Arc One: Bizarre Trigger-Happy Academy

Chapter Four: Livin' On A Prayer


Makoto Naegi knew that he didn't look like a hero.

What kind of hero would be barely standing, shirt caked in blood and sweat, from a single blow? What kind of hero would have simply laid there in pain while others were beaten like a piece of meat at a butcher's? What kind of hero thought they could actually stand tall whilst urine still coated their lower half?

Naegi looked like the final victim whose pitiful last stand was meant to inspire the hero's second wind. To rise above their injuries, and even death, to fight for justice and good. Someone like Oogami should have been in his place, instead of being dead on the floor while Naegi lived.

So why he was doing this? Why was he so blatantly challenging someone who could kill him in an instant? Why was it that he thought himself worthy?

But that was it. This wasn't a question of worth. This was a question of who else. Who else was there left to stand-up to Dio Brando? Everyone else out of the survivors was being drowned in despair, dragged deeper and deeper by a cruel mastermind, and had given up in the face of his unrelenting power.

Maybe it was easier for them to just admit defeat and pray that Dio would be merciful. Yet even Naegi, your average everyday student with terrible luck, realised now that mercy was a concept unknown to Dio. The closest thing would be slavery in gilded chains. They'd be trapped in the Academy like birds in a golden cage, weighed down by the knowledge that Dio had conquered them utterly.

Naegi did not think less of the others for wanting to surrender. After all they had learnt, what they had been forced to witness first-hand, who wouldn't want to surrender to the darkness? Saying it'd be better to die free than live a slave was easy talk when you didn't have to truly make that decision.

Only they couldn't! Not after everything that Dio had done. Not after all the hopes and dreams that the living and dead had confessed inside these walls. Not after having put it all on the line each and every moment they spent trapped in Hope's Peak.

That was why Naegi refused to let himself simply lay there and cry out in pain while Kirigiri humiliated herself for his sake.

So despite the pain of moving broken bones and bleeding wounds, the tears in his eyes, and the state of his clothes and body, Naegi stood up and looked Dio in the eye and said the words he knew weren't meant to be said.

"Naegi," Dio's voice was as smooth as ever, yet the poison in them was no longer hidden. "Do you truly believe that you can succeed where Sakura Oogami failed? Do you truly think that you can defeat me? We've known each other too long for you to truly be that stupid."

"Stupid. I'm sure that's what you think of all this." Naegi said. The strain of keeping himself steady kept back only by the fact that if he fell, so would everyone else. He moved forward enough that he grabbed onto the podium for leverage.

"How could I not? Holy Diver made quick work of the Ultimate Fighter and it took a single blow from it to nearly kill you." Dio waved his hand towards Naegi, a King dismissing a subject. "I, Dio, have won. Accepting the inevitable will bring you peace, Naegi."

"But not hope." Naegi narrowed his eyes and pointed again at Dio. "That's what this is all about. You saw Hope's Peak and wanted it to become nothing more than a ladder for your way to the top. The institutions, its people, the faith people put it in. Maybe it was flawed, but you didn't care. The only thing the ideals of it were to you was a rival. Something to discredit and destroy so that people only had you to turn to."

"And what of it?" Dio asked. "I am offering the people a path towards peace of mind. To live in a world free of uncertainty and darkness."

"You got that wrong!" Naegi snapped. "You're offering people a world where they can only live in uncertainty. To put their faith in the good-will of the man who destroyed their lives! To live in eternal slavery and despair."

"Tch, Makoto Naegi. You speak like someone who has only ever known the rewards of life and none of its burdens. The world you describe is no different from the old world." Dio finally moved off his throne for his oratory. "Hope is what we call it when we are at peace with ourselves. Fate is the destiny of those who work within that pre-determined harmony. Hope's Peak wished to cultivate Ultimates so that their Talents would grow and pushing them to achieve their destiny. I, Dio, am doing the same. I am striving to achieve the Fate of the Ultimate Master. To destroy the flawed old ways and rule over this world, guiding humanity to its Fate.

"That is Hope! The security of knowing that one is acting according to one's Fate. To be free of the doubts and flaws that prevent them from reaching such. To make it so that God is in his Heaven and all is right with the world."

That's what Dio thinks is Hope? Naegi knew that Dio was a believer in the concept of destiny. The sort of person who believed that there was something innate in someone that defined their very being. But to believe it this strongly?

Dio certainly believed in Fate, but he seemed so sure of his own Fate. That the title 'Ultimate Male Model' was merely something he tricked others into believing described him instead of the Ultimate Master. One who would rule over all Talents and all peoples as if they sat on a throne in the skies instead of here on Earth.

That wasn't Hope, at least not a hope that could belong to anyone other than Dio himself. This was simply a way to beautify subjugating an entire species. Of murdering millions. Of murdering the innocent.

