AN: Welcome back everyone!
I'm glad everyone enjoyed the last chapter with the introduction of Ernesto and his formidable Oyecomova. I originally had this in the last chapter, but after some reviews opened my eyes, I split this up into two chapters and added a few more Stand battle shenanigans to this one. I really hope you guys like it :)!
Right, enough talk.
Let's begin!
Disclaimer: I, Beowulf, do not own PJO or JJBA. I only own this plot, my OC, and the disappointing truth that I do not possess D4C. If I did, I'd be jumping around universes like a bunny on crack.
~Chapter 11~
"Take your pipes, I have no use for them now. Mi objetivo is all but finished. Victoria is mine!" The Stand User cackled madly.
Everyone's eyes widened in fear as his words clicked in their minds.
Cyrus cursed again, before he did something that apparently no one expected.
He rushed towards his friends, yelling to them as he zipped past. "Run!"
Startled by the quick change in tactics, the group followed suit, running away from the Spanish man, who grinned confidently as he simply stalked over to a motorcycle that had been parked nearby.
They could run all their wanted, but it was sure as the sun in the sky that their fates were sealed. They would die in a glorious explosion.
Thus thought Ernesto Puente. And with God above as his witness, his thoughts would be made truth!
"What's the plan?" Thalia shouted as she ran alongside the boy, who was currently watching the ticking bomb on his hand meticulously.
"And make it quick if you can!" Percy cried out as he suddenly heard the roar of motorcycle engine behind him.
Cyrus snarled as he tried to keep the pins on his hand from springing with his fingers, grimacing. "I'm thinking!"
"I know this is me asking, but why are we running away?" Grover asked as he struggled to keep up.
"Do you want to deal with the crazy explosives man?" Phoebe snapped as she sprinted alongside them.
"Okay fair point."
"Stop here!" Cyrus ordered as he came to a stop near a few large piles of snow, with a proud American flag flapping in the wind atop a flagpole.
"What? Why?" Zoe asked as they did as he asked, panting a little.
The raven-maned boy cursed. "Needed to buy some time..."
Zoe just narrowed her eyes at the explosive pin in his hand. She reached forward, "What is thy issue here? Why not simply remove..." Her voice died as Cyrus backed away, shaking his violently.
"Stay back! If I remove the pins, they spring and we're all dead!" Cyrus shouted out before he bit his lip. "Shit shit shit! I'm in a lot of trouble like this. I can't fight Ernesto if both my hands are out of commission!"
The pins slipped suddenly, and Cyrus's eyes widened as he felt his hands getting sweaty. "This isn't good. I gotta stay calm. The more I get worked up, the more I sweat and the pins will slip out from under."
"Back away!" He barked at them, "If I blow up, I'm not taking you guys with me!"
"How adorable." The cold, mad voice of the Spaniard reached their ears as they turned to see that the Stand User had caught up, having used a motorcycle to do so. The man grinned, and with a strength that was no doubt enhanced by his Stand, he grabbed the handlebars of the vehicle and tossed it at the group.
"Move!" Cyrus shoved them all away as the motorcycle hurtled towards him. Just before the vehicle collided with him, he used a Stand jump to leap away, landing a few feet from where the two-wheeler landed, exploding as it crashed where he had just been standing. He winced a little as the sweat from his fight began to make his fingers slippery, making it hard to keep the pins on his hand from springing.
Ernesto sneered once again. "Your Resiliencia is admirable. But I will not be denied!" He held out his hands, revealing multiple tiny pebbles before chucking them at Cyrus.
Cyrus's eyes widened along with his friends' as the rocks flew towards the young Stand User. After maybe a half second, multiple loud pings resounded in the area as each of the pebbles exploded with the force of a grenade.
Shielding her face and eyes like her friends did, Thalia peered into the smoke, silently hoping and pleading with prayers to whatever God or Goddess that would listen that he was okay.
Ernesto was also peering into the smoke, waiting to see the no-doubt exploded and hole-ridden body of the young Stand User.
"What are you looking at?" Ernesto's eyes widened as he turned to see Cyrus standing behind him, maybe seven feet away.
The young man was in rough shape. He hadn't been able to warp away with D4C fast enough, having bloody rips and tears in his coat, save for the golden cloak of sorts that he'd managed to snatch from the Nemean Lion. His shirt was in torn rags, his face was covered in blood, and yet he'd still kept his grip on the pins in his hand.
