The First Bomb

Killer Queen's ability was to turn any object touched by his fingers into a bomb. Then, all he had to do was press his right thumb down as though pushing a button to detonate it.

The bomb could explode in two ways. In one, the person who touched the bomb would be blown up, while the object turned into a bomb remained intact. In the other, the object itself would explode.

He could choose which part of the object turned into a bomb would explode. Whatever was blown up would turn to ash, and the explosion was silent.

Killer Queen could only create one bomb at a time, and an object turned into a bomb could only explode once.

Killer Queen also had a second bomb in his left hand: Sheer Heart Attack.

As Joey walked toward the door, the basic details of Killer Queen's abilities flashed through his mind. These were also the abilities Killer Queen currently possessed.

But Joey had only taken two steps when the shouts outside turned into a clamor of terrified screams. Those screams rapidly became agonized shrieks and frantic, chaotic cries.

Something's happened! The thought sprang into Joey's mind at once, but his feet never stopped. Instead, he quickened his pace and darted straight to the window.

He carefully lifted a corner of the coarse cloth covering the window, only to see a scene that made his entire body freeze.

Bizarre monsters that looked as though they had been pieced together from several different creatures were streaming out of the woods near the village. Above them, monsters with insect wings kept swooping down on the villagers fleeing for their lives.

The monsters were not particularly large. Most were only a little taller and more heavily built than an adult, but their horrific appearances and cold, brutal methods made them utterly terrifying.

In the blink of an eye, the once-peaceful village had become a living hell under the onslaught of a dozen or so monsters.

The villager who had been pounding on his door earlier was nowhere to be seen.

Yet the monsters did not seem intent on killing all the villagers. Many were simply being captured, as though the monsters planned to bundle them up and carry them away.

Joey felt his heart pounding faster and faster, as though it might break two hundred beats per minute.

His mind went completely blank.

Even though he had already survived one brief life-or-death struggle, he could not quickly adjust to the brutal spectacle outside, where the strong preyed on the weak.

Only when a crash came from the doorway did Joey shudder and regain his ability to think.

A monster had spotted him!

Turning around, Joey's gaze fell on Killer Queen. He took a deep breath, trying hard to steady himself, but his body trembled uncontrollably.

Clenching his chattering teeth, Joey forced himself to move toward the door, which was being battered and could break apart at any moment.

At the same time, he desperately tried to calm down and think carefully, because he knew that was his only chance of survival!

Joey stopped less than two meters from the door. Killer Queen moved in front of him of his own accord, staring intently at the doorway just as Joey was.

Two meters. That was Killer Queen's maximum effective attack range.

More precisely, it was the maximum distance Killer Queen could move away from Joey's body.

Joey had only just gotten ready when a sharp segment of a jointed limb pierced the wooden door. It looked just like the blade of a mantis's foreleg, tough and razor-sharp.

Creaking and cracking sounds came from the door, making Joey's heart beat faster still.

The pounding seemed to echo directly in his ears.

Killer Queen, meanwhile, edged toward the scythe-like limb, which was beginning to withdraw after piercing the door, and reached out a finger to touch it.

Nothing unexpected happened. Killer Queen's hand touched the sharp limb with ease.

At that instant, Joey let out a silent cry in his heart. From now on, whenever he wished, pressing his right thumb down as though pushing a button would spell the death of the monster outside. The moment that touch landed, the monster had become his bomb.

But as Joey gradually calmed down, he knew this was not the best time to trigger the explosion.

There was more than one monster outside the house. He had seen a dozen or so through the window, and there were likely more hiding in the dense woods. His best option was to lure this monster into the room before killing it.

According to JoJo's rules, anyone who was not a Stand User could not see Stands. But Joey himself had seen a Stand despite not being a Stand User at the time, so he could not be certain that the creatures outside would be unable to see Killer Queen.

Besides, although Killer Queen's ability could kill the target silently, it could not conceal the light produced by the explosion.

That flash could easily draw the attention of more monsters, and Joey was not sure he could survive being surrounded by them. Yet killing this monster and then hiding until he could escape did not seem very feasible to him either.

Unconsciously biting his nails, Joey recalled what he had seen earlier and realized something that put him in grave danger: these bizarre monsters seemed to possess a degree of intelligence!

If so, there was almost no chance they would fail to notice a missing companion.

And so, in those brief moments, Joey concluded that he had only two options. The first was to kill the monster breaking in, then flee through the back window.

His earlier observations had shown him that the monsters were emerging from the nearby woods, making the back window fairly likely to be safe. If he could get out that way and hide in the woods, his chances of surviving would improve considerably.

The other option was to use this house as a stronghold and try to wipe out every monster outside with his ability.

Joey barely hesitated between the two before making his decision: run.

There was no telling how many monsters remained in the dense woods. Escaping the village was his only way to survive right now. Otherwise, once a fight broke out and he was discovered, all that awaited him was death under a swarm of attackers.

But he still had some preparations to make before leaving. He needed to take supplies from the room: dried rations, water, flint, weapons, rope, and anything else useful for surviving in the wilderness. Ideally, he would find a map of the surrounding terrain.

Without those things, even with some wilderness survival experience, he would struggle to get anywhere after leaving the village.

He also needed a decoy to draw the attention of the airborne monsters. Otherwise, even if he made it out of the house, they would spot him before he had a chance to hide.

Fortunately, he already had some ideas about a decoy, so gathering useful supplies was now his more urgent concern.

He had little time left. The monster that had hacked an opening in the door had already seen him inside.

Joey easily found a few basic necessities in the kitchen. But when he opened the cabinet beside the bed, pulled out a cloth bundle, and unwrapped it, he froze.

The things inside were items he did not think should exist in this village, at least as he understood it.

A handgun!

Grenades!

A cell phone!

A flashlight!

There was also a map covered in markings and a wallet made from some unknown animal's hide, which seemed to give off a soft white glow to his eyes.

Inside the wallet were several banknotes and something resembling an identification document. The photo showed a handsome young man with black hair, wearing a white combat uniform and holding an assault rifle.

Below the photo was Joey's former name: Yoshikage Kira.

What was going on?