"No. Dio, that's not Hope." Naegi gritted his teeth. The pain in his ribs was nothing compared to the fire in his gut, almost as if the words inside him were somehow both soothing and driving him. "Hope doesn't come from Fate, or a God, but from people! People who want to accomplish their dreams through their own efforts. People who want to create rather than destroy. All you're doing is twisting and corrupting. How is beating someone to death with your own hands meant to bring Hope?"

Naegi turned back to his classmates. Asahina had moved back to holding Oogami's body, Togami and Fukawa-who had apparently changed back from Syo-were standing close and looked back at Naegi with confused eyes, whilst Hagakure hid behind the two of them. The Ultimate Clairvoyant was even holding his left ankle for some reason, muttering over something Naegi couldn't hear, but there were two people who caught his attention.

Kyouko Kirigiri and Jin Kirigiri. What Dio did to the previous Headmaster was almost too cruel to imagine. Killing someone who had tried to protect him from the end of the world, only to bring them back as a slave and force them to enforce this Mutual Killing Game, and breaking their spirit. The knife to Kirigiri's gut had been too cruel to imagine. A bully shoving their victim's face in the dirt just because they could.

Yet there was something different in their eyes. Kirigiri herself had knelt in submission after losing hope, despondency in every movement, but now there was something new within her. It was the same with her father as well. Their eyes, once lost in a haze of despair, were still dyed in torment but there was still a spark of something in them that convinced Naegi to stand firm right here and now.

Anything to strengthen those flickers of Hope.

"I know it seems impossible. I know Dio looks like he's insurmountable." Naegi let his gaze linger at Oogami's corpse. "I know he could take everything from us."

"Not really selling us on why we should fight, Naegs." Hagakure muttered. Asahina kept her hold on Oogami's body and both Kirigiris kept a sharp eye on him. Togami and Fukawa were busy with some of their injuries, the former's hand looking badly cut whilst the latter was trying to not faint at the blood on her lower left leg.

Just how many injuries had they piled up between them, while Dio sat there without a scratch?

"But we can't lose hope," Naegi said. "Dio wants us to give up everything, our dreams, our souls, our futures, and give it all to him. He wants everyone in the world to witness him crushing the last bits of resistance under his shoes. If we bow to him, it's not just going to be us who can't ever get back up."

"What are we meant to do then?" Kirigiri asked. "Dio's Holy Diver protects him from harm and can allow him to recover from any injuries we deal to him. Exactly how do you plan on countering that?"

"I don't know."

"That's not a satisfactory answer."

"Kirigiri, do you really think that Dio will give us our friends back? Our real friends?" Naegi asked. "That they won't simply be his slaves?"

"Our freewill had been robbed of us when we were brought back. The same will probably be true for the others." The old Headmaster said.

"No. He can't...Sakura shouldn't be-" Asahina turned her head, eyes blazing with fire. "Dio! If-if you bring them back, they'll be themselves, right? Sakura will be Sakura again?"

Dio toyed with the pommel of the Muramasa blade. "Who knows? Jin was fond of blaming others for his own failings in the past, maybe he's doing so now. I, Dio, don't know what the afterlife entails. Maybe those I return to life are simply grateful for my kindness."

"Forcing people like Kirigiri's Dad to hold this Mutual Killing Game is kindness?" Naegi asked.

"That doesn't vindicate us refusing to obey Dio. In fact, he can simply kill us and turn us into his slaves whenever he likes." Kirigiri pointed out. There wasn't that usual confidence she had when stating the facts, a clear sign that Naegi was getting to her.

"He can do that even if we submit." Naegi replied. The others didn't seem so sure.

Why would they? Fighting against Dio had only proved to be the death of Oogami and almost Naegi himself. The outside world was now so dangerous and cruel that even a prison like Hope's Peak Academy must hav seemed warm and hospitable. They would never need to fear hunger or thirst as others would. All the comforts of life before The Tragedy were free to them. If it only cost them their dignity, then why not?

But that was wrong! The others were being ruled by their despair. The despair of seemingly insurmountable odds was now driving them towards a decision that would kill them in all but name. Dio was not offering them safety, however much he insisted otherwise.

All he could offer was the security of those who lived under tyrants. The law would be kept to unless you were the leader themselves. Togami, Asahina, Fukawa, Kirigiri, Hagakure, even Naegi himself, would all live under the fear of Dio one day deciding to kill them. Of him deciding to cut off the food, water, and even the air, keeping them alive. All from a single whim.

We're not being given a choice between life and death. We're being given a choice between fighting and suicide. Naegi wasn't going to let Dio get away with this. He wouldn't give in.

It was strange. Why did his body stop hurting? Holy Diver's attack had shattered Naegi's ribs and even did damage to his spine, and yet here he was, standing tall and feeling something completely different to pain in his chest.

A fire was the only way to describe it. As Naegi was driving himself forward, the fire within him was only growing brighter and stronger! It was even starting to mess with Naegi's sight and hearing. Just on top of him, he swore he could see some kind of whitish pulse coming towards the others.

Speaking of the others, Naegi only now noticed that some of their wounds were missing. Had it really been that long since they fought against Dio without his Stand?

