DISCLAIMER: I do not own JoJo's Bizarre Adventure or Rising of the Shield Hero
Jouta Kujo leapt from the hole his stand's punch had created. Chasing after one of the otherworldly invaders, Therese, alongside him was DIONA atop his wide back. The Joestar crouched on impact as the soles of his boots touched concrete floor. He reached his height of 195 centimetres, searching the room he landed in. It was dark and empty, lacking walls with concrete beams in their place, rays of moonshine beamed subtly from the opening Jouta, and presumably Therese, entered through. Rubble was scattered in two brief rows parallel to each other that ended in the middle of the room.
"Hmm."
"What do you see?"
"She stopped herself from being pushed further. Instantly at the looks of it."
"That implies?"
"She is far beyond me in strength. I should avoid letting her hit me directly. Then again, she'll be avoiding me due to Hamon."
Jouta bent down on one knee, placed his palm flat on the floor and concentrated.
"What is he doing?" DIONA pondered. She had observed that Jouta is more competent than he lets on.
"Act 1 begins..."
Briefly, [Charmy Green] had manifested and seemed to vanish at the same time. Glimmers of green light twinkled on the floor for only a frame of a moment.
"Interesting. It seems he untangled [Charmy Green] into extremely thin strands that spread out across the floor."
Jouta's concentration relaxed and he stood tall once more, placing his hands calmly in his pants pockets. He gradually walked deeper into the room, further into unknown darkness where light did not touch.
"Is he mad? Completely nonchalant with no clue of the enemy position or capabilities? I pray he is as brains as he is brawn."
Step by step, Jouta Kujo moved forward without turning back. He was completely confident in his actions. And without prompt, he stopped, moved his right leg back and held out his arm. DIONA watched him carefully, studying his every move but she found no sense in them. That was before an abrupt bolt of lightning spawned from thin air, coming down from the ceiling.
"Lightning? Indoors? It must be an enemy attack!"
Jouta hurriedly leaned back on his right leg and flipped backward, landing on his hand.
"IMPOSSIBLE! Jouta had prepared his exact course of action ahead of time in order to dodge lightning!?"
"Not yet," Jouta spoke vaguely, but looking back, DIONA understood. The lightning bolt had not struck the ground yet, it had stopped before curving and shooting toward Jouta's current position. Using his positioning, Jouta deftly pushed off the ground and evaded the bolt once again. He landed into a crouched squat. The bolt struck the ground missing its target.
"That lightning was powerful. I'd estimate more than enough to fry Jouta instantly. Strange it curved in such a way, almost honed in on him."
"What?"
"HOW do I switch this off!?"
"Stop thinking about me. Focus on your own sense of self."
Jouta stood and reset his demeanor, once again calm and collected. An emerald tendril shot straight from the floor to the ceiling, aimed at the origin point of the lightning. Jouta took hold of the tendril and did not move an inch from there, his body so relaxed DIONA could almost swear he fell asleep. Which made it more suprising when multiple bolts of lightning came down upon him. In a display of sheer agility, Jouta used the flexibility of his tendrils to evade each bolt. He would somehow predict their trajectory and bounce his body off the tendril and floor in a stylish display as the bolts collided, bursting into electrical sparks akin to fireworks.
"I understand now. He is using [Charmy Green] to detect any movement in the room. This would include the attractive force between opposite charges that results in lightning. Lightning is created when a large mass builds up charge opposite to the ground's charge. An energetic exchange occurs that we perceive as lightning. Jouta can sense that build up of electric force within the molecules and predict the strikes. Interesting, I wonder how this would interact with Hamon?"
"It's called IntraWoven Self."
"FLABBERDASH! You hear my thoughts?"
"Stands, remember. You are DIO's grandkid. I don't use this much since using all of my stand leaves me defenseless, but I can still use small parts and sacrifice its radius."
"Impressive, managing tiny molecular movements is—"
"Boring!"
Jouta overclocked as more and more bolts thundered around him. The bolts' movement had 'evolved', instead of directly attacking, they struck around him. This was creating a cage of rapid lightning strikes to corner him as his movement was limited as he used the tendril to aid him. At the final instant, when the cage was nearly complete, Jouta escaped through a slim opening, leaping onto the vacant beds lined against the walls.
