If the defining trait of magical gear was growth, then Impact Steel's trait was this: the stronger its host became, the stronger its effects would be!
Qin Mo looked at the mansion in the distance, then at this piece of equipment and the Ox Talisman in his inventory. He understood why this equipment had appeared here.
"Qin Mo, what does this do?"
Unlike Qin Mo, who could see an item's effects appear in his mind as soon as he saw the equipment, the others could only make out its appearance and name at most.
"This is good stuff. You could call it a weapon. You'll understand once I use it in a bit."
Qin Mo did not explain in detail. He placed Gilgamesh into his equipment inventory, then opened the remaining ten purple items. Eleven items from a ten-pull—not bad.
Nika Mask, Stone Mask, Azure Rose, Dance of Fine Snow, Holy Blessing Potion ×10, Pig Talisman, Rat Talisman, Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi, Grass-Cutting Sword, Executioner's Blade
The items were not especially impressive, but they were not useless either.
Qin Mo had been pleased when he first saw Nika's Mask, but after reading that wearing it would unleash the user's inner darkness, he decided to shelve it for good.
Once equipped, the thing could not be removed. It could only be taken off through special means.
There was even less need to mention the Stone Mask.
The weapons that had appeared could only be considered average as well. The Grass-Cutting Sword was not the one from mythology; like the Executioner's Blade, it came from the world of Naruto and was only durable and sharp.
The Holy Blessing Potions, on the other hand, were quite useful.
"Here, you two drink these. They can protect you if you run into danger."
The Holy Blessing Potion's effect was simple: upon receiving fatal damage, the user would enter a state of suspended death and slowly recover from their injuries. It differed from the game, but it still counted as a life-saving measure.
Its greatest advantage was that it had no duration limit!
Drink one, and its effect would remain permanently until it was triggered!
Explosion
After the three waited where they were for a while, Joseph and the others arrived as well.
"I didn't expect it... We actually found it."
Joseph pressed down the hat on his head and looked at the mansion before them. "Our journey is finally coming to an end."
They all stood on the street, gazing at Dio's mansion—the building jokingly dubbed the "Dio Demon Mansion" by netizens in Qin Mo's previous life.
"Let's go!"
Star Platinum appeared and smashed open the gate in the mansion's outer wall with a single punch.
The moment they stepped into the courtyard, everyone felt malicious intent wash over them like profound darkness.
"If I remember correctly, there should be D'Arby's younger brother, an illusion-type Stand, and a terrifying enemy like Ozone Jackers inside, right?"
There was also an idiot, but since that person had no combat ability to speak of and everyone else seemed to have completely ignored him, Qin Mo said nothing.
"It's daytime. How about we have Avdol start a fire and force them out?"
Joseph checked the time. It was still morning, not a time when vampires could move freely.
"No need. Leave this to me."
Qin Mo stepped forward.
The others did not refuse when they saw Qin Mo volunteer. They did not know what method he intended to use, but Qin Mo had never disappointed them.
He took a deep breath. Light erupted from his body, and when it faded, he was clad in silver-white armor covered in dark crimson patterns like flowing blood.
"Whoa, that's so cool!"
Hearing the exclamations from behind him, Qin Mo realized that the Impact Steel—Gilgamesh on his body differed from the game version. In the game, it only consisted of a mask covering the lower half of the face, gauntlets, and greaves.
But the one on Qin Mo was a full suit of armor.
"So this is what they mean by changing according to the user's will?"
The gauntlets and greaves were the best fit for Dante, but for Qin Mo, the most suitable form was this full-body armor. Besides, he preferred this cool, transformation-like feeling.
Equipment Loadout: Dog Talisman, Ox Talisman, Impact Steel—Gilgamesh
Looking at this combination, Qin Mo walked to the wall of the mansion's main building, assumed a horse stance, and drew back his fist.
Sensing Qin Mo's will, the serrated edges on Gilgamesh's armguards began spinning madly, helping Qin Mo charge up power.
As the serrated edges spun faster and faster, even those standing far away could feel the terrifying power accumulating within Qin Mo.
"Whoa, the power on Qin Mo's body feels more and more terrifying."
Polnareff's eyes widened. He could tell that if this punch landed on him, it would probably blow him apart outright.
"Mm. This armor's effect should be the ability to charge power. Qin Mo is probably planning to destroy the mansion with one punch. The question is how much power it can store."
Avdol observed for a moment and nodded.
"Since Qin Mo is this confident, it should be fine. But I don't think charging power is its only ability."
Kakyoin Noriaki smiled as well. "And it kind of feels like Kamen Rider."
Having grown up in the Far East, Kakyoin and Jotaro naturally knew about that sort of live-action hero show.
Kiana did not join the conversation, but she was already thinking about how she could borrow Qin Mo's cool armor to play with later.
By the time they finished talking, Qin Mo could already feel that the armor on his body had charged to its limit.
The instant he threw his punch, Diver Down's figure flashed across Qin Mo's body and vanished.
Boom!
A huge hole was blasted into the mansion wall, yet it did not even fully pierce through it.
But in the next instant, countless cracks radiated outward from the crater and rapidly spread across the mansion's surface.
That first punch was not the end. It was only the beginning.
