The familiar white light flared up once more, and another figure slowly appeared before An Xora.
Silver, shoulder-length short hair. A blue-and-white maid outfit that gave off an unmistakably sharp and capable impression at first glance. A pair of clear blue eyes opened gently as they looked toward An Xora, a composed and proper smile appearing on her lips.
"Nice to meet you. Izayoi Sakuya. It is my honor to serve you, Master."
Sakuya bowed slightly as she spoke.
Seeing this, An Xora nodded.
With that, both avatars had been successfully manifested. Not counting the Azure Orb, the total cost had come close to thirty thousand points.
Aside from the twenty thousand points spent on Time Manipulation and the five-thousand-plus points for Zafkiel, the remaining expense was mainly concentrated on manifesting Tokisaki Kurumi.
After all, unlike ordinary humans, Kurumi's race was that of a Spirit. Not only did she possess spiritual power as a special energy source, her physical attributes were also far beyond those of normal humans.
Because of that, manifesting Kurumi required an additional two thousand-plus points. All things considered, it was still within acceptable limits.
Half an hour later, in a high-end restaurant in downtown Naples.
An Xora and Tokisaki Kurumi sat at the table, while Izayoi Sakuya stood quietly behind An Xora. The scene looked exactly like a wealthy young master and lady dining out with their personal maid.
Even though most of the patrons entering this upscale restaurant were high-income elites, the trio's presence was still strikingly distinctive.
"So, how are you planning to get everything?"
After casually ordering a few authentic Italian specialties, An Xora turned to Kurumi and asked.
Setting everything else aside, the main objective of coming to the JOJO world this time was the Stand Arrow—at the very least, one absolutely had to be obtained. Beyond that was the Beetle Arrow, which could evolve a Stand. As for Stone Masks and the like, those were merely bonuses. After all, no matter how extraordinary Ultimate Lifeform Kars was, he still couldn't compare to the sheer weirdness of Stands.
"Just getting an ordinary Stand Arrow isn't difficult at all. With my abilities, that would be very easy," Kurumi replied, lightly frowning as she sat opposite An Xora, dressed in a simple black outfit rather than her Spirit garb.
"But the Beetle Arrow is another matter."
Even knowing the original storyline, with Kurumi's strength—plus An Xora's and Sakuya's—it seemed they could easily secure the Beetle Arrow.
However, one had to remember that the JOJO world had something called fate.
DIO's threefold good fortune. Enrico Pucci defeating the Joestar bloodline. Fate in the JOJO world was notoriously absurd.
By the same logic, although it was never explicitly stated in the original story, Giorno Giovanna ultimately obtaining the Beetle Arrow and evolving his Stand into Gold Experience Requiem to defeat Diavolo likely involved fate as well.
Under the uncertainty of whether JOJO's "fate" could affect them, simply acquiring a normal Stand Arrow was fine—but whether the Beetle Arrow could be obtained smoothly was something Kurumi couldn't guarantee.
"Interesting," An Xora said, instead feeling his curiosity sparked.
The characters in JOJO's original story could basically all be described as slaves to fate. Even Pucci, who created a new world, ultimately fell to fate—just as he had once used fate to defeat Jotaro and Jolyne.
So the question was: could the fate of the JOJO world affect someone like him, who carried a system, and the avatars manifested through that system?
An Xora felt that the answer was most likely no.
"So just do things the normal way. Don't worry too much about it. Whether we can get the Beetle Arrow or not, we'll only know after trying."
In fact, An Xora already had a way to immediately test fate.
He could fly straight to the Roman Colosseum, where Polnareff appeared in Part Five. Although the original story never specified Polnareff's exact hiding place before arriving there, given his crippled, wheelchair-bound state in Part Five, he couldn't possibly have gone far.
With his hundreds-of-kilometers-wide sensory range, An Xora could simply fly around a bit and most likely locate Polnareff, then directly snatch the Beetle Arrow.
If he succeeded, it would prove that JOJO's fate had no effect on them. If, on the other hand, he couldn't even take the Beetle Arrow from a crippled Polnareff with his current power, then fate was clearly at work.
But doing it that way would be far less fun.
So An Xora decided to let his avatars stir things up first.
"Ara~ in that case, please wait patiently, Master. The Stand Arrow will be in our hands very soon. As for the Beetle Arrow, I already have a few ideas," Kurumi said with a light laugh.
"Though when the time comes, I might need Miss Sakuya's help."
To Kurumi, it sounded as though she were talking about picking up trinkets from a street stall—not artifacts that determined the life-and-death struggles between Diavolo and the Part Five protagonist group.
And honestly, that wasn't too far from the truth. Ignoring fate, with Kurumi's abilities and her knowledge of the original plot, speedrunning Part Five of JOJO wouldn't be difficult at all.
Not to mention that she could also rope in Izayoi Sakuya as backup. From a third-party perspective, An Xora genuinely couldn't see how Diavolo had any chance of winning.
The next day.
Italy's largest mafia organization—Passione, the force under Diavolo, the Part Five boss of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure—at its newcomer recruitment site.
Polpo, a high-ranking member of Passione, handed a lit lighter to a man attempting to join the organization.
"Your test is very simple. Just don't let the flame go out for the next twenty-four hours."
"T-that's it? There aren't any other requirements?"
The would-be recruit was clearly taken aback by how strange the test sounded.
"That's all. For the next twenty-four hours, go wherever you like. As long as you come back here tomorrow at this time with the flame still lit, you'll pass."
The recruit left with a puzzled expression, lighter in hand, while Polpo casually picked up some fruit from a nearby platter and began eating.
The test for joining Passione really was that simple: keep the flame burning for twenty-four hours. The lighter itself was specially made—without external interference, it could burn continuously for a full day.
Of course, if the flame went out accidentally, nothing terrible would happen. At worst, the applicant would fail the test—so long as they didn't try to secretly relight it.
But if the flame went out and the applicant dared to relight it on their own, Polpo's Stand, Black Sabbath, would immediately activate, piercing them with the Arrow.
At that point, they would simply become another corpse. Polpo was long used to such outcomes.
What Polpo didn't notice, however, was that after the recruit left, a gaze from the shadows had quietly settled upon him.
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