"Wherever she is, she can see me," Jouta hastily deduced, "Crap. I was really in the zone."
DIONA rolled her eyes at that.
"You'll need to enter a different zone to counter this lightning."
"?"
"DO as I say."
Jouta nodded and DIONA explained her plan to him.
"HAMON OVERDRIVE!"
Summoning Hamon in the tips of his fingers, he trailed his hand across the wall as he ran. Yellow sparks glittered the wall and like moths to a flame, all the bolts of blue lightning were immediately attracted, striking the wall. Jouta kicked off the wall and landed in the centre of the room, taking off his hat with a bow as a bright display erupted from the reaction of his Hamon and lightning.
"Positive and negative. Protons and electrons. Me and you."
Jouta stared into darkness, but spoke with certainty.
"Or is it? Is it this world against yours? Does it have to be?"
Jouta's words were met with silence.
"You do realise when opposites collide," Jouta put up two fingers, one sparked blue the other red, "The result is mutual oblivion, neutral," Jouta pressed his fingers together and sparks of purple flew from them.
More silence...
"I see."
Jouta stomped his foot on the floor and three long stand construct arrows jumped up. Jouta grabbed these and pulled them against the tendril extending to the ceiling.
"Aim...Fire."
Released, the three projectiles swiftly cut through the air, penetrating the medium. These arrows were aimless in the dark, however a spark of attraction pulled them in the right direction. A sudden bright boom crashed down one of the concrete pillars, Therese in a defensive stance behind it.
"You blocked them. Good."
"How?"
"Like I said, mutual destruction. When I punched you earlier some of my blood landed on your clothes. Blood carries lifeflow such as Hamon. I imbued these arrows with an opposite charge of that Hamon. To be honest, I didn't even know I could do that, but its good to have smart friends, huh?"
Therese's features tensed , her eyes narrowed. She crossed her wrists in front of her chest.
"Knowing my position will do you no good!"
The sorceress' hair altered colour to a red pigment as she summoned burning magic.
"Shining Stone: Karma Fire!"
A wave of heat washed over the room and the floor emitted smoke before bursting open with hot lava. The lava rippled forward like a wave of death rushing to wash over Jouta Kujo. Thanks to [Charmy Green, Jouta had sensed the rising temperature early enough.
"I'll have to withdraw Intra Woven Self. [Charny Green] cannot survive in a non-solid medium. Did she plan this? Did she figure out how I predicted the lightning?"
He leapt over it with incredible athleticism, summoning his stand's fist as he came down on Therese with a Hamon kick. Therese defended against his kick with her palm and casually pushed him back. Jouta luckily landed on his feet.
"URYA URYA URYA URYA URYA URYA URYA!"
His stand's fists fired its barrage to which Therese blocked every punch with her palm.
Jouta had sweat beads on his forehead, mentally strained by the simultaneous use of his stand and Hamon to prevent being burnt by the liquidized floor.
"My Hamon is creating a membrane, preventing heat transfer by repelling the lava and allowing air spaces between me and becoming Anakin Skywalker."
This did not prevent Jouta from sinking into the lava, his boots already submerged. Therese refused to relent, raising her free hand, a bright red gemstone within her bracelet glowed as she clenched her fist. Jouta soonthereafter felt the molten floor harden, trapping him in place. That's when she countered [Charmy Green]'s fists with such powerful punches, Jouta was forced to withdraw his stand's fists.
"Now, you die."
"Heh, sure about that?"
Shards of the arrows Therese had deflected pulled together through unknown force. They collected in rings surrounding Therese and closed over her body.
"What is this?"
Therese became constricted by tendrils wrapped tightly around her, emphasising her hands.
"Why would I only use my stand's fists if my ability is deactivated. Probably because the rest of it was elsewhere."
Therese struggled against the tendrils, but all it took Jouta was a bit of Hamon in her nervous system to completely relax her body.
"Hey, listen. My name is Jouta Kujo. I don't want to fight you. We're both trying to protect our worlds. I just want to talk."
"There is nothing left to be said!" Therese growled at Jouta.
"How did you learn that killing us will save your world?"
"That is unimportant."
"It isn't if there are alternatives."
"We have tried everything. Millions have died and soon billions will if I do not complete my mission."
"We can work together, is it just to kill one world to save another?"
