Chapter 70: Take a guess, am I going to hit you with my right fist or my left?

Not far from DIO’s mansion, Chen Mo had just arrived when he saw Aqua running for her life, being relentlessly chased by a bird.

"Wuwu! Mr. Chen Mo! Mr. Chen Mo! Save me!"

Being a goddess, or perhaps having her footwork honed as an adventurer in another world, Aqua somehow managed to dodge every single icicle hurled by Petshop, evading them with a series of comical postures.

As expected, given Aqua's combat prowess—where besides her specialty against the undead she couldn't even defeat a giant frog—expecting her to defeat such a vicious Stand user was indeed asking too much of her. Naturally, he couldn't let Aqua cast her massive Flood spell right in the middle of the city.

Spotting Chen Mo and the others, Aqua came barreling toward them with tears and snot flying everywhere, conveniently bringing along the concentrated firepower of the bird equipped with a Stand, known as Petshop.

"I can already faintly feel the suffering Kazuma goes through."

Chen Mo muttered a dry complaint, raising his right hand as a surge of golden qi condensed around his fist. With a forward punch, the qi transformed into a streak of brilliant light, shooting straight past the circular halo atop Aqua's head and heading directly for Petshop.

"Mystic Void Fist: Hundred-Step Hammer!"

"!!!"

Though the name of the technique sounded lengthy, it was actually just a small trick for externalizing internal energy into projectile qi attacks. However, when released by a master of internal martial arts, even the simplest strike could inflict devastating damage.

The attack was too fast and too fierce to dodge in time. Petshop had only enough time to use its Stand ability to instantly materialize a crystal-ice shield right in front of itself to parry the incoming assault.

"Muda muda!" Chen Mo declared as his unleashed qi collided with the ice crystal shield.

Accompanied by a series of violent roars, the crystal shield in midair suddenly burst apart, dissolving into a massive cloud of crystalline mist. Meanwhile, the qi that pierced straight through the shield struck Petshop solidly, shattering its internal organs to dust. No longer able to control its body, the bird plunged straight down from the sky, slamming heavily onto the ground.

Petshop, Stand Name: Horus. Incapable of battle.

"Gwah!"

Stumbled by the explosive shockwave rippling through the air, Aqua face-planted hard into the ground right in front of everyone. Chen Mo stepped forward, walking past the fallen goddess, grabbed the soul drifting out of Petshop's corpse, and refined it instantly.

"Whew, dealing with that was effortless, taken out in a single blow."

Watching Chen Mo neatly and decisively eliminate Petshop, Polnareff couldn't help but click his tongue in secret.

"I told you, all my group members are formidable!" Joseph patted Polnareff on the shoulder, laughing heartily.

***

"Beyond this point is DIO's estate. Aside from his own immensely powerful Stand ability, there is also a troublesome Stand user—Vanilla Ice, and his space-erasing Cream..."

Glancing back at the remaining companions behind him, Chen Mo spoke.

"Although I don't think we will fall for it, just to be safe, anyone who lacks resistance against space erasure or cannot survive the kind of injuries inflicted by it is advised not to enter DIO's mansion."

"I'm confident I won't get hit, and even if I do, I'm confident I won't die. Besides, I want to have a face-to-face encounter with DIO first, so I definitely want to go in. What about you guys?"

"I'm definitely sitting this one out," Lu Mingfei scratched his head. "I'm a total combat zero, and I've only just mastered the first tier of the Dragon-Elephant Prajna Gong. I can't beat anyone."

"I'd actually like to go," Emiya Shirou pondered for a moment. "However, I can't handle that Cream either. With my current strength, I'd better not go and hold everyone back."

"Han knows his own strength is humble, so I shall wait here for everyone's triumphant return," Han Li cupped his fists. "DIO's strength is no lower than ours, so please everyone exercise extreme caution."

True to form, every single one of you finds a perfectly rational excuse to chicken out.

"Well, this concubine definitely has to participate," Kaguya giggled, stepping out of the group. "After all, I am immortal. Even if my entire body were erased by Cream, I would simply 'respawn' like a video game NPC."

"Yare yare," Jotaro stepped forward as well. "I'm going too. Among those present, only I possess the ability to stop time like DIO, and I've now faintly mastered this power. If we are ambushed by DIO, I can come in handy."

"I'm going too!" Aqua scrambled up from the ground, volunteering herself. "That whole Cream thing can't possibly hurt a goddess like me at all! Besides, when it comes to dealing with vampires, it has to be handled by a goddess and high priestess like me!"

Why are you so eager to tag along... Oh well, whatever, as long as nothing goes wrong.

"Alright."

Chen Mo nodded, turning his gaze toward DIO's mansion. Having refined the majority of the essence absorbed from Petshop, he took a step forward alongside the other three. The surrounding air began to pulse with repeating Japanese sound effects of heavy menace, and the art style of their outlines gradually shifted into the distinct aesthetic of Hirohiko Araki.

"Let's go!"

***

The group arrived at the courtyard of DIO's estate and stood before the front door. Chen Mo looked back: the sun was setting in the west, and in a little while, day would fade completely into night.

They needed to resolve everything before sunset; otherwise, DIO wouldn't get to sunbathe in the pure, natural, unpolluted rays of the setting sun.

***

Just as Chen Mo reached out to push open the doors of the mansion, the heavy gates swung open of their own accord. A chilling and terrifying aura poured out from within, accompanied by a man wearing a tall green hat.

Unusually, he drifted just above the ground rather than walking.

The man caught sight of the four intruders, paused for a moment, and then offered a polite, smiling bow.

"Welcome. We have been expecting you, Mr. Jotaro."

"I am Lord DIO's butler, Terence T. D'Arby."

"Contrary to our intelligence reports, the companions by your side are unfamiliar faces. Are these reinforcements specifically brought in to deal with Lord DIO?"

With that, the man smiled cordially as his gaze swept over Jotaro, and within his field of vision, Jotaro's soul flickered into view.

Terence T. D'Arby, much like his older brother Daniel J. D'Arby, possessed a similar Stand ability—capable of seizing an opponent's soul the moment feelings of surrender or hesitation surfaced within their hearts.

Unlike his brother, however, his Stand possessed an additional ability: by observing another person's soul, he could determine whether or not they were lying.

Although he could only receive a "YES" or "NO" response, and asking questions that could not be answered with a simple "YES" or "NO" yielded no reply, as long as he could cause his target to experience feelings of hesitation, he could snatch a fragment of their soul. If he stubbornly chose to claim that captured fragment despite the consequences, it would cause severe damage to the victim.

The Joestar group were righteous people; if any companion were affected, they would never simply abandon them. As long as he could rattle them with his words, he could lure the Joestar group straight into his trap, forcing them to participate in his games and stripping away their souls step-by-step through his genius-level gaming skills.

Observing the resounding "YES YES YES" echoing from Jotaro's soul, Terence T. D'Arby thought with absolute, unshakable confidence.

"..."

Strangely enough, the group standing at the entrance simply stared at each other in silence. Not a single person answered Terence's words; instead, they all looked at him with very strange expressions.

Huh? What is going on here?

Just as Terence stood there in momentary bewilderment, Chen Mo stepped forward, raised his fist, looked at Terence with a warm and friendly smile, and asked.

"I've had enough of these lengthy pleasantries. Let's cut straight to the point... Take a guess: am I going to hit you with my right fist next, or my left fist?"