Impact Steel-Gilgamesh

How could an injured human possibly outrun a healthy peregrine falcon?!

Kiana only saw a shadow flash above her head. She instinctively tilted her head, but the falcon's claws still pierced her shoulder, tearing away a chunk of flesh.

"Ah!"

The ice spikes were not particularly fast, but compared to them, the falcon itself flew even faster.

Though it was a Stand user, Petsha itself was still a powerful peregrine falcon. When its Stand ability could not hit its enemy, it once again relied on its ancient hunting instincts to tear apart Kiana's body.

If she had not dodged on instinct, Kiana's head would have been pierced by now.

After failing to land a decisive blow, Petsha swiftly retreated. In the blink of an eye, it had once more escaped Kiana's attack range.

It also left behind a barrage of ice spikes that came crashing down toward Kiana.

Because the muscles in her shoulder were injured, Kiana could only fire Ebony from her left hand in single shots. Without Ivory's rate-of-fire advantage, she had no way to shatter every ice spike.

With her Stand's help, she barely dodged the ice spike barrage.

Petsha revealed a mocking smile in midair as countless ice spikes crashed down toward Kiana again.

The wide-area bombardment left Kiana's pitiful mobility with no chance of escape. As she fell to the ground, Killer Queen appeared above her. Rather than using its right hand's space-erasing ability, it clenched its fist and punched at the ice spikes.

Killer Queen's stats were not particularly high. This meant it could not precisely shatter every incoming ice spike like Star Platinum and Crazy Diamond.

Large numbers of ice spikes shattered around her, and freezing air swirled around Kiana, enveloping her completely.

Frost slowly condensed across the ground and spread onto Kiana's body. Before she realized it, she had already fallen into the bird's trap.

Killer Queen was still struggling to hold on, while Kiana watched as larger and larger ice spikes formed above her head, their size already exceeding the area in which she could move.

Is this the end? It's so cold... I want to sleep...

As the ice pillar slowly descended, Killer Queen's punches became slower and slower. Kiana's eyelids also grew heavier. Massive blood loss and hypothermia had left her with no strength left to recover.

Killer Queen's figure turned transparent, and the enormous ice pillar slammed down onto the spot where Kiana had fallen.

Petsha circled through the air several times. There was no movement within the frosty mist, nor did anything break through the ice to escape.

Petsha let out a cry and turned toward the mansion.

Snap!

A snap of fingers suddenly echoed across the empty ground.

Petsha instinctively glanced toward the ice pillar, and that single glance saved its life. A spear shot toward it at high speed.

Flapping its wings, Petsha dodged the spear. Its pupils contracted as it saw a tiny hole in the enormous ice pillar.

The hole was exactly the same size as the spear.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!!!

Several spears shot out of the ice pillar in succession, but Petsha dodged them all. The ice pillar was sliced apart by the spears, splitting cleanly into four pieces that toppled in four different directions.

A white-haired, golden-eyed figure stood among them, her expression cold and indifferent. If not for the tattered pajamas she still wore, she would have looked like a queen reigning over the world.

"Who gave you permission to look down on me... maggot!"

With a crisp snap of her fingers, several Space-Time Spears fired from beside the Herrscher of the Void toward Petsha.

The Space-Time Spears created by Herrscher authority were not something ordinary matter like ice spikes could resist. The newly formed ice spikes were ripped apart and pulverized, and even part of Petsha's wings was shattered.

What was this?! What was going on with this person?!

Petsha could not understand. As a falcon Stand user, it possessed intelligence comparable to a human's. Ordinary humans were no different from wild rabbits and pheasants in its eyes.

Yet even it had been conquered by someone. No, that person was not a weak existence like a human.

Though he had a human appearance, his existence undoubtedly surpassed humanity. This was also Petsha's first defeat since it was born.

No existence could give it the same sense of oppression as that man.

But what was going on with this person?!

Just now, she had clearly been an ordinary human, yet the power and aura she displayed now were completely different.

Like some nonhuman—no, an existence beyond humanity.

But even against a powerful enemy, I will devote every ounce of my strength to that man!

A bird-bone-like Stand appeared behind Petsha, and enormous numbers of ice spikes continuously formed in the sky.

"Struggle with all your strength, maggot."

Feeling the discomfort in her body, the Herrscher of the Void lowered her head and looked at herself. Due to her lack of Honkai Energy, she could not even materialize clothing. Then she raised her head and looked at the countless ice spikes in the sky.

There was not a trace of emotion in the Herrscher of the Void's eyes.

She watched the ice spikes closing in before her.

An orange-red void appeared in front of her.

"I can only create one now?"

Feeling the lack of Honkai Energy within her, the Herrscher of the Void snapped her fingers. A void appeared behind Petsha.

Before Petsha could understand why its attacks had vanished, countless ice spikes it had fired struck it from behind.

"This really is an interesting place. Did I truly arrive in another world?"

Without looking at Petsha as it was shot down by its own attack, the Herrscher of the Void looked at her palm. Her authority allowed her to connect with the Imaginary Space.

Yet she could clearly feel that she could not connect to the Imaginary Space, nor could she sense the Will of Honkai. Honkai Energy simply did not exist in this world!

Her earlier attack had relied entirely on the power stored within her Herrscher Core.

Killer Queen silently appeared behind her, and the Herrscher of the Void looked at the blue-and-white Stand.

"A Stand? It truly is a special power."

She reached out and placed her hand over Killer Queen. It began to be corroded by the Herrscher of the Void's power. The yellow ornaments on its body gradually turned orange-yellow, though the change was not obvious.

"Though I have used up quite a bit of power, this will definitely become the key to my escape from this cage."

