Heaven Ascension DIO.
His identity: a version of Dio Brando from an alternate timeline — one in which he defeated the Stardust Crusaders in Egypt, and afterward successfully performed the ritual to reach heaven, evolving his Stand "The World" into "The World Over Heaven."
As the final boss of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Eyes of Heaven, Heaven Ascension DIO's Stand ability represented the absolute ceiling of power within the JoJo cosmology.
The ability itself was simple. Its name: "Reality Overwrite."
In plain terms: "wish fulfillment" — the power to impose whatever reality the Stand's master desired upon the world. An ability of that magnitude.
Not even the final-stage Bites the Dust, nor Gold Experience Requiem awakened by the Arrow, could impose so much as a scratch on The World Over Heaven. If not for Star Platinum's plot-driven counter against him at the level of fate, Shin genuinely could not work out how a DIO with The World Over Heaven was ever supposed to lose. No one knew what Araki was thinking — but that was JoJo, a world where destiny ruled over everything.
But Shin was not Jotaro. Even though he was stronger than prime dark-Jotaro by a considerable margin.
In a cosmology built on destiny, as someone who currently had raw power but lacked the right mechanism — a head-on encounter with Heaven Ascension DIO was not going to go well for him.
"Hmm?"
The time-stop didn't last long. About three seconds after Heaven Ascension DIO appeared, perhaps because the [Boundary Breach Talisman] had already begun to crack — the repulsive force from the outside world began to push back against the Stand whose power could lock the gears of time. Time around them began to slowly thaw.
The change was gradual, but based on his previous experience, Shin estimated they would break free in under thirty seconds.
Were thirty seconds really such a short amount of time, though?
"Interesting. My Stand, bolstered by 'Reality Overwrite,' should possess the power to stop the world in an infinite freeze — and yet it cannot completely affect you outsiders."
"No matter. Interesting outsider — you've taken something that isn't yours. That's why you've caught my attention."
"Present it to me, and I will grant you the honor of pledging your loyalty to DIO. That is a privilege others would beg for."
The thing that wasn't his — the Saint's Corpse?
Shin felt a cold drop in his stomach.
But things had already come too far. Setting the Corpse down at this point would do nothing.
Don't be fooled by DIO's offer of "loyalty" into thinking he was leaving a path to survival open. With his purely villainous nature, he had more than enough methods to make someone beg for death while staying very much alive.
Shin knew that The World Over Heaven's "Reality Overwrite" required physical contact with its fists to activate.
With his current abilities, if it had only been him facing Heaven Ascension DIO, there was still room to maneuver.
The problem was that Meruru was right here beside him.
"And if I say no?" Moving through the congealed time-space with difficulty, Shin tried to buy time with words. Perhaps it was because they existed in the gap between worlds — DIO's full time-stop had degraded to a time-slow.
Even degraded, the sensation — like being buried up to your neck in sand — made every motion a struggle.
"No?"
"Heh heh. How unfortunate. Even now, you're still gambling on luck, nameless boy —"
Heaven Ascension DIO had clearly seen through Shin's intent from the start. He gave him no time to stall. The Stand "The World" — its pure gold now shading toward gold-white — flickered in the very next instant —
As if it had calculated that a boy of Shin's nature could never leave someone defenseless — "The World Over Heaven" appeared directly in front of the nun girl, who was clutching her hands together tightly, eyes squeezed shut as if in prayer.
"— Killing you both and reviving you under my control amounts to the same thing. DIO has ways."
Everything happened too fast. There hadn't even been room for Shin to do anything.
— Damn it.
Shin's expression changed.
This was very DIO. Even with an ability far surpassing either of them, he still chose to target the weaker one first.
If The World had come directly for Shin, Shin could have dodged at this range even with the time-slow debuff weighing him down.
But to defend an almost completely immobilized Meruru — that was an entirely different level of difficulty.
"Don't — don't worry about me, big brother!"
"Don't say things like that —!"
