Chapter Summaries

Kars awakened a powerful Stand after the virus from the Scarab Arrow forced a change in his body, and he discovered it could alter living beings' bodies and minds. He used its combined powers to stop time, leaving the world frozen around him.

• The virus from the Scarab Arrow rewrote Kars's genetic information and caused a massive humanoid Stand to manifest behind him.
• Kars tested the Stand's speed, strength, and range, finding it could strike faster and harder than Star Platinum and reach fifty meters.
• Kars used the Stand on the dying sparrow, overwrote the virus in its body, and watched it recover and fly away.
• Kars realized his Stand could precisely alter bodies and genetics, as well as interfere with minds.
• Kars activated the Stand's time-stopping power, freezing the world in gray silence while he remained in color.

Kars tested the limits and nature of his newly awakened Stand, then traveled to Italy to draw out Diavolo and investigate Haruno Shiobana’s Gold Experience. He arrived in Rome and set out to visit a mafia boss targeted by Passione.

• Kars discovered that he could stop time for twenty seconds and quickly use the ability again, then reasoned that his Stand could reproduce other Stands by matching their users’ souls.
• Kars took the exhausted Arrow as research material and used a mosquito made from his fingernail to record Josuke Higashikata’s information.
• Kars demonstrated that his Stand could restore a shattered brick, then boarded a flight to Italy.
• Kars reviewed Passione’s violent expansion and planned to threaten the organization enough to lure Diavolo out of hiding.
• Kars studied a file on Haruno Shiobana and became interested in his Gold Experience before arriving at Rome Airport.
• Kars began the first step of his plan by heading to visit a mafia boss Passione was preparing to eliminate.

Kars saved Dimitri Makarov from Passione and healed his wounds, then made a deal for the Makarov Family’s help investigating the Arrow. After the family’s counteroffensive drew Diavolo’s attention, Diavolo decided to confront Kars himself.

• Kars killed the Passione members pursuing Dimitri and healed him in the alley.
• Dimitri returned to the Makarov Family hideout and rallied his surviving men to fight for Lord Kars.
• The Makarov Family launched a counteroffensive, destroying Passione strongholds and killing core officers.
• Kars killed an invisible assassin sent after Dimitri, while Dimitri agreed to use his family’s intelligence network to investigate the Arrow.
• Diavolo learned that Kars was investigating the Arrow and his origins, then resolved to eliminate him personally.

Diavolo infiltrated the Makarov Family estate and attacked Kars with King Crimson, confident that Epitaph had shown him a certain victory. Kars survived the fatal wound and calmly observed time erasure, leaving Diavolo to begin a second attack as Kars invoked The World.

• Diavolo used Epitaph to foresee himself killing Kars and entered the Makarov Family estate alone.
• Diavolo confronted Kars and erased time to move behind him and crush his heart.
• Time resumed, but Kars spoke and rapidly healed his chest wound.
• Diavolo decided to erase time again and cut off Kars's head, but Kars called out, "The World!"

Kars defeated Diavolo, took the Arrow and information from his memories, and arranged for Dimitri to protect Giorno before traveling to Africa to find the Requiem Arrow. He chose not to use it yet, leaving his next move undecided.

• Diavolo used King Crimson to attack Kars, but Kars survived the fatal blow and pierced Diavolo's chest, killing him.
• Kars read Diavolo's memories and gave Dimitri a dossier on Passion, then recovered another Arrow from a hidden basement in Naples.
• Kars found Giorno being abused by his stepfather, healed the boy's bruise, and ordered Dimitri to protect him.
• Kars followed his agents' intelligence to a remote African tribe and found the Requiem Arrow on an ancient altar.
• Kars took the Requiem Arrow but decided not to stab himself with it yet.

Kars visited Enrico Pucci at his Florida church and used time stop and cellular manipulation to make Pucci believe he had received Dio Brando’s legacy. Kars left Pucci to pursue the path to Heaven while he studied the Arrow, then sensed that another newcomer had arrived.

• Kars entered Pucci’s church and asked to speak privately about Dio Brando and his plan to ascend to Heaven.
• Pucci led Kars to a secret room, then attacked him with Whitesnake to seize his memories and Stand.
• Kars stopped time, examined Whitesnake, and altered Pucci’s memories instead of killing him.
• Kars gave Pucci a notebook he claimed Dio had left behind and urged him to bring rebirth to the world.
• Kars returned to his laboratory to research the Arrow, then sensed that another newcomer had arrived.

