Rolling Stones

A few minutes later.

A taxi had crashed into the roadside, blood had splattered across the sidewalk, and a corpse with its head smashed open lay there. Passersby gathered around to gossip, while traffic had backed up into an impenetrable jam.

The street became even livelier.

A tall, fashionably dressed young man with purple hair slowly walked over to the taxi, then casually grabbed a passerby and asked:

"Um."

The purple-haired young man asked in a complicated tone, "Excuse me, did someone die here?"

"Isn't that obvious?"

"Isn't the body right there?"

The passerby instinctively glanced at the purple-haired young man, then said excitedly:

"Listen to me."

"I saw everything that just happened!"

"My God, I'd bet anyone who hadn't seen it would think I was talking nonsense."

His face was as red as a ripe apple, and his eyebrows wriggled excitedly.

"Even through the car window, I could see it clearly. The one who did it was a young guy with pink hair."

"He grabbed that poor driver's head like he was holding a half-dead groundhog."

"Then he pressed the guy's head down and smashed it against something. I couldn't even tell what."

"With just one hit, blood started pouring out like a faucet had been turned on."

"His nose was twisted to one side, his eye socket split open, and his eyeball burst out. It was like my grandmother's fruit salad—red, white, and purple, all mixed together beyond recognition."

"But that lunatic still didn't stop—"

"The driver's head was mashed up on one side like ketchup from a shattered bottle before he finally panicked, got out of the car, and ran away. Yeah, that lunatic is still out there running around!"

"That's just horrifying!"

The passerby described it vividly, but the purple-haired young man who had come to ask no longer had the patience to listen.

He interrupted helplessly:

"Sorry, that's not what I wanted to ask."

"I wanted to know whether anyone died—a quiet death, like a natural death."

"Huh?"

The passerby froze slightly. "Who would suddenly die quietly in the middle of the street?"

"Even if it were sudden death, they'd struggle pretty violently, wouldn't they?"

"Oh."

"I understand. Thank you."

The purple-haired young man perfunctorily bade farewell to the talkative passerby, then turned and walked away alone.

It seemed he had heard what he wanted to hear, yet also hadn't.

"No one died quietly. That means..."

"This time, the target chosen by Rolling Stones refused to face his fate?"

The purple-haired young man muttered to himself as he walked, his expression growing increasingly complicated.

And just as he passed the entrance to an alley—

From that narrow, dim alley barely wedged between two buildings, a powerful arm suddenly stretched out. Its muscles bulged, and strange red-and-white patterns covered it.

"Th-That's a human hand?"

The purple-haired young man's eyes widened in shock.

Before he could react, the mysterious figure easily dragged him into the alley and pinned him hard against the wall.

"Don't turn around."

Diavolo's voice rang out coldly.

He carefully studied the purple-haired young man, whose head was nearly embedded in the wall by King Crimson's grip. After a moment of silence, he asked:

"You're the Stand User who attacked me earlier, aren't you?"

"That stone."

"It could only act mechanically according to instinct. Clearly, it was a long-range automatic Stand."

"This type of Stand could act independently without its user's control. Even if it was damaged, it wouldn't affect the Stand User himself."

"Finding the user of such a Stand was indeed troublesome, but..."

Diavolo gave a disdainful snort.

"Because it acted independently from its user, the Stand User had no way of knowing what happened to the Stand or whether the battle was won or lost."

"That meant that even if they could hide far away during the fight..."

"Once the battle ended, they still had to come to the scene to confirm the results."

"So."

He curled his lip slightly.

"After completely destroying your Stand, I hid nearby and waited."

"Sure enough, you fool couldn't wait any longer and came to the scene to confirm the results."

After hearing Diavolo's oppressive explanation—

The purple-haired young man's response was:

"A Stand?"

"What's a Stand?"

"You?!"

Diavolo's eyes suddenly widened.

"You still dare to put on an act in front of me?"

"Idiot. Are you underestimating my judgment? Do you think I'll believe that stone wasn't your Stand just because you try to fool me?"

"Talk!"

"Who are you? Why did you attack me? And do you have anything to do with that bald guy called Li Qing?!"

