Dust billowed, the tremendous force that had driven the monster through the wall still unspent.
Dragging brick fragments and plaster dust with it, its heavy, twisted bulk hurtled out through the ragged breach and crashed down, stirring a dull, reverberating tremor.
"A monster really is a monster..."
Dio murmured, slowly drawing back his right leg and rolling his ankle.
That uncompromising, head-on kick had left a faint but unmistakable pain of cracking bones in his foot.
He looked down-the instant his shoe had collided with the tentacle, the terrifying force of the impact had torn straight through its upper, exposing visibly red, swollen skin beneath.
Not only that, but the recoil from that full-force kick had reopened the old wounds all over his body, which had barely healed to begin with.
Warm blood seeped through his bandages and trickled down his skin, soaking into the dry dust beside his feet to form a slowly spreading patch of dark red.
Yet he felt no sharp pain.
Or rather, the blazing power wrung from deep within his marrow at the moment of impact had drowned out every signal of pain.
All that filled his senses now was boiling adrenaline and a cold, intensely focused will to fight.
Dio hurried to the wall and stopped about two meters from the irregular breach, leaning forward to peer down.
One, two, three...
This was the sixth floor.
A harsh, savage screech rose from below-the monster had actually raised its head and let out a vigorous howl.
It had taken his unrestrained, full-force kick and then fallen solidly from this height, yet there was not a single visible injury on its surface. Even its aura had not weakened in the slightest.
Seriously? Physical attacks were practically useless?
He had only just arrived in this world, and he was already facing something this supernatural?
An ordinary person might have backed down, fled, or made a "tactical withdrawal" at this point.
But Dio wanted to give it a try!
He needed to gauge his place in this world's food chain, to find out just how far this body could go.
He did not hesitate for a moment.
Dio leaped from the breach on the sixth floor.
His body spun rapidly through the air like a precision clockwork mechanism, adjusting his posture and lowering his center of gravity, his eyes locked on the writhing shadow below.
At that moment, his killing intent and urge to destroy ignited like a spark falling into a pool of oil, spontaneously triggering some unknown energy.
The energy wound around his entire body like water, cold and heavy, yet boiling alongside his hot blood.
The monster below sensed the threat.
Several tentacles shot up like giant pythons, weaving a deadly net in midair to strangle Dio, who had nothing to push against as he fell.
In a flash of inspiration, Dio violently twisted his waist and lashed out with his right leg like a battle-axe-
The kick unleashed not only an ear-splitting sonic boom, but also vicious, dancing bolts of black-and-red lightning the instant his shin struck the tentacles!
Black Flash!
The monster's raised tentacles snapped on impact, their severed ends charred black as coal.
Then the dancing lightning spread like thorns, piercing the monster's stitched-together body and blasting it into flying fragments!
All the momentum he had gained from the fall was spent in that strike.
Dio landed lightly, his feet touching the ground without a sound. Only the hem of his clothing stirred in the lingering shock wave.
Watching the black sparks slowly dissipate in the air, he clearly sensed it-that unknown energy arose from tiny sparks of negative emotion.
Now that it had awakened, he no longer needed extreme emotions to guide it. A mere thought let him wield it as naturally as his own limbs.
Then, on impulse, he changed the composition of that emotional spark.
His urge to destroy and his fighting spirit receded like a tide, replaced by a warm, bright intent-as though sunlight had pierced the clouds and life had awakened in the soil.
Warm energy filled his entire body.
The pain of cracked bones in his foot vanished instantly, and his red, swollen skin visibly returned to normal.
The torn wounds all over his body healed completely, his flesh becoming even tougher than before.
His fatigue disappeared without a trace. His body felt healthy and powerful, as though he had rested for a hundred days.
As the positive and negative energies circulated through his body together, a long-sealed door seemed to burst open in the depths of Dio's mind.
He heard a name emerge within his soul like a brand, issuing a silent, majestic summons:
Shikigami-"The World"!