Sneering at the wounded young man, Ernesto spoke low enough that only Cyrus could hear him. "You're finished. You know it Khan. Do me a favor: let go of the pin and die. I promise you that your friends will meet with you soon."
Cyrus snapped up at that, his eyes burning with hate and anger. He glanced at his group, noticing their worried looks.
Grover looked horrified and was chewing on his fingernails as he watched. Percy was standing still, a face of horror and nervousness plastered on him. Zoe and Phoebe, surprisingly, had similar faces of concern. And Thalia...she looked like her stomach had dropped away. Her hands were over her mouth, eyes wide in fear...
Noticing what he was looking at, Ernesto chuckled darkly before continuing to talk lowly, his eyes turning a hint lustful. "Oh? Someone has un amor he cares for? I'll be sure to break her spirit before I send her to you in the afterlife."
Cyrus's heart went cold, before beating hard and fast with red hot fury. How dare he. How dare he threaten her?
Ernesto stepped back a bit at the sheer amount of hatred that now boiled off the Stand User's aura.
"You know...I've been counting the times when you've used your bombs..." Cyrus growled out lowly, slowly walking towards his enemy.
"There's...a delay...in the explosion...probably for your safety. Am I correct Ernesto?" The man in question snarled.
"So you figured it out. It does not matter-" He was cut off by the low laugh that now poured from Cyrus's lips.
"Doesn't it? It means I can do THIS!" Cyrus roared out as he let go of the bomb on his hand's pin, instead grabbing onto his forearm.
Ernesto's eyes narrowed, "Wait, what are you-?"
"RAAARGH!" With a mighty pull, Cyrus tore off his arm at the elbow. (1)
Silence ensued as jaws all around dropped to the ground.
With no hesitation, Cyrus threw his now severed arm at Ernesto. The explosive Stand User's complexion drained as he heard the multiple pings of the pins springing out. "Mierda!"
The explosion blew up just in front of the Spanish assassin, clouding his vision in a plume of smoke and fire. The user of Oyecomova snarled and jumped back, grimacing in pain as he covered his eye.
"Mi ojo! You son of a bitch!" Ernesto swore in a rage as blood poured from his now ruined eye. His teeth gnashed as he batted away the smoke, only to find that his enemy had vanished.
"Increible. That boy ripped off his own arm to use as a weapon. But that should be it...where is he? Where is that hijo de puta hiding?!" Ernesto Puente's thoughts raced as he looked around.
His remaining eye bulged as a sense of impending doom gripped him. Feeling his instincts scream for him to dodge, he threw himself to the right.
A crater formed right where he had been standing as a fist came down from on high, pulverizing the pavement beneath. The Spanish terrorist growled in anger as he beheld his foe.
His eye twitched as once again, Cyrus was without any wounds. He was once again at the peak of health. Even his arm was back and his coat had not a single tear!
Ernesto stepped back a bit as a presence of overwhelming fury seemed to press down around him, suffocating him as he glared at Cyrus.
The young Stand User looked absolutely menacing. His D4C hovered just over him with only the upper body visible. The boy himself stood tall and resolute, posing as he walked with brutal purpose towards his enemy. His hand was on his forehead, as if ready to run his fingers through his hair. (2)
Cyrus's eyes glowed with cold rage as he stared at his foe. "Be honored! By the end of this battle, you will be one of only two people I have revealed the truth of my Stand to!"
Grover's heart probably couldn't take much more of these weird-as-Hades Stands. And that was saying a lot considering their normal lives of fighting things that had crawled out of myths from an age long since past and him being a literal Goat boy.
The satyr had faced Medusa, the Kindly Ones, Polyphemus and a bunch of other monsters in between, but somehow this was just...this was just crazy.
First a guy with a car that burst into flames and did weird stuff like something out of Ghost Rider, then this nutjob with a thing for explosions.
And then there was Cyrus. Oh boy where to start?
When he had met the boy, back when Grover had found the four of them (Luke, Thalia, Annabeth, and Cyrus), he could tell that Cyrus was...different.
He was strong, powerful, and had a mind like no other. If Grover hadn't known better, he would have thought that the boy was one of Athena's. But he was too much of a chaotic force for that, pulling jokes and pranks, and pulling off schemes like a proper Hermes kid. He fought with the same viciousness and strength of a son of Ares, but he wasn't all-out bloodthirsty either.
