AGAIN!
"So, Dante. I'll save you." Original Dante said with a calm smile, his stand appearing in front of him.
"All I asked… was of one thing." My hand rubbed my forehead as I spoke. "Yet, you won't just drop dead!"
The World threw a punch, only for it to be blocked by Original Dante's The World.
"I don't believe my death would be the best outcome for you." Original Dante's words felt like nails on a chalkboard in my ears.
"Your death would solve all of my issues right now!" I shouted as both stands began trading punches once again.
The rain of blow after blow eventually caused both of us to be pushed back by the force. As I slid back, I saw Original Dante's The World bring both its hands over and across the back of its shoulders.
Now floating behind, but also to the right of Original Dante, his stand slowly began sliding its arms back up.
Original Dante placed both hands on his hips, slowly turning his hips the second his hands landed in place.
"THE!"
The moment Original Dante shouted, my eyes widened at what he was doing.
Trying to—
"WORLD!" Both Original Dante and The World finished their movements. The World's arms dropped over Original Dante's shoulders, and Original Dante finished the turn of his hips with one movement.
Time was going to—
*click*
For an instant, I couldn't see. Then, everything came back to me.
I was frozen.
But I could see.
Everything remained frozen besides Original Dante and his stand. There were no sounds, no colorful animation of movement, only still silence.
Yet, in that silence, I watched Original Dante and his stand look at each other before turning back to me. At the same time, they both rushed to me.
I tried moving, but I was truly stuck. It felt like a claustrophobe's worst nightmare.
'Move, move, move!' I thought as I tried desperately to regain movement, as I watched a fist closing in on my face.
'Move!' My mind blanked for an instant, words coming to my head only because they were words I had heard before. 'The World!'
For a few instances, I regained control, The World coming from my body and throwing a punch at the opponent!
*BANG*
The two fists met, a shockwave sounding out before freezing in time.
Original Dante slid back and staggered. "WHAT?!"
Right after the punch, I returned to being frozen in time. It was only a few instances, but it was enough.
"How can you move in my stopped—no! You've wasted all your time!" The stagger Original Dante was in didn't seem to last as his stand threw another punch.
The fist of his stand met the center of my chest, and my body didn't move.
"Time has begun to move again?" Original Dante sounded confused as he spoke aloud.
And as he said, time began to move.
I felt a force in my chest, my body caving in and being flung backwards. Flipping through the air, I landed on the pavement. The punch didn't actually break skin, nor any bones.
Skidding to a stop, I watched as Original Dante, using his stand's speed, tore a straight line to my location. His feet only touched the ground once every second and a half as he practically and almost instantly reached my location.
Bringing The World forward, my stand pulled back its fist right as Original Dante got within range, his stand immediately doing the same thing as he began sliding to a stop.
*BANG*
A massive shockwave blasted out once more from our clash. But that wasn't enough.
Both stands began barraging each other once more. However, this time, I used even more finesse. It resulted in a one-sided beatdown within the massive trade of punches.
Slick hits to the chest, jabs to the chin, feints where they thought punches would be, my dominance was overwhelming.
And it should've stayed that way, at least.
But somehow, someway, Original Dante was bringing this back. It started with minute details. Once every millisecond, I would land a hit, then it became two. From two, it jumped to five. Going from five, it jumped to ten.
And it was at this point that I started getting nervous. He was learning. He was adapting. And it wasn't just any old type of adaptation. He was doing exactly what those types of copy martial artists did, which made them so disgusting to go up against.
He took on my technique, my finesse, and he copied me to perfection. If at first, I was fighting a naive man who had never fought in his life, now I was fighting myself.
Out of all the countless eldritch entities I had fought, this one, this thing had to be the scariest. By now, the number of hits I have been landing has gone from positive to absolutely stagnant.
Every opening I saw, faked, every hit I thought I could land, lost, and every time I thought I could change it up to land a hit, countered. It was at this point that I realized I couldn't win, not like this.
I had accidentally taught and grown my absolute equal. We had the same powers, same skills, same way of fighting, and nothing would break this unbreakable deadlock.
I needed a new plan, and I had one. One that would only work because Original Dante didn't have it. At least, he didn't have it yet.
But that also meant I couldn't risk it. I needed one opening, one absolute moment, and I needed it to land. If it didn't, I risked him adding that move to his arsenal and never being able to use that move again.
I had one shot! I was going to make it count.
'The World!' I mentally called to my stand. The World, at that moment, pulled its fist back for a heavier attack than normal.
Not seeing this coming, as it wasn't the most optimal attack, Original Dante's The World had to block it. It brought its arms in a cross guard and successfully blocked the attack.
