In an instant, Jiang Lianqiu's broad, sweeping chops shifted into nimble sword techniques. Before the encroaching tentacles could retract, the sword light erupting around him shredded them into chunks of flesh that rained through the air.
In his mind, Su Shang exclaimed like she was there to hype things up—
'You can change moves like that!? If I ran into something like this, I'd just lower my head and keep chopping...'
Jiang Lianqiu did not respond to Su Shang. She did not mind either, merely standing blankly in her little courtyard with blazing eyes. As her attention began to uncontrollably drift toward Jiang Lianqiu's side, her body started moving along with him.
Elsewhere, as Jiang Lianqiu broke through the massive net woven from tentacles, Dio made a snap decision. He swiped both hands across his legs, and the connection between his elongated, twisted legs and the tentacles was severed.
Yet that delay had already forced him down toward the ground beneath Jiang Lianqiu's onslaught.
Below, the man raised a hand and lowered the brim of his cap. Just as Dio was about to hit the ground—
"Ora Ora Ora Ora—!"
Under normal circumstances, Dio would not have minded answering Jotaro Kujo with a "Muda Muda," but with the greatest threat still above him, he actually allowed Jotaro Kujo to smash him into the ground.
Then, his body sank into the earth as though it had melted.
Since his ability to merge into the void would fail because of those bizarre sketch-like markings, he might as well sink directly underground.
"Damn!"
Jotaro Kujo frowned irritably at the ground beneath his feet.
"What a pain! Hey, Little Commander, do you have any other ideas?"
For the first time, Jotaro Kujo felt that he had far too few methods at his disposal.
Star Platinum was certainly powerful, and its ability to stop time was formidable as well. But the duration was short, and Star Platinum's range was even shorter.
"Move aside for a moment."
Though confused by those words, Jotaro Kujo quickly retreated.
Then, he fell silent as he watched rows upon rows of Floating Cannons suddenly emerge from the void behind Jiang Lianqiu.
You could do that too?
Because Jiang Lianqiu had been using a sword all this time, Jotaro Kujo had instinctively never expected him to suddenly abandon it for cannons.
That fighting style... was a little shameless, but highly effective.
"He went underground? Then just blast him out. He can't have gone too deep. Otherwise, once he leaves this space of mental interference, his time stop will fail."
—At that point, Belfast and the others, once they regained the ability to move, would have plenty of ways to dig Dio out of the ground.
As for locating him, that was even less of a problem.
Under the tracking senses of the Hunt, Jiang Lianqiu kept Dio's position firmly locked on at all times. The Floating Cannons behind him turned their muzzles and unleashed a simultaneous barrage at a certain spot on the ground.
Boom—!!!
The earth shattered and burst apart beneath the bombardment of high-energy beams, instantly blasting out a massive crater.
Sure enough, a figure marked with sketch-like lines leaped out at the same instant the explosion occurred!
Seizing the opportunity, Jotaro Kujo's legs erupted with explosive force, propelling him forward.
But this time, Jiang Lianqiu's expression abruptly changed.
"Watch out!"
Dio, who had leaped out, had madness flashing in his eyes. Looking at Jotaro Kujo, who was about to reach him, he suddenly drove both index fingers deep into his own temples.
With blood spraying everywhere, he shouted:
"Time! Accelerate!"
"Reach Heaven! Surpass Heaven!!!!!"
To successfully reach Heaven, a Stand needed to awaken the ability to accelerate time, then accelerate time to its absolute limit—so far that it could trigger the birth of a new universe.
This Dio, who had already reached Heaven, clearly possessed such an ability.
At the instant time began to accelerate violently, a burning heat spread through Jiang Lianqiu's chest.
The Scales of the Time Worm that he had tucked inside his clothes were heating up.
Behind Dio, the Stand, "The World Over Heaven," finally appeared for the first time.
The next second, the shifting of seas into fields and fields into seas flashed past Jiang Lianqiu's eyes at an incredible speed.
The Scales of the Time Worm grew ever hotter. As everything in the world transformed at high speed, he vaguely saw a colossal, celestial-body-sized starry beast—the Time Bug—seemingly twitch the tip of one of its segmented limbs at some point above the river of time, sending ripples across the looping flow of time.
Then, Jiang Lianqiu saw a streak of golden light rushing endlessly forward. Like a vast river, it suddenly branched at some point and split in two different directions. Those two streams branched again not far ahead...
In the blink of an eye, an ocean of flowing light, like a gigantic tree and a colossal web at once, filled his entire vision.
An instinctive realization told him that every branching point was what was known as a "Singularity."
According to FGO's theory, a Singularity was an abnormal world separated from the normal timeline.
In other words, a world that had not developed according to its ordained fate.
Dio had painstakingly reached Heaven not to defeat JOJO, but to defeat and sever his own destiny. That was why he needed to break through a Singularity.
Perhaps it was because he carried the Scales of the Time Worm close to his body, or perhaps for some deeper reason. Jiang Lianqiu was completely immune to Dio's ability to accelerate time to its limit, yet he was dragged through the Singularity along with Dio.
However, what should have merely been time acceleration breaking through a Singularity and reaching "another world line" underwent some unknown mutation because Dio had taken Jiang Lianqiu along with him, and because Jiang Lianqiu shared Five Senses Linked with a girl from an entirely different world rather than a Singularity of this world.
Drip—
Jiang Lianqiu vaguely felt as though something had appeared in his mind.
Just like when Su Shang had suddenly "slipped into" his head back then.
"Who?"
In New Ailidou, within the Hoshimi Family residence's dojo.
Hoshimi Miyabi, who was kneeling on the floor in "meditation training," had her fox ears twitch lightly. The tender feet wrapped in black stockings beneath her butt rubbed together, their crystal-clear, round toes brushing against each other.
The Fox Xiren girl raised her head, confusion shining in her red eyes.
But after thinking carefully, Hoshimi Miyabi realized she had not sensed anything at all.
That feeling of something appearing in his mind flashed by in an instant. Then, Jiang Lianqiu saw a pair of clear, slightly foolish-looking beautiful eyes staring wide open at him.
And Dio, who had fallen at his feet, his body gradually turning to ash, along with what fell from his dissolving corpse—
—A second set of Scales of the Time Worm, as well as the Red Stone of Aja.
Dio, whose mental power was insufficient to independently complete a true world-spanning journey, had accidentally burned himself to death.
"Ah! Qiu Zi!!!!"
"A living Qiu Zi!!!!"
With a delighted cry, Su Shang pounced on him and gave him a bear hug.
Jiang Lianqiu: "???"
Ding. Recharge successful. Basic traversal function officially activated.
Before you continue