The Future Foreseen

"Diavolo."

Li Qing whispered the strangely familiar name, unable to resist connecting it to the bizarre sight of 'time skipping' he had just witnessed:

"Could it be… you're the 'boss' Amor mentioned before he died?"

"You didn't leave this hotel after killing them!"

"That's right."

Diavolo replied calmly:

"I never leave traces when I do things, so I had to make sure that foolish woman would 'completely' disappear from this world."

"I never expected you to be able to appear here silently without me even noticing."

"Heh, this is truly incredible!"

He praised Li Qing verbally, but his eyes were filled with the disdain one reserves for the dead.

Diavolo had just made a grave mistake that even smart people shouldn't make: underestimating his opponent.

Or rather, he didn't consider Li Qing an opponent at all.

In Diavolo's eyes, Li Qing was like a fly that had accidentally wandered into his house—annoying, but easily swatted away.

This wasn't arrogance; he had enough confidence to kill Li Qing.

Putting aside his arguably invincible Stand ability, just the power and speed of his own 'King Crimson' were enough to crush the current Li Qing.

According to the power system of the JOJO world, King Crimson's stats were:

Power: A, Speed: A.

Its power was so great it could easily pierce steel plates, and its speed was so fast it was imperceptible to the naked eye.

The current Li Qing, however, was only at the peak of human physical limits. In the JOJO power system, he would be at most 'Power: C, Speed: C'.

Furthermore, the health bar floating above Li Qing's head exposed his fragility and low HP. The 'Stand abilities' he had displayed so far were all focused on simple, unadorned close-quarters physical attacks.

This meant King Crimson could easily defeat Li Qing with just basic attacks.

The sheer gap in absolute power was enough to give Diavolo a 100% chance of victory.

Therefore, his gaze towards Li Qing was very calm:

"Speak!"

Realizing he had completely dominated his opponent, Diavolo no longer felt the need to rush Li Qing to his death:

"Why are you here?"

"Do you have a personal grudge against me, or is someone behind you pulling the strings?"

The Passion organization conducted business on a massive scale.

They imported local specialties from the 'Crescent Moon' region of Western Asia, transporting them via land and sea routes to Italy in the Mediterranean. Finally, through their sales channels in Italy, they sold these Western Asian specialties throughout Europe.

This was a colossal business, earning hundreds of billions of lire annually.

Because of this envy-inducing immense profit, Diavolo, as the leader of the Passion organization, faced extremely perilous challenges every day:

There were ambitious subordinates attempting to usurp him, rival gangs looking to double-cross them, and elite agents from law enforcement agencies worldwide.

It was impossible for Li Qing to have come alone to investigate him without reason. Killing Li Qing would only solve the immediate crisis; what Diavolo truly desired was to cut the weeds and eliminate the roots, ensuring no future trouble.

So, for once, he tried to restrain his killing intent.

"Speak quickly!"

"Tell me your true purpose for coming, and perhaps I can let you leave alive."

Diavolo demanded in an irrefutable tone, looking down at Li Qing.

"Heh heh."

Li Qing remained completely unmoved: "Don't be ridiculous!"

"Amor and his group were just beaten to death by me, and you didn't show up to save them."

"That's because you know that anyone who has seen your true form must die—including your subordinates."

"So, how could you possibly let me live?"

Hearing this, Diavolo's insincere smile immediately stopped:

"You're not stupid, after all."

"So, is this your final answer?"

"I—"

Li Qing tightly pressed his lips together, desperately trying to think:

He couldn't possibly contend with that monstrous speed and strength.

Not to mention, Diavolo also possessed the invincible Stand ability that could 'erase time.'

The so-called time erasure, simply put, was the ability to 'skip' and 'delete' a period of time, up to about ten seconds.

During this time, Diavolo can foresee others' future actions, and only he can move freely.

He cannot be attacked or attack during this period, but he can move around freely and also move objects.

When time is erased, all beings in this world will not experience the passage of that time, and naturally will have no memory of it.

To put it another way:

It's like everyone is playing League of Legends together. As long as Diavolo uses his ability, all other players will collectively enter a high-ping lag state.

During this time, other players can only act unconsciously in the lag, and only Diavolo can control his character to move freely.

What's even more terrifying is that Diavolo's main body and Stand are special existences completely independent of the timeline during the "time erasure" period—this means nothing can harm him during this process.

It's like a vampire activating their W ability; when they use it, they are "unselectable" and immune to all attacks.

"Invincible."

"This is simply an invincible Stand ability."

After his direct experience, Li Qing had a clear understanding of Diavolo's power level:

"His Stand's power and speed are far beyond mine; he can crush me easily even without using his Stand ability."

"Even if I can find a way to attack his main body, I can't break through his invincible skill."

"How am I supposed to fight this?"

The more Li Qing thought, the more he felt like a toad amidst weeds on a flower bed. Just after he painstakingly ate two small bugs, he was suddenly whipped by a mischievous child who appeared out of nowhere.

Not only was it unfortunate, but it was also despairing, so despairing that he couldn't resist.

At this point, he could only...

"Don't kill me!"

Li Qing immediately dropped his fists and shouted with "sincere emotion":

"You might not believe me, but I'm just an ordinary citizen passing by!"

"My appearing here is purely accidental."

"Can you... Could you spare my life?"

"Hm?"

Diavolo frowned tightly:

Begging for mercy? Has he despaired to the point of losing his mind and thinking begging would work?

No, Diavolo does not believe this.

He knows Li Qing is definitely stalling for time, trying to find a way to make a desperate counterattack.

As for what his plan is?

Heh.

Diavolo couldn't be bothered to guess; he preferred to "see" directly:

"King Crimson—Epitaph!"

Li Qing only knew that Diavolo possessed the invincible ultimate art of "erasing time," but he was unaware that Diavolo had another almost game-breaking Stand ability—precognition.

This "precognition" is easy to understand without further explanation:

Diavolo can activate King Crimson's second ability—"Epitaph"—to foresee the future about ten seconds ahead, gaining advance knowledge of the enemy's future actions.

At this very moment, he activated that profound and mysterious precognitive ability.

The future that had yet to unfold within the next ten seconds was all laid bare before Diavolo's eyes:

Initially, Li Qing feigned despair and begged for mercy.

After a bout of meaningless pleading, around the 8th second, Li Qing suddenly burst forth and fired a "marker light orb" towards Diavolo's main body.

Tragically, Li Qing's speed was not fast at all.

Without even needing King Crimson to act, Diavolo himself slightly tilted his head and dodged the "marker light orb."

In the 9th second, King Crimson retaliated immediately, piercing half of Li Qing's shoulder with a palm strike.

Li Qing's digitized body healed instantly under such a terrifying attack, but the red health bar floating above his head plummeted in an instant.

However, at approximately the 10th second...

Bang!

A horrifying bloody hole suddenly appeared on the head of his main body.

"Oh?"

Diavolo's pupils contracted:

"His plan wasn't to escape, but to try and fight me to the death."

"Heh, what a daring fellow."

"Too bad."

He sneered dismissively:

"I've already predicted the course of the 'future'!"