Step. Step.
Despite the loss of his right arm, the figure steadily closing the distance through the stilled world radiated an overwhelming sense of menace.
If it weren't for the fact that time had already been stopped, Accelerator wouldn't have bothered with such a slow approach.
In this state, even if he were to uproot the ground and hurl it, the debris would simply freeze in mid-air once it left his immediate field of influence. Hits easiest and most effective method of attack was a direct, physical touch.
Furthermore, his current magical consumption was exceptional. Even with the support of Yuuki, he only had about ten minutes of operational time before his calculations would falter.
He didn't have any interest in talking to these people. He only wanted to wipe them all out in one fell swoop.
There would never be a better opportunity to eliminate so many Masters and Servants at once.
"He's serious..."
Subaru Natsuki could see it in the boy's eyes. Accelerator genuinely intended to slaughter everyone present.
If they didn't release the time-stop, they would be trapped in this one-sided killing field where only the white-haired monster could move.
But if they did release it, the rampaging Great Ape would resume its destruction, likely vaporizing them all anyway.
Trapped between Accelerator on the inside and the Great Ape on the outside...
The situation was beyond hopeless.
'Is this really how it's going to end?'
"This is truly bizarre. I actually cannot override this particular time-stop."
"I can sense the flow of time within my own body, but I cannot project that movement onto the world."
DIO stared at his surroundings, his mood becoming increasingly frustrated.
He was intimately familiar with the sensation of frozen time, but this was the first time he had encountered a "Pause" that was a higher specification than his own.
It made him realize that the quality and scale of his opponent's temporal manipulation were far superior to his own.
'Is it Jotaro?'
He turned his gaze toward the massive figure of the Great Ape, his mind racing.
On the flight to this town, he had experienced a massive time-stop that had lasted for what felt like ten minutes.
If Jotaro had spent the last eleven years honing his Stand, it was possible he had achieved such a level.
Having been defeated once before, DIO wasn't about to underestimate his fated rival.
He wasn't the only master of time in this war.
In fact, he suspected that when the war first began, he might have been the one with the least proficiency over the domain of seconds.
Drinking the blood of Yoshikage Kira had been a necessary evolution, but even that might not be enough.
"Good grief... when is this going to end?"
Being conscious within a world of frozen time, unable to act, was a unique form of torture.
The fear of being trapped in this state forever, never knowing if time would ever resume, was starting to gnaw at DIO's resolve.
'This time, I will be the one to transcend fate.'
"Ugh!"
"My hand--"
"Rohan!"
Josuke shouted as he watched Rohan Kishibe's Stand, [Heaven's Door], attempt to touch Accelerator.
The Stand had suddenly crumpled, its form twisting into a distorted mess before being violently repelled through the air.
Because the Stand's damage was linked to the user, Rohan's arm had snapped into a similarly grotesque angle.
"Crazy Diamond!!"
Josuke immediately activated his restoration power to heal the injury, his face pale with concern.
If they couldn't even get [Heaven's Door] close enough to write a command, then neither he nor Jotaro had a ghost of a chance in close combat.
"Does this guy have any weaknesses at all?!"
Josuke screamed the question at Subaru.
The boy seemed to know the true names and histories of almost every Heroic Spirit they encountered. If anyone had a solution, it was him.
"Well..."
"If you can present him with a phenomenon that his brain is incapable of calculating, then in theory, you could break through his [Reflection]."
Subaru was brutally honest. He didn't hide his mounting dread.
In reality, he believe that anyone currently on the field had even a remote chance of victory.
Normally, a Stand would be something Accelerator would have zero knowledge of, making it a potentially uncalculable vector.
However, when the Servants and Masters were summoned into this war, they were granted a baseline of local knowledge and concepts to facilitate the conflict.
This had evidently given Accelerator enough of a data set to begin processing the "Vectors" of the spiritual manifestations.
The fact that he could adjust his calculations to move within stopped time was far beyond Subaru's worst expectations.
If Accelerator could now process and calculate "Time" as a variable...
There was no conventional way to deal with him.
Thinking through the implications, Subaru reached a grim decision.
"Kill me."
He looked directly at Homura Akemi, his eyes burning with a sudden, localized resolve.
"?"
"!"
Miyu and Homura stared at him as if he had suddenly grown a second head.
"What did you just say?"
Homura's voice was cold, her confusion laced with suspicion.
"Don't worry about the why."
"Just put a bullet through my heart. A quick death is all I ask for."
"If you do this, there is still a chance to fix everything."
He spoke with such casual ease that it didn't even sound like a request for suicide.
It was as if he were asking someone to hand over a glass of water. It was a level of indifference toward his own life that unsettled everyone present.
"Do you intend to sacrifice yourself to remove the threat of your Servant?"
Homura narrowed her eyes.
If the Master was eliminated, the Great Ape would naturally be forced to de-manifest and return to the Grail according to the rules of the war.
That would leave them only with the problem of the Berserker.
But such a "selfless" act felt fundamentally wrong based on the Subaru she had observed.
In a war where the [Dragon Ball] could grant any wish, why would any Master choose to exit the stage so early?
Especially someone who appeared as desperate to survive as he did?
"Why are you being so calm about this, Mr. Subaru?"
Miyu reached for Homura's hand, her small voice filled with a quiet, profound sadness.
"Aren't you afraid of dying?"
"Of course I'm afraid. I'm terrified! But look at this town... it's already been destroyed. The only way to fix any of this is to use the Dragon Balls anyway."
"And if we let Goku keep going, the entire world might be finished... not to mention we still have to find a way to stop Accelerator."
Subaru offered a weak, weary smile.
He was terrified of the pain. The sensation of his life force flickering out was something he had tasted more times than he could count, and it never became easier.
But if he could change the outcome, he would do it.
At the very least, he would ensure that the Great Ape never had a chance to manifest in Morioh Town ever again.
"Or... were you planning to use your [Time Rewind] to fix it yourself?"
Subaru's lips curled into a slight, knowing smirk as he revealed the secret Homura had been hiding from the others.
"?!"
Hearing her ultimate Trump Card mentioned so casually, Homura's thumb instinctively flicked the safety on her handgun.
The JoJo group watched the exchange in utter bewilderment.
"What are you guys doing?!"
"Stop it right now!"
Rohan shouted, but his voice was lost in the tension between the two Masters.
Why were they turning on each other now? Shouldn't they be working together to find a way to stop the white haired demon?
"You are a dangerous individual..."
Homura pointed the barrel of her gun directly at Subaru's heart, her voice a low, lethal whisper.
The fact that someone knew her secret, her most precious and guarded "Noble Phantasm," filled her with a sudden, overwhelming urge to eliminate him.
If her secrets were being traded like common currency, she couldn't guarantee that the other Masters wouldn't develop a countermeasure.
The best way to keep a secret was to bury it with the person who knew it.
"Yeah. That's the look."
"Go ahead. Do it."
Seeing the way Homura's finger tightened on the trigger, Subaru felt a strange sense of peace.
He knew that exposing her secret would trigger her "Kill Intent." In her mind, the risk of his knowledge was too high.
He had gambled on the probability of a magical girl's determination, and it appeared he had won.
BANG!
The muzzle flared in the grey light.
At point-blank range, the bullet tore through Subaru's chest, shredding his heart in an instant.
Cough!
[Note: The First Iteration has reached its conclusion.]
[Translated and Rewritten by Shika_Kagura]