You call this a projection?

No—even if DIO still held a charge of Time Stop, he wouldn’t be able to break through this cage of Hamon beams. Unlike Hierophant Green’s Emerald Splash, where DIO could use stopped time to sever every extending tentacle, he couldn’t simply pass through these Hamon beams. Launched by the armor of [Pseudo-Silver Chariot], they filled almost every spatial gap in the immediate area.

Even if DIO stopped time, it wouldn’t save him. As a vampire, DIO’s only means of insulating himself from Hamon was the Vaporization Freezing Technique—evaporating the moisture in his body so the surging Hamon couldn’t conduct or spread through him.

In the original story of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure Part 1, DIO could counter Hamon this way because Jonathan and the others used it in a very straightforward manner. DIO only had to respond with Vaporization Freezing the moment they touched him to cut off the conduction. But what about the DIO trapped in this snare?

Unless he chose to evaporate every drop of moisture in his entire body, he couldn’t stop the Hamon from spreading. And if he did that, even with his vampiric constitution, he wouldn’t die, but he would lose consciousness temporarily.

Die immediately? Or die a bit later? How would DIO choose? Would he let the Hamon beams obliterate him now, or use Vaporization Freezing for a final, desperate stand, hoping to thaw and recover before Shirou Emiya arrived?

DIO chose neither!

”—[The World]!!”

The golden humanoid Stand manifested behind DIO the instant he roared. With the extreme speed of Power/Speed A-tier stats, it acted before the web of Hamon beams could close in—using a hand-chop to sever DIO’s own head!

And then...

”Muda muda muda muda muda muda muda! MUDAAAAA!!”

Jonathan’s body, now severed from DIO’s head, moved on its own. Like the deity Xing Tian from ancient legends... no, it was more horrifying than Xing Tian. This body didn’t use nipples for eyes or a navel for a mouth. Instead, under the absolute cellular control DIO’s head exerted, he retracted his head into the torso. Using the blood vessels extending from his neck, he piloted Jonathan’s body from the inside like a suit of mecha.

”This body belongs to the Jonathan Joestar of a hundred years ago—a Hamon warrior!

Though it has prevented me from fully merging until now, because I haven’t fully assimilated it, this JOJO—who hasn’t been turned into a vampire—his Stand! His body!

They shall serve as my final shield! It is the fate of the Joestar bloodline to be used by me, DIO! Hahahaha!!”

The purple thorn Stand. The Vaporization Freezing Technique. DIO, hiding his head completely within the torso, squeezed the body’s potential without regard for damage, using it to tank the hit that would have been fatal to a vampire!

Furthermore, if DIO’s vision hadn’t deceived him earlier, the one currently confronting [Anubis] was Joseph!

Knowing the intelligence on [Anubis], Joseph and the others—wanting to prevent the sword from evolving too drastically—had chosen Joseph, the one with the weakest Stand stats and aging physical functions, to be its first opponent. The others were waiting for the perfect opening to shatter the blade.

In any other situation, this would be the correct choice. But with DIO rushing in, as long as he reached that spot, he could seize [Anubis]—a powerful Stand capable of countering ”Time Acceleration”—the very moment his Time Stop cooldown refreshed.

He could even take the opportunity to drain Joseph’s blood, using Joestar blood to further heal and fuse with Jonathan’s body!

”What ’Prophet’? In a battle of wits, no one can outplay DIO!

In just one more second! Just as breathing requires both exhaling and inhaling—where you must finish exhaling before you can take another breath!

Once the ’exhalation’ of the previous Time Stop is complete, I will ’inhale’ and stop time again. No one shall defy DIO! That’s right, as long as—”

DIO was brimming with triumph. He seemed to have realized that the reason Shirou’s attack came so quickly wasn’t because his diversions had failed, but because they had succeeded—only partially.

They had merely stalled Shirou long enough to prevent him from accelerating directly in front of him. In other words, since these Hamon beams were likely Shirou’s final gambit, time was currently on DIO’s side!

However, in his flurry of self-preservation tactics, DIO seemed to have forgotten one thing—

”—Trace on!!”

Ten meters. This was the distance currently separating Shirou Emiya from DIO. To set up the Hamon beam cage, Shirou had been forced to discard the [Pseudo-Silver Chariot] armor, losing the ability to let the Stand carry him at high speeds. And the effective range of [Pseudo-Silver Chariot] certainly couldn’t bridge ten meters in an instant.

But while Chariot couldn’t...

”—ZA WARUDO! Time, stop!!”

What about [Pseudo-The World]? What about Time Stop?!

”Because this is my first time stopping time, don’t expect five seconds—right now, I can only stop it for a single instant.

But how does that saying go?”

Having crossed ten meters in a flash—the effective range of [Pseudo-The World] was just that absurd—Shirou spoke to DIO, who was frozen in place, unable to wait out that last second of cooldown.

”To finish you off, I don’t even need a single second!

And against a guy like you, I have absolutely no psychological burden about fighting fair, so...

Muda muda muda muda muda muda muda! MUDAAAAA!!”

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