Chapter 435: A New Stand Ability
[As expected, this competition was anything but simple. That very night, while you were camping, you were attacked again—your tent suddenly froze over and shattered, destroyed by an unseen force. Just like the attack on Jonathan Brook the dentist, there was no visible enemy at all. It was as if the power itself had materialized out of thin air.]
[You weren't the only victim. Old cowboy George Washington and twelfth-place contestant Harvey Apollo Dent were also attacked. The latter's left face was frostbitten beyond recovery—completely disfigured—forcing him to withdraw from the race.]
[No one had ever seen such a silent, invisible form of assault before. Even superheroes, with all their powers, usually left some kind of trace or trajectory behind. But then, the usually quiet George Washington spoke up—in a half-joking tone, he shared an old legend that might be connected to all this.]
[Long ago, a meteor fell from the sky into a remote corner of the Arizona desert. The impact caused massive destruction, and at the site formed a perilous zone known as the Devil's Palm. It was said that anyone who entered this area—perhaps because of some gravitational anomaly—would awaken an unknown power that slept within their body.]
[He called this power a Stand.]
[The Devil's Palm was said to constantly move, sometimes shifting more than ten kilometers a day. Its position was unpredictable; unless someone happened to walk into it, no one could ever pinpoint its exact location.]
[In modern times—around a decade ago—a scientist from Arizona conducted an expedition there. At terrible cost, he discovered a half-dissolved, broken arrow embedded in the sand, containing isotopes not naturally found on Earth.]
[Afterward, the scientist reportedly developed a strange power. Later, following an academic dispute, he killed one of his colleagues using the same kind of invisible, freezing attack. Wracked with guilt, he fled and was never seen again. The identical, unseen method of assault, the same ice-based power—it seemed very likely that this mysterious scientist was the very assailant plaguing you now.]
[A scientist from more than ten years ago… if it really is the same person, the culprit would now be in his fifties or sixties. Out of the five thousand remaining contestants, only a handful fit that age profile.]
[What troubled you most was that the Stand's silent attacks didn't stop. The harassment went on all night, forcing you to stay alert and protect your horse while exhaustion gnawed at your nerves.]
[January 2, 1973, 10:00 a.m.—Stage Two of the race began as scheduled. All contestants gathered at the starting zone. This leg would start from the Church of Santa Maria Novella, cross the entire Arizona desert, and finish at Monument Valley on the northern border of the state—a distance of over 1,200 kilometers. The race was expected to last between 12 and 18 days, with 5,983 contestants remaining.]
[As a long-distance stage, each racer was free to choose their own route, daily travel distance, and rest times. The only rule was that they had to reach the Monument Valley checkpoint. Everything else was left to personal strategy.]
[If a contestant decided to forfeit, they could simply turn their race number into a flag and remain by the route; a passing hot-air balloon would spot the signal and send a rescue team. Among the rescue staff was even the superheroine Harleen Quinzel, ensuring immediate response.]
[You and Bruce Wayne had already teamed up. Since this stage required crossing the Arizona desert, it was likely to turn into a desperate battle for water sources.]
[On your map, the nearest water source lay to the north—over forty kilometers away.]
[Though you had agreed to cooperate, a disagreement arose right from the start. Bruce wanted to head north for the closer water source, while you insisted on going west—where fresh water could also be found roughly eighty kilometers away. For some reason you couldn't explain, you felt an invisible pull in that direction, as if something important awaited you there.]
[In the end, you persuaded Bruce Wayne with a simple argument: a straight path was the shortest path.]
[Few contestants chose the same direction as you; the first water source was too far. Coincidentally, however, Jonathan Joestar, Dio Brando, and George Washington—among other top competitors—opted for the same route.]
[Despite the earlier dispute, Bruce Wayne wasn't one to hold grudges. His B-class "horse" could fly, and it somehow contained both a sunshade and a mini refrigerator—its energy source unknown. He also turned out to be far more talkative than you'd expected, and the two of you discovered many shared interests. The journey, though grueling, wasn't unpleasant, and a genuine camaraderie began to form.]
[But strange things started again that night. The same unseen Stand attack returned, relentlessly stalking you both. It came and went without warning, forcing you to divide your attention between defending yourself and tending to your horse. The constant harassment was maddening—and you still had no countermeasure.]
[Even under these conditions, the early portion of the race—when man and horse were still fresh—allowed you to maintain a lead thanks to your superior riding skills and Bruce's advanced technology. By the end of the first day, you had covered nearly 110 kilometers, ending the day still 50 kilometers from the next water source.]
[According to the aerial observers, you and Bruce Wayne were tied for first. Jonathan Joestar held second, Diana third—you remained the front-runners.]
[After two days, you began to notice a pattern in the freezing attacks. The Stand's power seemed to be a locking-type ability, active only at night and dormant by day. To escape further harassment, you and Bruce decided to travel through the night instead, altering your route northwest toward the rocky highlands to reach the water source by daylight.]
[Whether by coincidence or fate, this detour slowed your pace—and led you to encounter Jonathan Joestar and Dio Brando once again, with George Washington trailing from afar.]
[As you neared the base of a mountain, the Stand attack that had haunted you for days suddenly intensified. The unseen freezing energy erupted into a howling blizzard, blue shards of ice swirling violently, cutting your group apart into two separate battlefields!]
[And then, something miraculous happened. Strange symbols began to glow across the rocky cliff beside you. Amid the raging frost storm, you saw it—a spectral figure of icy blue, an ethereal spirit born of the cold itself. Behind you, another entity materialized: a masked spirit of the same kind, its hands shimmering with liquid light!]
[Perhaps it was fate—without realizing it, you had stepped into the Devil's Palm.]
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