Kars reunited with his versions from other worlds and reviewed their progress, from advancing technology and consolidating power to investigating supernatural forces. He learned that one newcomer was Gilbert Durandal, while the other was a valuable researcher in a world where humanity survived in a harsh sky city called the Lighthouse.

• Kars and his other selves exchanged information about their worlds, including their plans to confront the Otsutsuki, the Nether Legion, and Archanphel.
• The versions in the EVA, Armor Hero, Under One Person, Kryonaut, Marvel, and Type-Moon worlds reported their ongoing research and advances.
• Kars learned that the Three-Body and The Wandering Earth worlds had gained academic standing through shared knowledge.
• Kars identified the first newcomer as Gilbert Durandal, a genetic engineering student in P.L.A.N.T., who aimed to reconcile Naturals and Coordinators.
• Kars learned that the second newcomer lived in a world overrun by Mana Ecology, where survivors were confined to the Lighthouse under three harsh laws.
• The second newcomer was an upper citizen and a rare, valuable researcher in the Lighthouse.

After learning from counterparts across worlds that Life Source Matter might resemble Chakra and planetary energy, Zhang Qi tested meditation and cultivation in Lighthouse. His Intent Energy awakened dormant genes and drew his consciousness into a strange dimension beneath a vast Purple planet covered in eyes.

• Orochimaru compared Life Source Matter to Chakra, and Zhuge Qing, Makishima Gaku, and Kenneth debated whether the Mana Ecology was harvesting the planet's life force.
• Zhang Qi shared his research with counterparts from the Naruto, Under One Person, and Armor worlds, while Durandal explored genetic solutions with counterparts from the EVA and Kryonaut worlds.
• Zhang Qi woke in Lighthouse and used the Under One Person meditation method to sense Life Source Matter flowing through his body.
• Zhang Qi tried circulating the energy, found it strengthened his body but could not produce elemental techniques, then tested the Armor world's Intent Energy method.
• Zhang Qi's Intent Energy awakened dormant gene sequences, and his consciousness was pulled into another dimension beneath a Purple planet covered in eyes.

After awakening from a vision of an enormous, eye-covered purple planet, Zhang Qi discovered that life source matter had transformed his body and given him control over electricity. He asked Mark to let him join the next surface mission and challenged him to a fight to prove he could handle himself.

• Zhang Qi received a warning from a mysterious being in another dimension before his consciousness returned to his body.
• Zhang Qi discovered that his body had grown stronger and that he could control electrical charges in the air, then ate to satisfy his intense hunger.
• The next day, Mark found Zhang Qi at the research sector and took him to the Hunters’ hangar to improve the Dawn.
• Zhang Qi agreed to work on the Dawn only if Mark took him on the next surface mission.
• Mark refused to let Zhang Qi join, so Zhang Qi challenged him to a fight to prove his combat ability.

Zhang Qi challenged Mark to prove he could protect himself and earn permission to go to the surface. Their fight ended in a draw, and Mark agreed to let him join the expedition, leaving Zhang Qi to face Jingnan’s displeasure.

• Zhang Qi challenged Mark to a fight so he could prove he was capable of protecting himself on the surface.
• Jingnan and the Hunters watched as Mark and Zhang Qi fought, while the crowd placed bets on Mark.
• Zhang Qi used the Xing Tian Armor Combat Technique to counter Mark’s strength and disrupt his attacks.
• Mark and Zhang Qi landed attacks at the same time, stopping just short of injuring each other and ending the fight in a draw.
• Mark agreed that Zhang Qi could go to the surface with him, then pointed out Jingnan as the person Zhang Qi still had to convince.

Zhang Qi showed Jingnan a plan for a powerful new heavy mech and persuaded her to support an initial upgrade to its energy and propulsion systems. Jingnan accepted his decision to keep exploring the surface, warning him to return and hoping they could one day avoid the Golden Hall.

• Zhang Qi gave Jingnan a data disk containing blueprints for a heavy mech with a miniaturized fusion reactor, advanced batteries, electric propulsion, and lighter, stronger armor.
• Jingnan was shocked by the designs and worried that a full development project would consume too many of the Lighthouse’s resources.
• Zhang Qi proposed beginning only with the energy and propulsion upgrades, using materials already available in the Lighthouse’s main reactor.
• Jingnan questioned why Zhang Qi had gone to the surface, and he argued that studying Mana Ecology required leaving the sky and rejecting the Lighthouse’s restrictive way of life.
• Jingnan remembered Zhang Qi’s childhood defiance and accepted that she could not stop him from going to the ground.
• Jingnan told Zhang Qi to be careful and return, then hoped that one day none of them would need to go to the Golden Hall.

