---o---
Light Curtain
After Joseph was rescued by Jotaro Kujo, the camera turned to another location.
DIO: "The Ultimate Lifeform? In this world, besides me, DIO, there exists an even more powerful being?"
What on earth had happened? What had transpired during the day? What had he, DIO, missed?
At this moment, DIO was completely baffled. The Ultimate Lifeform... he had only taken a short nap during the day, how could things have turned out like this?
DIO himself had lived for so long and still wouldn't dare call himself the Ultimate Lifeform. Yet some creature that had popped out of nowhere now had the audacity to claim the title.
However, after learning of Kars's abilities, DIO was, without a doubt, utterly shocked. After all, according to the intelligence Fujiwara had provided, the being named Kars had reached a level of existence comparable to a god.
Immortality, possessing all Stand abilities—with that kind of power, even DIO, who prided himself on being a higher lifeform, would be no match. In front of Kars, DIO was, at best, a small piece of bread.
Kyogai: "Lord DIO, JOJO and the others have completely exiled Kars into space. What should we do next?"
Kneeling on one knee, Kyogai showed no other emotion, even after learning of Kars's terrifying power—no fear, no awe, nor any other surprise. He had already dedicated his entire being to the DIO before him and would naturally not develop strong feelings for any other creature.
Descending from his cold throne, DIO wore an indescribable expression.
He walked quietly to the window and fell into deep thought. According to the intel, the so-called Ultimate Lifeform had essentially come into being through evolution. So, could he, DIO, also take another step forward, just as he had when he became a vampire?
Although Kars had stopped thinking, he had served as a warning to DIO: the members of the Joestar family were not to be underestimated under any circumstances.
They could even exile a being like Kars, who had become the Ultimate Lifeform. Didn't that mean he himself was now in grave danger?
At this thought, DIO felt a twinge of fear. Jonathan's image still lingered in his mind to this day, and the power and spirit displayed by Jonathan's descendants were in no way inferior to Jonathan himself.
Although in DIO's eyes, Jonathan was the one and only JOJO, the fact that Joseph and Jotaro had managed to banish an almost invincible entity like Kars demonstrated a level of strength and resolve that was astonishing from any perspective.
"Ignore those two for now. Although they defeated Kars, Joseph is also severely injured. They won't be coming here for the time being."
His tone was as cold as ever, but there was a hint of irritation in DIO's voice. The Joestar family was a persistent shadow, following him no matter where he went.
But it couldn't be helped. This was his destiny, a destiny that he, DIO, had to sever. Only by severing this fate could he, DIO, achieve true peace of mind.
"And what of Kibutsuji Muzan?" DIO's cold voice rang out, instantly capturing the attention of the audience outside the light curtain. Kibutsuji Muzan... he had been nowhere to be seen in the Infinity Castle, leading the audience to believe he had escaped.
Now, hearing his name from DIO's lips, the audience was filled with curiosity. After all, Muzan had come to Asakusa with the declared intention of eliminating DIO. Could it be that DIO knew where Muzan was now?
In reality, DIO not only knew Muzan's whereabouts, but he had also dealt with him long ago.
Although Muzan styled himself the Demon King, the audience outside the light curtain knew full well that no matter what methods he used, Muzan could never be DIO's opponent.
Leaving aside other factors, Stands alone made it an impossible fight for Muzan.
The initial shock of a time stop was simply too powerful; there was almost nothing that could withstand it. DIO's starting point was far stronger than Kars's.
Kyogai: "Lord DIO, Kibutsuji Muzan is currently serving as a guinea pig in the laboratory. Those men are performing a structural analysis of his flesh and blood. I believe we will have results soon."
These calm words were, in essence, a death sentence for Muzan. Everyone knew what Japanese scientists were like; their fanaticism far exceeded the imagination of ordinary people.
A creature like a demon was already a rarity, something they could normally only dream of studying. Now, not only could they study a demon, but they could directly research the legendary Demon King, Kibutsuji Muzan.
This prospect had thoroughly excited the scientists. The study of longevity was a subject humanity had pursued since ancient times. Now, a thousand-year-old Demon King was right before them. It would be strange if they weren't thrilled.
However, DIO's intention was not for them to study the life force and immortality of demons, but for them to find a method of evolution from Muzan's body.
In truth, Kars was a far more valuable research subject than Muzan. It was just a pity that Kars had already been exiled to space and had stopped thinking. And even if Kars were here, DIO lacked the ability to send him to a laboratory.
"This progress is still too slow. Although I don't know when Joseph's injuries will heal, my time is clearly limited."
"I must successfully complete my evolution before they launch their final assault. Otherwise, my fate will be no better than Kars's."
Thinking this, DIO silently made up his mind. He had to find a way to transcend fate and surpass Heaven.
To be precise, he had been pursuing evolution for a very long time and, in his original world, had already made preparations to ascend to Heaven. But now that he was in this world, everything had to start over from the beginning.
---o---
Light Curtain Barrage
The news that Kibutsuji Muzan was being fanatically dismembered by Japanese scientists brought a sense of catharsis to many viewers outside the light curtain.
As the saying goes, it takes a villain to beat a villain. Muzan's evil deeds hardly needed explaining by the light curtain; the sheer hatred the entire Demon Slayer Corps held for him, along with the story of Upper Rank Three, was proof enough.
However, although Muzan was receiving his just desserts, what about DIO? It had been a while since DIO appeared, but the audience had not forgotten him.