Plus with the strange power he had sported (one that Grover and the others now knew to be his Stand Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap), he was just such a massive mystery to younger Grover. Not that he wasn't as much of a mystery now, because now the more answers they got, the more questions seemed to pop up.
Like, he understood the whole warping thing with the 'in between objects' stuff, that was pretty simple to grasp. But how was Cyrus healing himself in between hops?
But back to what was in front of him...Grover would have been lying if he had said he wasn't the least bit worried at all. Cyrus was looking downright murderous, and with his own Satyr powers of empathy, Grover shivered as he could feel the cold fury practically boiling off of the Stand User.
He spared a worried glance at the rest of his group. Percy was staring with eyes wide, still trying to process what was happening. The hunters Zoe and Phoebe were surprisingly wearing faces of concern, with Zoe's in general being more so.
Thalia however had the most jarring reaction. She was biting her lip hard, almost drawing blood as her blue eyes were open and full of fear. If the situation weren't so dire, Grover would have noted to himself that this was just more proof that the young daughter of Zeus was extremely attached to the young Stand User of a demigod.
Grover bit his lip as he turned back to the two Stand Users battling. There had to be some way to help! They couldn't just stand there right...?
He looked down as he thought frantically, his eyes falling on his newly reacquired reed pipes...
Rumble...
Ernesto scowled as he beheld his enemy. "Gilipollas. How did you get above me?" He pulled his hand away from his ruined eye, showing off the gruesome damage his own bombs had done to him after Cyrus had thrown his mined arm.
Cyrus grinned and pointed. Following his finger, Ernesto looked up above Cyrus to see the flapping American flag atop the pole.
"I used the smoke and dust from your explosion to warp up to the flag, dropping down on you so I could crush you. But I guess you were just a hair faster...what a pity."
D4C's user made a step forward, the sound of his boots on the ground almost deafening as Cyrus's enhanced strength made small cracks in the pavement.
"How dare you threaten her you mangy dog!" Cyrus snarled out as he summoned the Last Word to his hand, firing off a slew of bullets at the man.
"Mierda!" The crippled Stand User cursed, summoning Oyecomova in an attempt to defend. The avian Stand gave a valiant effort, deflecting about three bullets before one ricocheted and two others nailed its user in the chest, right under his collarbone.
Ernesto choked as blood spurted out of his lips and his new bullet-hole wounds. Cyrus walked forward with purpose, the calmness in his stride betrayed by the sheer hatred that steamed off him like liquid nitrogen at room temperature.
"That bastardo...one step closer..."
Ping ping!
Boom!
Ernesto grinned as the flagpole suddenly screamed out as the metal twisted and deformed. Cyrus looked up in surprise, arching an eyebrow as the flagpole careened downwards towards him.
"I've got you now!" The Spaniard sneered out. "When you fired your bullets at me, one of the bullets ricocheted off of Oyecomova's hands. I had it put bombs on that bullet when it made contact with that flagpole! Muere cabrón!"
Cyrus didn't seem bothered at all as the flagpole made a beeline for his head. "Hmph."
Clang!
"Hahahaha! I've won!" As the dust cleared, Ernesto's eyes bulged in shock.
"You don't get it at all do you?" "What?!" The Spaniard whirled around at the voice behind him.
Crunch!
"GAHAGH!" Ernesto screamed in pain as he was punched hard in the stomach, knocking him onto the ground. He looked up a little from his place on the asphalt, seeing Cyrus emerging out of the ground behind where he'd been standing.
"I have to get away! I cannot fulfill my mission at el Palacio if I die to this puta!" Ernesto gritted his teeth as as he grabbed a decently sized piece of rubble from the ground, conjuring his Stand ability to cover it in bomb pins.
Suddenly, the sound of reed pipes could be heard, and the Spaniard's mouth went dry as he suddenly realized his hand wouldn't move. It was as if he was tied...
He looked down at his restrained hand, snarling as creeper vines sprouted from the ground and pinned his hand to the ground, denying him the chance to throw the bombs.
Looking up and towards his target's friends, he noticed that the strange goat-child was playing on those reed pipes he had stolen earlier and used to bait Cyrus into his trap.
He gritted his teeth. He should have mined it and blown them up as well!
His scowl turned into a grin as he realized some of his skin had been scraped off from the punch Cyrus had landed. Skin that was still on Cyrus's fist!
Ping ping ping!
"Argh!" Cyrus bellowed in pain as his hand suddenly exploded into a mess of gore. He bit his lip, glaring with hatred at his enemy.
