Too Frail to Be Human

"Dawn, the one who ambushed us may still be hiding somewhere. Be careful."

Diavolo thought it through rationally and sent King Crimson to search the area, but it found nothing.

Trish furrowed her brow as she watched King Crimson. For some reason, she had the strange feeling that they were connected by blood.

This towering Stand gave her a fatherly sense of familiarity, yet she felt disgusted by it from the bottom of her heart.

"How strange."

Trish shook her head, trying to dispel the thought.

Dawn stood up and tucked the Insect Arrow pendant beneath his clothes. With a thought, he made Kars, who had been hidden in the shadows, appear.

After returning to the real world, Kars had quickly hidden himself. As long as he wanted to, no one would notice anything amiss.

"Let me introduce you. This is Kars, our ally."

Dawn patted Kars on the shoulder. Kars beamed and leaned in to nuzzle against him affectionately.

"Uh... Mr. Dawn, your friend seems... easy to get along with."

Giorno pressed his lips together and spoke up to ease the awkwardness.

King Crimson reached out to touch Kars's horns. Kars's demeanor changed in an instant, and he seized King Crimson's wrist like lightning.

"Don't touch me!"

King Crimson yanked his arm back, rolled his sore wrist, and gave a cold snort before fading away.

"I take back what I said earlier. He's actually not easy to get along with."

Giorno muttered to himself, though his expression remained as warm as a spring breeze.

"Mr. Dawn, do you have any idea who ambushed us?"

Dawn waved a hand.

"It doesn't matter. What's important is that I've found Silver Chariot Requiem's weakness."

"What?!"

Everyone looked stunned. Polnareff was the most impatient and spoke at once.

"Dawn, please stop Silver Chariot Requiem as soon as possible. Our bodies are changing. If this goes on, the course of evolution on Earth will be completely rewritten. No one knows what humans will turn into."

Dawn nodded. They didn't even bother with Tobio, who was still lying motionless, and hurried after Silver Chariot Requiem as it wandered down the street.

"You may have noticed: no matter what angle you look from, Silver Chariot Requiem's shadow is always the exact opposite of ours."

Dawn watched Silver Chariot Requiem in the distance and continued, "All we have to do is destroy the glowing orb at the back of our own heads. That will deal it a heavy blow and let us defeat it."

Mista was thrilled. "No time to waste. I'll do it now."

With that, Mista raised his revolver and aimed it at the back of his head, ready to pull the trigger.

"Wait, Mista, don't—"

Dawn nearly blurted out, "Don't restart yet." He paused, then immediately tried to stop Mista from firing.

"If Silver Chariot Requiem is defeated, Bucciarati will surely die without a trace. I need a backup plan."

Mista understood at once and eagerly asked, "Mr. Dawn, how are you going to save Bucciarati?"

Bucciarati lowered his head and said nothing. His body had already begun to decay, and his death was an established fact. Dawn's efforts might not succeed at all.

Narancia and Giorno went to retrieve Bucciarati's body. The process went without a hitch.

Tobio, inside Bucciarati's body, was in a daze and in terrible shape. He couldn't put up any effective resistance.

Dawn took out the Stone Mask, placed it on Bucciarati's face, and beckoned Kars over.

"Wait!!!"

An astonished voice rang out.

Polnareff broke free of Giorno's grasp and looked up at Dawn, his eyes full of shock and disbelief.

"Dawn, I think I know something about that object."

Polnareff fell silent for a moment, then spoke slowly, his voice low.

"I once fought alongside my companions in Egypt. One of them, Joseph Joestar, told me where this thing came from."

"The Stone Mask. It can create vampires, those terrifying creatures. It was what created our old enemy, Dio Brando."

At Polnareff's words, everyone's eyes widened. They stared tensely at the mask on Bucciarati's body.

"Mr. Dawn, whether I live or die isn't important. Our top priority is defeating Silver Chariot Requiem."

Bucciarati carefully chose his words and spoke gently.

Polnareff, meanwhile, furrowed his brow in thought.

"Dawn, why do you have a Stone Mask? I'm absolutely certain you're not a vampire."

Dawn lit a cigarette, took a deep drag, and slowly blew out a smoke ring.

"Bo-bo, I once fought alongside Dio... No, damn it, Joestar. We fought against a terrifying being known as the Ultimate Lifeform. Vampires are just food to the Ultimate Lifeform. Didn't he tell you?"

Dawn said no more and gave Kars a look.

Kars understood. He sliced open his arm and let a few drops of blood fall onto the Stone Mask.

Bone spurs emerged. Tobio, inside Bucciarati's body, barely reacted. This body had already lost its sense of pain.

The transformation was complete.

Tobio opened his eyes. His slit pupils glowed red as he leaped to his feet and warily sized up everyone present.

A deathly, chilling aura spread through the area. It made everyone instinctively want to back away, as though the figure before them wasn't human, but a large predator that had been dead for a long time.

"How do you feel?"

Dawn picked up the Stone Mask, which had cracked, and asked curiously.

Tobio didn't answer. He only raised a hand to shield his eyes from the sunlight, his face showing disgust.

King Crimson appeared. Its arm shot out and seized Tobio by the throat, lifting him into the air.

"How do you feel?!"

Diavolo's voice was cold and menacing as he studied his former subordinate.

In Diavolo's mind, he and Dawn were inseparable, born as one. Together, they were the complete Two-Faced Emperor.

Diavolo would never tolerate anything that dared to challenge the Emperor's authority, even if it came from a once-close subordinate.

Tobio struggled to breathe, his eyes fixed on King Crimson. He felt an overwhelming sense of sorrow, along with a trace of relief.

"Why... do I suddenly want to listen to the phone so badly?"

Tobio spoke with difficulty, his red slit pupils never blinking. Diavolo froze, then instinctively released his grip.

"Strange."

King Crimson vanished.

Dawn guiltily took a drag on his cigarette, then carefully studied Tobio's condition.

Tobio's mind hadn't been affected. He wasn't even afraid of the sun, though he did show signs of disgust. It was still too soon to tell whether he had developed a thirst for blood.

He didn't seem especially strong, and his speed was probably no better. Was the ceiling for creatures transformed from corpses really this low?

"Good. Now it's my turn."

Dawn took out the Stone Mask again. After leaving the false world, his frail human body had become far too inconvenient.

Apparently, he couldn't live without a heart. If he ever ran into a tricky Stand User and got himself killed, that would be a real letdown.

"Humans are too frail. I'm going to surpass humanity."

Dawn put on the Stone Mask. As the Ultimate Lifeform's blood was smeared across it, his body began to undergo an unprecedented transformation.

In the vast, boundless starry sky, a humanoid meteorite gave an almost imperceptible twitch. A soul, long dormant, felt an inexplicable pull and began to slowly awaken.