Humanity Is Too Frail

"Dawn, the guy who ambushed us might still be hiding in the shadows, be careful."

Diavolo rationally analyzed, releasing King Crimson to search everywhere, but found nothing.

Trish stared intently at King Crimson, her brow furrowed. For some reason, she felt a strange sense of connection, as if they were related by blood.

This burly Stand gave her a fatherly sense of familiarity, yet she felt an instinctive revulsion from the bottom of her heart.

"How strange."

Trish shook her head, dispelling the thought.

Dawn stood up, tucking the Insect Arrow pendant under his clothes. With a thought, Kars, hidden in the shadows, revealed himself.

After Kars returned to the real world, he quickly concealed himself. If he wanted to, no one would notice anything unusual.

"Let me introduce Kars, our helper."

Dawn patted Kars on the shoulder. Kars's face lit up with joy, and he nuzzled affectionately.

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

Giorno pursed his lips, trying to ease the atmosphere.

King Crimson reached out as if to touch Giorno's horns, but Kars's aura suddenly changed, and he lightning-fast grabbed King Crimson's wrist.

"Don't touch me!"

King Crimson yanked his arm back, flexing his sore wrist, and let out a cold snort before fading away.

"I take back what I just said, he's actually not easy to get along with at all."

Giorno grumbled inwardly, but maintained a pleasant expression.

"Mr. Dawn, do you have any leads on the enemy who ambushed us?"

Dawn waved his hand.

"It's irrelevant. The important thing is that I've found Silver Chariot Requiem's weakness."

"What!?"

Everyone was shocked and uncertain. Polnareff was the most anxious and spoke quickly.

"Dawn, please hurry and stop Silver Chariot Requiem. Our bodies are undergoing changes. If this continues, Earth's evolutionary history will be completely rewritten, and no one knows what kind of monsters humans will become."

Dawn nodded. They couldn't worry about Tobio, who was still lying unconscious, and quickly chased after Silver Chariot Requiem, which was wandering aimlessly in the street.

"You may have already noticed, but no matter from what angle you observe it, Silver Chariot Requiem's shadow is always completely opposite to ours."

Dawn stared at Silver Chariot Requiem not far away and continued, "We only need to shatter the light cluster on the back of its head to inflict heavy damage and defeat it."

Mista heard this and excitedly said, "Let's not waste any time, I'll do it now."

With that, Mista raised his revolver, aimed at his own head, and was about to pull the trigger.

"Wait, Mista, don't re—"

Seeing this, Dawn almost blurted out "don't restart," but paused and immediately stopped Mista from firing.

"If Silver Chariot Requiem is defeated, Bucciarati will surely die without a burial place. I need to make an insurance."

Mista suddenly understood and eagerly asked, "Mr. Dawn, how will you save Bucciarati?"

Bucciarati lowered his head and remained silent. His body was already beginning to decay; death was a foregone conclusion, and Dawn's efforts might not succeed.

Narancia and Giorno found Bucciarati's body without any incident.

Tobio, inside Bucciarati's body, was currently disoriented and in extremely poor condition, unable to mount an effective counterattack.

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

"Wait a minute!!!"

A startled voice rang out.

Polnareff broke free from Giorno's grasp, looked up at Dawn, his eyes filled with shock and disbelief.

"Dawn, I seem to know something about this thing."

Polnareff was silent for a moment, then slowly spoke in a low tone.

"I once fought alongside my companions in Egypt. One of them—Joseph Joestar—told me about the origin of this thing."

"The Stone Mask. This is the Stone Mask that can create terrifying creatures like vampires, the one that created our former powerful enemy, Dio Brando."

As soon as Polnareff said this, everyone's eyes widened, and they nervously looked at the mask on Bucciarati's body.

"Mr. Dawn, my life and death are actually unimportant. The urgent matter is to defeat Silver Chariot Requiem."

Bucciarati carefully chose his words and spoke in a gentle tone.

Polnareff, however, frowned in thought.

"Dawn, why do you possess the Stone Mask? I'm quite sure you're not a vampire."

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

"Bo-bo, I once fought alongside Diavolo... No! Joestar, against a terrifying existence called the Ultimate Lifeform. Vampires are merely food for the Ultimate Lifeform, didn't he tell you?"

Dawn no longer explained, giving Kars a look.

Kars understood immediately, slashing his arm and letting a few drops of blood fall onto the Stone Mask.

Bone spurs extended. Tobio, inside Bucciarati's body, showed no reaction; the body had already lost all sensation of pain.

The transformation was complete.

Tobio opened his eyes, his vertical pupils glowing red. He leaped up, warily surveying everyone present.

A deathly, cold aura permeated the air, making people instinctively want to distance themselves, as if the being before them wasn't human, but a large, long-dead carnivorous beast.

"How does it feel?"

Dawn picked up the Stone Mask, which had a crack on the ground, and asked curiously.

Tobio didn't answer, merely raising his hand to shield himself from the sunlight, a look of disgust on his face.

King Crimson appeared, its arm suddenly lashing out, gripping Tobio's neck and lifting him up.

"How does it feel?!"

Diavolo's voice was chilling, his cold gaze examining his former subordinate.

In Diavolo's perception, he and Dawn were inseparable, two halves of a whole, a complete dual-faced emperor.

Anything that dared to challenge the emperor's majesty, even a once-close subordinate, Diavolo would absolutely not permit.

Tobio struggled to breathe, his gaze fixed on King Crimson. A surge of bitterness and a sliver of relief rose within him.

"Why... suddenly I really want to answer the phone."

Tobio spoke with difficulty, his red vertical pupils unblinking. Diavolo froze, then instinctively loosened his grip.

"Strange."

King Crimson's form vanished.

Dawn guiltily took a drag from his cigarette, having carefully observed Tobio's state just now.

Tobio's consciousness was unaffected. He didn't even fear the sun, merely showing disgust. It was too early to determine if he had a bloodlust instinct.

His strength didn't seem particularly enhanced, and his speed was likely the same. A newly transformed creature from a corpse, was its potential truly that low?

"Very well, next is me."

Dawn took out another Stone Mask. After leaving the world of If, his frail human body was simply too inconvenient.

Losing his heart meant he couldn't live. What if he encountered a tricky Stand user in the future and accidentally died? That would be too frustrating.

"Humans are too weak. I will surpass humanity."

Dawn put on the Stone Mask. As the blood of the Ultimate Lifeform was applied, his body began to undergo an unprecedented transformation.

In the vast, boundless starry sky, a humanoid meteor trembled almost imperceptibly. A long-dormant soul felt an inexplicable pull and began to gradually awaken.