This Is Fate

Diavolo was furious.

No matter who it was, suddenly hearing some "fortune-teller" shouting that they would "suffer a bloody disaster within three days" would put anyone in a bad mood.

What truly angered Diavolo was that, though he did not want to admit it, he actually somewhat believed Scarlet's nonsense about "fate."

Because he had always been someone who believed in fate.

More than a decade ago, when Diavolo had merely been an ordinary serial killer, he had encountered a fortune-teller named Enya the Hag in Egypt and received a prediction from her—a prophecy:

"You will become an emperor hidden within the darkness."

"Light and darkness, surface and depths—so long as this secret exists, the deaths of others will continually bring you happiness, and your glory and wealth will never fade."

That prediction had clearly come true.

Diavolo had always carefully concealed his true identity, following the path inscribed by fate and enjoying his inexhaustible glory in the darkness.

But now...

According to this mysterious Stand User, he seemed to have become someone abandoned by fate.

"Impossible. Absolutely impossible."

Diavolo growled under his breath.

"I don't believe it. You must be spouting nonsense, trying to interfere with my mind!"

"Is there any point in that?"

Scarlet sighed softly. "We are all merely slaves to fate."

"Whether you resist or refuse to believe, it is useless."

"Rather than deceive yourself, accept your fate calmly. Touch Rolling Stones, and let it bring you a painless death."

Although Scarlet was currently forced to face away from him, Diavolo could still imagine his expression—

It had to be the gaze one gave a dying man, filled with a nauseating pity.

"Bastard!"

"How could my fate, Diavolo's fate, possibly be decided by some tiny stone?"

Gritting his teeth, he ordered King Crimson to grab Scarlet and hurl him heavily to the ground as if venting his rage.

At last, Diavolo stepped on Scarlet's neck.

"A stone of fate, is it?"

"Then let me ask you. Since you believe so much in this stone's prophecy, did it tell you—"

"Would you die today?!"

"Of course." Scarlet gave a soft snort.

Even with his neck being violently crushed beneath Diavolo's foot, even as his cheek scraped against the ground until it bled, he remained so calm—calm like a corpse that had long ceased breathing.

Scarlet did not even struggle. He merely said evenly,

"At around eight this morning, Rolling Stones suddenly changed. It carved out the manner of my death!"

"Not only do I know I will die, I also know how I will die—"

"A bullet will pierce my heart, and I will die from excessive blood loss."

"..."

Faced with someone who neither feared death nor even regarded himself as already dead, Diavolo did not know what to say.

Meanwhile, Scarlet continued.

"I knew I was destined to die, but I still found a way to refuse Rolling Stones' painless death."

"Because at that time, besides carving out my death, Rolling Stones also reacted to another person's fate—yours."

"I thought..."

"There must have been something linking your fate and mine."

"So instead of dying immediately, I followed Rolling Stones' location to find you, the man who had been sentenced to death by fate alongside me."

"Still... I never expected our 'connection' to be like this."

He smiled bitterly, then muttered as if possessed,

"If I had not come looking for you, perhaps I would not have died."

"But with my personality, I definitely would have come looking for you."

"Haha... Fate. This is fate!"

"Enough. Enough!"

Diavolo could not listen any longer.

The shackles called "fate" vaguely made him feel as though he could not breathe.

"I don't believe it."

"Is this so-called fate truly impossible to change?!"

"Right. Hahaha."

He suddenly laughed viciously.

"Scarlet, didn't you say that the fate shown by Rolling Stones is absolutely accurate?"

"It foretold that your heart would be pierced by bullets, right?"

"Hahaha..."

Diavolo crouched down and grabbed Scarlet by the throat instead.

"Fate says you will die by gunfire, but there's suffocation, blunt force, a pierced chest, a crushed skull, slit veins, flayed skin..."

"I can think of a hundred different ways to kill you!"

"Come on."

"Call out your Rolling Stones and make it predict again. Let's see which method I'll use!"

"..."

Enduring the enormous force around his neck, Scarlet struggled to force out a sentence.

"Don't waste your effort."

"No matter what you do, I will die by gunfire, just as Rolling Stones has shown."

"Wrong answer."

Diavolo smiled coldly.

"Looks like your Rolling Stones is not as accurate as you claimed."

As soon as he finished speaking, he prepared to increase the strength in his hand and strangle Scarlet to death.

But just then—

"Stop!"

"Don't move!"

Two sharp shouts suddenly rang out from the entrance of the alley.

They came from two young police officers armed with guns.

They had received an emergency report and come specifically to investigate the taxi driver's murder.

From their angle, Diavolo was pinning an innocent civilian to the ground and using murderous force to strangle him.

"Stop right now!"

The two young officers held their guns, nervously aiming at Diavolo from behind.

"You pink-haired bastard."

"Get off that man!"

"Police? Damn it..." Diavolo did not turn around. "Did they come because I lost control and shouted just now?"

"Hey!"

The two young officers behind him continued to bark orders.

"If you don't stop, we'll open fire!"

"Wait."

One of the officers suddenly noticed something.

"Pink hair... This guy... this guy is the lunatic who just killed that taxi driver and ran away, isn't he?!"

"F-fire!"

Upon realizing he was facing a deranged killer, the young officer immediately lost control and pulled the trigger.

Amid the gun smoke, the bullet left the barrel.

The gunshot, like exploding beans, also jolted his colleague's taut nerves, causing the other officer to fire instinctively as well.

Bang! Bang!

Two bullets shot directly toward Diavolo's back from a distance of merely three or four meters.

"Damn it!"

Diavolo had not expected those rookie cops to fire so recklessly.

As the superior of the superior of the superior shielding their superiors, he dearly wished he could make one call and fire these two rookies for such a severe breach of discipline.

But with the bullets about to hit his back, Diavolo had no time to think.

"King Crimson!"

Having no other choice, he instinctively activated Time Erasure.

Diavolo's body instantly became a void-like existence independent of the timeline, and the bullets passed straight through him without effect.

Then, while Time Erasure had not yet ended and everyone was acting unconsciously, he calmly walked deeper into the darker alley.

At last, the Time Erasure ended.

Diavolo had completely vanished from the two officers' sight.

"Huh?"

"W-where did he go?!"

The two young officers' faces changed drastically at once. "H-how is that possible?"

"That pink-haired man disappeared!"

"Then... where did our bullets go?"

The answer was obvious.

The bullets they had fired had all passed through Diavolo's body and struck Scarlet, who had originally been pinned beneath him.

Scarlet's heart had been pierced from behind by the bullets. Blood gushed out like a spring, and he clearly would not survive.

"Hehe."

"How could mortal weapons like that hurt me? I should thank you for helping me deal with this..."

In the distance, Diavolo instinctively felt a small surge of smug satisfaction, and then—

"Wait?!"

Diavolo abruptly stopped walking away and turned back with difficulty.

"He... he..."

"He was still shot to death?!"

In the pool of blood, Scarlet used the last of his strength to raise his head with difficulty.

His eyes, gradually losing their light, clearly said:

"See? This is fate."