Foreseeing the Future

"Diavolo."

Li Qing murmured the somewhat familiar name, unable to stop himself from connecting it to the strange scene of "time skipping" from moments ago:

"Could it be... you're the 'Boss' Amor mentioned before she died?"

"After killing them, you never left the area around this hotel at all!"

"That's right."

Diavolo replied calmly:

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

"But I never expected you to appear here without a sound, right under my nose."

"Heh, that really is remarkable!"

Though he praised Li Qing, his eyes were filled with the disdain one reserved for the dead.

Diavolo had committed the grave mistake no intelligent person should make: underestimating his opponent.

Or rather, he had never regarded Li Qing as an opponent at all.

In Diavolo's eyes, Li Qing was like a fly that had accidentally wandered into his house—annoying, certainly, but something he could swat to death with a wave of his hand.

This was not arrogance. He had more than enough confidence that he could kill Li Qing:

Leaving aside his nearly invincible Stand ability, King Crimson's raw strength and speed alone were enough to crush Li Qing as he was now.

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

A in both strength and speed.

Its strength was enough to pierce steel plates with ease, and its speed was so great that the naked eye could barely follow it.

Li Qing, meanwhile, had only reached the limits of the human body. By JOJO's power system, he was at most a "C in both strength and speed."

On top of that, the health bar floating above Li Qing's head exposed how fragile he was, while the "Stand abilities" he had shown so far were all plain, close-range physical attacks.

That meant King Crimson could beat Li Qing senseless with basic attacks alone.

That overwhelming gap in sheer power was enough to give Diavolo a one hundred percent chance of victory.

So, the gaze he turned on Li Qing was exceedingly calm:

"Speak!"

Having realized that he had completely dominated his opponent, Diavolo was no longer in a hurry to send Li Qing to his death:

"Why are you here?"

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

The Passion Organization's business was enormous.

They imported local products from the "Golden Crescent" region of West Asia, transported them through land routes and sea lanes to Italy on the Mediterranean, then used Italy's sales channels to sell those West Asian local products throughout Europe.

It was a massive business, earning several hundred billion lira every year.

Because of those eye-catching profits, Diavolo, as the leader of the Passion Organization, faced exceptionally dangerous challenges every day:

Some were organization executives trying to overthrow their superior, some were rival gangs looking to rob them, and some were elite agents from law enforcement agencies around the world.

Li Qing could not have come alone to investigate him for no reason. Killing Li Qing would only solve the immediate danger; what Diavolo truly wanted was to uproot the problem completely and eliminate all future trouble.

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

"Speak quickly!"

"Tell me your true purpose for coming here, and perhaps I'll let you return alive."

Diavolo demanded from on high in a tone that brooked no question.

"Heh heh."

Li Qing was utterly unmoved. "Stop joking!"

"Amor and the others were beaten to death by me right in front of you, yet you never appeared to save them."

"That's because you know perfectly well that everyone who sees your true face has to die—including your subordinates."

"So why would you let me live?"

At those words, Diavolo immediately dropped his insincere fake smile:

"You're not stupid."

"Then is this your final answer?"

"I..."

Li Qing pressed his lips tightly together and thought desperately:

I can't possibly fight that monster-level speed and strength.

Not to mention Diavolo's invincible Stand ability, which can 'erase time.'

So-called time erasure, simply put, allowed him to "skip over," and thereby "delete," up to around ten seconds of time.

During that period, Diavolo could see what others would do in advance, while only he could move freely.

He could neither be attacked nor attack during that time, but he could move around freely and shift objects as well.

After time was erased, every living creature in the world would fail to experience the passage of that interval and naturally retain no memory of it.

To put it even more plainly:

It was like everyone playing LoL together. As long as Diavolo activated his ability, all the other players would collectively fall into a high-ping lag state.

During that time, the other players could only act unconsciously amid the lag, while Diavolo alone could control his character and move freely.

Even more frighteningly, Diavolo's body and Stand became special existences completely independent of the timeline during that period of "Time Erasure"—which meant nothing could harm him in the process.

It was like a vampire activating W. While the skill was active, he became "untargetable," immune to all attacks.

"Invincible."

"This Stand ability is simply invincible."

After personally experiencing it, Li Qing now had a clear understanding of just how powerful Diavolo was:

His Stand's strength and speed are far beyond mine. He could crush me easily without even using his Stand ability.

Even if I find a way to attack his actual body, I still can't break his invincible skill.

How am I supposed to fight this?

The more Li Qing thought about it, the more he felt like a toad hiding amid the weeds of a flower bed. He had only just painstakingly swallowed two little bugs when a brat suddenly rushed out from the side and whipped him with a lash.

It was not merely unfortunate. It was despairing—so despairing that resistance was impossible.

At this point, all he could do was—

"Don't kill me!"

Li Qing lowered his fists at once and shouted with "heartfelt sincerity":

"You might not believe this, but I really am just an ordinary citizen passing by!"

"I only appeared here because of an accident."

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

"Hm?"

Diavolo frowned deeply:

Begging for mercy? Had he become so desperate that he had lost his mind and believed begging would help?

No, Diavolo did not believe that.

He knew Li Qing had to be stalling for time, trying to find a way to launch a desperate counterattack.

As for what the other man's plan was?

Heh.

Diavolo could not even be bothered to guess. He preferred to simply "see":

"King Crimson—Epitaph!"

Li Qing only knew that Diavolo possessed the invincible ultimate ability of "erasing time," but he did not know that Diavolo had another Stand ability that was just as broken—foreseeing the future.

"Foreseeing the future" needed no explanation to understand:

Diavolo could activate King Crimson's second ability—"Epitaph"—to foresee the future roughly ten seconds ahead and learn in advance what actions his enemy would take.

At this very moment, he activated that mysterious power of precognition.

The future that had yet to occur over the next ten seconds all entered Diavolo's sight:

At first, Li Qing pretended to be desperate and begged pitifully for mercy.

After a string of meaningless pleas, at around the eighth second, Li Qing suddenly erupted into action and fired a "marking orb" at Diavolo's body.

Tragically, Li Qing was simply too slow.

King Crimson did not even need to act. Diavolo merely tilted his head slightly and avoided the "marking orb."

At the ninth second, King Crimson retaliated on the spot, splitting through half of Li Qing's shoulder with a hand chop.

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

However, at around the tenth second—

Bang!

A horrifying bloody hole suddenly opened in his actual body's head.

"Oh?"

Diavolo's pupils contracted:

"So his plan isn't to run away, but to find a way to fight me to the death."

"Heh, what a recklessly bold fellow."

"What a pity."

He curled his lips in disdain:

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