No. It was just a trick of the mind. The intensity of the situation was starting to get to them all, Naegi included. Jin Kirigiri was even looking away from Dio, towards that arrow-head that came out of that Murralsee Ball (and had been painful to land on), eyes wide open and hand stretched out towards it. The others had formed a wall of bodies enough that this was blocked from Dio's sight.

Was the Headmaster thinking of using it, if they had to fight again? Naegi took that as a sign that he was getting to at least one person, and prayed it'd be the same with Kirigiri herself.

"Do you trust Dio to never harm us again, if we kneel?" Naegi knew that Kirigiri's logic was being blinded by fear. Horrifying truths were keeping her from the wider picture.

Kirigiri herself seemed to realise this, staying silent until five seconds passed. "Uncertainty is better than certainty of death." She said, not believing her own words.

"Indeed, Ultimate Detective." Dio's voice cut through, and he had Muramasa in hand, but there was no edge to his words. He was speaking to them as a man would with an extremely stubborn and stupid puppy. Indulgence. "I wonder why I'm letting you do this, Naegi. The years I spent in this school seem to have moved me more than I expected. It's why I allowed you all what I did not allow others; a chance to live in peace."

"You got that-"

"Useless!" Dio's roar easily overcame Naegi's counter. "It is useless to deny it. I could have thrown you out into the outside world where you tried to hide from. Forced to gulp down air thick with poison, scavenging the land for scraps of garbage to eat and drink, and forced to experience the aftermath of The World's End."

Fukawa raised a hand and tried to speak. "I thought it was called the Biggest-"

"Don't repeat that mouthful of garbage to me. The history written by Dio will have no space for such a pitiful name. Now it is time for you to decide, Naegi. Surrender or die. You have one minute." Dio's voice lost that earlier indulgence. It was now blunt and violent, much like a hammering swinging down on a nail.

One minute to decide.

I guess I'll have to make it count. Naegi already had his answer. He was not going to surrender to Dio, but instead make that minute count for all he could. Dio was wrong, as with a lot of things, about Naegi, when he said that his luck was one of his best attributes. It's my optimism. My can-do attitude. That's the only good thing about me. Now I just have to share it with the others.

Naegi turned his back on Dio and towards the others and let the fire in his stomach burst out. The words came shooting out of his mouth like bullets from a machine-gun, aimed straight at the first target he saw, as he pointed a finger right at the Ultimate Clairvoyant's face.

"Hagakure, I know it's crazy to think of challenging someone like Dio. I'm even wondering what's supposed to happen to save us, but still," Naegi let his whole body shake as the chill of Dio's glare fell on him. "Can you truly see a future living under someone like Dio Brando? Is that the life you want?"

The intensity of the situation was getting to him. Naegi could have sworn that, as he finished his sentence, a golden bullet shot out and struck Hagakure. That must have just been his imagination, as Hagakure himself changed from a look of despondency and panic to one of growing confidence.

"No...no!" Hagakure's head lifted up high and pointed straight at Dio. Not even the soft growl from the throned man seemed to scare him off. "I wanna live, Naegs! And not just live, but live in a happy ending. A happy ending as far away from that guy as possible."

Naegi wasted no time and turned to Asahina. She looked so defeated, unable to decide between which emotion to feel right now, whether red-hot anger at Dio or black despair at what must have seemed like an inability to save her friend. Unable to decide what to do, she was readying herself to simply let Oogami's murderer decide her future.

That might have been why she let out a soft gasp at how quickly Naegi turned to her.

"Sakura Oogami was the Ultimate Fighter and Dio killed her. He probably thinks that now makes him the Ultimate Fighter, and maybe he's right in terms of fighting skull, but he will never be like Oogami." Naegi's free hand found itself caught in a grip, his own nails biting down on his palm. "Because she was more than the Ultimate Fighter! If she was allowed to say the words Dio took from her, it'd be to tell you to live on. To not give up. To carry the hope that she entrusted to you. Asahina, don't let Oogami's death make you forget how she'd want you to live."

It happened again. Another bullet seemed to shoot forward and strike Asahina right in the chest, making impact at the same time as Kirigiri let out a gasp for some reason. There was no time to see what it was, not when he only had seconds to rally the others for the fight against Dio. Naegi couldn't turn back now, he had to keep advancing.

"Strength comes from standing up to adversity. Sakura always said that." Asahina stood up and looked down at Oogami's body. Tears ran down her face but her eyes had something new to them. A strength that Oogami would have smiled upon. "I'm sorry I couldn't help you when you needed me. Maybe if I stand where you stood, I can make it up to you. Maybe by showing my guts, I can be like you."

"What is this?" Dio growled. Naegi almost turned back to reply when someone else beat him to it.

"Hope, Dio," Jin said. The Headmaster's glare was something to behold. "Is not something you can control as if it's a tool."

