"Very well! If you submit yourself to me... a few trivial desires are of no consequence!"
DIO stood with his hands on his hips, his posture open and arrogant. He didn't seem to care in the slightest about the nature of the "Desires" Homura Akemi harbored.
He declared his acceptance with a natural, almost magnanimous air.
It was as if he were playing the role of a "Savior" to the desperate girl before him.
Looking at the Dragon Ball Homura had produced, DIO maintained that smile of absolute control.
The hand he had been reaching out with paused for a heartbeat in midair.
In the next instant, DIO's massive frame appeared directly in front of her. [The World Over Heaven]'s hand was already locked around her slender neck.
"Why do you hesitate?"
"Is it that you don't trust the word of DIO?"
DIO's eyes were cold. His voice carried a sharp, predatory edge that left no room for negotiation.
"Whether... it is a creature with a cute exterior or one that is fundamentally evil..."
"In the moment... they are about to achieve their goal, they can never quite hide the true nature of their ultimate ambition."
The Dragon Ball slipped from Homura's fingers and fell to the rooftop. She was lifted into the air, staring directly into DIO's eyes as she spoke in a slow, measured tone.
He was acting just like the [Incubator].
He spoke the most seductive words and constructed the most elaborate deceptions, all to lure his prey into a contract.
Homura had witnessed everything that had transpired so far.
The power to [Overwrite] reality... those hands that could grasp and manipulate the Truth of the world...
There was no denying the sheer, transcendent scale of his strength.
With that kind of power, erasing the [Incubator] and the Witches would likely be a simple task. Reconfiguring the laws of the universe would be as easy as breathing.
A part of her felt the crushing weight of his divinity, a pressure so absolute that it almost made the idea of resistance feel meaningless.
This was precisely why she had stood still when Miyu had decided to rush into the fray.
She only had her firearms and explosives. Nothing in her arsenal could hope to leave a scratch on a god like DIO.
And joining the others had offered no hope of victory.
The fate of that entire group was the only proof she required.
Subaru Natsuki hadn't even been able to trigger his [Return by Death].
[Berserker] and [Lancer] had been systematically dismantled.
The despair DIO radiated was a physical weight. And yet, despite that absolute darkness, those people had continued to believe in the possibility of a win.
They didn't run. Even after Subaru had proposed a strategy based on a "Causeless" possibility.
'Hey... let's just run away.'
'Because... there's really nothing we can do.'
'Nobody's going to hate you for it.'
The distant memories of Madoka Kaname facing [Walpurgis Night] alone flashed through her mind. Back then, she had been a powerless observer, unable to change the outcome.
Now, facing DIO, she felt that same sense of crushing impotence.
But this time, things were different.
'I'm counting on you... this might be the only key left to change our destiny.'
The final stage of that desperate, coordinated plan rested squarely on her shoulders.
Why did those people have so much faith in the "Possibility" Subaru had described?
Why did even Miyu and Yuuki choose to trust it?
Why?
Why were these strangers, who had been trying to kill each other only hours ago, now willing to set aside their animosity to take a stand against DIO?
The chances of her original wish being granted were fading with every second.
Should she... should she also "Stake everything" on this gamble?
"A miracle..."
"Hmm?"
DIO paused at the two words she whispered.
"You won't be able to stop what's coming next."
The gears of her shield's mechanism emitted a sharp, crystalline click. Homura looked at him as she spoke.
Her frame dissolved into pinpricks of light as DIO systematically absorbed her soul. He stood alone on the rooftop, sensing the sudden, violent shift in the world's logic.
"Hmph! A temporal rewind?"
"To think this war was so heavily populated with those who could manipulate the flow of time."
DIO's voice was heavy with contempt as he sensed the fabric of reality beginning to tear and reset.
"Deliberately luring me to strike you so that I couldn't touch anything else... what a pathetic, hollow gesture."
"You don't have another chance to try again! You fools!"
The flow of time began its massive, backward surge, but DIO remained unconcerned.
Having experienced death once before, he understood the fundamental mechanisms of this conflict.
But unfortunately for his enemies...
The moment he had ascended to [Heaven], he had transcended the laws that governed the reset. The idea of "Starting Over" no longer applied to him.
