Joseph Joestar, age sixty-seven, genuinely felt like the unluckiest man alive.
He had only just — at tremendous cost — defeated DIO, that megalomaniac who had sought to rule the world, alongside his grandson and the others in Egypt.
Before he'd even had a chance to catch his breath, a previously fallen comrade had come back to life and turned on them.
If it had only been that much, he could have lived with it. Joseph had always prided himself on having seen enough of the world at his age that nothing could truly surprise him anymore.
But what followed — all this business about "the Saint's Corpse" and "crossing through time" — now that had genuinely broadened his horizons.
What could he do? To save a companion whose mind had been overtaken, and once again stop what appeared to be DIO lurking in the shadows and scheming behind the scenes — Joseph, who was well past retirement age, made himself push forward one more time.
But surprises just kept on coming.
Following the fragment of the Saint's Corpse his grandson carried, he had passed through a trail of light and arrived at what appeared to be the Supplena Island of Venice from fifty years ago — only to find himself immediately separated from his grandson.
Joseph's plan had been to link back up with his invincible grandson first. Instead, he ran smack into Esidisi mid-journey — that same Esidisi from fifty years ago, here to steal the Red Stone of Aja.
Naturally, the two of them had wasted no time in coming to blows.
Whether it was preventing the fate of his ripple master Loggins being murdered, or the tragedy of Suzi Q being possessed and gravely wounded — Joseph was going to fight this through, no hesitation.
Sure, his ripple strength might not be what it once was at his age — but he now had his Stand, Hermit Purple!
If he'd been able to beat Esidisi in a one-on-one as a young and inexperienced fighter, how much more could he do now?
But as he'd just said — surprises just kept on coming.
"Old man, your next line is — 'Why do you have a Stand too?!'"
"Why do you have a Stand too?!"
"— ?!"
When he watched the vine of Hermit Purple — surging with ripple energy, coiling forward — get incinerated in an instant by a blood-red phantom that erupted from Esidisi's body, Joseph knew things had gone severely wrong.
At this point there was only one move left —
"Your next line is — I'm getting the hell out of here!"
And so the scene now laid out before Shin's eyes: a frantic chase across a small island in the dead of night, one figure sprinting, one hunting.
Watching the exchange between old Joseph and Esidisi, Shin couldn't help feeling those two were a perfectly matched pair of misery.
"Trouble — someone's there!"
Old Joseph, still muttering about why his invincible grandson hadn't appeared to bail him out yet, tensed sharply. He spotted the two unfamiliar young silhouettes in the darkness ahead and felt a sinking dread.
He had no memory of either of them.
He had no idea why strangers were on this island — his mother Lisa Lisa's island — but whatever the reason, there was absolutely no way he was dragging innocent bystanders into a fight between himself and a Pillar Man.
"Hey — you two — don't ask questions, just turn around and run!"
Old Joseph called out to Shin and Meruru, who were watching his way. The young man and young woman showed no sign of moving.
"Hmm?"
Before old Joseph could process that, Esidisi's pursuit had closed the distance — and when he caught a glimpse of the faint, unmistakable bone-ridge on the young man's forehead, the same hallmark feature shared by every Pillar Man he had ever encountered —
— Old Joseph's eyes went wide. The color drained from his expression.
"Oh — My God —!"
"Another Pillar Man — and one I've never seen before —!"
His attention had already dismissed the girl standing beside the young man. It was only natural — Pillar Men having human attendants was hardly unusual. In all likelihood, the girl was a vampire he had turned. As for why this new Pillar Man appeared to be a teenager, Joseph didn't have the mental bandwidth to consider it.
Facing two Pillar Men at once — he genuinely thought this might be the day he said goodbye to his dear grandson for good.
[System Notice: Group Livestream activated.]
"Meruru. Step back."
"As you say, big brother!"
Facing the pursuing Esidisi and the fleeing old Joseph, Shin activated [Spinal Dragon] — explosive force detonated from the soles of his feet, and he launched himself like a cannonball toward old Joseph's position.
"Hmm? A stray branch of our bloodline? Could this be one of Kars's contingencies?"
