Diavolo

The boss behind the Passion Organization was named Diavolo.

In Spanish, that name meant "demon king." It meant "devil."

His mother had been a lowly prisoner, his father's identity was unknown, and the one who raised him to adulthood had been a gentle, kind-hearted priest.

Strangely, that priest had been a loyal and devout believer in God, yet he had given his adopted son a demon's name.

But it had to be said, the name had not been wrong—

Diavolo had been a demon by nature.

When he had first "made his debut" as a youth, he had emotionlessly killed the birth mother who gave him life, the adoptive father who raised him, every neighbor around him who knew him, and burned down the village where he had lived for nineteen full years.

After founding the Passion Organization, the number of innocents who died by his hand had become even more countless.

Ordinary villains killed and committed evil merely to satisfy their desires, to fight over two terribly vulgar things: women and money.

Yet Diavolo had enjoyed neither.

To prevent his enemies from uncovering his background, to remain firmly seated upon the throne of this underground king, he had lived anonymously and discreetly ever since founding the Passion Organization.

He needed women, but he feared leaving behind traces of his existence. He did not dare let word leak out, much less dare father children.

So every time he sought to indulge his desires, he had to choose a suitable target beforehand, prepare safety measures, and handle the aftermath. Getting into bed was more exhausting for him than going to work was for most people.

Diavolo naturally possessed enormous wealth as well.

But he himself had usually been busy hiding from place to place. To keep a low profile, he only took the most ordinary public transportation and stayed only at the cheapest commoner's inns.

He did not marry, buy land, or have children. He did not love money at all; money held no meaning for him.

So—

What exactly did this man commit evil for?

He committed evil for evil's sake.

Just as people ate meals, dogs ate shit, and Dio ate bread, Diavolo had been born a dark destroyer. To him, murder and evil were as natural as instinct.

As long as he could sit securely upon the throne of this organization's Boss, he could drive the Passion Organization to expand without end, bringing more pain and more chaos to this world.

And those enemies who sought to replace him, strike at his enterprise, and stop his evil deeds would eventually become sacrifices buried beneath Diavolo's throne—

Just like today—

A bald Stand User who did not know his own limits had somehow appeared in a room where he had left traces only recently.

Without question, this was an act of transgression that had to be punished with the harshest sentence.

And although this bald man attempting to investigate his true identity possessed a Stand ability that looked formidable, he was still far from capable of posing a threat to him.

Because Diavolo knew that his Stand was invincible:

"King Crimson!"

A fist—a fist that seemed faster than a bullet—suddenly erupted from behind Li Qing with a thunderous blow.

Li Qing had already sensed that punch.

Yet he could not dodge it.

That fist was simply too fast, so fast that it was enough to make Li Qing despair.

In the end, the punch blasted through his back, pierced his heart, and even burst straight out through his chest.

Like a mink impaled by a pitchfork in a moonlit watermelon field, Li Qing's entire body hung from that fist, unable to move.

Blood sprayed out like a fountain, while bone and flesh were crushed into pulp beneath that punch.

Perhaps because the punch had been too fast, Li Qing did not even feel pain at that moment. He only felt that he could not catch his breath.

"Urgh..."

His eyes widened as he held onto the last shred of clarity in his mind.

Then, at that critical moment, Li Qing promptly used his "Stand ability":

"the Blind Monk!"

Digitization Mode activated instantly. The gushing blood solidified in an instant, and his shattered body began to rapidly recover.

Li Qing successfully preserved his life.

But even so, his health bar, which had recovered to 100% after leveling up, abruptly dropped to 53% from that single punch.

Two more hits, and he would die on the spot.

It had to be known that Li Qing's health and defense had both greatly increased after leveling up.

In other words—

Under the system's damage calculations, that punch dealt several times more damage to him than a bullet fired from a handgun at close range.

Is that even human?

Li Qing exclaimed inwardly, but immediately arrived at the answer:

Obviously not.

His keen senses told him that the thing that had punched through his chest from behind was like a corpse. It had neither heartbeat nor breath.

Strangely, Li Qing could also sense an incomparably powerful spiritual force from that thing.

And the man he had sensed earlier, the one with a heartbeat and breath, was standing behind that thing—standing about two meters away from him. No, about two meters away from it.

"The one attacking me isn't human. It's a Stand—the Stand of that man two meters away!"

"This is a Stand attack!"

Luckily, Li Qing had watched two episodes of JOJO, so he was still able to find an explanation for this bizarre situation right away.

And his guess had indeed been correct.

If Li Qing still had his vision now, then upon turning around, he would have seen this scene:

Two meters away stood a middle-aged man with a youthful face, sharp eyes, an evil aura, and a head of striking rose-red long hair hanging loose around him. One hand rested on his hip, one calf was slightly bent, and his body leaned forward in a strange yet fashionable pose.

That was Diavolo—Diavolo in his identity as the "Boss."

And standing tightly behind Li Qing, two meters in front of him, was a tall, burly humanoid Stand with knotted muscles—

King Crimson!

A "Stand" was an incarnation of pure spiritual energy, something akin to a ghost.

To a certain extent, a Stand's appearance could reflect its master's true inner world.

And King Crimson's appearance perfectly displayed Diavolo's evil and terror:

It stood nearly two meters tall, with a savage and terrifying expression. A small mask-like face grew from its forehead, and red-and-white patterns covered its body, making it appear profoundly sinister.

It was like a humanoid demonic beast with bulging muscles, and also like a cold, merciless killing machine.

Merely standing beside it made Li Qing instinctively feel an indescribable pressure.

"So strong."

Combined with the thick arm still firmly embedded in his body, Li Qing deeply realized the danger he was in.

He hurriedly shifted his body forward, trying to free himself from the fist that had pierced through his chest.

And King Crimson did not stop Li Qing's movements at all.

Because its master, Diavolo, was standing indifferently not far away, quietly admiring Li Qing's feeble, powerless struggle with the cold gaze one used to look at a dead man:

"Not dead?"

"It seems your Stand ability is even more powerful than I imagined."

Thanks to Amor, Diavolo had learned much important intelligence about Li Qing's "Stand ability" in advance.

He knew that a "health bar" would appear over Li Qing's head whenever Li Qing used his Stand ability. As long as he watched to see whether that bizarre red frame appeared above Li Qing's head, he could determine whether Li Qing was using his Stand ability.

So Diavolo had been waiting at the side for the best opportunity to strike, seeking to kill Li Qing in one blow before he activated his "Stand ability."

The plan had succeeded, but Li Qing had still survived by the narrowest of margins.

"A mistake."

"I should have aimed for the head just now."

Diavolo spoke words of reflection, but there was not the slightest hint of seriousness in his tone.

As though observing a rare animal, he studied Li Qing with great interest. Li Qing's chest had just been pierced through by a fist, yet not a single drop of blood flowed from it now:

"After having your heart crushed by a single punch from my King Crimson, you can still move freely without being affected."

"And after breaking free from King Crimson's fist, that gaping hole in your chest instantly recovered until it was completely intact."

"Amor's report was correct. You can only 'take damage,' but you cannot 'be injured.'"

"Not bad. Your Stand ability is very strong."

"It is more than enough to deal with mortals like Amor."

"Unfortunately."

That voice suddenly gained a hint of lofty arrogance:

"The one standing before you now—"

"Is I, Diavolo!"