The main plot was finally, *finally* moving forward. Beating up a centenarian was absolutely imperative, and everyone was fully prepared. They say the last leg of a journey is always the hardest, but right now, they were already ninety-five percent of the way there. It was all about to end.
Cairo, the largest city in Africa and the Arab world, as well as the capital of Egypt. Following their intel, the Stardust Crusaders arrived in front of the mansion where Dio was hiding.
Dio's ability was to stop time, while the ability of the other possible Dio counterpart, Diego Brando, remained unknown. There were many variant settings for Diego, and Zenith wasn't sure if his Stand ability was the time-stopping The World or the dinosaur-transforming Scary Monsters.
Inside this mansion, aside from the two Dios, there was also Dio's loyal hound, Vanilla Ice—the evil vampire who had killed Muhammad Avdol and Iggy in the original story.
And his Stand was the infamous space-erasing Cream!
As for the rest of his subordinates—the Stand user who could create illusions, and that vampire known as a "moron"—there was really no need to mention them. They were just small fry.
Given that the enemies they were facing this time possessed incredibly formidable combat and destructive capabilities, everyone unanimously decided to leave Holly Joestar out of it. Thus, the group standing in front of the mansion was the original, fully assembled Stardust Crusaders.
Star Platinum: Jotaro Kujo.
Hermit Purple: Joseph Joestar.
Magician's Red: Muhammad Avdol.
Hierophant Green: Noriaki Kakyoin.
Silver Chariot: Jean Pierre Polnareff.
The Fool: Iggy.
And, The World — The Hand: Zenith!
Glory would forever belong to the Stardust Crusaders. This time, no one would die. No noble souls would make a tragic exit. A beautiful, happy ending would absolutely be achieved—Zenith himself guaranteed it!
The mansion was like a massive labyrinth. A grayish-white fog permeated the air, making it impossible to distinguish the path ahead.
"My name is Vanilla Ice, and I shall be your undertaker. You ants who vainly attempt to oppose Lord Dio, you will struggle in despair and die one after another."
No one was visible, yet the voice echoed out. It seemed that illusion-creating punk had hidden them away. This was easy to handle: the Iggy-brand biological detector was activated. A dog's sense of smell is 1,200 times that of a human. Stand abilities might deceive the eyes and senses, but the Stand user themselves could never hide their scent.
The Fool delivered a one-hit kill. The true appearance of the mansion was revealed, and the enemy's figure was finally exposed to the group.
The hideous and terrifying Cream stood before them, its mouth connected to a dark void. When that mouth devoured itself, turning inside out, it would form a massive, instant-death spatial cutting machine that obliterated anything it touched.
Under the cover of the illusion, he had already closed in on the group. His first target was the one he deemed the easiest to deal with: Joseph Joestar.
The old and frail Joseph surely wouldn't be able to dodge this lethal strike. But Vanilla Ice was dead wrong. The current Stardust Crusaders were a super-enhanced version. Leaping straight up from where he stood, the powerful Ripple energy boosted Joseph's jumping power to an astonishing nine meters. While it couldn't compare to the Ultimate Lifeform Kars, it was absolutely beyond the reach of any ordinary human.
"Overdrive!!"
The golden Ripple energy struck Cream and vanished without a trace. "The Ripple counters his real body, but for it to take effect, we have to force him out of his Stand first."
No one else had a good way to deal with a spatial-ability Stand like this, but Zenith's The Hand was the perfect professional counter.
The ability of The Hand's right arm was erasure. Not just physical matter, water, or fire—even space itself would be wiped away by The Hand's power. And in terms of ability priority, this space-erasing power was clearly superior to Cream.
"It's a bizarre feeling. Even a fortune-teller would marvel at the wonders of fate in this situation," Muhammad Avdol remarked. "So this is the man who killed me in another timeline. Looking at him, I can't help but feel a strange sense of destiny."
As Muhammad Avdol said this, Iggy—who had also died at Vanilla Ice's hands—rolled his eyes and fished a piece of coffee-flavored chewing gum out of the backpack Zenith had prepared for him.
The coffee-gum-loving dog's expression clearly said: *Who does this nobody think he is? Let's just finish them off and go home. I've got a whole harem of beautiful bitches waiting for my affection.*
"The World — The Hand!"
Summoning his Stand after a long hiatus, a blue trail of light seemed to follow wherever its right hand swiped. The moment the erasure ability triggered, ripples surged across the spatial sphere formed by Cream.
When space was erased by The Hand, the surrounding space would stitch itself together to fill the gap. On a macroscopic scale, that tiny erased point might not mean much, but for Cream, whose volume wasn't that large to begin with, this was a devastating blow.
The continuity of space was interrupted. The self-devouring Cream instantly contorted, and with a loud *blegh*, Vanilla Ice was spat right out.
Moving with absolute lightning speed, Zenith force-fed him a Rokakaka fruit to prevent the guy from launching a sudden counterattack and ruining everything at the last second.
"He doesn't look so tough."
Jean Pierre Polnareff's Silver Chariot poked him with the tip of its rapier. Surprisingly, the pierced bloody hole healed at an incredibly rapid pace.
"Step right up and take a look, folks, this right here is a vampire! Everyone, take a few swings to get a feel for it, so you'll know exactly how much force to use when we fight Dio later."
Joseph smacked his forehead. Back when he fought vampires for the first time, he had to rely on his wits and the Tommy Gun Overdrive. But now, a vampire without a Stand was basically just a chew toy. Times really had changed.
Polpol's high-speed rapier thrusts, Muhammad Avdol's Crossfire Hurricane, Kakyoin's Emerald Splash, and Jotaro's Ora Ora barrage. Finally, Joseph couldn't watch anymore.
"Let me finish him off. We need to focus our energy on Dio. One time-stopping ability is already an unsolvable nightmare; if there are two, we might not actually win this so easily."
Under the solar energy of the Ripple, Vanilla Ice—who had survived a relentless barrage of Stand attacks—melted away rapidly like foam hitting water, vanishing completely.
"Avdol, set the building on fire and smoke Dio out! It's still daytime outside. Without the building to shield him, he's a dead man walking—he won't last long."
*Tap, tap, tap.*
The sound of leather shoes stepping on the floor echoed out. Two figures appeared at the top of the stairs. One wore a golden jacket; his profound, beautiful, and flawless exterior couldn't conceal his tyrannical heart. This was a cruel emperor with boundless ambition, a man who had surpassed his physical limits and was now pursuing spiritual transcendence—a guy striving to reach Heaven.
The other wore a light blue jacket and a matching blue cap adorned with golden letters spelling out "DIO".
"It seems you are all in quite a hurry. You fear me, you are terrified of me, Dio, which is why you traveled thousands of miles to stand before me. And naturally, I shall respond to that fear, granting your wish by sending you down into the bottomless abyss."
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