"All of us cannot escape the inevitabilities of fate. If one world must die, our only choice is which one."
Therese hung her head low in shame, avoiding Jouta's almost pleading gaze. She never wanted any of this, but what other choice does she have?
"I understand your position. And it is clear to me the waves have been merciless to you. I cannot return what you have lost and I cannot promise you will not lose more. But what I can do, is help."
Therese' heart grew sore knowing she would have to kill such a compassionate person. She contemplated surrender, but memories of the pain the previous wave had brought upon her world drowned out that idea. She had to stay focused and supress hesitation.
"I truly am remorseful."
A grey gemstone within her bracelet shined bright as Therese spoke out her spell.
"Shining Stone: Paralysis Wing!"
Jouta witnessed white ethereal butterflies coming from Therese. They fluttered their wings hypnotically in swirls around her.
"Wait, did she say 'paralysis'?"
Such an observation came too late as Jouta felt his body freeze up, rendered immobile.
"I will remember you."
Jouta watched helplessly as Therese' hair flared red. An abundance of power oozing from her bracelet.
"Shining Stone: Ball of Flame!"
Orange flames sparked into a large burning sphere before Jouta. Jouta could only witness the impending doom encroach nearer. An explosion left a smokey crater, the only remains of the Kujo being his signature hat, burnt and ash. Therese felt relieved at first, but guilt was slowly building within her conscious. She stared at her palms that quaked under the gravity of her actions. She clenched them shut, burying the feeling under mountains of justifications. In strange defiance of Therese, her fists opened forcefully as she felt an unknown force tug them upwards along with her entire body. Despite futile strife she became suspended in the air.
"What is this?"
"THIS is science!"
Shouted the voice of DIONA perched on a beam on the ceiling.
"You, what have you done!?"
Therese uttered with venom.
"Should I inform her?"
"Yeah...
Therese' eyes widened upon the sight of Jouta perched beside DIONA, unscathed.
...Why not?"
"How?!"
"Are you aware of a solenoid. Magnetism and electricity share one thing: the electron. They are different sides of the same coin. Conducting electricity through a twisting metal extension results in a magnetic field."
"Impossible!"
"How so, I had everything I needed within this very room."
A wave of enlightenment washed over Therese: creating a solenoid required two things, a conducting metal and electricity. The various metallic bedframes in the room were more than plenty and of course Therese' own lightning attack fueled the process. Therese struggled to gain free motion as her bracelets served as chains to the solenoid.
"Oh my, in such a state, it would be child's play to end your life," DIONA threatened.
"But we won't," Jouta interjected, shaking his head in disapproval, "Surrender, I know you're a good person and all you want is the safety of your home. You and I are not enemies, it's the waves that should unite us against them."
"You may not place blame upon a tornado for tearing apart your home or a tsunami for flooding it. The waves are a consequence of a process beyond our power, the every destruction of the universes themselves. How do you suppose we battle such a thing?"
Jouta could not provide a straight answer, he could falsely reassure someone he sees has lost so much already.
"Only a fool hopes blindly."
Therese stated with an aggrivated scowl. She snapped her elbow, allowing her enough wiggle room to cross her arms above her head and initiate another magical spell.
"Shining Stone..."
"Damnit!" Jouta cursed while protectively pulling DIONA close to him.
"Shooting Star Rain of Fire!"
Brown locks freed from their braid flowed wildly as omnidirectional waves of potent cosmic energy emitted from the room into outerspace faster than light.
"You leave me no choice."
While there was no immediate effect, Jouta and DIONA felt tension within their souls.
"Shooting Star Rain of Fire? If the name of this move predicts the attack itself then Shooting Star Rain of Fire must mean a bombardment of burning meteors!"
"[Charmy Green]!"
"URYA!"
Jouta's stand manifested, hurridly punching dents into the roof with a final punch opening the entire room to the sky.
"I knew it."
Jouta's vision caught sight of five bright glimmers that grew at a fast rate. Thoughts of inevitable doom clouded Jouta's mind. If they were as big and fast as he feared, there was no stopping them or escaping them. His instinct knowing this was to ensure the safety of his companion.
"DI—"
"Done."
"With!?"
"Calculating the exact trajectory, velocity and mass of each meteor."
"How!?"