Naegi was free to turn towards Togami, so broken that he didn't even try to throw a cowering Fukawa off his arm, simply standing there in wait for his fate. Nothing like the prideful heir who never bowed to anyone.

"Togami, maybe there's nothing left of the Togami Group as a business, but you're still standing, aren't you? Dio is, and always was, wrong about you. The kind of guy who makes millions on the stock market never needed the Togami Group to reach the top." Naegi said. For the third time now, he pointed right at Togami's face and let his feeling run wild. "Fight back against Dio, rise up to the top from the bottom, and show him and the world just who Byakuya Togami is."

"What's in your hand, Jin?" Dio said, Naegi barely hearing him over the sound of a bullet shooting forward. Had Naegi hit his head on that wall? "Your counterparts will be arriving soon." Dio added when the Headmaster said nothing. A warning of some kind.

Naegi almost turned back when Togami opened his mouth.

"Don't think I needed your words to bring me back from the brink. Byakuya Togami doesn't need the pleas of plebians to know when to fight." Togami's snobbish put-down had never been so welcome. That cold flame in his eyes was back and the full force of his contempt was directed solely at Dio. "I said I'd be the one to kill the Mastermind. I did it before, and I'll do it again, Dio."

"You dare look at Dio with those eyes?" Dio spat the words out as if they were a foul meal he unknowingly bit into. This whole triumph must have been nothing like he expected.

"Master does dare. And I do too. I'll follow my beloved to the ends of the earth." Fukawa tightened her grip on Togami's arm.

"Don't touch me." He ordered, enough to make Fukawa almost leap off the limb. "Change yourself. We'll need the Genocider for this battle. I won't have you dying on me."

Only one person remained for Naegi to convince towards his side. Forty seconds had passed. He could still do this. There was no pain, or hesitation, but only the laser-focus that normally came only to boxers or soldiers during a moment of truth. Where seconds slowed down and became minutes, if not hours.

He pointed to her.

"Kirigiri, I know it seems as if there's no hope left. That we can't beat Dio, no matter what, but..." Naegi had to think about his next words."Your father put us all here because he thought it'd protect hope. Maybe he was wrong. You can't put hope in a glass bottle and preserve it. It has to be grown again. It has to be able to overcome the tasks ahead of it. Kirigiri, please, if hope seems to be fading away then we'll become the new hope."

The final bullet-whether real or not-struck Kirigiri and had the same effect as it did on the others. Her eyes brightened and her whole body became at ease. "Naegi, if you could see how you look right now." She smiled and pointed back at him. "Everyone was wrong about you. You're not the Ultimate Lucky Student. You're the one who is fighting against Dio even now, the one who is trying to restore our faith. It takes a certain Talent to do that. I'd say the Ultimate Hope's a good a title as any."

That was it. A minute passed and Naegi had managed to shatter the pall of despair that Dio had thrown the others into. What remained of Class 78, if not Hope's Peak itself, was ready to fight! The fire had left Naegi's stomach but only to shroud his whole body. The slight hum he heard had only grown louder and everyone almost seemed cloaked in a white-gold aura, just after most of them had been hit by those bullets.

Looking around them now, it wasn't just their expressions that looked stronger, but their bodies too. All of their wounds were gone! Their clothes still had the holes and cuts but their skin and flesh was as fine as ever. How was that the case?

Whatever it was, it might have been the same reason that everyone was looking at him with confusion and awe at the same time.

"I-Impossible." Dio was now stuttering. Perhaps he truly didn't expect their hope to be so strong that it even withstood his Holy Diver. "I designed that machine to only release it when coded to."

"Dio, so long as we have hope," Naegi turned in place and pointed a finger right at the face of Dio Brando. "We'll never lose to you!"

The sight of a bulked-out Murralsee, glaring daggers at Naegi, lurking behind Dio's throne almost brought out a gasp. He restrained himself to avoid undermining his stand, but it was clear why the others seemed so shocked. It was definitely a sight to fear, not least because its body and height were somehow larger than even Dio himself.

It was nothing compared to how Dio looked. This was meant to be his de facto coronation and Naegi had probably ruined it all because of his refusal to just lay down and die. Or perhaps it was the sound of that hum coming from somewhere, or that white-gold sheen that seemed to be covering the room itself.

Dio stood up from his throne and kept a firm grip on Muramasa. "The Arrow. How did you-"

"Hagakure." Jin said, before anyone else could reply. Naegi swore that Dio almost popped a blood-vessel at that.

"So your Stand can only stay invisible for so long, huh, Dio?" Naegi tried to think of a way to exploit that before he felt a soft tap on his shoulder. He looked back to see Togami almost-glaring at him for some reason, but mostly Kirigiri pointing upwards. Naegi lifted his head up to see what she was pointing at.

What Naegi saw was another him. Yet that wasn't the case. Looking closer, this thing might have had his clothes and general form, but there were key differences. It may have been humanoid but its skin was the same colour as the bullets and sheen of the room, that whitish-gold tiny. Not only that, but where Naegi's ahoge was just a quirk of his hair, the clone's version seemed to be some kind of signal-emitter. It was like those pictures of a radio tower, only the circular signal it sent out was the same colour as its skin.

