"Pfft... Lord Dio, it's alright now..."
Inside an underground hollow, Vanilla Ice had just intended to speak when he spat out a mouthful of blood. His body still bore many charred marks, the consequence of him directly using his mouth to block Magician's Red's flames.
To prevent accidentally harming Dio, he had not completely concealed his body to indiscriminately devour everything around him, the cost of which was that part of his body was also burned.
However, it no longer mattered, as his injuries were already fatal. What sustained him until now was his unwavering loyalty to Dio, but at this moment, he also felt that he could no longer hold on, for he was still merely a human.
Belief, while it can transform into power, also has its limits.
"Lord Dio, I can only accompany you this far."
Vanilla Ice looked at Dio's unrecovered injuries. He knew this was because Dio's flesh was not his own. He had been collecting blood for Dio, but even so, it had not allowed him to fully recover.
But, at least...
A pit was dug in the ground in front of Dio.
"Hmm? Vanilla Ice?"
Dio frowned slightly, looking at Vanilla Ice's actions. Could it be that he saw my injuries couldn't recover and wanted to betray me!?
Foolish Vanilla Ice, at such a close distance, even with your The Cream, even if I am severely injured, you are not my match.
Dio calculated in his mind, but then saw Vanilla Ice make an unexpected move.
"Let me, Vanilla Ice, offer my last strength to Lord Dio in the final moments of my life!"
Pfft!
The Cream's hand blade chopped down, and Vanilla Ice's body fell straight in front of the pit. A large amount of fresh blood gushed from his severed neck, pouring into the pit.
Dio then realized what Vanilla Ice's purpose was in doing this.
"To cut off your own head, I am very pleased, Vanilla Ice... I never expected you to be such a loyal subordinate."
Dio looked at the fresh blood in the hole and plunged his hand into it: "Your life will not be in vain, Vanilla Ice. Once I defeat the Joestar group, I will use my blood to resurrect you. Then, offer your loyalty to me again."
Dio knew that his injuries would not heal without absorbing blood, and with the Joestar group still in pursuit, he unhesitatingly absorbed Vanilla Ice's blood, completely healing his injuries.
"I didn't expect that Jotaro would also gain the power of Time Stop. It seems I can only defeat them one by one."
After recovering from his injuries, Dio looked at the ground: "Before that, I'll hide Vanilla Ice's corpse and then temporarily avoid their sharp edge."
The World appeared beside Dio. As Dio's injuries recovered, The World also fully recovered.
He punched the ground next to the pit where the blood had been, attempting to dig a larger pit to hide Vanilla Ice's corpse, but unexpectedly found that the ground had already been dug out beforehand.
It wasn't a smooth cut like Vanilla Ice's, but a small empty space dug out by something, and in the very center of the space, there was a line of text.
The moment Dio saw this line of text, his eyes widened.
"Nani!!!"
The World instantly disappeared, and Dio's body also lost its strength and collapsed to the ground: "Impossible! How could this be!"
Dio's body unfolded like the pages of a book, one by one. At the same time, the ground not far away suddenly broke open, and a pangolin and two cats crawled out.
With a flash of light, the three animals transformed into three people: Takatsuki, Kiana, and Raiden Mei.
"When you see this line of text, you have already been defeated."
Takatsuki spoke the words carved on the ground, though the sentence on the ground was followed by a cat doodle.
When Vanilla Ice committed suicide, Takatsuki had already dug to the side of the blood pit. He switched to the Rohan Kishibe character card and laid this trap, then hid nearby with Kiana and Mei, waiting for Dio to fall into it.
He naturally had more than just this one plan, but this was the safest method, capable of defeating Dio without shedding blood.
Dio looked at the three people in horror, but the person who had turned into book pages could not resist or mobilize any power.
"Although I wanted to see your past, I thought about it, and some things are better left unknown."
Takatsuki was very curious about where Dio got so many fortuitous encounters, how he knew about ascending to Heaven, and that Dio seemed to be playing a very large game, even making arrangements after his death, as well as the whereabouts of the arrows. In the original work, the arrows were found elsewhere, clearly one of Dio's backup plans.
Dio seemed to have insight into fate, and he was also trying to fight against fate.
Takatsuki was very curious about all of this. He had noticed traces of fate along the way, but when fighting Dio, the people who should have died did not die, which made him at one point feel that what he had perceived was wrong, or that he had triumphed over fate?
He couldn't be sure, after all, fate is fate precisely because it is elusive. He didn't know if the deaths of Avdol and Kakyoin were also an inevitable part, as the original plot couldn't be taken as fate.
But Dio was a terrifying person. He couldn't describe it; he even felt a little afraid to look at Dio's pages.
If he were to face Dio alone without knowing his true nature, he might be completely at his mercy.
"Then, please exit the stage once more."
The light of Hamon bloomed in the narrow underground cave.
After a hundred years, Dio saw it again, that familiar light, that familiar, mountain-yellow, Hamon overdrive.
"Is it over?"
Raiden Mei was still a little disbelieving. After all, most of the enemies along the way had been killed with ease, and this culprit, Dio, who was feared by countless people, was also killed so simply.
"It's over. A Stand user's battle is a battle of information. The enemy is in the open, and we are in the dark, so this is normal."
Takatsuki looked at the ground, which had nothing left. Vampires were such creatures; they left nothing behind when killed by Hamon or sunlight.
"Alright, let's go back. This journey is also over. We have seven days left before we return. Do you have anywhere you want to go?"
Takatsuki received a game prompt right after killing Dio, asking whether to return immediately or stay for a while longer before returning. Takatsuki unhesitatingly chose the longest stay time.
His level also reached five due to a thousand experience points. At that time, the game's leveling experience setting was very simple: one hundred for level one, two hundred for level two, three hundred for level three, and so on.
A thousand experience points just brought him to level five, and the cost for equipable character cards also reached nine points, meaning he could equip S-rank character cards. He was only one step away from SS-rank.
"I'm fine with anything, but can I borrow that thing that turns people into animals to play with when we get back?"
What Kiana cared about was clearly a bit off, but that was Kiana.
Mei, on the other hand, was a little worried about returning: "I'm fine with anything, but are we really going back already? Time seems to have passed so quickly."