"It is easy to deduce based on the light they emit and the rate of visual expansion."
"Wow, you are amazing."
"I know."
Jouta's wide grin of pearly whites and emerald eyes glittered at DIONA. She returned it with one of her own.
"Let's get to work."
DIONA hopped on Jouta's back as he stood to his full height, [Charmy Green] posing ready beside them.
"Strike that one with all your power, five degrees from the centre at a right angle."
"All of my power?"
"All of it, otherwise it will be useless."
"Useless, huh? Tsk, I won't disappoint."
[Charmy Green] flew up into the heights of the highest clouds, the fire of the meteors illuminating it. The fire's intensity outshined the stand that seemed like a speck facing giants. They encroached on the earth aimed directly for the hospital. Jouta took a deep breath, he could feel his blood rush like a raging sea and he was to control this sea into a wave, no, tsunami flowing with power, the power of life, the power of will.
"GREEN EMERALD OVERDRIVE!"
Inches away, the flare of all five meteors was hushed by a blinding display, pure Hamon emanating from a pure stand, it was truly divine.
[Charmy Green]'s fist made contact, Jouta fell to one knee from the trembling sensation in his arm. An explosive shockwave rippled across the giant rock, cracks tearing through the surface. Hamon light shot out from within and all of that power exploded from the meteor at once. The four perfectly split fragments from the collision were launched from it at a perfect angle striking the other four at exact points. A large firework display in the chaotic sky affirmed to Jouta and DIONA that their plan had indeed worked.
"Five meteors..." DIONA cheered.
"One punch!" Jouta proclaimed.
"Wait! Something is a foot!"
"Huh!? What?!"
"Our plan did succeed, however the debri, it's, it's—"
"It is being directed here."
The duo turned to Therese who spoke from her suspended position.
"How!?"
"It's science. Those specific meteors are chiefly composed of iron. I suppose you can conclude from there what is happening."
"No, no, NO. My solenoid is attracting the debri. With their momentum, there will be no more Riyute!"
"Therese, stop this," Jouta pleaded.
"I cannot. Your actions led to this outcome."
"So that is how she fights, that is how she has been keeping us on our toes. She uses our very actions to punish us. It's like Karma, but here there are no correct choices."
The debri was coming down upon them as a combined mass, a super meteor with an electric touch. Jouta shielded DIONA and himself with [Charmy Green].
"If it's electrified, then if I can apply a powerful enough opposite: neutral result. I'll need a conduit and more Hamon."
"DIONA?"
"Y-yes," she stuttered, uncharacteristic.
"What's wrong?"
"I failed Jouta, now it is due to my invention we will die."
"Silly as always. You didn't fail, you only fail when you stop trying. As long as we breathe the fight's never over. Right, breathe," He instructed.
DIONA took a breath, calming her emotions.
"Good, now follow me."
Jouta tightly hugged DIONA close to his chest. She could feel his heart beat and his blood rush.
"In, out, in, out..."
She followed his rhythm.
"Now focus your mind upon what you want to achieve, visualize it. Do you see it?"
The image of defeating Therese and saving everyone flashed in DIONA's mind and she responded, "Yes."
"Put everything you have into it. All of your emotions and fears, pour them into your breathing and let them empower you!"
A yellow shine glowed dimly from DIONA slowly building up in tandem with Jouta's own. [Charmy Green] tendrils wrapped around the ceiling beams with the solenoid.
"The solenoid, me, and DIONA against the worst lightning strike in history. I really am good at gambling my life."
A rumbling ensued once the meteor hit, the entire top floor of the empty block was upended. Jouta and DIONA were blinded by a bright flash of white light. As their eyes unsealed they laid upon a seemingly vast space with a white background and large chunks of the hospital block floating within. The two laid on their backs atop one such chunk.
"My head," Jouta groaned as he rubbed the side of his head, an eerie wetness unnerving him.
"I feel extremely cold. Did we DIE?" DIONA panicked.
"Cap."
"You shall soon."
Levitating engulfed by an icy aura, Therese dawned snow-white hair bejewelled with blue crystals of ice.
"This is my greatest magic, Shining Stone: Blizzard!"
Jouta attempted to stand, but his body felt a strong resistance that locked him in place.
"Argh, I can't move. [Charmy Green]!"