The problem? I was never going for a stand attack. I only needed to stagger his stand.
Original Dante is a stand user. He might have the reaction time, but he didn't have the movement without his stand. I'm not a stand user, I'm a user of a stand.
With the successful stagger, I blitzed across the battlefield towards Original Dante. I made sure to circle slightly, instead of going directly forward.
Seeing this, Original Dante's The World had tried to get between its user and me. However, the nanosecond its attention switched, my stand tried to get it in a clinch.
To Original Dante's credit, his stand immediately slipped out of the oncoming clinch and tried backing away. If it could successfully float backward, it would end up between Original Dante and me, the former who had currently taken a single wide step back with his eyes going wide.
Too bad, my stand saw it coming and grabbed onto the only two things that stay slightly behind when someone takes a step back, the hands!
The hand grab and lock left Original Dante's The World wide-eyed. It tried pulling free, but it wouldn't have enough time!
I was already barreling toward Original Dante, only four feet away!
Sadly, there were many things I didn't know and couldn't confirm. I didn't know Original Dante's durability. Considering he took light-speed punches from a stand and was still standing, I could only assume a punch, no matter how I threw it, wouldn't do enough damage.
But there was one thing I knew that could get him. I didn't have it on hand, but I didn't need to. All that mattered was that Original Dante didn't know I didn't need to have it on hand to use it. That's why I could only do this once.
Breaking into Original Dante's guard, taking a step forward while he was still in his back step, I pulled my right hand from behind my back.
And as I did so, Deterioration began to materialize in my hand. Because this was something only I could know. As long as my weapons are still connected to me via the seal, I can resummon them as many times as I need if I lose them. This was the main reason I never felt the need to add to my weapons collection and instead tried to save for Malo.
Of course, this took a while to get out. In a high-stakes battle, resummoning my sword would take longer than just trying to pick it up because of how fast I am. The only reason this works is due to Original Dante being a stand user!
As the sword materialized from my right hand, now being pulled forward, both Original Dante and I made deathly eye contact. Even if he could perceive it, without his stand by his side, he couldn't stop it.
Deterioration was slowly, yet quickly, pushed forward through the air. The tip of the blade landed on Original Dante's chest while we both stared each other in the eye.
With almost the same amount of resistance as the stronger eldritch creatures I faced, the blade sank into his chest. Blood seeped out as the blade went straight through his ribcage, hit his heart, and came out of his back.
I held it there.
Both Original Dante and his stand, The World, held wide eyes.
Blood began leaking from the corner of Original Dante's mouth as he took his hands and gave one good feel of the blade and his chest. He brought his hands up to see them covered in a sheen of blood.
And then his eyes returned to me. It was strange. All of the anger, all of the pain, and all of the sadness I was sure he held, sure he wanted to spill, never came. In his eyes, it looked as if he never thought losing was possible, and he was coming to terms with what that meant.
Both of our stands stopped their fighting, turning their heads to us before looking at each other. Original Dante's stand didn't hold any rage, and only looked saddened by the sudden loss.
Staring at my stand, Original Dante's The World eventually lowered its head slightly in sadness before slowly disappearing in gold smoke. The wind softly carried the stand's ashes away, the stand disappearing quietly into the night.
Original Dante's eyes, still staring at mine, barely changed. Only at the last second, imperceptible to almost anyone other than me, did his face soften. His eyes told a story in a language that held no beginning nor end, and a nigh-imperceptible uptilt in his lips.
After that, his eyes quickly lost strength, his body falling backward only to be caught on my sword, leaving him unable to fall onto his back.
Slowly, I lowered my sword, allowing Original Dante's body to lie on its back in the center of the street.
Slowly, I pulled Deterioration from Original Dante's body. Putting the sword back on my back, I stood back up fully.
I stared at Original Dante's body for a second, steadying my breathing. For only a second did I close my eyes before turning and walking away.
'That was honestly the most—'
*████⚐︎❼︎ 💧︎☹︎🕆︎█👌█☜︎☼︎██☝︎ ☹︎⚐︎☼︎█ ✋︎☠︎ ☼︎☜︎█📪︎ ✌︎██✌︎█☜︎☠︎*
Covering my ears, the most disgusting, annoying, horrific, vile, loud, angry, amazing, beautiful—
"AUUGHHHHHHH!!!!" I screamed, my eyes going wide and my vision blurring.
My legs wobbled as I almost fell to the ground. I felt a terrible burning in my stomach, forcing my arms to hold it without thinking. It felt like my ears were bleeding, I couldn't breathe, I couldn't see!
A sound I couldn't quite describe, like a whisper, into a shout, into the most vile—most loving sound you could think of. Yet it was all hounded over by a disgustingly loud horn-like sound that mixed everything into one incomprehensible blur.
