Tactics That Needed No Eyesight

Polnareff risked his life for that brief moment, a chance to glimpse the situation outside.

He gritted his teeth, clenched his fists, his fighting spirit burning in his heart and his blood surging in his chest.

Then he

He was knocked to the ground by the Mirror Man, falling flat on his face.

The previous feat of "sacrificing himself to look into the mirror" seemed to have changed nothing; the Mirror Man still held an absolute advantage, Polnareff was still being mercilessly beaten.

He could do nothing but desperately defend himself against the Riot Games of the Mirror Man.

At first, he could barely hold off the attacks, but as his stamina waned and his injuries accumulated, Polnareff quickly became a punching bag, passively taking hits.

The heavy Riot Games pounded on him again and again, each time producing a terrifying thud.

The bones were beginning to shift and break, and the flesh was visibly bruised and turning purple.

The internal organs were gradually affected by the brutal beating, and blood slowly seeped out from places invisible to the naked eye.

Polnareff's lips were like a leaky red pen tip; no matter how much he tried to wipe it away, he couldn't erase the striking red mark.

Inevitably, his robust body grew weaker and weaker.

If this continues, Polnareff will probably be beaten to death by the Mirror Man very soon.

But Illuso felt that something was amiss.

The "execution" was about to be completed smoothly, the enemy showed no further unusual activity, and Illuso himself was standing safely a dozen meters away.

But he had a strange, uneasy feeling:

Is it really that simple?

Something just doesn't feel right.

Illuso stared intently at Polnareff was constantly on the defensive.

He suddenly realized something was wrong—

Polnareff's modus operandi has changed.

Although both involve being beaten, the ways in which they are beaten are different.

Despite being badly beaten, Polnareff still desperately pushed forward against the Riot Games of the Mirror Man, trying his best to break through the obstruction and get closer to the car, to the mirrors on the car that allowed him to see the outside world.

But

I don't know when it started, but he suddenly stopped working so hard.

Polnareff began to unconsciously shrink back, his movements more inclined to protect himself from the Riot Games of the Mirror Man.

Its modus operandi changed from desperately approaching the mirror to spy on the outside world, but it gradually became about delaying time and minimizing injuries so that it could live longer.

Why did he stop being so keen on getting close to the 'mirror'?

"You should know that in the Mirror World, he was suppressed by the Mirror Man and could not do anything."

"If he wants to fight back and survive, he can only look for opportunities in the real world outside the mirror."

Illuso, however, could understand Polnareff's thoughts quite well.

After putting himself in that position, he quickly realized what was wrong:

"If the only way to find 'opportunities' is to look at the outside world, why did he suddenly stop trying?"

"Is it because you found yourself unable to overcome the barrier created by the Mirror Man that you became disheartened, or is it..."

"He's already found the opportunity he's been looking for in that one glance?!"

Although the probability of spotting an opportunity with just a glance is extremely low, Illuso inexplicably felt that someone like Polnareff was even less likely to give up easily.

"That's right. He must have secretly used an outside substitute to do something!"

Illuso's brow furrowed deeply.

If you can't see the mirror, you can't see what's happening outside. Even if you can command a Stand, you won't know where to tell it to go.

So, he racked his brains trying to figure out what Polnareff could possibly do when the screen was completely black.

This unimaginable situation greatly increased Illuso's unease.

He wanted to walk over to the car and take a good look at the outside world through the car window.

But the Silver Chariot should be standing near the car now, and Illuso is covered in flammable gasoline—

While the Silver Chariot cannot attack Illuso in the Mirror World, it can certainly "cross over" and ignite the gasoline on Illuso's body.

Because the objects in the Mirror World are all reflections of objects in the real world.

This means that if the Silver Chariot were to ignite in the real world, sparks would also appear in the same location in the Mirror World.

Therefore, Illuso would never approach the location of the Silver Chariot, giving the enemy any opportunity to take advantage.

"Fine."

"There is a rearview mirror available here."

Illuso looked around for a moment, then quickly fixed his gaze on the car rearview mirror that had been cut off by the Silver Chariot.