Jouta called forth his stand but was surprised to find it too was frozen still.
"The air is so cold it won't flow, if I can't move neither can Charmy."
DIONA felt crystals form as she breathed out and when she inhaled.
"Agh!"
Sharp ice crystals cut her throat as if she was eating glass. Blood leaked from the corners of her mouth.
"DIONA!"
Jouta screamed out to her, his body unwilling him to run to her aid.
"Jouta, listen to me."
DIONA made use of stand telepathy to communicate to her worried companion.
"Your Hamon is buying you time. Soon the air in my lungs will freeze amd so will my blood. Ice crystals will burst every cell in my body and I will die. You mustn't concern yourself with me anymore. You have a stand that she cannot see or interact with. You can win."
"Are you insane? What are you talking about! What about your father?"
"He will understand and I have hope in you all. This is the only thing I can grant you," DIONA's final breath containing the slightest Hamon, grew a bed of flowers over the debris they laid on
"Thank you for welcoming me with open arms"
"DIONA? DIONA! DIONA!"
Jouta could sense as DIONA's life drained, her soul dwindled into an infinitesimal speck. Jouta couldn't believe it. Not even granted the luxury to cry, Jouta's eyes went dead. Memories flooded his mind, memories of his childhood. As if triggered, his suppressed emotions resurfaced, resurrecting a version of himself he had buried under his cool nice guy attitude.
"This is your fault."
Therese's voice cut through the deathly silence hanging in the atmosphere. It was cold and cutthroat similar to their current setting.
My fault...I remember...it was always my fault...I am the mistake...
Memories of his father's abuse flashed through his mind. The feeling of every punch hitting his infant body nearly hurt as much as the cold uncaring look filled with scorn his father gave him.
"You...look like him."
"What?"
"Your face...cold."
"Have you gone mad?"
"I never wanted to fight anyone. I never meant to hurt her. It's not my fault. I swear, father."
Jouta stopped himself, the version of himself he buried. For the sake of himself and those around him. He now buried himself within his memories. If he is to die, then not as that Jouta.
"It is depressing witnessing you in such a state. I shall end your suffering."
Therese interlocked her fingers into mystic signs in front of her body and spoke ancient chants. Air circulated into a small blue ball emanating of frozen storm, an entire roaring blizzard held within.
"Face my power, Storm's Eye! Take your final breath, warrior."
Jouta had no fight left within him, but he heeded his premeditated killer's advice. He inhaled and then exhaled a final time. As he breathed out, he witnessed it nigh-instantaneously freeze as flakes of snow that landed on the greenery created by DIONA's Hamon. That was when Jouta witnessed something amazing, the snow disappeared into the plants.
"What!?"
Jouta suddenly felt a wind of fresh air flow into his nostrils, warm, moist and full of vibrance.
"How?"
Jouta thought back to DIONA's words, 'the only thing I can grant you'.
Suddenly life returned to Jouta, his skin glowing and his eyes sparkling.
"The plants! They're carrying out Photosynthesis! Converting the carbon dioxide and water vapour I exhaled into fresh oxygen. No wonder they aren't wilting, they're overflowing with DIONA's Hamon to do it without the sun. She practically left me a Hamon generator."
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA, you're one hell of a kid, DIONA!"
Therese saw this and thought nothing of it.
"Depressing, indeed."
Until she witnessed an unexplainable feat, Jouta stood!
"Impossible!"
"Cap."
"Grr, it makes no difference!"
She launched her attack. The entire surrounding atmosphere gained a blue hue accumulating a thunderous roar. Tails of ice spiralled trailing Storm's eye. It froze every object in its path to oblivion, growing greater until its shadow menacingly overcasted Jouta. Jouta took deep breaths, the slow rise of his chest relieving him of muscular pain. The flow of oxygen he could feel bolster all his cells.
"Scarlet Pheonix Overdrive!"
A sudden sharp breath akin to a sudden spark ignited Jouta's entire being overflowng with Hamon. He analyzed the attack before him, grasping every aspect of its existence and purpose. He raised his hands to his chest and began joining his fingers in various shapes. A striking amber light escaped Jouta, his form hot with bright orange and yellow.
"Positive, negative. Evil, good. Darkness, light. Heat, cold. Life, death. If there exists a measure of a state, opposites are only two extremes of that measure. They function under the same laws and operate in tandem. If the harsh blizzard created your Storm's Eye, then let the blazing inferno create my own."