Not to mention that fact that its fingers were shaped exactly like gun barrels.

"I wouldn't say we at Hope's Peak were completely wrong to assign him the 'Ultimate Lucky Student' title, Kirigiri." The Headmaster said. Somehow, despite the Murralsee armour and his injuries, he was now standing just as tall as the others were. He even smirked, eyes more on Dio than Naegi. "It's not everyone who falls flat on a Stand Arrow."

"You think your Stand will save you, Naegi? You think any of your Stands are enough?" Dio's right eye was twitching and he seemed ready to go on the attack. That was when he stopped himself. Two seconds passed and the rage was gone from his face, replaced by calm superiority. "I suppose it's Naegi's Stand that's made you all fall into the delusion that you have even the slightest chance of victory. Holy Diver!"

A wave of purple-black energy shot out from Holy Diver and went straight for the survivors, too fast for any of them to react. Just as quickly as it came, however, it passed through them without a single touch of pain. Naegi looked at the others in case they were hurt, then looked at his own body. Not a single sign that they had been hurt.

So why was it that Jin Kirigiri's face was pale as snow and Asahina was quivering in place, holding her mouth in shock, as she looked behind herself.

"Sakura!" Asahina screamed as she ran towards the now-levitating corpse of her best friend.

She couldn't even get close before the body shot forward, forcing her to move to the side, and towards the throne. Naegi and Asahina turned their heads back towards Dio in time to see something that chilled them to their bones. Horrifying enough that they were frozen in place. Of course Dio would do this. He had revealed himself to be the worst kind of villain.

But how could someone prepare for the sight of their classmates' corpses hovering in their air, acting almost like a shield for their killer? Naegi barely noticed the sounds of the doorways to the Execution room-where Kuwata and Oowada had been murdered-creaking open to likely let in the pack of Murralsees that Dio had commanded to move in. How could he think of strategy at a time like this?

Dio had said that he could command life and death. But words and the actual sight were two completely different things. How could anyone truly know how it felt to see our friends and classmates return again, but know that it'd be as slaves?

It was enough to send bile up his throat to see Oogami's head slowly move to attach itself to her body again. The gash left by the Muramasa blade had taken off half of her neck and yet the near-detached limb merged with her body again as easily as pushing broken halves of soap together. But this was a human body! The bruises and indents left by Holy Diver's fists shouldn't have disappeared as quickly as they did.

The same applied for the others. Maizono's stab wound was nowhere to be found, nor any sign of blood or even a flaw on her uniform, whilst Kuwata's bruised and bloodied corpse had turned into a picture-perfect image. There was no sign of the wound left by the dumbbell on Fujisaki's head, nor could you look at Oowada's body and think that he had been thrown against a moving truck and turned to roadkill.

Ishimaru looked like himself again. Not only free of wounds but also the influence of 'Kiyondo Ishida', black hair instead of white, whilst Yamada was as peaceful as his dying breath but you'd think he was only sleeping. Celestia herself was the image of a sleeping princess in need of a prince's kiss. It was probably her dream to be thought of such.

If only Naegi could get the mental image of that metal chain digging into her flesh enough to tear into it. To make her face turn violet blue as she gasped and gulped for oxygen. Dio had made the Headmaster almost rip her head off for the crime of revealing his secrets, and yet here she was.

They all looked as if they were sleeping. There were no signs of the horrors done to them ever since this Mutual Killing Game began. Naegi would have given anything to have his friends alive and well again.

But not like this. Anything but this. He knew what was going to happen. They weren't going to come back as themselves. Dio wouldn't have allowed that. There was no sign that Dio had done anything wrong just by looking at them. Just as their bodies proclaimed his innocence, their minds had probably been polluted as payment.

Why, Dio? Why would you go this far? Naegi tried to think of anyone who would do this. Who could be so cruel as to force the survivors of this game to fight against the people they were fighting for. He swallowed the vomit down and waited for the worst to happen.

The dead of Class 78 opened their eyes.

"Naegi, it's so good to see you again." Maizono said, not a drop of blood on her, beaming and holding her hands together. "I don't know if I mean because of the Killing Game or because of the memory-loss."

"It's only natural that Lord Dio's ability to resurrect the dead can even transcend the deletion of our memories." Yamada said, stroking his chin as if it was a normal day and he wasn't fighting to be heard over the sounds of Hagakure screaming in fear.

"There's no time for nostalgia!" Ishimaru declared, his voice carrying that same determination as ever. Only now it was serving a cause that didn't deserve one bit of his efforts. "Lord Dio is counting on us to keep our classmates from making the worst mistakes of their lives."

There was a hum of agreement from the rest of the resurrected at those words. Dio kept the tip of Muramasa's blade on the ground and leaned towards the pommel; a dark smile was on his smile as it was clear that this was his final trump-card to break their spirits. It was no longer a question of logic or strategy. This was a matter of pride.

