Chapter 111: The Battle Between Conan-Science Stand Users
In this instant, Shinichi Kudo completely believed in the setting that "the Magical Die can cause world-line divergences." He had no choice but to believe.
After all, with a dragon that large flying around in front of him, it was impossible that Gin—an executive-level assassin of an evil organization—was specifically carrying a virtual 3D projector just to play special effects behind his back and scare him.
The only thing Shinichi was agonizing over was the fact that he, who aspired to be a super famous detective like Sherlock Holmes, had awakened a Stand called the "Emperor of Crime, Moriarty." It sounded wrong on every level. How was he supposed to maintain his reputation in the future?
But Shinichi was the only one agonizing. Gin, after staring blankly at the black dragon for a moment, quickly snapped out of it. Time had actually resumed the moment Shinichi threw the die, so Gin had heard the explanation regarding the world-line settings.
Gin reached up and pressed down on his hat, obscuring his eyes which were still reflecting a trace of shock. Then, he let out a wicked, arrogant laugh:
"Humph... so this is what it feels like to be a Stand User? Moriarty, I thank you for letting me witness a scenery I've never seen before. As a reward, I'll be taking your life—and that die capable of changing the world line. Go, Black Dragon of the Killing Calamity! Tear him apart!!!"
There was no need for doubt or study. Simply making eye contact with the dragon was enough for Gin to understand everything.
The half of his soul, the other side of his life—they had been separated by an invisible boundary since the beginning. Until this moment, they finally met and became whole. They were two sides of the same coin, perfectly integrated!
This was a resonance and realization stemming from the soul, without a hint of falsehood.
Thus, Gin immediately accepted the fact that he was a Stand User and launched an attack.
The Black Dragon of the Killing Calamity was originally just the "Heavenly Killing Intent." After thoroughly infecting Gin, it became a manifestation of his fortune, operating passively by instinct. But now, receiving Gin's will, it acted "proactively" for the first time.
The pitch-black dragon body swelled violently, its crimson pupils spitting light and flame. With a furious roar, it lunged with its claws! And it wasn't just one strike—claws followed claws in a relentless barrage, sharp wind-pressure slamming into Mo Yu's face.
"What a 'Claw of the Killing Calamity'! Now witness my Fist of the Emperor of Crime!!!"
Mo Yu took a stance and threw a punch to meet the attack without backing down!
Gin was the top villain of the Conan world. His famous line, "Ah, Sherry~!", though repeated often, left a deep impression. Because every time it appeared, it was accompanied by Gin's memories of Sherry, earning him the title of a rare "Stalker-type Villain" among 3D viewers.
But these jokes didn't change the fact that Gin's status in the plot could rival Aizen's in Bleach. This "Main Character" positioning was reflected in the dragon formed by the Heavenly Killing Intent.
The supernatural entity hidden in the world's backend had manifested in the mortal realm, showcasing the world's foundation. Every claw strike carried a surging lethality. Even a Vasto Lorde-class Arrancar would likely be torn into shredded chicken.
But Mo Yu was no such small fry. He was the God of Fighting who had once slaughtered a world. Even in a new setting, his former Purity still radiated a majesty that brooked no desecration.
Fists flew like the wind, engaging the dragon's claws in a head-on brawl. Gale-force winds whipped into shockwaves, rippling outward and tossing the furniture in Shinichi's room aside.
The result of the collision appeared momentarily.
The dragon's claw was hammered by Mo Yu's fist until the fingers literally fractured. At that exact moment, Gin's left hand trembled violently, his fingers twisting irregularly until a loud crack signaled they had broken.
"Stand damage reflects onto the User?"
As a top executive of a dark organization, such an injury didn't make Gin flinch. In a detective-focused world, even though he was a villain, his deductive and cognitive skills were top-tier. He immediately summarized the rules.
"Come back!"
Responding to Gin's will, the dragon pulled away after a final heavy clash, circling back to hover near its master.
Although he had broken the dragon's claws, Mo Yu—as a God of Fighting—never had the habit of defending. He accepted all damage as a reward to his opponent, so he currently sported several deep gashes from the dragon.
Shinichi, lying on the floor, suddenly winced and clutched his chest, gasping for air. He felt a stabbing pain in his heart. Seeing this, he reached the same conclusion as Gin, but his heart sank. His "Stand," Mo Yu, was nowhere near as obedient as Gin's dragon.
"Moriarty, your Stand is unexpectedly good at fighting. But being good at fighting isn't enough!"
Gin wasn't bluffing. In the initial exchange, he felt that the dragon, as his soul-half, had massive untapped potential. He began to think about how to use it. In truth, it didn't require much thought; the dragon was a part of him. He only needed to look at it from his own perspective.
Was Gin's specialty martial arts? Clearly not.
The moment Gin had this realization, he knew his Stand's true ability.
The dragon circling Gin suddenly reached behind its back and pulled out a massive handgun!
The pistol was strangely beautiful, covered in black scales, the frame shaped like a dragon's body with a mane flowing from it. Sharp dragon fangs extended from the muzzle. Holding the gun in its claws, the dragon wore an expression that said: "Sir, the times have changed!"
"Feel the true power of my Stand!"
The expressions of Gin and the dragon were now perfectly synchronized—cold and brimming with killing intent.
