Seizing the White Snake

"Ah! I understand. I'll contact the others when the time comes, all right?"

After Dio's death, the SPW Foundation swiftly arrived to take over Dio's assets in Egypt, though the ones elsewhere were much harder to get their hands on.

After all, Dio had his subordinates manage his operations in other places and merely funneled funds into them. So even with Dio gone, those places could continue functioning normally. However, those implanted with Dio's flesh buds were out of luck.

After Dio died, those flesh buds mutated and turned their hosts into monsters.

When Joseph returned, he brought not only the intelligence Qin Mo had mentioned and arrangements for tomorrow's flight, but also clues regarding some of Dio's assets in Egypt.

"Qin Mo, just as you said, we really did find one of Dio's notebooks. We haven't read it yet, but do we really need to burn it?"

"Yes. Even if you read it, you'd end up burning it. This thing should stay buried forever."

Joseph nodded and did not ask any further questions. Their experiences along the way had already proven enough.

The flight to Italy had been scheduled for tomorrow morning, so everyone still had less than half a day of free time. Qin Mo declined the others' invitation to divide up Dio's assets. As companions who had gone through danger together, each of them could pick one item from the spoils as a memento.

Only then did Qin Mo realize how Polnareff had obtained that beetle arrow in the original story.

None of them had yet realized that the arrows were the reason Stand abilities awakened, and Polnareff had merely treated that arrow as an ordinary collectible.

"I want to try something. Please keep watch for me."

Qin Mo took out the beetle arrow Kiana had obtained earlier in Kiana and Mei's room.

"Leave it to us."

"No problem. Leave it to this young lady!"

Qin Mo nodded. Using an arrow to awaken a Stand was extremely dangerous. If one could not awaken a Stand, the virus on the arrow would kill them. But if they succeeded, no matter how severe the wound inflicted by the arrow was, they would recover.

The immortality granted by the Dog Talisman was what Qin Mo relied on. If he could not die, then he could awaken a Stand. Did that mean the Dog Talisman gave him a one-hundred-percent chance of awakening one?

Though it was only a theory, Qin Mo still wanted to try it.

He unequipped the Stand User character card he had been using and replaced it with the Fire Demon character card. With the constitution inherited from The Dark One, Qin Mo did not know whether it would help with awakening a Stand, but an S-rank character card was certainly stronger than the others.

Taking a deep breath, Qin Mo raised the beetle arrow in his right hand and viciously drove it into his left palm.

Squelch!

The sharp arrowhead pierced straight through Qin Mo's palm. Before he could pull it out, he felt a strange power invade his body, traveling from his palm to his heart and then directly to his brain.

A familiar sensation spread through him. Qin Mo knew it was the feeling of a Stand!

That feeling had vanished after he removed the character card, but now it had appeared again. That meant he had succeeded.

Unlike other Stand users who had only just awakened their Stands, Qin Mo possessed extensive experience using one. In only a few seconds, he summoned his new Stand.

It was entirely silver-white and full of mechanical texture. Gears, wires, and other components could even be seen around its joints, while areas resembling display screens covered its forehead, the backs of its hands, and its shoulders.

"Is this your Stand? What's it called? What ability does it have?"

The moment Kiana saw Qin Mo succeed, she circled his newly awakened Stand twice.

"I don't know either. I awakened it myself, so I'll have to figure it out."

A Stand user's abilities were instinctively used by their Stand at first, then developed from there. Their names were also chosen by the users themselves, so Qin Mo did not yet know what his Stand could do.

"Kiana, use your Killer Queen to fight it. I want to see if it can bring out any abilities."

Kiana nodded and summoned Killer Queen. Without using the erasure effect of its right hand, Killer Queen threw a punch directly at Qin Mo's new Stand.

At the same time, Qin Mo gave the order to defeat Killer Queen.

It was a vague command. Qin Mo had not given any detailed instructions because he wanted the Stand to instinctively display its own ability.

But Qin Mo was disappointed. He felt a tremendous force, and both he and his Stand were sent flying.

"Ah! Qin Mo!"

"Are you all right?!"

Mei hurriedly summoned Crazy Diamond to treat Qin Mo.

"Ah... This Stand's strength and speed are even worse than Killer Queen's!"

Killer Queen's strength and speed were not high to begin with, yet this Stand could not even compare to it. This Stand was even more useless than he had imagined.

Seizing White Snake

Kiana actually wanted to awaken a Stand of her own as well, but Qin Mo did not know whether she and Mei, who already possessed Stigmata Stands, could still awaken another one. He did not dare take that risk.

Besides...

Stands awakened through arrows could awaken through bloodlines. Mei was not much of an issue, but Kiana's Kaslana family was thriving. He did not want to turn the world of Honkai into a world of Stands, even though doing so would increase their strength against Honkai.

But humanity in the Honkai world was not united at all. He did not want to introduce too many unknown variables.

After a day of rest, the three bid farewell to the others and boarded the SPW Foundation's flight from Cairo to Italy ahead of them.

With the technology of the Honkai era, the flight would have taken only three or four hours. But in this relatively backward age, they had to sit on the plane for a full six hours before arriving.

Fortunately, they arrived at exactly two in the afternoon.

The SPW Foundation personnel received them in Italy. What Joseph had said earlier had not been exaggerated in the slightest. If anything, he had been far too modest.

"I didn't expect these foundation people to be so impressive. But if that's the case, why wasn't it like this when we went to Egypt?"

As Qin Mo looked around, he answered Kiana's question. "That's because Dio had many subordinates as well. Ordinary people were useless in battles between Stand users, and would only add needless casualties. It's like how ordinary people in our world don't know about Honkai."