Just as he had hoped, when Dio poured that energy into the mark within his soul, golden light flashed, and a powerfully built humanoid Shikigami appeared beside him, its entire body seemingly cast from gold.
The World bore a certain resemblance to Dio himself.
It wore an ornamental helmet that extended below the bridge of its nose, and a pair of simple diving cylinders rested on its back, connected to the rear of the helmet by short, twin-ridged air tubes.
Thick, padded, ribbed straps secured its body from the back of its waist to the fronts of its shoulders, while striking red heart-shaped ornaments adorned its chin, abdomen, and knees.
"Wryyyyyy-"
Dio unconsciously let out a long howl, a roar born of instinct resonating with his soul.
"Show me everything you have, The World!"
As he cried out The World's name, the newly awakened energy in his body drained away like a flood through opened gates, and the world around him lost its color.
Absolute silence descended.
The monster's remains, dispersing like smoke; the chunks of pavement and gravel thrown up by the delayed shock wave; even the shafts of light filtering through the dust-all froze in midair.
This...
Even the movement of air, the drifting of dust, and the propagation of light itself had fallen into absolute stillness.
Could it be...
Had time stopped?
The legendary power to rule the world!
The moment realization dawned on him, information about the Shikigami The World's ability flooded his consciousness:
"Time Stop"-it halted the flow of the world's time, inserting time into the existing timeline to grant him an exclusive extra turn.
Inserting additional time, accelerating the flow of time by an infinite factor, or imposing an "absolute zero" that brought all motion of matter to a halt-in the eyes of others, any of these could manifest as "time stopping."
However, since Dio could not yet understand how to accomplish the latter two, the unique power manifested by The World had settled on "inserting time."
"Time Stop" could not be activated consecutively. After each use, he had to recover for a certain period in real time before he could use it again.
Next, information about his innate Cursed Technique surfaced in his consciousness as naturally as breathing.
Cursed Technique: "Copy." As its name suggested, it allowed him to unconditionally copy others' Cursed Techniques, reproducing them with remarkable perfection. Through training, he could even develop a copied Cursed Technique further.
However, there were limits to both the number he could copy and the number he could manifest simultaneously. Once a copy was complete, the corresponding memory capacity was occupied and could not be reassigned.
The instant he perceived the information about his Cursed Technique, Dio "saw" an enormous inverted tree, its branches gnarled and its roots reaching upward, with ten star-shaped emblems suspended among its branches.
Three had already lit up-"Kingdom," "Foundation," and "Radiance."
He clearly understood that he could currently copy three Cursed Techniques without conditions, but could manifest only one of them at a time.
The conditions for growth were still unknown. The next node was labeled "Victory." Perhaps he needed enough wins to advance?
A superpower that could copy superpowers was a classic concept. Even with limitations, its strength was undeniable.
But if he wanted to avoid regrets, the Cursed Techniques he copied would need room to grow. He would have to choose carefully.
Dio quickly accepted this reality.
Nine seconds passed, and frozen time began to flow again.
Dust continued to drift, fragments fell to the ground, and shafts of light danced with the floating motes.
He drew a deep breath and used that energy to strengthen the push of his feet, leaping lightly onto the roof of a ten-story building like an arrow loosed from a bow.
A warm breeze brushed his face, and his view suddenly opened up.
As far as he could see, this district was desolate and silent. Abandoned buildings stood like gravestones, the streets were empty, and only dust-coated windows reflected dim golden halos in the slanting sunlight.
Most likely, this was an urban district abandoned after decentralization, exactly the sort of place routinely chosen for gang deals or other affairs best kept out of sight.
"This place really is remote... not a soul around."
Dio gazed toward the bustling streets in the distance, where vehicles and pedestrians flowed in streams, and walked aimlessly onward.
Behind him lay the abandoned buildings and the past, gradually receding.
Ahead lay a brand-new world.
Before you continue