Shin had no time to think. There was absolutely no version of this where he stood and watched The World Over Heaven's fist touch Meruru.
He forced his body through the sluggish time-space, planting himself in front of the nun girl in the next instant, every ability he had ready to meet that heaven-surpassing blow —
And then everything changed.
「— Get out.」
Just as Shin was preparing to stake everything he had against "Over Heaven" — a sharp female voice rang out from the void, its tone unmistakably familiar.
The moment it landed, an invisible repulsive force shattered the stopped-time domain hanging throughout the space between worlds, snapping time back into motion all at once.
"Who's there?"
An ominous premonition rose in Heaven Ascension DIO. He pulled his Stand back to his side almost instantaneously.
BOOM —!
A fireball vast as a falling meteor descended from above, swallowing DIO and his Stand whole in an instant.
"Reality Overwrite" moved at once — nullifying in the most precise possible way, point against surface — and barely, barely dissolved the fireball overhead into nothing.
Just as DIO had suspected — if his Stand had been even a breath slower on the recall, that fireball would have been enough to reduce his physical body to nothing.
But there was more than one such fireball.
Like the fire God rained down upon Sodom, dozens of blazing spheres condensed over Heaven Ascension DIO's head in the same breath and fell simultaneously — leaving him with no capacity to attend to anything else.
His body restored to full speed and sharpness, Shin wasted no time — he scooped Meruru into his arms, crushed the [Boundary Breach Talisman] entirely, and with the Saint's Corpse eyeball still gripped in his hand, threw himself backward in a burst of speed, putting maximum distance between himself and DIO.
"Filthy outsiders — how dare you —!"
Seeing the Saint's Corpse truly about to leave with Shin, Heaven Ascension DIO's voice carried a sudden urgency.
But before his fury-laced words could fully form — the transition from void to reality completed its shift, and the changes in time-space at last drew their curtain closed —
Thud.
"Whoa —!"
Shin — still holding Meruru — tumbled out of thin air and rolled across the floor of his bedroom.
Fortunately there was carpet underneath them. Shin wasn't worried about himself — he was mostly concerned that Meruru might knock her head and end up crying about the pain.
"Shaya, are you and Meruru alright?"
"We're fine, mother... was that you just now?"
The petite snow-haired figure descended from the air, the photons left behind by the [Boundary Breach Talisman] not yet fully faded in her hand.
This was the first time Shin had ever seen the Great Witch act directly. The scale of what she was capable of — power on a level that could substitute for divine will and call down heavenly fire — was genuinely staggering.
And come to think of it... had the Great Witch just left Witch Island?
With an ultimate being's constitution boosting his senses, Shin's hearing could now cover several hundred meters from the manor in every direction.
And whether it was just his imagination or not — now that he was back on Witch Island, something felt strangely quiet around the manor.
The manor sat at the center of Witch Island and had always been one of the main gathering spots for the witches who lived there.
But today — it was as if everyone had simply vanished. Beyond himself, Meruru, the Great Witch, and the owl familiar, Shin couldn't detect the sounds of any other living being.
"Of course it was me — who else did you think it could be?" The Great Witch suddenly grabbed Shin by the shoulders, cutting off his train of thought. Her hands — wrapped in dark silk — moved over him urgently, running a thorough check up and down.
"Sigh, I knew I shouldn't have said those unlucky words in the chat... it's all my fault... Shaya, you're not hurt anywhere, are you? Set Meruru down first — let mom take a look at you!"
That precise, flawless face carried a flash of guilt and self-reproach — then shifted in the very next moment to intense, pressing concern. The Great Witch leaned forward, clearly about to conduct a far more thorough examination of the young man.
Shin: ...
Shin glanced down at Meruru, still cradled in his arms, slightly dizzy from the tumbling exit and not quite back to herself yet.
Not that he wanted to say anything — but this level of favoritism. Was it really appropriate?
To be continued…
The Great Witch is Yuki Tsukishiro btw!