As a natural-born villain, DIO undoubtedly deserved to go to hell. But... what exactly did he mean by "surpassing Heaven"?
The Dignified Mistress of the Scarlet Devil Mansion: "A natural-born villain, a purely evil vampire, wants to ascend to Heaven, to surpass Heaven? Just what is this fellow named DIO thinking?"
In Gensokyo's Scarlet Devil Mansion, Remilia Scarlet was perplexed. A villain as pure as DIO seemed completely disconnected from the concept of Heaven.
Detective Conan: "'Surpassing Heaven,' in essence, should be similar to Kars's 'Ultimate Lifeform.' It's a form of evolution. However, Kars's was a biological evolution, while DIO's is an evolution of his Stand, which represents his spirit."
At a crime scene, having just solved a case, Conan pondered deeply. The "Heaven" DIO spoke of, or rather the "Heaven" in DIO's world, was clearly very different from their understanding of the term.
Utaha Kasumigaoka: "More than that, I'm concerned about Joseph's injuries. If he can exile the Ultimate Lifeform, dealing with DIO shouldn't be a problem, right?"
Yukino Yukinoshita: "Based on their current power levels, DIO is no match for Jotaro and Joseph. The only thing to worry about is the time stop."
In the Service Club, Yukino Yukinoshita commented while brewing black tea. The ability to stop time was, in a sense, too much of a cheat. If Joseph and Jotaro couldn't perceive that time had been stopped, they would likely be taken out on the first encounter.
Kurumi Tokisaki: "The power of time... in some ways, it's the most unsolvable power. What's more, what DIO possesses is a power over time that even I envy slightly—the ability to bring the entire world to a standstill."
---o---
Light Curtain
As the scene unfolded, DIO gradually sank into a memory from a time before he became a vampire.
Dio Brando—though he had abandoned the surname Brando after becoming a vampire, it was indeed the name left to him by that disgusting, nauseating father of his.
"Dio, no matter what happens, you must live with pride. If you do, you will surely be able to go to heaven one day."
A female voice echoed in DIO's mind, instantly grabbing the audience's attention. They began to speculate on who the speaker was.
DIO, as if in a trance, muttered the words to himself. This... was what his mother had admonished him.
As a boy, DIO did not like his mother. Although she was a proud, beautiful, and kind person, living in a slum where they often went hungry, she would still give the meager money she earned from her work to the hungry children nearby.
But this kind of "gentle" behavior was, in DIO's eyes, a form of stupidity. He felt an unbearable disgust for it. At the bottom of society, such actions received no praise; they were merely a joke.
"Dio, you mustn't. If you live by violence, you won't be able to go to heaven later." This is what his mother had said to him after he was mocked and chose to resolve the problem with violence.
This only made the young DIO resent her more. In his view, performing such charitable acts simply to satisfy her own desire to go to heaven was far less practical than her first ensuring her own son was fed.
However, he had to admit, from his current perspective, his mother had been right. If he had truly lived as she had said, perhaps he really could have reached the so-called Heaven.
This thought had grown stronger after he awakened his Stand, The World. But it was far too late for all that now. He had become an irredeemable villain, and a villain like him theoretically could no longer ascend to Heaven.
For this reason... DIO began to research. He researched a way for a villain like himself to ascend to Heaven. With Enya's help, DIO traveled to many countries, pondering what kind of person could go to Heaven.
His pitifully kind mother, or perhaps Jonathan Joestar. On that ship a hundred years ago, in his final moments with Jonathan, DIO had clearly felt the strange friendship between them.
By taking Jonathan's body, he had, in a very real sense, become a part of the Joestar family. His fate, from that moment on, was tightly bound to the name "Joestar."
Could a Joestar ascend to Heaven? Or was it only the good who could?
In search of this answer, DIO tried countless methods and traveled to countless places, until he met Father Pucci.
Pucci believed that the difference between people lay in their "desire to go to heaven," a philosophy that resonated with DIO's own. There was an attraction between people, and Pucci would surely be the one to lead him to Heaven.
Later, after gathering his Stand user subordinates, the Egypt 9 Glory Gods, DIO came into contact with Boingo. He made DIO understand a principle: knowing the future allows one to prepare their resolve, and with resolve, one can achieve happiness. But simply knowing the near future was not enough; the resolve one could form was limited.
"Humans... even those who have given up on their humanity or transcended it, are no exception. Everyone lives to overcome anxiety and fear, to make themselves happy."
Having figured this out, DIO's mind became much clearer. He knew himself well; he knew he was evil, pure evil.
In his previous world, ascending to Heaven required six conditions: the Stand "The World," a trusted friend, thirty-six souls of great sinners, fourteen secret words, the courage to discard one's Stand, and to be at latitude 28° 24' N, longitude 80° 36' W, and wait for the next new moon.
However, having arrived in another world, these conditions were naturally no longer applicable. He needed new conditions to replace the ones above.
And a clue to those new conditions had already emerged. That's right... for Kars to become the Ultimate Lifeform, he only needed to satisfy two conditions: the Stone Mask and the Red Stone.
The most crucial element was the Red Stone. The Red Stone was nature's most powerful treasure. The power it contained was surely not limited to evolving a Pillar Man into the Ultimate Lifeform; it also held the power to allow a Stand to reach the land of Heaven.
---o---
Author's Note:
PS: Thinking about it carefully, the other conditions can be modified slightly, but the key condition of a "trusted friend" is the most impossible to achieve. After all, not just anyone can become DIO's trusted friend. Therefore, I plan to substitute it directly with the Red Stone.