The rearview mirror, which had been flung several meters away by the Silver Chariot's sword strike, was now completely within Illuso's perceived safe zone.

So he quickly ran forward and picked up the rearview mirror from the ground:

"Let me see."

"What exactly is that stand-in outside doing?"

Illuso slightly adjusted the direction of the rearview mirror in his hand.

The Silver Chariot was quickly reflected in the mirror.

It was still standing in roughly the same spot as when Polnareff had "lost sight," not far from the car.

Clearly, with the screen completely black, Polnareff is unable to move his Stand freely by blind operation.

As Illuso observed through his mirror, the Silver Chariot stood motionless, making no movement or sound, looking like a machine that had stopped working.

"How so."

Why isn't it moving at all?

Illuso could hardly believe his eyes:

"Could it be that the broom-haired uncle has already had his stand-in do all the necessary tasks, which is why it's just sitting there motionless?"

"But I should have reacted quickly enough. In such a short time, what could it possibly do?"

The enemy's passive, unresponsive stance actually aroused Illuso's great vigilance.

He couldn't help but widen his eyes and carefully observe the environment around the Silver Chariot.

He believed that the Silver Chariot must have just done something, and such an action would surely have changed the surrounding environment in some way.

Furthermore, since Polnareff cannot blindly control his Stand to move too far, this change must have occurred near Silver Chariot.

Illuso's approach was correct.

He quickly found what he was looking for on the bridge beneath the Silver Chariot:

On the once clean and smooth bridge surface, a dense pattern of "lines" had appeared at some point.

It was clearly carved out of the bridge surface.

"Word?"

Illuso was suddenly startled:

"Those are words. That double just wrote a few lines on the ground in the real world with the blade?!"

"Damn it. Is this what you've been planning?"

"What exactly did you have your double write on the outside?"

Illuso turned his gaze in surprise to Polnareff in the distance.

"What a hassle."

"You found out so quickly!"

Polnareff, who had been silently taking the beatings, finally spoke up.

His cheeks were red, swollen, and deformed from the heavy punches he received from the Mirror Man, but his voice remained calm:

"Although I can't see what's happening outside, I can't control the Stand's actions precisely."

"But if it's just about manipulating the Silver Chariot to write a few lines, I can do that easily without even using my eyes."

"Also, you're so obsessed with taking my life that you've probably forgotten why we ended up here in the first place."

Polnareff laughed so easily.

Illuso was slightly taken aback:

He and Polnareff would meet here, of course, because he was trying to stop the other from taking the ice back to the station.

Polnareff himself was dragged into the Mirror World, and the ice block he was holding fell onto the bridge in the real world.

After that, Illuso stopped caring about the ice.

"But the ice cube is indeed still in the real world!"

"And when I accidentally dropped the ice cube outside, I also dropped some 'other things' along with it."

Polnareff spat out a mouthful of blood and straightened up again:

"Although I myself see no hope of escaping alive, my mission cannot end because of this inevitable death."

"So, at that moment, when I saw a passerby crossing the bridge..."

"I entrusted my 'mission' to him."

"What?!"

Illuso found it somewhat difficult to understand:

Entrusting a mission to a stranger?

That passerby is a complete stranger to you. If he sees a car leaking oil, why doesn't he quickly move away? Why would he come over and help you pick up the ice and take it to the station?

Why should he? Do you think you can pay him a salary?

Etc.

Illuso suddenly realized.

When he pulled Polnareff into the mirror dimension, something seemed to fall out of Polnareff's pocket as he struggled.

Could that thing that fell outside with the ice cube be a wallet?

Illuso immediately thought of the lines of text that the Silver Chariot had carved into the ground.

He quickly took a few steps forward, and only stopped carefully when he could barely see the words.

Clearly engraved on the bridge surface were the following words:

A hefty reward will be offered.

"Please deliver the ice to the train station plaza ahead as soon as possible."

"Note: Keep the prepayment in the wallet next to you. You will receive double the reward after the ice is delivered."