For a man as monstrously proud as Diavolo, admitting he was beneath Yu Yachen was nearly impossible.
So Yu's plan was simple: destroy his spirit completely.
Pff!
He spat blood as he was blasted through the rusted factory doors. His back smashed the heavy iron panels inward, denting them deeply. He rolled across the floor several times before finally slamming to a stop.
Luckily, at the last instant, he'd pulled King Crimson between them. Yu's punch had landed on the Stand instead of his body. Otherwise, he would have blacked out on the spot.
Such power… just how strong is this woman's mind?
Wiping the blood from his lips, Diavolo struggled upright.
A Stand's strength depended on its user's mental power. Judging by the sheer force of that blow, that pale pink, feline Stand outclassed King Crimson in both power and speed.
" tch."
But that didn't matter. His Epitaph and time erasure were still one of the most supreme abilities to walk this earth.
He activated his foresight again. The image of the future unfolded across his airborne hair.
He saw—
Yu Yachen stepping casually through the broken factory doors. Diavolo, unwilling to let her come any closer, grabbed a steel pipe and hurled it at her.
Then, suddenly, the vision warped—
Just as the pipe was about to hit, Yu vanished. In the next instant, knives appeared all around Diavolo. He summoned King Crimson, blocking most of them, but several blades still pierced his flesh.
He collapsed in agony. Some of the knives had gone straight into his liver and lungs.
Impossible.
Diavolo's eyes widened. Wasn't that woman's ability supposed to be turning things into dinosaurs?
This wouldn't do. But it was fine—as long as Epitaph's visions didn't coincide with a time erasure, the future could be changed.
All he had to do was erase time right afterward.
"King Crimson!"
He shouted. The heavy drumbeat rolled through the world again. The factory floor and walls cracked and peeled away, vanishing into the void. Diavolo stood on nothingness, circling behind Yu Yachen as King Crimson raised its hand to strike.
He didn't care what her Stand was or how strong it might be. No one could withstand his first unseen strike. No one.
"Time… returns to flow!"
King Crimson roared as its hand chopped down—
But just as its blade-hand was about to touch Yu Yachen, the ticking of a clock running backwards echoed through Diavolo's ears.
Suddenly, his arm wouldn't move.
His hand froze a centimeter from the white-haired woman's shoulder.
"This is… The World."
Yu Yachen turned her head slightly, glancing back at the motionless Diavolo. Her dinosaurized eyes slowly shifted, vertical pupils receding until she could see frozen objects again.
[Terrifying Beast] had given her unparalleled dynamic vision, reaction speed, motor control, and a hide as tough as scales.
Without that Stand, reacting to King Crimson's time-erased ambush would've been nearly impossible.
"Meeting Elena really was the best thing that ever happened to me."
She smiled softly.
In the still world, she sprang back, half-dinosaur body easily clearing three meters. Yu landed atop a pile of stacked metal pipes, squatting there as she watched Diavolo.
At the same time, the boss's fingers twitched faintly.
"Oh?"
Yu laughed quietly, watching him with interest.
"So, as another time-type Stand user, you can resist time stop, too. You can keep your consciousness intact in a frozen world."
"But that's all. Unlike Jotaro and DIO, you don't even have 0.1 seconds of movement."
Propping her cheek on the back of one hand, Yu pressed her hand against her face, squishing her soft cheek out of shape. She looked more like a girl watching a show than someone fighting for her life.
She wanted to shatter Diavolo's mind. And if he could remain conscious in time stop, all the better.
Yu opened her black suit jacket. Inside, rows of razor-sharp table knives gleamed coldly.
"Since you can see… enjoy the show."
Moonlight rippled in her pale blue eyes.
Star Platinum plucked the knives from inside her jacket and hurled them. The blades froze mid-air right in front of Diavolo, their tips all aimed at his vital points. As more and more knives flew, the curtain of steel grew dense enough to trigger trypophobia.
Stop. Please stop.
Yu had been right; cold sweat poured down Diavolo's face. The forest of steel points all aimed at him made his skin crawl.
Being conscious in a time stop wasn't an advantage at all—it was pure, distilled terror.
No… no no no…!!!
"Time resumes."
As soon as the words left Yu's lips, Diavolo summoned King Crimson in a panic, arms a blur as he struck at the incoming hail of blades.
Even time erasure couldn't rewrite his fate. Or perhaps it had—Yu's position differed from what he'd seen in Epitaph—but the result was the same.
Slash!
Several knives stabbed into his arms. Others punched into his abdomen, piercing ribs and organs.
Diavolo coughed up blood, collapsing backward. He twisted at the last moment, rolling to keep the blades from jamming further in as they hit the floor.
"Terra people's bodies… I really want one."
Yu rested her chin on her hand, watching Diavolo as he staggered back to his feet.
Even this wouldn't make him yield.
He was far too proud. To really break a man like that, she'd have to crush him completely.
Judging from his condition, though, he was already at the point where he was ready to stake everything on this fight.
Yu Yachen smiled, just a little.
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