The demolished hospital and the shattered buildings were restored to their original states. Even the colors of the sky shifted back to their earlier brilliance.
The world had returned to the very first moments of the Holy Grail War.
But something was different this time. Those familiar apartment buildings and homes that should have been bustling with life were now largely silent and empty.
Time had returned to the past...
And yet, those familiar presences that should have been preparing for battle were nowhere to be found.
"HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"
"Every Servant has already been defeated. The only Master left with a Dragon Ball... is that single brat."
"There is no one left who can hope to stop DIO!"
Standing on a rooftop overlooking the restored Morioh, DIO made his booming declaration.
A return to the past was meaningless.
He had already harvested the souls of every meaningful combatant. Homura's final gamble with her Noble Phantasm was nothing more than a pointless waste of energy.
In fact, DIO found it laughable that they had pinned their hopes on such a shallow trick.
In the face of [The World Over Heaven], which could [Overwrite] the Truth itself... what was time?
Time was no longer a hurdle he had to clear.
He had already surpassed it.
Six Dragon Balls now hovered around him in a protective arc. DIO turned his gaze toward a specific coordinate in the town.
"Is that where she is?"
He pinpointed the location of the Master of [Berserker]. He wasn't surprised that he could track her.
The girl seemed to have touched some strange, fundamental laws that allowed her soul to remain unaffected even during a temporal reset.
However, with every Servant defeated and her being the only Master left with a fragment of the goal... what could she possibly do?
The ultimate victory belonged to DIO!
His figure vanished from the rooftop and reappeared instantly at his destination. He looked up at the looming structure before him.
The Morioh Grand Hotel.
DIO narrowed his eyes as he looked at the building.
Instead of using the main entrance, he hovered into the air and flew directly toward the window of the suite Yuuki occupied.
K-CHAK!
He shattered the glass and drifted into the room, his divine frame glowing with a soft, white light.
And then, DIO saw it.
The familiar fist and the legendary roar of defiance were already closing in on him.
"ORA!!"
BOOM!!
"GAH!!"
A wave of pure, unadulterated shock washed over him. He was hit so hard and so suddenly that he had no time to react. He was hurled backward, through the room and out the other side.
'My body!!'
Sensing his divine frame beginning to fracture and dissolve, DIO didn't waste a second. He immediately triggered his [Overwrite] to negate the reality of the blow.
Once his form had stabilized, he looked toward the source of the attack with a look of genuine, soul-chilling dread.
He knew that sensation. The feeling that a single punch carried the weight of absolute, final oblivion.
It was that man!!
"JOTARO... KUJO!!!"
Standing beside Yuuki was a tall figure dressed in white, his distinctive cap pulled low over his eyes. It was the man who had always been DIO's ultimate "Nightmare."
An involuntary scream escaped DIO's throat, his voice trembling for the first time in his ascended state.
"This is impossible! Did they... did they really...!!"
"Was he the one you were all counting on in the end?!!"
DIO shouted, finally realizing the monumental oversight in his calculations.
Before his ascension... Itachi Uchiha had used [Izanagi] to force a mutual destruction with Jotaro Kujo.
Because Jotaro had died a natural, physical death, his soul hadn't been absorbed into DIO's frame. He had remained a free agent, and as such, he had been affected by the temporal reset in the same way as any other living being in the past.
"But... you aren't a 'Participant'!! You shouldn't have any memory of what happened!!!"
DIO's voice was a mix of fury and mounting terror. His gaze shifted to Yuuki, who stood there in her spiritual form.
"You brat!! Was it you?!!"
"Did you tell Jotaro Kujo everything before the reset happened?!!!"
Completely losing his divine composure for the first time, DIO's voice boomed through the room.
"Ugh..."
Yuuki looked at Jotaro, who stood before her like an immovable mountain. He glanced back at her for only a heartbeat before turning his attention to the monster in front of them.
"Yare yare daze..."
"I didn't expect you to reach this height... DIO!"
"We've returned to the starting line? Then let's make this beginning the very last thing you ever experience!"
[Translated and Rewritten by Shika_Kagura]