WXR9 Revived by Kryptonite, Dio's Choice

Dio and Clark stood frozen in the doorway, their eyes wide as they stared at the massive black silhouette slowly rising near the barn.

Rain blew inside and dripped from their hair, but neither had the mind to wipe it away.

"Dad." Dio's voice carried a trace of tension. "What the hell is that thing?"

"Did that kid leave it for us?"

"Dio." Clark felt terrible. Under normal circumstances, he should have been able to see that shadow clearly through the rain. He might even have noticed something was wrong before opening the door, but...

All his senses now seemed shrouded in fog.

"Uncle Locke."

"I..."

Clark's lips turned slightly pale. "I think I'm a little..."

Before he could finish, an unprecedented weakness suddenly swept through his body. His knees buckled, and he pitched forward.

"Clark!"

Locke reacted quickly, his powerful arm catching the boy's falling body.

The instant he touched him, he immediately sensed something was wrong—

Clark's body temperature was terrifyingly low, and his muscles were twitching uncontrollably.

This was definitely not ordinary physical discomfort.

Through the rain, the silhouette by the barn had fully risen.

With the occasional flashes of lightning, Locke finally saw what it truly was—

A humanoid monster pieced together from metal fragments, over three meters tall.

Most terrifying of all was the faint green glow emanating from its body, especially glaring in the rainy night.

"Kryptonite."

Locke's heart sank to the bottom.

No wonder Clark had suddenly weakened. No wonder even his super senses had failed to warn him in advance.

That damned green stone seemed made specifically to restrain Clark.

"Dad, Dad!" Dio's voice suddenly sharpened. "That thing is moving!"

It was.

The metal monster began to walk.

Its movements were stiff at first, but with every step, the metal fragments at its joints scraped together with a teeth-grinding sound, as though it were gradually "adapting" to this body.

"Get Clark inside, Dio!" Locke shouted sternly.

Gritting his teeth, Dio summoned The World and prepared to drag Clark away.

Yet what was normally effortless had become extraordinarily difficult—

Clark's weight seemed to have increased tenfold. Every step The World took felt like dragging a small mountain.

"Would it kill you to eat less, you big idiot?"

A wave of dizziness hit his mind. Dio panted as he complained, but he still controlled The World to grip Clark's arm even tighter.

Bang!

"Uncle Locke..."

Clark weakly raised his head, his blue eyes filled with guilt. "Sorry... I dragged you down..."

"Take it easy, Clark." Locke cut him off without turning around. "This isn't any one of our faults."

As he spoke, he caught sight of Clark's fingertips beginning to turn an unnatural bluish gray—

The Kryptonite radiation was rapidly eroding the young Kryptonian's vitality.

Damn it.

Bzzzz—!

With a buzzing sound, the metal monster suddenly stopped.

It tilted its head, seemingly studying the three of them from afar with its green eyes.

The gesture carried an oddly human curiosity, but it only made the atmosphere more horrifying.

"Is it... is it watching us?" Dio's voice trembled slightly.

Locke did not answer.

His mind raced as he recalled Giorno's warning before he left.

Was this what he meant? But why now? Why at this exact...

Boom—!

A blinding bolt of lightning tore through the night sky, its ghastly white light illuminating the entire farm in an instant.

Bzzzz—!

The lightning struck the monster, but it clearly did no damage.

It merely shuddered once before continuing forward without hesitation.

Yet in that fleeting flash, Locke finally saw, through Star Platinum's eyes, the engraving beneath the Kryptonite on the monster's chest—

A blurry X-shaped mark.

Locke's pupils suddenly contracted, his heart nearly skipping a beat!

Weapon X!

That "Reaper-9," which he had supposedly smashed to pieces, had actually revived using the radiation energy of the Kryptonite?!

"Damn it."

Locke clenched his teeth, his fingers curling unconsciously into fists.

The battle from a month ago was still vivid in his memory—

The silver liquid that had seeped into the soil after the metal giant was blown apart; the wreckage that had writhed strangely in the rain before vanishing...

The two cleanup crew members in suits leaving empty-handed...

He had thought it was all over, but they had merely lain dormant, waiting for a stronger energy source to reassemble themselves.

And now, they had found one—

Kryptonite!

"Dad...?" Dio's uneasy voice came from behind him. "Did you see where that thing is heading?"

Locke nodded, his gaze locked firmly on the monster.

Dio was right. The monster was slowly turning, its metal joints grinding with that teeth-grating sound as its massive body crushed through the wheat field toward—

Wait?!

Locke's breath caught sharply.

"Jonathan... Martha..."

The words were nearly forced out through clenched teeth.

Giorno's words before leaving flashed through his mind:

"Watch out for our family's barn."

"Today is a critical point. The professor said that in this storm, my grandmother Martha and grandfather Jonathan, whom I've never met, they..."

So that was it!

The monster's target was not them at all, but the Kents!

Perhaps it feared Locke, who had killed it before. Perhaps someone had set its target in advance!

In any case...

That WXR9 was now undoubtedly nothing more than a cold killing machine.

"Dio."

Locke's voice was urgent. "Do you remember what I taught you? When you encounter an enemy you can't beat..."

"Secure our safety first, then look for a chance to strike back." Dio answered instinctively, realization flashing through his red eyes. "But right now, we..."

He could not finish.

The metal monster suddenly let out a piercing metallic shriek, and the Kryptonite on its chest flared with intense green light.

Clark immediately curled up in pain. His blue eyes were half-closed, his breathing rapid and weak. The Kryptonite radiation was clearly rapidly eroding the life force of this Kryptonian child raised beneath a yellow sun.

The rain fell harder and harder, huge drops striking the three of them, yet unable to wash away the despair steadily spreading through the air.

Dio's blond hair clung wetly to his forehead. Clark's breathing grew weaker and weaker. And Locke...

Locke suddenly smiled.

"Dio," he said without turning around, "remember the 'critical point' Giorno mentioned?"

Dio froze. "You mean..."

"History has changed."

Locke slowly straightened, Star Platinum appearing behind him, its purple body emitting a faint glow in the rainy night.

"But some things are destined to be resolved by the Kents."

"Dad, then let me go with you..."

Dio has sent you a party invitation.

"No." Locke refused decisively. "Now, drive the tractor. Get Clark to Jonathan and Martha before the monster reaches them."

"But—"

"No buts!" Locke's voice allowed no argument. "Remember what I told you!"

Those words struck Dio's heart like a heavy hammer.

He looked down at the barely conscious Clark in his arms, then toward the hulking metal shadow staggering forward in the distance—

A choice.

Dio's lips trembled. He stood there in a daze, watching his father face that colossal monster alone.

In the rain, Locke's back seemed impossibly tall. His cowboy hat had long since vanished somewhere, and his brown curls were soaked through, yet none of it diminished his calm composure.