"...Time began to flow again..."
Dio slowly recalled The World, his brow deeply furrowed.
He had just tested it. His Time Stop had indeed grown stronger, but it was nowhere near lasting five seconds.
First, the duration had increased from one second to nearly two, effectively doubling. Testing also showed that its cooldown had dropped from one minute to forty-five seconds.
But...
Was this the arrowhead's effect?
Dio remembered perfectly well that the Stand Arrow's effect was to make Stands evolve.
But wasn't Time Stop already one of The World's original abilities?
And while Time Stop had certainly improved, wouldn't The World's Time Stop gradually grow stronger anyway, as long as Dio practiced diligently?
In other words, rather than saying The World had evolved through the Arrowhead Fragment, it was more accurate to say the Arrowhead Fragment had simply accelerated The World's training.
A suspicion began to form in Dio's mind. To achieve the terrifying effects of Requiem from the manga, a mere fragment of the arrowhead probably wasn't enough.
He would need the complete Stand Arrow to achieve that.
Until then, could the Arrowhead Fragment only spare his Stand the tedious process of training...?
Dio frowned deeply, quietly recalling how it had felt to activate Time Stop earlier.
It felt like... something was different...
Once the cooldown ended, Dio activated Time Stop again.
This time, he quietly focused on the feedback from his Stand.
The next instant, just as Time Stop ended, Dio caught that faint sense of something being off!
A strange thought suddenly rose in his mind-
It seemed... perhaps... maybe I could keep it going?
Once Time Stop reached its limit, continuing it no longer seemed entirely impossible!
At first, the possibility excited Dio, but then his instincts flooded him with intense unease.
It was as though something bad would happen if he followed that hunch and kept Time Stop going beyond its limit.
Dio remembered that abrupt sensation from earlier, as if his personality had switched. He hesitated. Should he really try it?
What if I end up like that again?
The next instant, he steeled himself again-I'll try it!
His Stand had undergone a change he couldn't understand. If he didn't figure it out now, was he supposed to wait until it blew up in his face later?
After resting for a while and waiting out the cooldown, Dio activated his ability again and began his experiment:
"The World!"
"One second passed... two seconds passed..."
"Now!"
Dio's gaze sharpened, and he forcibly suppressed the urge to end Time Stop.
Like a diver who had exhausted his last breath of oxygen underwater but stubbornly refused to surface for air, the first thing he felt was excruciating pain.
It was as though every cell in his body was begging him to stop using the ability.
But.
It really kept going!
The limit on Time Stop, which had previously been completely beyond his control, had truly been broken!
Before elation could flood Dio's heart, a powerful, familiar madness erupted from within him once again!
Sensing that bizarre emotion threatening to take over his mind again, Dio instinctively deactivated Time Stop.
"Huff... hah..."
He gasped violently.
Sweat poured off Dio as he collapsed to the ground, utterly drained. This had been his first attempt at forcibly extending Time Stop, and he had no idea how long he had held on.
It might have been a second, or perhaps a tenth of a second. With that sudden surge of madness closing in, he had completely lost his sense of time.
And...
Dio gritted his teeth, forcibly holding back his laughter.
Yes, his heart was now brimming with exhilaration. A bizarre feeling of I'm invincible dominated his mind, and he kept wanting to let out the strange cry of "wryyy."
Dio was almost certain that if he relaxed his control over his actions and mind now, that alien emotion would seize his brain and make him act in ways completely at odds with his normal personality.
Like extending Time Stop to a full five seconds without any strain...
Dio remembered that familiar "wryyy" cry. It sounded exactly like DIO's.
He raised a hand to cover his chest as a terrifying suspicion formed in his mind.
The severed head of DIO that had accidentally brought him to this world had probably given him more than the invincible Stand, The World. It had also left fragments that shouldn't have been there deep within his soul!
It probably wasn't anything as mystical as fragments of DIO's soul. It was more like an imprint left behind by accident, without any independent consciousness.
But when it erupted, it undoubtedly affected his way of thinking, making him behave as though he had a split personality and do those frenzied yet meaningless things.
This won't do. What if DIO suddenly takes over halfway through a fight...?
Just as Dio was struggling with the possibility that an imprint left by DIO might be hidden deep within his soul...
The World suddenly appeared before him, and Dio stared straight into its scarlet eyes.
The next instant...
He actually felt that emotion begin to recede!
"The World is helping me suppress that emotion?"
Dio felt the emotion in his mind gradually ebb away, and little by little, he regained the ability to think calmly.
"Phew-"
Letting out a long breath, he briefly took stock of the situation. First, Time Stop had grown stronger. That was a good thing.
As for the "new ability" that forcibly extended Time Stop at the risk of being controlled by DIO's emotions, Dio provisionally named it Time Stop Rampage.
As the name suggested, it temporarily split his personality, sending him into a rampage in exchange for a temporarily stronger Time Stop.
What surprised him, however, was that The World could actually suppress that consciousness!
He even had an intuitive sense that if The World grew to the level of DIO's Stand in the original story, or surpassed it, completely eliminating that consciousness might be possible.
That meant obtaining Arrowhead Fragments to accelerate his Stand's growth was now something he had to do, rather than something optional.
So ultimately, although this Arrowhead Fragment hadn't made the miraculous even more miraculous by granting him Requiem, it had still brought Dio enormous benefits.
Just as fate's gifts always came with a price tag attached, Dio found the possibility that some vestige of DIO's will remained in his consciousness troublesome, but not particularly surprising.
Obtaining such immense power without paying any price had been too much to hope for in the first place.
"Phew-"
Dio let out a long breath. Time Stop Rampage was a trump card, but it was also a double-edged sword.
Although the will buried deep within his consciousness didn't seem inclined to emerge on its own, the moment he tried using Time Stop Rampage to extend Time Stop, he would face the danger of losing himself to it.
Fortunately, The World was there as a safeguard, ensuring that his consciousness wouldn't be completely lost.
Wait, if the duration of Time Stop can be extended, what about its cooldown?
Suddenly, Dio felt a little tempted to court death again...
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