Drool and spit leaked from my mouth, and I began frothing at the mouth. My vision was blurring so hard that I could swear sometimes all I saw was total red.
However, I had two perspectives: my own and my stand. I could see the—
'The hell?!' My eyes widened as suddenly I could see. It wasn't from the eyes on my head, but an entirely separate view of something.
Everything was red, red,red,so red.
Even so, I could make out something in the distance. Something outside of this cavern of red, pulsating, disgusting flesh.
Moving slightly with my body, trying to get a clearer look, I realized the "outside" had moved. Moving more, I came to a horrifying realization.
The thing I'm seeing, the thing outside of this terrible cavern of flesh and red.
It was me.
I waved my hand back and forth, and saw the clear white skin from inside the cavern. Horrified and trying to stand, I looked down towards my stomach.
And I almost threw up.
From my upper stomach, cracks and bends in reality appeared. Pulsing red flesh leaked from the inside, never leaving the tear, but beating like a heart.
And the cracks were spreading.
Climbing up my body, slowly, surely, and absolutely.
I could feel it, see it. I was—whatever I was—was pushing myself out of myself.
The second I realized, I began fighting the pushing. Both inside and outside, I tried holding.
At that moment, my entire body trembled; it felt as if I were fighting against a hydraulic press. My vision blurred, pain assaulted me, and yet I couldn't hold it. I was at the cusp of throwing up all of my organs by the feel of the welt stuck in my throat.
And yet—
"ARGGHHHHH—AGGHHHHHHHH!!!"
*ÆÆÆEE—*
—I couldn't help but scream, both internally and externally.
No matter what I did, how I tried to stop it, or what I wanted, it kept pushing forward. The cracks, a kaleidoscope of colors all beginning and ending at red, continued to spread.
'Make it—STOP! Please, I beg. At this point, please, someone kill me! PLEASE, I RATHER DIE, ANYONE!' I could barely think straight, and when I did, I begged for death.
God, whoever, wherever, I don't care who, I only asked why me and for death. I'm sure if anyone else experienced this, they'd kill themself on the spot. If they couldn't, they'd beg out loud for someone to end them, cry to the sky, and when it was all over, still end their own life.
And as soon as it began—
'What?'
—It ended. As if it never existed. The pain went away so quickly, I wondered if I had died. Trying to look around, I realized I couldn't see from the inside of myself.
The cracks spreading their way up my chest disappeared entirely. Standing up and quickly patting myself up and down, I came to the scary and startling realization that I was completely fine.
Looking around, I noticed nothing off.
"What was that?—NO!" I cut myself off as disbelief welled up in my eyes.
"No, no, no, no! Not you too!" I shouted as I stared at The World, my stand's calm yet saddened expression.
The same reality rending cracks were now spreading throughout The World's body. While I was fine, The World was not.
I could only put the dots together. The World, for all intents and purposes, had transferred whatever was assaulting me to itself.
"You can't do this! I can't lose you, too!" I knew-I knew exactly what The World was going to do. Any damage a stand takes is reflected on the user; that means if The World takes on whatever this was, it would be reflected on me in the end.
The only way for this not to happen was if The World ended itself before the damage could take place. That would disrupt whatever transformation this was.
But I couldn't take that! It felt like every time I gained something, every time I found some form of happiness, some form of companionship, some form of peace in this disgusting, ugly world, it was unrighteousness ripped from my grasp.
Having a stand, one that could fight by my side, filled me with a familiar joy and confidence I couldn't say I had since I lost her.
I could only feel frustration and do as I always did, TAKE ALL THIS SHIT ON THE CHIN LIKE SOME FUCKING LOSER!!! I absolutely detested myself, everything!
I sucked a breath in, my eyes widening.
The World had done something I had never seen before. It smiled. Instinctually, I knew what this meant. The World was a reflection of myself.
For The World didn't speak, didn't smile, it only acted according to my will and calculations. It didn't need to smile, it never wanted to, it never felt the need.
For it to smile could mean only two things—who the hell am I fooling?—it could mean only one thing. Because this stand was me, entirely me, it could only mean that my stand, The World, was truly happy.
I could feel it.
And as soon as I recognized that, The World seemed satisfied. The sadness, the happiness, it wiped itself off its face as The World turned around.
The cracks across its body were spreading more and more. The World looked up to the sky.
"WWWWRRRRRRYYYYYYYYYY!!!!"
The World cried out. As if saying to the world itself that it refused to go quietly into the night.
*CRR—BOOM*
And exploded.