From the outsider's perspective, it must have seemed like a stalemate.
Ernesto couldn't go for a killing blast because of his hands being out of commission, while Cyrus couldn't get in close to deliver a crushing victory strike.
The Spaniard wasn't finished though. Even as roots and vines crept over the rest of his body, holding him in place, he tore his arm free of the vines with a snarl, throwing the mined chunk of rock at the boy.
"Perish gilipollas!" Ernesto roared out as he hurled the rock at the boy, supercharging his own strength with that of his Oyecomova.
Cyrus didn't dodge.
The rock smashed clean into Cyrus's face right near his eye, knocking his head back and making him stumble back a bit.
Much to everyone's shock, the boy didn't fall over.
Their eyes widened in shock as Cyrus just got right back up, staring in disbelief.
Where the rock had made contact, was a square hole surrounded by smaller square holes in his face. Cyrus didn't seem bothered at all by the massive holes through his head.
Zoe's jaw dropped as she recognized this as happening when she had attacked him during Capture-the-Flag. "It was not my imagination! What is this man's power?"
Cyrus tilted his head curiously, a cruel smirk curling his lips. His remaining eye was cold and shone with a ruthlessness that sent shivers down everyone's spines.
He gave a cold laugh, even with his destroyed hand. "I've had enough of this." He said, before his eye glowed and D4C materialized above him.
The horned manifestation of Cyrus's soul took a pose of its own, hovering over Cyrus with only its upper body visible, its arms just over and around his shoulders.(3)
As the hole in Cyrus's face suddenly filled up, the rock that Ernesto had thrown crashed behind him, the pins springing and exploding, sending a shockwave of wind that buffeted the young boy's coat and golden cloak. His dark mane of hair billowed around him as the air flowed around him.
Cyrus was unbothered by the hot wind from the explosion. His annihilated hand was of no consequence to him. All that mattered was victory was within his reach.
His heart and actions were utterly unclouded.
They were all of Justice.
His voice was colder than the harsh winds of the Arctic as he stalked towards his foe. "As I said before, Ernesto Puente. Consider this an honor! You shall be the second person who knows the truth of my Stand's power!"
"Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap."
Thalia would be lying if she said she was completely fearless. The amount of times her heart had leapt into her throat throughout this fight was just too much.
She couldn't even do much! Her lightning bolts and her control over electricity was spotty at best, and even if she used it, she couldn't guarantee the safety of the friends around her in close combat because of its nature.
If she loosed a lightning bolt, there was the chance that electricity would jump to Cyrus and kill him along with Ernesto. If she shot them up with arcs of electricity, the same issue came up.
She gritted her teeth, quietly resolving to get stronger and learn to fight smarter if she was going to help Cyrus in fights like this. Of that she was sure.
But those thoughts took a backseat to 'I'm panicking because my best friend has taken like five mortal wounds and is still somehow standing'. Her heart was beating out of her chest, and she was praying to whatever Gods were listening that he'd be fine.
And afterwards probably beating the crap out of him for scaring her like that.
Zoe's thoughts raced as Cyrus had pulled off the same trick he'd used on her in the woods during the Hunters v. Campers game. How was he able to do that? To simply remove pieces of himself with no ill effects? Her eyes narrowed. This man was far too much of an enigma, and she wanted answers. And if what her matron had spoken of was true, Olympus wanted them as well.
If Percy hadn't been raised so well by his mother, he would have thought that he had been slipped some hallucinogenic drugs. What the Hades was all of this?
"Better question," a thought chimed into his mind. "He's acting so cold and vicious. Thalia and Grover say he can be trusted, but look at him! He's as cold and brutal as Luke..."
That didn't sit well with him, and his guard raised up a bit further.
Grover pulled the reed pipes away from his lips with a nervous smile. Hopefully that would be enough for Cyrus to get the winning strike in. The satyr prayed to Pan, wherever he was, that he did good.
Cyrus spoke clearly. "As I said before, Ernesto Puente. Consider this an honor! You shall be the second person who knows the truth of my Stand's power!"
"Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap."
The two Stand Users glared at each other, one with hatred and fear, the other with a cold fury.
Both had been wounded brutally.
Ernesto was crippled, with one hand shattered beyond reconstruction, and the other now being held down by vines again, courtesy of Grover. He had multiple shattered ribs and bullet wounds in his upper chest.