Sparks of red crackled in the air, shifting along the colour spectrum growing hotter and hotter finally achieving the hottest colour—violet. A single violet spark excitedly vibrated randomly. Jouta calmed it held within his two clasped palms as if praying.
"VIOLET EMBER OVERDRIVE!"
He directed his palms toward Storm's Eye, the violet spark zoomed forward at the speed of light, penetrating Storm's Eye as a small beam. Therese percieving it in time she crossed her arms in defense, the beam hitting the bracelets she wore. That beam exploded into an expanding pillar explosion that hurled back Therese and engulfed Storm's Eye from within its center.
"He learned my technique after witnessing it once! What are you, Kujo!?"
The Violet Ember had nullified the Eye of the Storm. In the aftermath the once cold air was now warm nourishing winds. Jouta breathed a sigh of relief.
"In this fight, I alone stand as the anointed one."
His legs crossed, his left arm rested on his right hip and his right hand cupping his cheek.
"There's no one looking. WHY are you doing that?"
"DIONA?"
"Yes."
"I thought you were dead!"
"I said soon. NOT instantly. It's warm now."
"Glad you're back with all your spunk."
"WHA-what does that actually mean? No seriously I don't believe anyone in this world says that."
"KUJO!"
The booming voice of Therese rocked the sky. She levitated with cold lightning that streaked across this realm like tears in reality. Beyond them, Jouta could see the outsude world still shadowed by the Wave.
"This realm IS collapsing!"
"That's our cue!"
Jouta grabbed DIONA under his arm and made a run for it.
"You shall not escape!"
Therese captured a bolt of lightning by freezing it solid in her palm and javelined it.
"DID SHE JUST THROW LIGHTNING!"
Jouta panicked.
"SHE DID WHAT!?"
"Nothing."
Jouta leapt off the platform into a freefall right before the lightning struck. An explosion left nothing of it remaining, a giant emerald ball escaping in a smoke stream. The ball rocketed outside of the realm onto the rubble that remained of the hospital block. It unraveled revealing Jouta and DIONA unscathed. Behind them was a giant tornado rippling apart.
"Did she use TWO gem abilities at once?"
"Yep."
"Why are you not concerned about that?"
"You know what happens when most gemstones are heated to a certain point? They break down into their elements and lose their properties."
"Oh. OH. OOOOOOH!"
DIONA's kid brain just exploded.
"Yeah, exactly. With that ends the second act, Fire and Ice."
The pair watch as the tornado they were trapped in seemed to tear itself apart. Its strong winds soon dissipated and its lightning scattered into the clouds above, expressing a beautiful rainbow. A form fell and crashed into the earth in a wide crater. Therese was reverted to her normal appearance albiet disheveled.
"Now that had to hurt."
Jouta and DIONA stood at the foot of the crater, wide grins plastered on their faces. Therese calmly sat up, wiped her face and sighed.
"You continue to resist. Continue to delay the inevitable. You understand that every course of action leads to a negative outcome. There is no 'happy ending'."
"Maybe you're right. Maybe my hope is only ignorant bliss. But what is life but ignorant arrogance, am I right!"
"Tsk you are a strange one."
Therese removed her bracelets and placed them beside herself.
"May hope prevail."
"Hm?"
"I am no human, Jouta. My kind is bound to Mother Earth and all its begotten forms. We feel the emotions and energies of all life refracted through them like a prism. In that way we know the value of life. However, such knowledge is delicate. Lives must never be weighed or priced. But, Mother Earth like fate has forced my hand, my nature. Your guardian [Charmy Green] crafts emerald constructs. Emerald carries eternal life and plentiful serenity. I have felt it this entire time, it is true of you."
Therese interlocked her fingers and shouted at the top of her lungs,
"SHINING STONE: SHRINKING EXPLOSION!"
The dull gemstones previously thought inert activated once again, however, in a final act that would erase all of them from this plane. They circled around Therese in two rings of a pure black darker than oblivion.
"Goodbye my gems. A million lifetimes would never capture your value."
Jouta's eyes popped at the realization of what was to happen. The only way the gems could ever be used was to release every bit of energy from them at once. Jouta disregarded himself and in an instant decision, [Charmy Green] shielded DIONA. He faced this with all his will.