The kind of pride he denied the people he had now brainwashed.

"Asahina, I know that Naegi's Stand is making you think that I was going to tell you to fight," Oogami said, Asahina softly whimpering whilst Naegi felt himself grow angrier. Did Dio really have no morals? "But believe me when I say that I was planning to tell you to save yourself. To understand that I had fought all I could and Lord Dio still surpassed me. Please, for the sake of our friendship, accept Lord Dio's mercy."

"Come on, Togami, you really think you can face up to Lord Dio?" Oowada added. Naegi wondered if Holy Diver somehow made them say it to appease Dio's ego, or if this was just a side-effect of its command over their souls. "He gave you a pretty big shiner last time you fought. I don't wanna see my classmates die anymore. Man's promise; Lord Dio's gonna let you live if you just swallow your damn pride and bow."

"Kirigiri, I'm grateful for everything you've done with Alter Ego, but he's still a young AI." Fujisaki's eyes were alight with admiration for the monster behind him. "He deserves to advance the world of AI and humanity. Not destroy himself trying to defeat a man like Lord Dio. His strength is just off the charts. I kind of wish I was that manly when I was alive."

"I know you got big dreams, but dreams change. First I wanted to play baseball, then I wanted to be a rock-star," Kuwata slammed the palm of his left hand against his right inner elbow and had a determined smile on his face. "Now I wanna make sure Lord Dio's world comes to be. Might as well give in to a higher power."

"Indeed. I may have lied about adapting to the Mutual Killing Game, but believe this sinful liar when she says that we must adapt to Lord Dio's will." Celes put a hand on her heart, eyes shut, and serenely addressed the survivors as if lecturing children. "Taeko Yasuhiro, Celestia Ludenberg, both are nothing compared to the destiny that Lord Dio sees. If our Fate is to be the rungs on the ladder towards Heaven, then our happiness lies in adapting to such. At least you get the chance to avoid dying before realising this."

Naegi never knew he could hate Dio's chuckle until that very moment.

"You see? In death, they have gained peace of mind. Free from the shackles of the past and anxieties for the future, they simply live content with the knowledge of their Fate. A pre-determined harmony awaits you." Dio raised Muramasa and pointed it straight at Naegi. "Kneel before Dio and your punishment will be light."

"Naegi, please, I can read you easily. You're only doing this to do right by us, to try and keep hope alive, but this is for the best. If you only knew what Lord Dio has planned for the world," Maizono held her hands together and looked as if she was the one meant to be begging. A tearful, yet hopeful, smile came to her. "Bow, Naegi. Do it for me."

Naegi's heart wavered for only a moment. The sight of the girl he knew from middle school, before she went on to become an idol, and who was meant to have been his close companion during all of this was now telling him to give in. He looked up to find his Stand gripping his hands tight enough that it might have cut into its palms, if it had nails, and looked back to see the others.

Maizono was not alone. A choir of the damned erupted in pleas and demands for the living to surrender themselves to Dio's rule. Asahina and Hagakure were the ones who were really shaken by the sight of their dead friends-although had Fukawa not been replaced by Syo, she might have joined them from fright of the dead-whilst Togami and Kirigiri stayed firm.

Dio just looked down on them smiling. At this point, he was now the child who spent their days plucking wings off insects to get that rush of power and joy from hurting another being. If he thought it'd break Naegi, he was wrong. All it did was convince Naegi of the need to fight that much harder.

Naegi looked to Jin and Kirigiri before staring up at his Stand. Both father and daughter nodded and Naegi turned back towards those who Dio had brought back to life.

If those bullets had something to do with his reaching the hearts of the survivors, then maybe...

"Everyone," Naegi stood tall and his Stand readied itself. "You got that wrong."

Ten bullets shot out from the Stand's fingers. They burned as bright as the last ones did, fuelled by Naegi's hope and memories, as they sailed past the victims and went straight for the Mastermind. Holy Diver scoffed and its fists easily met the bullets, shouting 'useless' with each and every bullet it seemingly smashed away.

As Dio laughed at what must have been a pitiful attempt to harm him, Naegi wasted no time turning to the others. The true targets of his efforts.

"Your minds have been taken away by Dio. He hasn't given you peace of mind, he's taken away your future. But we can take it back." Naegi decided to go down the list of Dio's victims in this Mutual Killing Game. "Maizono, what about your band-mates, and not being forgotten? Dio destroyed that, doesn't that make you upset? Kuwata, your dreams-whether it was baseball or music-had worth. Worth that Dio doesn't care about.

"Fujisaki, strength isn't about physicality or winning, it's about being able to face your fears. The Chihiro I knew, willing to reveal their secret to keep everyone together, was stronger than Dio ever was. Oowada, you wanted to build things after the Crazy Diamonds. Don't let Dio turn you into someone who can only destroy.