Cyrus was notably well off. His hand was also destroyed, a mutilated mess of gore from the explosion of Ernesto's skin on his fist. He sported a few singe marks on his face, and a small cut on his cheek. Blood dripped from his mouth as he wiped it away with his other hand.
The Spaniard spat out a bit of blood before sneering up at his foe. "What are you waiting for cabrón? Too weak to kill me?"
Cyrus's nostrils flared as he summoned the Last Word to his hand. He pointed the barrel at Ernesto's skull, finger ready to pull the trigger...but he didn't.
"It would be so very easy...but I made a promise. Before you die, I will show you the truth!"
He grinned maliciously, before fell down onto the ground face-first, disappearing as he had put himself between the Lion's cloak and the ground.
Ernesto's eyes widened as he saw this, and that the boy's golden cloak that had been fastened onto his coat was now on the ground where he had been standing. "What the..."
Suddenly, a body seemed to emerge from the top of the fur blanket, followed by another underneath said blanket. The one that emerged from underneath revealed itself to be Cyrus Khan, healed completely with his wounded hand nowhere to be seen.
And the other body was...himself. The other body was another Ernesto Puente!
Ernesto's eyes widened, as did the quest members.
-Flashback-
"Haven't done this in a while..." Cyrus mused to himself as he disappeared under the Lion's cloak and entered the...he supposed one could call it his hammer-space of sorts, a dimension between dimensions.
Then again, he'd gone to great lengths to preserve the true nature of his Stand's power from everyone, friends and foes alike.
Everyone had known about the warping capabilities his D4C had held, and most were content to think it was just that...
But it was far, far more than that.
Stands were essentially manifestations of the soul, and Cyrus could feel it. He could feel the very light of his soul as it stretched far beyond just this world. He could feel it, the infinite light of his soul, pervading across an infinite number of universes. He could see all of them within this space between all those worlds.
An ocean of what looked like stars swirled around him, each one a universe of its own. A neighboring, parallel world. There were an infinity of them.
And all of them, every last one of them, were within his reach.
He chuckled a little to himself...he missed this.
The sheer power and potential D4C harbored were colossal, far more than Valentine had ever realized during the few months he had the Stand. And it was intoxicating.
Cyrus even wondered if even the Gods would ever be able to access something like this.
Every reality was within his grasp, accessible only...only, to him.
He reappeared inside one of said universes, right next to his own counterpart in this universe, who was facing another Ernesto Puente but had not suffered the same injuries as he had, with the lion's pelt flat on the ground in between them.
"W-what the hell?!" This Ernesto Puente's eyes were wide in shock, seeing two of the same person in front of him.
He looked at himself, the unwounded version tilted his head. "Is it time?"
The wounded Cyrus nodded, before clasping arms with his unwounded self. The power surged from the wounded to the unwounded, along with a flow of memories and knowledge.
Transaction complete.
"W-what is this?!" Ernesto in this world gaped, his brain refusing to process what stood before him.
The two Cyruses laughed mockingly as they stood back to back. Much to the enemy Stand User's shock, the two seemed to be...melting into one another? The two Khans slowly fused together, speaking in unison. "Imagine for a moment, a sponge and another sponge..."
Their torsos had merged into one now, followed by the four legs melting into two legs. "Overlapping each other..."
"The gaps intersect with the other gaps...and the two..."
The fusion completed, with the heads melting together, creating a completely healthy Cyrus Khan. "Become one!"
"The 'base' has come to me. The Stand, which only exists in one of me, has now moved to me. Now I, have become the 'base'!"
Ernesto stumbled back from him, panicking at the impossibility before him. This...this couldn't be a Stand! This was impossible!
"No, Ernesto, this is mine. My power. My Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap. You never stood a chance. Your power was countered by my own. Think about it."
Cyrus cracked his neck as he stalked towards the downed Spaniard. "I could have killed you at any moment Ernesto. Every single explosion you create? It also creates debris. Dust, smoke, ash...all of these things for me to use to hop with my D4C. 'Victoria', is mine." Cyrus spoke coldly as he stepped slowly towards the Spaniard. (4)
Technically he hadn't thought much of that until now...but he certainly wasn't going to tell this psychotic bastard that.
With a grin, the unwounded Cyrus summoned D4C, rushing forward and grabbing the Nemean cloak. He quickly draped the cloak over the Spaniard before he could react, followed by throwing it over himself, disappearing both of them.
-Flashback end-
Cyrus grinned viciously, D4C floating behind him with a menacing aura that sent chills down everyone's spine.