"A test?! I'll show you! My divine hope is eternal! HEAR ME, THE DARKNESS THAT CONSUMES YOU WILL NEVER CLAIM ME, JOUTA KUJO!"
The gems then cracked and imploded with black light, spreading outwards omnidirectionally before shooting for the stars. An astronomer could witness this from the moon as the vast energy momentarily created a projecting black spot on the earth. Therese stood in its aftermath. Her body severely injured from the explosion.
"I live."
She scanned the newly flattened vastness—no Kujo in sight. She sighed. Therese stood and limped in a random direction.
"Why did you die? Why did I kill you? Do answers truly exist? Or are excuses our only hopeful delusion. I suppose now I will never know."
"Therese!"
L'arc ran up to his friend and hugged her tight. Therese could not help but return it in kind.
"Ow, ow! Relax!"
"Oh, sorry."
"You need to be more aware of your own strength."
"You need to be more aware of my emotional needs, old friend."
"Don't sound so old. I know you Jewels technically live a thousand lifetimes at once but sheesh, you're gonna ruin my youth."
"For a king, you are quite the jester."
"Well you know what they say, gotta make heads roll."
"Hahaha..."
Therese genuinely laughed, for a moment forgetting her horrific actions. It soon faded and she gazed into L'arc's one good eye with her own.
"Is it done?"
He nodded solemnly. She quivered and lost all strength in her soul.
"I...I killed a child."
She broke down, falling to her knees, tears gushing. L'arc knelt down beside her.
"I know. I know."
"Her name was DIONA. Will anyone remember her if we do this?"
"I don't know."
"What do you mean you don't know! This is no proper death. There will be no burial, no ceremony! They will be gone cast to darkness forever!"
"We will remember them. We must."
L'arc held his friend's shoulders gently.
"Let's go. There's no telling what she is dealing with if the others were this difficult. We fight for our universe not ourselves. Their will fuels us, not our own. We must push forward even into black waters."
Therese wiped her tears, her stoic face returned. She nodded with determination. The two walked on, their ultimate destination unknown but their path clear. In the silence of the cratered area Therese's near suicide created, burst out a familiar psychopath.
"I...AM...INVINCIBLE!"
Roared Jouta as he burst from rubble, his exposed top half torn in gashes but his spirit undying. Beside him, however,
"Jouta..."
"DIONA!"
He scrambled to her aid, following her voice under some heavy rubble. He lifted a large boulder to find DIONA, lower half trapped in more of such rubble, blood leaking from a head wound.
"Hehe, really got myself between a rock and a hard place, huh?"
"Stop, jokes are my thing. Let me get this stuff off you."
"No, wait! AAAAAAAH!"
DIONA screamed before Jouta could move the rock a single inch.
"Oh my god, are you okay."
"If you move this, it will tear open my stomach."
"I'll melt it then."
"On top of ME!"
"Oh, right"
"We would need Raphtalia's swiftness to release me safely."
"I don't know where she is."
"Do not fret, my kin. I will survive this. You must go and help grandfather. Those two are injured but they can fight. If they have defeated us then all three invaders together would be the end of this world."
"Are you telling me to leave you behind!?"
"Calm down, you're so sentimental. It's a strategic decision. Do not waste time. Go."
"But—"
"Damn you, Jouta! You give EVERYTHING for everyone else's sake, let me take a bullet or dozens of tons of terra for once."
Jouta remained silent and nodded with respect.
"Don't die on me."
"That applies more to you than me, no?"
"You really picked up this joking business haven't you?"
"Learned from the best, now go!"
Jouta ran in the direction of Therese and L'arc.
"I'll come back for you!"
"Good thing unlike most things, Hamon has no physical drawbacks and I can use it without limit as long as my respiratory amd circulatory systems function. Even now as I'm running, my body is healing. I wonder what the limit of Hamon healing truly is? Wait, why do I sound like DIO?"
Jouta Kujo ran on, inching closer to the end of the Wave's madness. Therese and L'arc, Naofumi and Jouta, previous combatants functioning at only a fraction their strength slowly encroach on the turning point in all this. The centerfocus of this entire conflict. DIO awaits it patiently. Until then, all others are muda.