Gravel on the riverbank rolled beneath Dio's feet.
"Dad—Dad—!!"
The boy's hoarse roar tore through the deathly silence after the explosion, heavy with despair.
Behind him, the golden phantom of The World flickered violently, brightening and dimming like his emotions on the verge of collapse.
His nails dug deep into his palms, blood seeping through his fingers, but Dio did not feel it. His crimson eyes remained fixed on the blazing inferno that had swallowed his father.
"Dio!"
A rough shout suddenly pierced through the smoke and ringing in his ears!
"Splash—!"
The pitch-black sea behind them suddenly broke apart!
A soaking-wet figure, muscles knotted like forged steel, hauled himself ashore amid a spray of water.
White steam rose from his entire body as he gasped for breath, his chest heaving violently. Even muscles as tough as Wolverine's trembled slightly after such a long, extreme swim.
The moment he saw the flames shooting into the sky from afar, he knew something was wrong. He had practically sprinted here at the cost of his life.
And yet...
The acrid smell of gunpowder told him he had still arrived a step too late.
"Kid! Stop!"
Logan's roar was drowned out by the fading echoes of the explosion, but Dio charged into the fire without hesitation.
"Damn it!"
"Clang!"
Six flashes of cold light shot out, and the concrete crumbled like tofu beneath his claws.
In just three leaps, he scaled the twenty-meter-high coastal highway.
Smoke rushed into his face, stinging his eyes.
Then, beside the wreckage of the car that was gradually turning into black ash, he saw a figure kneeling on one knee, nearly fused with the charred remains—
That ever-reliable farmer was now blackened all over, yet he still carefully shielded the baby in his arms.
"Locke?"
Logan froze in