Esidisi, likewise catching a clear look at Shin's features mid-chase, was visibly taken aback.
He didn't dwell on it for long, though. Their kind did have weaker individuals — Santana was proof enough of that. Even one who had become a Pillar Man but was too weak to contribute to their plans would have been cast aside by Kars as useless, same as Santana. Another such discarded existence turning up wasn't exactly shocking.
Still — the sheer force radiating off this "castoff"... why did it feel like it might surpass his own...?
"I'm done for, I'm done for, I'm done for—!"
"Screw it — I've lived long enough. I'll take at least one of them down with me!"
Esidisi was still studying the craterlike imprint Shin had left in the ground at his launch point when Joseph's shriek cut through his thoughts.
Facing this "Pillar Man cub" bearing down on him straight from the front with apparent murderous intent — old Joseph, with no room to dodge, steeled himself, planted his feet, and decided to make his last stand.
He might be old — but his ripple was still sharp.
Unfortunately for him, Shin had no intention of giving him the chance. His target had never been Joseph to begin with.
"?"
The young man's form streaked past old Joseph like a cannonball — so fast Joseph couldn't even begin to react.
And in that same brief instant, Shin had already closed the distance to Esidisi standing not far behind old Joseph. Riding the momentum, power from [Spinal Dragon] pouring through his arm, he drove his fist straight into Esidisi's face.
— It was a purely straightforward punch. No flourishes, no technique. A probe, nothing more — the kind of strike you throw before the real fighting starts.
"[Blood Vaporization] — !"
But sensing something wrong the moment that fist came for him, Esidisi let out a sharp shout.
A blood-red phantom — the same one that had incinerated Hermit Purple's vines in an instant — erupted from his body, hurling itself at Shin's motion to intercept.
Under [Resistant Hide], it might as well have not existed. Shin's fist, carrying four times his normal strength, landed clean and solid across Esidisi's face —
BOOM —!
Esidisi's body flew like a snapped kite string, slamming into the earth and throwing up a huge plume of dust.
But it wasn't over. From the crater where Esidisi had landed, a pale-blue sublimating chill began to seep outward — ice crystals forming, spreading — and then in the next instant —
Crack — crack — crack —!
Countless ice spikes the thickness of a finger erupted from inside Esidisi's body. In a single heartbeat, his flesh was riddled with holes like a pin cushion.
"Oh... my god..."
Old Joseph had gone completely slack-jawed.
He hadn't figured out why this unknown Pillar Man was attacking Esidisi — but from where things stood, that seemed like it might not be a bad thing.
At the very least, the kid appeared to have just saved his life.
"Big brother — are you hurt?!"
Meruru came sprinting over, her hands glowing with warm light, casting [Heal] to mend the patches of skin on Shin's palm that Esidisi's Stand had scorched.
"Just a trivial opponent. No need to worry, Meruru." Shin shook out his right hand, which was still trailing wisps of cold vapor.
That cold vapor was his doing — his own technique as a Pillar Man. The Ice Mode.
— After extensive hands-on guidance from the Great Witch, he had combined the conceptual framework behind DIO's "vaporization freeze" technique — developed from his time as a vampire — and forged something uniquely his own: his Ice Mode.
What he had just done to Esidisi, for instance — he had pre-stored "liquid air" at an extreme temperature inside a dedicated organ in his body, then transferred it into Esidisi's flesh on physical contact. At the moment of sublimation, the instantaneous expansion had formed massive quantities of ice crystals inside the body, producing an implosion effect.
It was also the method he had relied upon before he'd fully integrated the First Witch bloodline — for walking in sunlight.
By coating his own body's surface in a sustained layer of ice crystals, he could reflect sunlight. The only downside was the Great Witch occasionally grumbling that holding him while sleeping was a bit cold.
Far more practical than Wamuu's Wind Mode, which scattered moisture particles in the air to refract sunlight.
Don't bother asking whether it was scientifically sound. Just ask yourself — are you a Pillar Man, or aren't you?
...
[From the Author: "You told me this was a witch trial, but I've already awakened my Sharingan"A god-tier Magical Girl Witch Trials fic — check it out if you're interested ()
To be continued…