In the day spent waiting for Kars to take the bait, Shin hadn't been idle.
He started the morning by spending a few hours studying the ripple breathing technique. Because of his blended bloodlines, Shin could naturally learn this supernatural ability — categorized by the system as "martial art" — without worrying about any adverse side effects.
With the boost from the system's [All Martial Mastery] skill, it took him only fifteen minutes to train his ripple to the point where he could clear the "Hell Climb Pillar" — the oil-slicked pillar that JoJo and Caesar had trained on in the original story — without pause, even while limiting his physical condition to match the baseline of JoJo and the others.
By the end of that single morning, his ripple had reached a level that even Lisa Lisa couldn't fully comprehend.
Perhaps not quite at the level of post-evolution Kars, who could casually channel enough heat through his ripple to melt flesh — but well beyond any human ripple user alive.
Of course, beyond mastering the ripple, Shin had also made use of the time to go through every record of the various "martial arts" documented in JoJo's world.
Most of them were mundane earthly fighting styles, but still far more practical than the library back on Witch Island, which was mostly romance novels and fairy tales.
Then again, the Witch Island library was a place for entertainment, not study.
Looking at the Grand Witch herself — spending every day sprawled out on the sofa, not even bothering to change out of her form-fitting white thermal bodysuit — it was clear her fellow witches weren't exactly any different.
— The one thing Shin couldn't find was the technique known as the "Golden Spin." That was probably something unique to the later parts of JoJo's world.
If he could learn the Golden Spin and combine it with the level of ripple he had now, he figured he could put an iron ball through Kars's skull from eight hundred meters away.
Instead of having to resort to this elaborate plan to lure the enemy in —
"Hehe, big brother, you came out from inside me~... Big brother, was it comfortable inside Meruru~?"
Meruru hugged her flushed face and gazed dreamily at the young man emerging from inside her body after subduing the enemy.
Shin: "..."
He wasn't sure if that was meant as a double meaning, but... well, it was pretty cramped right now, but last night had been fine.
With the memory of last night's first taste of the forbidden fruit still fresh, Shin — holding Kars down single-handedly — found himself with a mind that kept wandering.
He was a hot-blooded teenage boy, after all. Once he had thought it through clearly — the two of them had no blood relation, and what had been framed as a sibling bond was in truth more like a childhood sweetheart arrangement — Shin had accepted Meruru's long-held feelings for what they were.
He had to say, Meruru's figure really was something. Somehow it seemed even more developed than her appearance in the original Witch Trials story.
Had the Grand Witch been putting something in her food?
No, no — focus. There was a fight to finish.
"Ngh...!"
Pure, crushing force was bringing Kars's supporting knees close to buckling.
In contrast to Shin's relaxed composure, the mind of Kars — being held down by this young man who was clearly of his own kind — was anything but calm. Waves of shock crashed through him.
Could he be...?!
A person's features change with age, but there is always a thread connecting the face of a child to the face of an adult.
Kars had only needed one look at Shin to be reminded of the third infant of the Clan of Darkness — the one he had accidentally killed.
— That child hadn't needed to die.
Kars had calculated the angle at the time. His blade would have run through the mother who was cradling the infant. The infant would not have been touched.
But no one could have predicted it — in the very last moment, the infant had rolled and shifted in his mother's arms, as if by pure instinct, and placed himself directly in the path of Kars's blade as it pierced her throat —
"Lord Kars!"
Seeing the sudden development on Kars's end, Wamuu immediately summoned his Stand, and before Shin could channel ripple energy at point-blank range into Kars, unleashed his Wind Mode.
Several wind blades sliced toward Shin — targeting his eyes, the joints of his hands, other critical points — with the sole purpose of forcing Shin's attention to split so that the subdued Kars could break free.
"It won't work."
Shin raised a hand and deflected the wind blades. Under [Resistant Hide], not even his skin broke. He shook his head.
He bore Wamuu no real ill will. But if the man insisted on throwing himself away for Kars's sake, Shin wasn't going to hold back.
"Kars." Shin met those eyes — widened with creeping shock.
One look was all he needed to confirm this was not some parallel world, and that he had not found the wrong person.
"— Do you remember who I am, Kars?"
The question left his throat — with no pause for a reply, and no hesitation in what followed: a single, direct punch.
A fist wreathed in ripple energy, delivered in the style of the traditional martial art form "Eight Extremities Collapse" — straight into Kars's chest.
Ripple carrying the energy of the sun flooded into Kars's body. In almost the same instant, Kars felt every organ begin to burn at once.
— But this was nowhere near the end.
Ice Mode — Frost Touch.
The same technique Shin had used to subdue and fell Esidisi earlier.
Shin's patience before this moment hadn't been malicious stalling — he had been watching. Watching the fight between Kars and JoJo's group.
He needed to identify precisely how the Stand-awakened Kars differed from his original-story counterpart. And once Shin noticed that something extraordinary was happening with that eye — he had no intention of giving Kars a single opening to gather his power.
He was going for a one-hit finish.
Liquid frost seeped into Kars's body through the gaps scorched open by the ripple energy, and the ripple found a far more powerful conductor within.
Frost crystals loaded with ripple energy detonated from inside Kars. The agony — almost unendurable — tore a rare, undignified scream from him.
"AAAARGH —!"
"Lord Kars —?!"
Shin's arm — four times a Pillar Man's already tremendous strength — held like an iron vice. Kars's body, unable to break free from the start, began to disintegrate. There was nothing Wamuu could do now to change the outcome.
This may not have been a glorious fight. Shin had essentially leveraged the information advantage to blindside Kars. A sucker punch by any other name.
"You coward — you dared ambush Lord Kars?!"
But it was a deeply satisfying act of vengeance. At least, it was for Shin.
"Thud."
"Gugh —?!"
With a single kick — a muffled impact — Shin sent Wamuu, who had charged forward trying to save the crumbling Kars, flying.
"Give up, Wamuu. If you do, you may still have a chance to live."
Shin had the distinct feeling that in this moment, he was the villain — while Kars and Wamuu had somehow become the tragic hero duo facing him as the final boss.
Well, that was fine. As long as his family and friends were protected, he could live with being cast as the villain.
To be continued…