Zhang Qi helped modify the Heavy Lifter, and Mark successfully tested its new flight capabilities. Zhang Qi then joined the Hunters on a mission to explore the R-49 spacecraft ruins, descending from the Lighthouse into the crimson, overgrown world below.

• Zhang Qi led the Engineering Department in adapting the Heavy Lifter with an Arc Reactor and new control algorithms.
• Mark tested the modified Heavy Lifter, flew through the clouds for nearly an hour, and returned thrilled by its speed and maneuverability.
• Zhang Qi told the Hunters that further modifications depended on materials recovered from their next operation, and they prepared to set out two weeks later.
• Zhang Qi boarded the transport vehicle Grizzly-01 with Mark and the Hunters, bound for the R-49 interstellar spacecraft ruins in the New Asian Continent.
• As Grizzly-01 descended beneath the Lighthouse, Zhang Qi saw the crimson surface, ruined skyscrapers, fleshy growths, and monstrous flowers for the first time.

Mark piloted the upgraded Dawnbreaker Custom to destroy a pack of Snake Dogs while Zhang Qi studied the creatures’ energy with the Observation Method. A white-haired woman watching from a distant skyscraper sensed Zhang Qi and identified his condition as a Sefirah awakening.

• The transport landed on the crimson earth, where Snake Dogs surrounded it, and Zhang Qi recorded their behavior while Mark prepared to fight.
• Mark climbed into the Dawnbreaker Custom, leapt from the transport, and slaughtered the Snake Dogs with its chainsword and thrusters.
• The Hunters cheered as Mark fought, Ran Bing watched for threats, and Erica persuaded Zhang Qi to put her White Shark first in the upgrade queue.
• Zhang Qi used the Observation Method to see energy pathways in the Hunters and the Snake Dogs, discovering that each beast’s energy converged on a dark red core in its chest.
• A white-haired woman atop a distant skyscraper sensed Zhang Qi inside the transport and exclaimed that he was experiencing a Sefirah awakening.

Mark’s convoy reached the R-49 interstellar spacecraft ruins, where Zhang Qi deduced that humans had killed the people preserved in the flesh soil to compete for places on the Ark. While the team gathered supplies and searched for materials to upgrade their mechs, they found evidence that a powerful Devourer Beast was nearby.

• Mark returned to the transport truck in the modified Daybreak, and the Hunters cheered as he promised Zhang Qi would upgrade their mechs.
• The convoy reached the R-49 interstellar spacecraft ruins, and Mark led the Hunters inside to search for supplies.
• The team found thousands of people preserved in flesh soil, and Zhang Qi reasoned that humans had killed them because only a few could board the Ark.
• Mark’s team found the ecological food storage bay and called in the Dust Citizen team to haul supplies.
• Mark, Ran Bing, Mo Cheng, Donny, and Zhang Qi entered a damaged weapons depot and discovered the shed shell of a higher-level Devourer Beast.

Zhang Qi led the Dust Citizens through a warehouse raid, then fought off Spinal Parasites and helped the Hunters retreat from Devourer Beasts. When a second high-level beast ambushed the group, Zhang Qi unleashed blue-white lightning and kicked it away.

• Zhang Qi identified valuable materials in the warehouse and directed the Dust Citizens to haul them out.
• Gunfire and a Devourer Beast warning forced Mark to order an immediate retreat, while Zhang Qi used [Observation Method] to realize the creatures tracked emotional fluctuations in life source matter.
• Zhang Qi and Erica fired on the Spinal Parasites, and Zhang Qi paralyzed one with an electric current before trapping it in a specimen tube.
• Zhang Qi helped cover the retreat as Mark fought several serpentine Devourer Beasts in "Dawn—Modified."
• Zhang Qi sensed a second high-level Devourer Beast in the ventilation duct, and when it burst through the ceiling, he erupted in lightning and kicked it away.

Zhang Qi defeated a Brood Beast with his lightning-fast attacks, but Mark arrived with a warning as countless red eyes appeared in the darkness behind him. The Hunters faced a much larger horde of Devourer Beasts.

