As Dio acclimates to his newfound abilities, the group pursues as they approach the final battle.

Zeppeli was the first to pursue, leaping from the building and onto the street. With darkness quickly overtaking the city, Dio would be able to move freely in short order. He had little time to catch him before the shadows of the buildings gave way to full night.

Erina helped Jonathan to his chair, pulling the knife from his stomach. "How can we help you?" she asked him, placing her hand gingerly against the side of his face.

"There's no need to worry about me," he told her, trying his hardest to keep a brave face. "Quickly, find Dio. He can't be allowed to escape." Seeing the look of hesitation on Erina's face, he nodded to her. "Go. I'll be fine. I've suffered far worse injuries than this."

As she made her exit, Jonathan turned his attention to Speedwagon. "This is my fault," he said. "I'm sorry I've allowed this to happen to all of you."

"You've done nothing but try to find a cure for your affliction," he replied. "It was Dio! He was tricking us this entire time! I knew we shouldn't have trusted him!"

"What's important now is stopping him." Jonathan tried to stand but fell back into his seat, gripping his stomach as the residual Hamon burned his skin. "It may take me some time to recover from this. Continue without me."

"I won't leave you behind!" Speedwagon shouted. Without warning, he rolled up his sleeve and presented his arm to Jonathan. "Here! If it will help you, I'll offer my blood without any hesitation!"

Stunned at the man's unwavering loyalty, Jonathan shook his head. "I refuse. Never again shall a drop of blood be spilled to slake my thirst. Thank you, Speedwagon, but we'll defeat Dio without resorting to that level." Inspired by Speedwagon's resolve, he summoned his strength and got to his feet. "Come, we haven't any time to waste!"

The two managed to find Erina after leaving the building, splitting up to cover more ground with the assumption that they'd still be close enough that the sounds of battle would call the others to Dio's location.

All four of them cursed how easily Dio had played the situation to his favor, especially given how little any of them trusted him to begin with. They also realized that, unless they could find a way to end this battle tonight, a vampire without Jonathan's moral code loose in London would mean disaster of the highest caliber.

Coincidentally, Dio was thinking something similar as he stalked the group from the shadows. He'd already fed himself on a number of people in his brief time as an undead being, making preparations for his own ending to their fight.

Divide and conquer was the name of the game and, to his amusement, the fools had already taken care of half of the equation for him. Unable to use Hamon, Speedwagon was the easy choice for a first target. He'd already beaten him as a normal human, so he wouldn't stand a chance now that he'd assumed a more powerful form.

Not even bothering with stealth once he had him isolated, Dio stepped out into his direct path. "You!" Speedwagon shouted, raising his sledgehammer. "So, you've shown yourself to me! Hamon or not, I'll make short work of you and end this nightmare."

This made him chuckle. "End me, you say?" He took a step forward. "I'd be interested in how you plan to do that."

"With this!" he shouted, swinging his hammer towards Dio. Amused, the vampire simply raised a hand to stop it, realizing too late that the weapon tore through his flesh with far less resistance than he would have imagined.

With a shriek, Dio leaped backwards across the street. Examining the stump, he noticed the familiar crackle of Hamon surging from the wound. "Surprised?" Speedwagon asked haughtily. "A gift from Ms. Pendleton. My metal hammer makes a great conductor, though it's not as strong as it would be coming from the source. But the little Hamon energy that it managed to hold over time will be more than enough to take care of you, monster!"

With a snarl, Dio produced one of his knives and launched it with the force of a ballista towards his enemy. Barely managing to raise his hammer to block, the weapon was shattered into pieces along with the blade, sending fragments of each into Speedwagon's torso and knocking him across the cobblestones.

"Do you understand the difference in our power now?" he asked, ripping off his forearm to stop the slow spread of Hamon up his body. "It will take some time for me to heal from that injury. As you die, I want you to know that each body I drain of life will be because of your foolishness."

Gritting his teeth as blood seeped from his wounds, Speedwagon could only stall for time in the hopes their yelling had made enough noise. "Then...then explain!" he shouted. "If I'm to die, then at least answer my question! Why have you done these things? The Joestar family treated you as their own, yet you took every opportunity you could to betray them!"

Dio shook his head, almost disappointed at how mundane that question was. "Someone as simple as you would never understand my ambition. I could explain, but I'd simply be wasting my time. I have far more entertaining things to do tonight."

Speedwagon's desperation was evident, a fact that made Dio all the more willing to suck him dry. Gripping him by the neck, he slid his fingers into his skin and began drinking his blood. He watched as his victim's eyes began to dart wildly around the street, the realization that no one was coming to save him beginning to set in.

Just as all hope seemed lost, a shrill scream rang out through London. It was random enough to give Dio pause as he looked around for the source. "I do hate being interrupted during my meals," he said, tossing Speedwagon to the ground. Though he wasn't exactly concerned with someone noticing him, it would simply be much easier to devour this city if the police weren't mobilized against him.

This scream turned out to be his saving grace, however, as Jonathan Joestar came roaring over the horizon diving headfirst at his brother. "Dio!" he yelled, the two clashing in a flurry of fists before knocking each other back. Not taking his eyes off Dio, Jonathan knelt down to cradle Speedwagon in his arms. "It's alright now," he told him. "I've made it here."

"Just in time," Speedwagon said. Though he'd lost some blood, it wasn't enough to put him at serious risk. He'd be out of the fight for the time being, though, Jonathan leaning him against a wall away from the main road the two vampires planned to battle in.

"Take your time clearing the trash," Dio said. "I'd like to have enough room to move about as I kill you."

"Why would you do this to yourself, Dio?" Jonathan asked, ignoring the mockery to try one last time to understand the man standing before him. "You've seen the monster I've become, yet you chose to do this to yourself. Why reject your humanity and doom yourself to a life of misery and darkness?"

This was apparently hilarious, Dio letting out a loud cackle in response. "JoJo, you're an utter fool. From the moment I laid eyes upon what you'd become – a beast equal parts terrible and beautiful, life eternal at the mere cost of human lives – I knew that I was destined to attain that power for myself. I will admit that Hamon is a powerful skill, but you've continually proven just how outclassed a pathetic human is against a vampire." Clenching his fist to flex his muscles, he laughed again. "And I can now prove the truth of this with my very own hands!"

"I won't allow you to take another life!" Jonathan told him, tossing the cape he'd been wearing into the wind.

"Then try to stop me, JoJo! I'll tear your worthless body apart limb by limb! A vampire who won't feed is little more than fodder for one who will!" On that word, the two clashed once more. No matter the victor, this would truly be the final battle between the two as well as the one that would decide the fate of humanity from this point forward.

We're almost to the end now. Can Jonathan's experience and determination beat Dio's ruthlessness and evil? How will the former's injuries match up against the latter's inexperience? Find out next time on Dragon Ball Z.

Here comes Speedwagon being just the best guy once again. Ready to offer himself up as food to Jonathan so he can heal himself, then using himself as bait to try and lure Dio out while also doing some real damage to him. If the gang wins the day, it's almost certainly going to be because of Speedwagon.

Dio's been a vampire for about five minutes and he's already drunk on power doing the "worthless mortal!" bit. That's got to be some kind of record. Probably doesn't help that he's got a bunch of zombies coming to help him soon. Hopefully backup arrives soon.

That's all we've got for now. Expect the next chapter to be a bit longer. Possibly even the end.

Thanks for reading. Share if you're enjoying. Always remember to stay determined.