"Who's there?"
Joseph called out on instinct. But even as the words left his mouth, the answer came — following that low shout from the staircase, the pursuer revealed himself.
The young man with short blue hair descended the last few steps, then stopped, visibly startled — as though he hadn't expected quite this many people to be gathered here.
"Relax, Jonathan. The plan from here is simple — just work together to take down DIO."
Anthony spoke in his usual calm, unhurried tone. Jonathan gave a single nod — and then turned to look at the Stardust Crusaders standing before him. For just a moment, his expression became something complicated and difficult to read.
There wasn't much to say, really. The core of the problem was this: having read through the records Anthony had sent him, Jonathan genuinely had no idea how to face these people.
The Joestar bloodline. How, exactly, had it... drifted this far off course?
He thought back to the records — to the things Joseph and Jotaro had apparently done — and a slideshow of increasingly inexplicable images began to flash before his eyes. Even facing DIO had never produced a feeling quite like this one.
But Jonathan pushed it aside. He shook his head, refocused, and fixed his gaze back on DIO.
Whatever the complications — the priority right now is still the same. Find a way to kill DIO.
In the very next instant, The World surged to life behind him, Ripple energy blazing across its knuckles, and drove another blow straight at DIO.
Beside them, Polnareff's eyes went wide as dinner plates.
"That Stand — there are two of them?!"
"Identical? How is that even possible?"
But Jotaro Kujo didn't waste a single second on questions. The moment he saw Jonathan moving against DIO, he was already reacting — first before anyone else.
Whoever that guy is — he's going after DIO. I can sort out the details later. Right now, the important thing is to hit DIO while we've got the opening.
"ORA!"
Star Platinum erupted into being and drove a fist clean into DIO's face, launching him airborne once more. Jonathan watched it happen, and gave Jotaro a single, quiet look of approval — a fractional improvement in his opinion of this particular descendant.
DIO, for his part, had absolutely nothing to say about any of this.
How the hell did this turn into a two-on-one?
But he was wrong about that, as it turned out.
Because it was about to become a full-on group beating.
"Hey! Stop standing there with your mouth open!"
Jotaro barked at Joseph over his shoulder without breaking his pursuit of DIO. Joseph snapped back to reality, blinked once, threw another glance at Jonathan — and then shook himself, channeled his Ripple energy, and charged in to help.
Though one nagging thought refused to leave him alone.
Why do I have the weirdest feeling I've seen this guy somewhere before...?
He turned it over, comparing the face in front of him against something half-remembered in the back of his mind. The answer hovered just out of reach.
...A portrait. One of the ancestor portraits back home. That's where I've seen that face.
But before Joseph could follow that thought any further, DIO — sent flying by the collision of The World against The World, the Ripple energy scattered across every impact — came skidding straight toward him, and every other concern evaporated on the spot.
DIO first. Everything else later.
With a broad grin splitting his face, Hermit Purple cracked out like a whip and lashed DIO full across the body — Ripple energy surging through the strike, driving pain all the way down to the bone.
"DIO! Let me show you what my big, beautiful whip can do!"
With audible enthusiasm, Joseph swung it again. Jonathan, standing nearby, fixed him with an expression of profound speechlessness, inhaled deeply, and turned back to trade another blow with The World.
He had already noticed: hairline cracks were beginning to form along The World's surface. Fracture lines spreading, slow but undeniable.
Keep this up long enough, and the Ripple will finish him. It's only a matter of time.
And there was nowhere left for DIO to run.
Not anymore. Even Time Stop couldn't save him — Jonathan was fully capable of holding him in place through all five seconds of it.
"Heh... heh heh heh..."
The corner of DIO's mouth twitched upward. Through the prolonged, relentless punishment, something in his expression had gone faintly unhinged — and then, as Star Platinum launched him airborne yet again, his face broke open into a wild, manic grin.
The moment he hit the ground, his voice carried something almost like excitement.
"Ha... you idiots! Your biggest mistake — was letting me end up here!"
He lifted his head, his battered body coming to rest at the edge of a storm drain at the manor's base. The World materialized behind him, its hand reaching for the drain cover — and DIO cried out with triumphant delight:
"This is my escape route!"
If he could get through here, everything still had a chance. Jotaro, Jonathan — no matter what it took, they would fall beneath him in the end.
The thoughts blazed through his mind in rapid succession. DIO's imagination was already racing ahead — and then, right in the middle of it, he felt something wrong.
The drain cover. Why can't The World move it?
What charitable soul built their sewers this well?!
Beside the drain, Anthony held [Soul Attachment] at full extension, watching his lifespan bleed away at three or four hundred hours per second — and he couldn't help but twitch the corner of his mouth.
God, that burn rate. Looks like I'm going to need to unlock [Soul Solidification] at some point to improve the quality output.
Still.
Anthony looked at the storm drain held fast by his [Soul Attachment], and let a quiet, satisfied smile spread across his face.
Trying to run?
Did you remember to ask my cheat whether it agrees?
Oh, you did? Great. My answer is: absolutely not.
Three seconds. That was all it took — his remaining lifespan burned to nothing. But behind DIO, three generations of the Joestar bloodline had already taken their positions.
DIO turned around in a single stiff, lurching motion.
Waiting for him were two Ripple-charged fists — and Star Platinum's light-speed barrage.
"ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA!"
"AAAAAAAH!!"
His body came apart starting from the legs. The World fractured alongside its vampire master, shattering in perfect unison — and amid screams that shook the walls, DIO's body detonated into fragments.
DIO Brando, confirmed dead.
____
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