Kiana nodded. She still did not fully understand, but if this was how things were done, then there had to be a reason.

"Qin Mo, is this person really someone who'll destroy the world in the future?"

Mei was also looking over Enrico Pucci's file. No matter how she looked at it, he seemed like an ordinary person. He was even a respected trainee priest and an outstanding student during his time at seminary. It was hard to imagine that he would become someone who destroyed the world.

"Yes. And it isn't just the future. You've seen his past too, haven't you?"

Qin Mo pulled out a sheet of paper and showed Pucci's past.

"Although it only briefly mentions how he hired someone to break up his sister's relationship, leading to tragedy, his sister's death was caused by his own rash actions after he learned the truth."

The SPW records contained only official information. Although they had even uncovered the fact that he had hired someone, they had not discovered that Weather Report, also known as Weather, was his younger brother.

"Weather, his sister's lover, was his twin brother. After learning this, he did not choose to tell the two of them. Instead, he took it upon himself to hire someone to separate them, causing this tragedy."

"Afterward, he chose to erase his brother's memories and send him to prison."

Father Pucci's past was a tragedy, and he himself was a twisted existence. Qin Mo was in no position to judge him, nor did he want to. He only needed to know that Pucci was an enemy. That was enough. Besides, Pucci possessed something Qin Mo wanted.

After finishing a day of prayers, Pucci, the church's trainee priest, walked home as usual.

There were few pedestrians on this small road, and he enjoyed such tranquility.

Yet at this moment, in stark contrast to the peaceful road, his heart was restless and uneasy.

Because today, he had received news that his closest friend, Dio Brando, had been killed.

He still remembered what had happened a month ago when he went to return the arrow to Dio.

The two had spoken intimately in the room, discussing fate and opening their hearts to one another. After their conversation, Dio gave him one of his bones and became his closest friend.

During that conversation, Dio had also spoken of the concept of "Heaven." For a time, Pucci had felt that he might have found the answer to a question that had troubled him for so long.

But he had also sensed that Dio had foreseen his own death. That was why Dio had told him all this as though entrusting him with his last wishes.

He had once volunteered to stay behind and help Dio fight the Joestar group, but Dio had refused, saying that this was not what his closest friend should do.

Although he had long been prepared, he was still deeply pained when he truly received word of Dio's death. But as long as he could reach "Heaven"...

Pucci took the entrusted bone from his pocket. "Dio, what exactly did you leave behind?"

It looked like nothing more than an ordinary bone. Even though it had been taken from Dio's body, Dio could not revive through this bone.

As he walked, Pucci noticed a young man approaching from the opposite direction.

A tourist?

This town was not some major city, and he had seen nearly every young person in town.

Coupled with Dio's recent death, Pucci had already become vigilant. He was unsure whether the SPW Foundation might trace his connection to Dio.

I'll test him. Let's see his memories...

Unlike those who gained special abilities yet still lived ordinary lives, Pucci was the same type as Kishibe Rohan. He freely used his Stand ability to pry into other people's memories.

However...

This person did not seem suspicious.

The design on his clothing... was that from a manga?

They were probably called otaku, those people who drew manga characters on their clothes.

Forget it. It made no difference. Once I see his memories, I'll know. White Snake!

He called out to it in his mind, but the Stand he expected did not appear.

What was going on?!

White Snake! White Snake!

Pucci's eyes widened instantly as he stared at the young man steadily approaching him.

"A... Stand attack!?"

"That's right, it's a Stand attack. Heaven's Door."

Qin Mo walked step by step until he stood before Pucci. Pucci wanted to flee from the young man before him, but he found that his body could not move even a single step.

Pages began flipping open across his face, one after another.

"White Snake, what a terrifying Stand. I had no choice but to strike first this way."

Qin Mo raised the pen in his hand. Only then did Pucci realize that Qin Mo's clothes were merely plain white garments, and the character printed on them had actually been drawn with a pen.

Qin Mo had no intention of saying more and directly flipped open Pucci's pages.

"So the DISC is hidden in the columbarium, the place where you first met Dio. How interesting."

Qin Mo had searched through Pucci's memories in order to find the DISC he had hidden away. Once he confirmed the location of his target, Qin Mo began writing the contents he had long planned on Pucci's pages.

"Who exactly are you... What do you want?!"

Although Stand users could resist Heaven's Door to a certain extent, they could only retain their consciousness and ability to speak.

"Isn't my purpose obvious?"

You may not use your Stand ability on anyone else.

You may not harm anyone else in any form.

You may not move for ten minutes.

Use White Snake to remove your own DISC.

They were four simple instructions, but the last one was the real focus. The first few were all meant to prevent the fourth instruction from failing.

"What did you do?!"

Ignoring Pucci's questioning, Qin Mo closed the pages on Pucci's face.

The instant they closed, Pucci immediately summoned White Snake, only to discover that his body could not move.

"Hey, hey, hey! What's going on?! Why can't I control myself?!"

White Snake also looked shocked after appearing. It found that its hand was involuntarily reaching toward Pucci's face.

"No, no! Stop!"

White Snake's hand pressed against Pucci's body, and its ability activated instinctively. Pucci soon felt something being pulled out from his face.

Pucci, who often used this ability to take other people's DISCs, naturally knew what it was. It was his DISC! His DISC was being extracted by his own Stand ability!

A human's DISC was essentially their memories. If they were a Stand user, it would also include a Stand DISC.

And now, two DISCs were emerging from Pucci's face. That meant...

White Snake watched its own body disappear bit by bit. "You've got to be kidding me. Something like this can actually happen?"