"Ishimaru, how can someone change others through effort if you let Dio turn you into a mouthpiece of his dogma? Yamada, you wanted your works to reach people's hearts, even if it's doujin, while Dio just wants to dominate people's hearts. Could someone like you ever get what inspired you in Dio's world. Celestia, I thought you wanted to have your own castle with servants and knights. Maybe you wanted something else. Maybe you just wanted to be the kind of girl who was never ordinary. But you definitely didn't want to be nothing more than Dio's Rank C!

"Oogami, please. The warrior I knew would have never spent her final words trying to convince her friend to serve someone like Dio. Would Keichiro have wanted you to accept defeat to the likes of Dio Brando? You spoke of your family's dojo and history with pride. What was that pride worth if it means surrendering to an absolute evil like Dio's plans?"

As Naegi spoke to them, he could feel his Stand bursting with energy. The Hope and memories that Dio had sealed away to drive them to kill one another, the bonds they formed in this building despite that, and the dreams and desires that they lived for before this whole tragedy. Every last of bit of energy from them was getting ready to burst out.

It was even enough that the survivors behind Naegi were rallying just from the exposure to that energy.

Dio watched him with disdain. Maybe he decided that since the bullets could do no harm, the size and intensity of it didn't matter when compared to Holy Diver's raw power and speed. It didn't stop the Ultimate Master from getting his Stand ready to deflect the blasts that were going to come from the opposing Stand.

Naegi ignored Dio. All he cared about and focused on were his classmates.

"Everyone, remember your hopes and dreams. Remember the past we can't and think of the futures we all dreamed of. Dio took that away from you. Dio's even taken your desires and replaced it with his own." Naegi pointed ahead and his Stand lifted its hands to point the barrels straight ahead. "Is that who you want to decide your Fates? Please, remember what he took away from you."

The sound of the bullets-more like 'Hope Bullets' than the real thing-firing was closer to a machine-gun than ten pistols being fired at once. The Hope Bullets themselves were massive compared to the ones before, probably because of the larger energy within them, but were as fast as ever. They shot towards the revived members of Class 78 and were a second away from striking their hearts.

"I have no intention of losing these servants." Dio didn't even have to move as Holy Diver shot forward and began to unleash a barrage of fists against the missiles. "Useless, useless, useless, useless!"

As the fists made contact, the missiles became golden explosions that emitted no heat but more than made up for it in wind pressure and light. Naegi had to cover his eyes to keep himself from going blind from the sight. That didn't matter. He knew in his heart that Dio was discovering something that Naegi himself only knew by instinct. The basic bodily functions that you didn't even have to think about, lest you move too slowly.

Those Hope Bullets broken apart by Holy Diver were not just any missile. They were cluster-missiles. Inside each and every one of them carried smaller missiles that shot forward even in spite of their container's destruction. Inside them was the same energy and hope that were in the previous missiles.

What was more was how none of the missiles even tried to reach Dio. It was almost sad how shocked he looked when realising that he was never the target.

"Not everything's about you, Dio." Kirigiri said, under her breath, just enough that Dio could hear her.

"Holy Diver's speed is unmatched!" He snapped, Holy Diver already moving to strike the new, smaller missiles. "You can't reach them all."

"Yes I can." Naegi vowed.

It was a battle between the speed of the Hope Bullets, trying to reach the hearts of those who had fallen under Dio's spell, and the one that cast that spell. Holy Diver quicker than Naegi thought, moving faster than even the speed of sound, as its fists slammed against each and every missile that came close to Class 78. Most of them had closed their eyes against the intensity of the wind pressure

The light and wind pressure was soon too much for anyone to look at. Naegi had to simply look away as he saw the smaller and smaller Hope Bullets disappear from sight as Holy Diver struck them each time.

Not one of them seemed to have hit even a single class member, before the Ultimate Luckster looked away. When he looked back, Dio's expression told him everything he needed to know.

"I hit them all, Naegi." Dio said, Holy Diver's smirk just like its master's. "Holy Diver's fists move like lightning. It plucked your earnest words and crushed them with its fists before they reached the hearts of your friends. You're a rainbow in the dark, however beautiful your light, it is still swallowed by the darkness with no one to ever see it."

"Dio, Holy Diver is powerful, but you can't win. The numbers are now against you. Do you really think you can defeat six Stand users?" The Headmaster said. Naegi mentally counted a Murralsee, however weakened, among their numbers as well.

"I have nineteen Murralsee all converging on your location, and my classmates have generously sworn themselves to me." Dio laughed to himself and motioned a finger at Naegi. "I'll sic the Steering Committee on Naegi. Whatever his Stand does, it obviously strengthens the heart. Pitch-black ambition will swallow it whole without mercy."

"Y-You're not gonna be so confident when we beat you. We did it once, and we'll do it again." Hagakure tried his best glare as all the attention in the room fell on this showdown between Dio and the survivors.