As everyone gaped at the impossible sight before them, Thalia squinted for a moment. Was...was Cyrus different looking? He never had little freckles on his nose like that...
"W-what is this?!" Ernesto shouted in surprise, literally seeing double.
Cyrus's eyes glowed with cold rage as he stared at his foe. "Be honored! You are one of only two people I have revealed the truth of my Stand to!"
"You don't get it do you? Behold, the truth of my Stand!" He spoke as he struck a pose like a magician revealing his last trick, with D4C looming over him.
Cyrus grinned with viciousness in his heart as D4C's eyes glowed above him.
"Allowing multiple universes to exist in the same location! That, is the power of my Stand, Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap!" He proclaimed.
"No person can exist as two of the same person in the same world, save for me!" Cyrus continued as his Stand hovered menacingly.
"Which means for you..." Cyrus turned to the Ernesto from another world, using D4C to punch him over to his counterpart.
The two Ernestos were now but a foot away from one another, their eyes widening in horror as their bodies began to tear themselves apart. Square shaped holes began appearing in their bodies as chunks of flesh began to race towards one another, annihilating themselves in flashes of light.
"N-no! No please!" The two cried out in fear, begging for their lives. Cyrus's face was a stone mask, his eyes glinting with a brutal satisfaction akin to a mafia don.
"Savor it. Long and slow." The two bodies of the evil Stand User collided, a blinding explosion making everyone but Cyrus turn away.
While no one else saw it due to shielding their eyes, Cyrus did. He watched. He watched as the two Ernestos collided and as the laws of Reality were enacted, ripping Ernesto's bodies into Menger Sponges as he was annihilated.
Mutual destruction, leaving nothing behind.
No one threatened his friends like that and got away alive. Especially when involving Thalia Grace.
Silence.
Percy was in utter shock, the only thought coming to his head being "Note to self, do not piss him off."
Because whatever just happened was nuts. First, Cyrus had somehow managed to restore himself to full health. Then, there were somehow two of the creepy explosives guy. And finally there was a huge flash and then there was no more creepy explosive guy.
Not to mention Cyrus was...absolutely terrifying. The sheer coldness he dispatched Ernesto with was unnerving, to say the least.
"Okay can someone explain what's going on?!" He cried out in confusion.
Cyrus just stared at where Ernesto had been as he let his Stand disappear, grabbing the Nemean cloak off the ground and refastening it to his coat. "Later. Come on, we should get going."
Ernesto Puente, user of the Stand Oyecomova, DEAD...
AN: At last, Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap has revealed at least a portion of its true nature!
I can only wonder as for the massive can of worms that's going to unleash for our gang!
Imma be real with you guys, this chapter was a bit of a struggle to make because I had a number of ideas on approaching it and trying to include it all, along with just trying to get this chapter to be the length I hope for. Generally I try to make it about 5000+ words.
Hopefully it's pretty good, but I'm not entirely happy with it. Let me know what you guys think.
But the simple fact is that when it comes to D4C vs Oyecomova, D4C wipes the floor with it so hard it's not even funny. You'll see my logic in the notes I'm sure. But anyway, I was just slightly struggling with how to stretch the fight out a bit more, so I just opted to give you guys this. Hopefully it's satisfactory at least haha.
Notes:
(1) Hmm...wonder who Cyrus managed to pull that move from?
(2) Basically the same pose Valentine takes when stepping out from behind a tree and approaching Gyro, only for Gyro to not notice him even when Johnny yells.
(3) Pretty much the same pose from the fight between Valentine vs Wekapipo and Diego where there's a hole in his head.
(4) So this is a slight multi-note area here. First off, the sponge analogy is taken from the source material itself, where Valentine is shown sort of merging with an alternate version of himself with no ill effects, if one happens to be damaged, he can simply abandon the wounded version of himself when the sponge 'splits again.
As for how D4C absolutely annihilates Oyecomova in a fight, D4C almost perfectly counters the Stand in every way. Yes, Oyecomova's bombs are devastating in effect, but explosions create a number of things such as dust and smoke. Things that D4C has been shown to use as objects to trigger its own power of the dimensional hop.
The only reason Cyrus held back at all is because Ernesto hadn't pushed his buttons enough.
And that concludes our notes!
Hopefully you guys enjoyed the chapter as much as I enjoyed making/struggling with it.
Remember to leave solid reviews if you would be so kind. The criticism and feedback sustain my mind.
Cheers!
Beowulf