Feeling that her Herrscher Core was nearly dry, she was not in a hurry. In this world, no matter how much destruction she caused, it would be useless. Without Honkai Energy to replenish her, she was like a grasshopper after autumn.

But after planting the seeds of her Honkai Energy within the Stand, the Herrscher of the Void was confident that when the right moment came, she would surely seize control of this body.

Chapter 32: Impact Steel—Gilgamesh

A few minutes earlier...

Qin Mo, who had been watching Jotaro pressure D'Arby with a smile, suddenly changed expression.

"Qin Mo..."

Mei's voice came from beside him at just the right moment, confirming the fluctuation he had just sensed.

"It's Kiana!"

Qin Mo spoke quietly, then said to Jotaro, "Jotaro, finish him. Something happened to Kiana. There's no time to waste. Mei and I will go ahead!"

With that, Qin Mo took Mei and hurried toward the place where he had sensed the Honkai Energy fluctuation.

Sensing Honkai Energy in a world where it did not exist meant there was only one possibility: Kiana. Mei did not know why, but Qin Mo did. Such an intense Honkai Energy fluctuation was exactly the same as when the Herrscher of Thunder had emerged.

He had not expected that two Herrschers would emerge during this journey. Sirin should not have had enough power to come out.

Polnareff wanted to ask how Qin Mo knew, but all he saw were the hurried backs of Qin Mo and Mei as they left.

"Good grief."

Adjusting his hat, Jotaro looked at D'Arby before him. Star Platinum raised its fist in D'Arby's terrified gaze.

When Qin Mo and Mei reached the place where they had sensed the Honkai Energy, they saw devastation everywhere. In the center of the wreckage, a white-haired girl lay on the ground.

"Kiana!"

Mei hurried over and lifted her into her arms.

"Her injuries are severe!"

Crazy Diamond swiftly appeared and began treating Kiana, but some of her injuries could not be restored.

"What's going on? Why haven't these injuries healed?"

Qin Mo stood beside them and saw the peregrine falcon's corpse lying not far away. He withdrew his gaze, crouched down, and examined Kiana's injuries.

"Crazy Diamond's ability is restoration, not healing. It cannot create something from nothing, so the missing parts of Kiana's body must be gone completely."

Looking at the flesh that was still missing even after restoration, Qin Mo made his judgment. "Just like the parts erased by Killer Queen cannot be restored, this situation requires normal treatment."

He took a bottle of healing potion from his backpack, gently lifted Kiana's head, and fed it to her.

The system-certified potion was remarkably effective. The moment it went down, Kiana's flesh regenerated, and her eyelids fluttered open.

"Mei... Qin Mo... did you come to save me?"

The first thing Kiana saw upon opening her eyes was two familiar faces. Her memories only went as far as the moment she collapsed.

"Kiana, are you all right? What happened just now?"

Though her memories remained at that earlier moment, Kiana's body had completely recovered. With Mei supporting her, she stood up and looked around.

"I was attacked at the hotel by that Stand called Yellow Temperance. He also turned into a vampire. At first, he chased me around, then I injured him with Ripple, and he kept running until he came here."

As Kiana hazily recalled what had happened, she suddenly saw Petsha's corpse in the distance. "Ah! Right! Then that stupid bird killed that guy and attacked me! Did you defeat it!?"

"Uh... no..."

"That's right, we did. Everything's fine now."

Qin Mo interrupted Mei and gave her a meaningful look. Mei understood and did not continue. Kiana did not suspect anything and directly asked Qin Mo, "Qin Mo, hurry and give me some clothes. I ran out in such a rush that I didn't even change."

Kiana was still wearing pajamas. Though they had been restored, wearing pajamas out on the street was still inappropriate.

Qin Mo took several sets of new clothes he had bought earlier from his backpack and handed them to Kiana. There was no underwear, though. Neither girl would have given Qin Mo their underwear to keep.

It was not that they did not trust him. It was simply embarrassing to hand that sort of thing to someone of the opposite sex.

Kiana ran behind some nearby bushes to change, then came back out. "All right, let's head back. Seriously, I haven't even had breakfast yet."

"We can't go back yet."

Qin Mo said as he looked toward the mansion in the distance.

"Huh? Why not?"

"Kiana, haven't you noticed? This is the place Mr. Joestar and the others were looking for."

Following Qin Mo's gaze, Mei also noticed the mansion and realized that their journey was finally about to end.

"But I'm really hungry..."

Qin Mo took out some food and handed it to Kiana, then casually opened the system's gacha interface. "Come on, Kiana. The final battle is about to begin. Let's see what we pull!"

After Kiana defeated Yellow Temperance and Petsha, Qin Mo's crystals had finally returned to 500. D'Arby had also just been defeated, giving them another fifty on top of that.

Qin Mo finally discovered that repeatedly defeating the same person could also earn rewards. But since they had already come this far, he had no interest in farming crystals.

While eating the food in her hand, Kiana tapped the gacha button.

Mei also leaned in to watch. Gacha pulls were still quite appealing, especially when the items drawn could become real objects.

Seeing that the gold only appeared on the tenth pull, Qin Mo seriously suspected that the system's drop rate only had pity.

"What did we get? What did we get?"

Qin Mo first tapped the golden item. To ensure it could be put to use immediately, he had chosen the item pool.

"Don't rush. Let me check."

Impact Steel—Gilgamesh (S)

Effect: Can merge with a living being, strengthening the body and adding impact force to attacks.

Description: Made from Impact Steel, a special metal from the Demon World. It can change its shape according to the user's will, and its attacks produce immense shockwaves based on the user's strength.

Qin Mo took a deep breath and widened his eyes. Though it came from the same setting as Ivory & Ebony, this equipment was not something those two guns could compare to.

Though this equipment was not a magic tool, it possessed power comparable to, or even beyond, one.