• Zhang Qi kicked the Brood Beast into a wall and sent the Hunters and dust citizens retreating while he stayed behind.
• The Brood Beast charged Zhang Qi, who dodged its attack and struck a weak point behind its knee.
• Zhang Qi used Inner Sight to locate the Brood Beast's energy core and destroyed it with a precise punch, killing the monster.
• Mark arrived in his damaged Heavy Frame, shouted for Zhang Qi to run, and revealed countless red-eyed Devourer Beasts approaching through the passage.

Zhang Qi returned to the Lighthouse after demonstrating how to kill Devourer Beasts and avoid their detection, then revealed the method to the city’s leaders. Morgan appointed Mark as the next city lord and Zhang Qi as head of the Research Department.

• Zhang Qi killed dozens of Devourer Beasts by striking their energy cores with precise lightning, then escaped with Mark and the Hunters.
• A white-haired woman and her companions arrived at the deserted passage and examined the Devourer Beast skeletons, concluding Zhang Qi’s power rivaled Boss Bai’s.
• The Hunters returned to the Lighthouse with a major haul of supplies and received a heroes’ welcome.
• Zhang Qi showed the officials a captured Spinal Parasite and explained that controlling emotional fluctuations in Life Source Matter could make people harder for Devourer Beasts to detect.
• Charles credited the discovery to the Lord of Light, but Morgan announced Mark as the next city lord and appointed Zhang Qi head of the Research Department.

Zhang Qi reorganized the Lighthouse’s research efforts, proposed genetic optimization and energy-fed food production, and trained Hunters to control Life Source Matter. When Mark revealed that Ran Bing had been assigned to the Golden Hall and planned to flee with her, Zhang Qi recognized Charles’s trap and called Mark back, determined to change the Lighthouse.

• Zhang Qi reorganized the medical department and ecological research institute, then introduced research into genetically optimized Coordinators and Eboron Cells.
• Zhang Qi tried to teach Hunters to control Life Source Matter, but they struggled to master his guidance.
• Mark arrived drunk and told Zhang Qi that Ran Bing was going to the Golden Hall and that he intended to take her away from the Lighthouse.
• Zhang Qi realized Charles had used the reproduction assignment to bait Mark into defying the three great laws and damaging his standing.
• Zhang Qi decided to change the Lighthouse and called Mark back.

Charles expected Mark to be ruined by Ran Bing’s procreation assignment, but Zhang Qi and Mo Cheng stormed the Light and Shadow Society and exposed Charles’s abuses. Zhang Qi declared that the society would cease to exist.

• Charles reviewed the report that Ran Bing had accepted the procreation assignment and expected Mark to be disgraced.
• Zhang Qi broke into Charles’s room with Mo Cheng, who held Charles at gunpoint, while Zhang Qi’s punch sent Big Dog crashing inside.
• Zhang Qi gave Charles records showing that Society members had manipulated genetic matching and repeatedly sent a teenage girl to the Golden Hall.
• Charles defended the practices as obedience to the Lord of Light, and Zhang Qi slapped him when he invoked the Lighthouse’s laws.
• Zhang Qi explained that Charles had planned to use Mark’s feelings for Ran Bing to destroy Mark’s reputation, then declared that the Light and Shadow Society would no longer exist.

Zhang Qi and Mark overthrew the Light and Shadow Society, reformed the Lighthouse, and gave its people new food and hope. Their effort to produce Coordinators then revealed that artificial infants lacked souls, leaving Zhang Qi searching for a way to provide Life Source Matter.

• Zhang Qi declared the Light and Shadow Society would cease to exist, and Mo Cheng arrested Charles as Hunters rounded up the Society’s leaders.
• Mark confronted Morgan with evidence of the Society’s crimes, while Zhang Qi explained the Lighthouse’s population and resource limits.
• Mark and Zhang Qi took control of the Lighthouse; Morgan ordered the City Defense Army to disarm, and the Hunters suppressed the remaining resistance.
• Zhang Qi exposed the Society’s crimes, and its leaders were stripped of their privileges and assigned hard labor as Mark became city lord and integrated the armed forces.
• Zhang Qi shared old-world entertainment and introduced cultured meat, inspiring the Lighthouse’s residents to work toward reclaiming the surface.
• Zhang Qi’s first Coordinator experiment produced healthy but emotionless infants, leading him to conclude that artificial embryos needed Life Source Matter to develop souls.