The second punch followed, then the third, then the fourth.
There was no technique involved—only brute force. Combined with Diver Down's ability, Qin Mo sent enough force to smash through walls surging throughout the entire building.
"Hah!"
No one knew how many punches he threw. When the final fist fell, the wall before Qin Mo was finally broken through, and as that section collapsed, the cracks covering the mansion erupted with a massive impact in an instant.
Inside the mansion...
Dio Brando lay on a bed at the top of the tower. Jonathan's body had given him the Joestar family's bloodline.
As one of the world's more unusual bloodlines, the Joestar bloodline was much like Joseph's. Through blood alone, Dio sensed that Joestar blood was approaching his mansion.
"They've come..."
The only Joestars who would approach him now were the people he knew.
"Vanilla..."
A low voice sounded in the room, and a figure immediately pushed open the door and entered the pitch-black chamber.
Vanilla Ice dropped to one knee. "Lord Dio!"
"The Joestars have arrived outside."
"Yes. D'Arby has already gone to meet them. He will definitely stop the Joestars outside."
In the darkness, Dio sat up and touched the scar on his neck. Just as he was about to say something, a tremendous tremor suddenly struck.
"What happened?!"
Cracks rapidly spread through the building along with the rumbling. Even the walls of this inner room were instantly covered in fractures.
Dio's pupils contracted. "Vanilla! Clear a path!"
"Yes, Lord Dio!"
Meanwhile, downstairs, D'Arby strolled leisurely through the mansion. "They still haven't come in? Are they afraid?"
As the butler, Terence T. D'Arby considered himself a perfect servant, and he had complete confidence in himself. After all, he did not rely on brute force to fight. Just as he was preparing to go greet the enemies who, in his mind, had not dared enter—
Boom!
"What is this?!"
D'Arby looked at the cracks around him and realized something.
But before he could make any effective response, the building around him collapsed with a roar. Even if he was a Stand user, his body was only that of an ordinary man, not to mention that his Stand was not one with great destructive power.
Outside, Qin Mo let out a long breath as he looked at his handiwork.
A mansion covering several hundred square meters had been reduced to ruins by a few punches. He opened the system to confirm.
The crystals had risen to 200, which meant he had defeated three Stand users.
If it was like in his memories, there should have been five Stand users in Dio's mansion.
That meant Qin Mo had never intended to settle Dio with that one attack. There was still one person who had not been defeated.
Ozone Jackers, perhaps...
As Dio's most loyal follower and the strongest being in the mansion aside from Dio himself—no, in a certain sense, he was even stronger than Dio.
The Bug Arrow Within the Ruins
"Everyone, be careful. Dio and Ozone Jackers should be fine."
The mansion had become complete ruins. Just as Qin Mo finished speaking, a patch of rubble suddenly exploded.
"Who ambushed—Aaaahhh!!!"
The aggressive words were only half spoken before the speaker turned to ash under direct sunlight.
"Hey, hey, that was a vampire, right? It really turned to ash the moment the sun hit it."
Polnareff, who had just summoned Silver Chariot to attack, froze.
"That's why, Polnareff, remember this when you fight Dio: don't just stab him, because that won't kill him."
Polnareff's swordsmanship was superb, but most Western fencing attacks were thrusts. They might be fatal to humans, but to vampires, they were little more than scratches.
"Alright, everyone, carefully search the ruins. It's daytime, so Dio can't move under the sun."
Joseph shouted, then began using Hermit Purple to bind a large chunk of rubble and pull it aside.
Just as Qin Mo was about to help search, Kiana suddenly grabbed his hand.
"Qin Mo, Qin Mo, can I borrow that cool armor of yours to play with?"
Her large azure eyes were full of anticipation.
The armor formed by Impact Steel receded from Qin Mo's body and gathered into a ball of light in his hand.
"Here. Absorb it into your body. You can equip it through your will, and it can take whatever form you imagine."
Qin Mo was not stingy with such items. For him, the Dog Talisman alone was enough to keep him alive, but Mei and Kiana were both still in danger.
That was especially true of Kiana, who had previously erupted into her Herrscher form when faced with danger.
Kiana did not notice Qin Mo's concern. Delighted, she absorbed the ball of light into her body, and a suit of armor similar to Qin Mo's previous form appeared on her.
Clearly, she had not listened to Qin Mo's instructions at all.
"Yahoo!"
After putting on her new toy, Kiana eagerly ran off to explore the ruins with the others.
"Qin Mo... Is Kiana going to be alright?"
Kiana had not seen Qin Mo's hidden emotions, but the slender and sensitive Mei had noticed them.
"She's fine."
Qin Mo shook his head, but then saw the worry Mei could not conceal. "Sigh... I'll explain when I get the chance. At least, nothing will happen for now."
Mei's expression improved somewhat upon hearing Qin Mo's words. It seemed it was not some serious issue that would happen immediately.
Even if Mei racked her brains, she would never have imagined that another Herrscher was right beside her. Such rare beings—two of them in one small place, and even becoming friends—was something that should have been impossible no matter how she thought about it.
"Everyone! We found something!"
Avdol's voice rang out. The group hurried over and saw a huge circular pit, and below it... was bottomless darkness.
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