"I see."

The purple-haired young man let out a deep sigh.

Rather than immediately defend himself, he calmly introduced himself first:

"My name is Scarlet. I'm an ordinary sculptor."

"I don't know any bald man called Li Qing, and I absolutely never intended to attack you."

"After all."

Scarlet, who was pinned immovably against the wall, said:

"I don't know who you are. I haven't even seen your face yet."

"As for that stone you mentioned..."

"I don't know what you mean by 'Stand.' If you mean that stone, then it's some kind of special ability I awakened when I was young."

"I call it 'Rolling Stones.'"

"Rolling Stones?"

Diavolo frowned tightly. "So in the end, it's still the Stand you released!"

"No, no, no."

Scarlet hurriedly denied it.

"Michelangelo, who shone brilliantly during the Renaissance, once said:"

"When I carve marble, I have no thoughts in my mind. I never consider what shape the stone should become, because the stone itself has already revealed the shape it ought to take. All I do is extract that shape from the stone."

"..."

Diavolo fell silent for a moment, then ordered King Crimson to seize the other man's neck from behind.

"Speak normally!"

"Cough, cough."

Scarlet coughed violently from the choking grip.

"What I mean is..."

"I have no way of commanding Rolling Stones. It acts entirely according to its own will."

"It is the Stone of Fate!"

"It senses the fate of those who are about to die, then carves itself into the 'shape of that person's fate'—in other words, the way they will die."

"At the same time, it continually tracks down that person."

"Once the person who is about to die—that is, you—touches Rolling Stones, Rolling Stones lets you accept your inevitable fate ahead of time and die peacefully without any pain."

"And the reason I came here wasn't to check on any battle results."

He paused slightly, and there was even a hint of pity in his voice.

"I merely sensed Rolling Stones moving, so I came to see that poor fellow who was about to die."

"..."

Diavolo fell silent again.

This time, boundless fury brewed within that silence.

"Bastard!"

"You reckless fool, are you saying..."

"That I, the invincible Diavolo, the Dark Emperor who controls all of Italy, am about to die?!"

"That's right."

Scarlet's voice was utterly calm.

"Since Rolling Stones came for you, that means you will die very soon."

"This is fate!"

"All of us are merely slaves to fate."

"You saw it, didn't you?"

"When it comes for you, it carves itself into the form you will have at the moment of death—"

"Maybe a few hours, maybe a few weeks. At most, within a month, you will die in the manner shown by that stone sculpture."

"Bullshit!!"

Diavolo roared in uncontrollable rage.

"A fate that has already been decided?"

"A sculpted death?"

"Your useless stone Stand was completely destroyed by me long ago!"

"It didn't carve anything before I smashed it into powder and scattered it into the air!"

"What sculpture?"

"What fate!"

"This..."

Hearing Diavolo's somewhat unhinged roar, Scarlet's expression changed drastically.

"Y-You mean..."

"After Rolling Stones came for you, it turned into powder without carving anything?"

"That's right!"

Diavolo said resentfully:

"If you want to mess with my mind, at least make up a convincing lie."

"Some future manner of death, some predetermined fate..."

"I don't believe it!"

Facing Diavolo's faintly crazed howl, Scarlet's tone somehow grew even more pitying.

"I'm sorry."

"I've never seen this happen before."

"But."

"Since Rolling Stones came for you, that means you will definitely die sometime soon."

"And since it was completely destroyed before it could carve your manner of death, then perhaps..."

Scarlet swallowed and said:

"Your death will be so miserable that it cannot be expressed through the art of sculpture."

Stand Profile

Stand Name—"Rolling Stones"

User—Scarlet

Destructive Power: None

Speed: B

Range: A

Persistence: A

Precision: E

Growth Potential: None

Ability: It took the form of a stone carved with the character "Fierce." The stone automatically transformed into the likeness of someone about to die and continuously pursued that person. When that person touched the Stand, they died peacefully without suffering any pain. If someone who was not about to die touched it, nothing happened. It was classified as a fully automatic Stand, but the force that drove it was "fate," and even Scarlet could not control it.