The chunks of the stand turned to golden-yellow dust right before hitting the ground. The dust carried itself upward using the wind, flying softly past my face. Not once did I blink.
As the gold faded into the sky, I came to my last horrible realization. I was alone, once more.
'The World, our time may have been short, but it damn sure mattered. You were truly the greatest stand.' My thoughts blanked after that. I don't know if it was a collapse in my mind or if I was finally going mad.
After a painfully short time, yet long enough to matter, I began walking away. Today was too hard on my heart and mind. I needed to finally rest—
*Cough*
Huh?
I paused. Stopped completely, a thousand-yard stare formed on my face.
Slowly and mechanically turning my head slightly, I saw Original Dante's body. It was as stiff as when I put him down. However, this time I saw the body's mouth was wide open.
His mouth slowly leaked blood at the sides, as if it were too full. An entire pool of blood lay beneath him, too.
I don't know what it was.
I didn't know a lot about Devil May Cry. I only knew what my friends had told me: the two Sons of Sparda were cool, the cast of the fifth game was great, and that was about it.
But something in my mind must have put together the details faster than my mind could put them into words.
I, myself, was Dante. Dante from Devil May Cry had the Rebellion. It was a sword given to him by his father. This sword has the special property of fusing things.
I never paid enough attention to how Dante originally unlocked his Devil Trigger. I don't even remember how it happened or why. All I knew was that it was somehow connected to the sword.
Yet my current stand-in for Rebellion was Deterioration. I thought I only had one way to end that fight, and that was the truth.
I was tired as hell, depressed as hell, and had even lost everything close to me.
*WHOOSH*
But I ran as fast as possible towards the body, pulling Deterioration from my back. Time slowed to almost stillness, yet still, I found myself so close yet so far.
Original Dante's body began to twitch softly. It choked like blood was stuck in its throat.
Pulling my sword forward in a thrust—
Blood.
Blood flowed like a river.
Like an ocean.
Out of a single orifice.
—I was pushed back by an immense wave of blood. The force and speed were too much.
It was impossible in hindsight, so much blood couldn't come out of a person. This is even more so when it all came from the mouth.
It washed over me, and by the time I could see again, I was standing on the pavement. I had been pushed back so far, even though I tried standing my ground.
I quickly took a look around, to my horror.
Blood covered the asphalt of the street entirely. It was so seamless and so uniform that it looked as if a long river of blood had replaced the street.
Taking a step into it, I still felt the street below.
But all of that paled in comparison to what I saw in front of me. It was beautiful the way an art piece or a wallpaper background was.
Floating two feet in the air, arms spread out, unmoving, was Original Dante. Or, well, what was his dead body?
It wasn't moving. I don't mean it was trying to stay still, no, it wasn't moving at all. As if its finer tissues didn't exist, and absolute control over its body was possible.
Exactly like a wallpaper background, entirely unmoving. It appeared to be staring off into space, entirely ignoring everything around it.
The body of this thing was a deep shade of red. It seemed to be made of hardened blood. The entire body was made of it. On its back, many small stalagmites pointed outward.
Its face was the weirdest of all. It had four flower-like indents on its face where the four eyes it had were placed. It looked like a four-leaf clover if you curved each of the indents in its specific direction. That being said, top left, bottom left, top right, and bottom right.
And it hung there, in the air, unmoved. As if reality didn't know it existed.
What do I do?
…
[STAND NAME]: The World (Alternate Multiverse)
[STAND MASTER]: Dante Azaogdesz (Original)
[STATS]: DESTRUCTIVE POWER (A) | SPEED (A) | RANGE (C) | DURABILITY (A) | PRECISION (B) | DEVELOPMENTAL POTENTIAL (B) |
[STATUS]: Deceased
[DESCRIPTION]: The World (Alternate Multiverse), a stand brought about by the will of a being far greater than human. Repressed, this power had begun to take charge before being put into its place by the stand's master. Correctly restructured into The World, this entity now takes the shape of a stand and uses the rules of stands. The only thing left to wonder is if the user could have ever unlocked the full potential of what he had been playing with, that being fiction.]
…
[STAND NAME]: The World
[STAND MASTER]: Dante Azaogdesz
[STATS]: DESTRUCTIVE POWER (A) | SPEED (A) | RANGE (C) | DURABILITY (A) | PRECISION (B) | DEVELOPMENTAL POTENTIAL (?) |
[STATUS]: Deceased
[DESCRIPTION]:A stand born from the ideas and will of someone far too young to understand what they're playing with. The rules brought about their fun, but also brought about their downfall. In the end, this stand underwent something none other had before it or will after it. It begs the question: If allowed to undergo the transformation taking place within it, would this stand exceed all expectations before and after it?]