"Hagakure, I will enjoy crushing your skull." Dio growled. "I let you win that time to better crush your spirits. Now? I am done with catering to your needs and my short-term desires. You think you can stand up against twenty Murralsee and your beloved classmates? You think you can overcome Holy Diver? Fools! I will show you, the Future Foundation, and all those who doubt in the power of Dio that this is the dawn of the new world! Your struggles are completely and utterly use-"

Dio was cut off by the left side of his face getting smashed by the back wheel of a motorcycle.

Blood and skin shot out from his howling face as the wheel shot up from his cheek to his skull, as Mondo Oowada adjusted his motorcycle so that it would land before slamming against the wall of the Class Trial room. There was barely enough time for Dio to place a hand on his face, immediately healing his wounds, when he stumbled into a well-muscled fist landing straight on his gut.

All of this in the span of three seconds; the pain too much for Dio to direct Holy Diver to save him.

The Ultimate Male Model corrected himself before stumbling too far back. It was just in time for him to realise that, whilst he had been bragging of his victory, Oowada had sneaked into the open Execution room and grabbed an intact bike. It was also in time for him to realise that those who he brought back from the dead were no longer looking at him with adoring eyes. That much was obvious from Sakura Oogami moving from the steps of the throne to strike at him.

No. The expressions on their faces could only be described as absolute fury.

Dio's mind, normally so quick to find the answer, seemed unable to register what he was seeing. "How-"

"I don't know how I knew, but I just did." Naegi said. Dio turned his head back to feel the full-force of the Ultimate Hope's glare. "You can't just destroy what's in people's hearts. No matter how hard you hit, you can't erase the feelings humans hold for their close ones! My Hope Bullets just broke apart again and again until not even your eyes could see them, and they still reached their hearts."

"That's right." Maizono looked at him and did nothing to hide her tears. "Naegi, I'm so sorry for what I did, for what I just did, just everything! All the times we spent as friends, all the things we shared, and what we promised at Hope's Peak, and I just-"

"Maizono, it's okay. I am sure that Naegi has already forgiven.," Oogami said. Knowing the power and fighting skill of Dio, she could only spare Asahina a brief apologetic look. "What matters now is that we stand and fight now. That we do not let Dio win after all he has done."

"Do you understand now, Dio?" Kirigiri said. She stepped forward and Naegi could almost swear that there was someone behind her. All dressed up like an old-time detective, down to the deer-hunter and everything. "You can force your will on us all you like, and nothing will change. We'll never stop fighting. Just like humanity will never stop fighting against your despair so long as we have hope."

"You hear that?" Oowada's voice easily overcame his bike's engine. "This is the sound of us getting ready to kick your ass so hard the shit'll only have to come out of one hole instead of two!"

Mondo drove his motorcycle around the room and began to throw certain objects that he held on his left hand. To hold onto so many items and still have control over his motorcycle like that. Oowada truly was the Ultimate Biker.

Ishimaru had a kendo stick, Kuwata a baseball bat, and others had make-shift weapons like crowbars and hammers, and all the tools that must have gone into building the death-traps in the Execution Room. Objects once designed to enable their torment, now were weapons to ensure their freedom from Dio.

Naegi could hear metallic marching in the distance. The Murralsee, nineteen in number according to Dio, were approaching. Whether they had the steel-chain whips like Jin did was something they'd have to find out, most of their attention now on Holy Diver readying itself for a fight. This was it. The true final battle that would end it all.

Flickers of doubt came to Naegi. His Stand wasn't meant for combat. That was obvious now. Would the same be true for the others? How would people like Fujisaki and Maizono defend themselves? Would six Stands and Oowada and Oogami together be enough to stop Dio?

No. I have to have hope. Hope in myself. Hope in my friends. And last, but definitely not least. Hope in my Stand. Livin' On A Prayer!


Stand Stats

Holy Diver
User: Dio Brando
Stats

Destructive Power A
Speed A
Range C
Durability A
Precision B
Developmental Potential B

Abilities
User can nullify effect on self. Only activates via physical contact by the hands of user or Holy Diver.

Resurrection of the dead as servants. Appearance and name must be known to the user. Strength and willingness to obey relative to knowledge of the resurrected, however, those resurrected can break free of control if given sufficient emotional stimuli or physical trauma. Resurrection cannot be cancelled once done and user must either kill those brought back, or kill themselves, to cancel the effect.

This ability requires sufficient soul energy from those killed by user or Holy Diver directly. Can-Access Denied. Requires Headmaster-level security clearance.

Livin' On A Prayer
User: Makoto Naegi
Stats

Destructive Power E
Speed B
Range B
Durability C
Precision A
Developmental Potential B

Abilities
Stand is able to turn user's positive emotions into channel energy that can be transmitted to those considered not an enemy via ahoge on Stand. This both heals wounds and enhances physical abilities of those affected. User can use this ability on themselves to heal.

Stand can fire 'Hope Bullets' made from positive feelings of user and memories between user and target. Can increase positive feelings and willpower within target when hit. Cannot create feelings and cannot reverse negative feelings; only enhance positive ones for affected to fight negative emotions with.