"Tsk. Bringing a tool to a fistfight... how boring," Mo Yu noted. Having just enjoyed a high-purity Stand brawl, he wasn't surprised by the gun. The Conan world wasn't Bleach; its foundation wasn't Reishi, but "Laws"—things that didn't care about logic. It wouldn't be weird if the dragon pulled out an AK-47 and shouted about "Force-Assisted Aiming."
BANG! A thunderous roar as an invisible bullet was fired!
Mo Yu sensed the Heavenly Killing Intent collapse manically around the projectile. Strangely, no visual phenomena appeared. Gin raised his own gun—not even bothering to aim—and fired casually at Mo Yu.
Mo Yu naturally didn't care about mere bullets. He prepared to use a firm, powerful fist to tell Gin that the "times" hadn't changed at all. Suddenly, his pupils shrank. The bullet moved in a bizarre, waving arc, its path erratic. It accelerated multiple times, vanished mysteriously, and reappeared directly inside Mo Yu's chest, right at the heart.
"ARGH! How is this possible!? A mere handgun... piercing my heart!!!"
Mo Yu screamed in agony, black blood flowing freely. He clutched his chest and collapsed slowly. In his final moments, he struggled to follow Conan-world tradition, using his finger dipped in blood to write: [The killer is...]
Shinichi was horrified, but his hyper-sharp brain filtered the chaos, deducing the truth instantly:
The gun in the dragon's hand was the medium for the Stand's ability. Pulling the trigger was the activation process. Anyone targeted and "hit" by the dragon's gun would be Marked. Any bullet Gin fired afterward would be a 100% Guaranteed Hit.
Perhaps it was villainous habit, or perhaps the high of winning his first Stand battle, but Gin couldn't help but explain to Shinichi:
"My Stand, the Black Dragon of the Killing Calamity, possesses the Guaranteed Hit Gun. It marks any enemy within my sight. As long as I fire at that mark, it doesn't matter how they dodge or what cover they use—I will lock onto their vitals. With this power, I can kill anyone. Even other Stand Users are no match for me!"
Shinichi gnashed his teeth. He hadn't expected Gin to develop his Stand's ability so quickly after the "version update." Compared to him, he was truly incompetent.
As the pain in his heart intensified, Shinichi vowed that in his next life, if he was a Stand User again, he wouldn't fall behind...
Wait. No. Stand damage reflects on the User. My Stand is 'dead,' so why am I not dead yet?
Shinichi sensed the anomaly. Gin noticed it too.
Gin spun around to look at the fallen Mo Yu. But the body—and even the blood on the floor—had completely vanished.
Gin froze. A low, gloomy voice drifted into his ear:
"Your ability is decent. But what have I done to make you so disrespectful that you won't even use my title, 'Emperor of Crime'? Or rather, in the domain of crime and slaughter, what gave you the illusion that you could be compared to me? Aizen's Kyoka Suigetsu?"
Gin raised his pistol and spun around violently. At that moment, the voice said:
"Because you turned too quickly, you accidentally sprained your ankle. Unable to stand, you stumble and fall. It is a very reasonable occurrence..."
Gin turned, and just as the voice said, his ankle buckled. He lost his balance and fell.
"Furthermore, the floorboards in Shinichi Kudo's room are in a state of disrepair due to the previous battle. Thus, the hand you reach out to steady yourself will plunge straight through the wood. Also quite reasonable..."
Naturally, one tries to catch oneself during a fall. But under the command of that voice, an absurd and eerie fate became reality. Gin's hand punched through the floorboards. The pain of the scrape was secondary; the ordinary floor suddenly acted like a bear trap. Gin found his hand wedged tight, unable to pull it out, pinning his entire body to the floor.
"Then, also due to lack of maintenance, a piece of the ceiling breaks off. Its edge happens to be sharp, and with the kinetic energy required to sever an adult male's carotid artery, you will die here of blood loss through a series of 'accidents.' This... is also very reasonable."
The incantation of Fate continued. Gin's eyes went wide as he watched a sharp piece of ceiling tile plummet toward his throat. Death transformed into Destiny, seeking to execute him!
At that moment, the dragon roared, whipping its tail to resist the incoming fate.
"Oh, I forgot to mention: your Stand, being busy fighting against the fate of your death, is slightly—just a tiny bit—too slow to save you. This is also very reasonable."
Invisible fate acted as a shackle. The dragon's movements grew sluggish, forced to watch death descend.
"Hmph. You think this can kill me? Ridiculous!"
Gin let out a furious snort. The dragon roared, struggling manically—shedding blood to tear through the shackles of fate. Gin himself lunged with desperate force, uncaring as he dislocated and tore his own arm to shift a fraction of an inch.
That fraction of an inch decided life and death. The ceiling fragment fell, only carving a deep gash into Gin's neck.
The chain of "accidental" fate ended. Gin yanked his hand free and performed several tactical rolls to get away, standing up to glare at the black humanoid figure nearby.
A spine-chilling "Evil" radiated from the silhouette. Darkness poured out like roiling shadows, crawling across the walls and floor, turning the room into a demonic lair under its control.
"Out of respect for your explanation of your Stand, I shall explain mine. I am the Emperor of Crime, Moriarty. I have mastered every criminal method and technique, which has evolved into the authority known as Perfect Crime. If I will it, I can create infinite destinies of death. I am the avatar of all sin. Killing me is possible, but it is a feat reserved for true Heroes. You... are far from that level."
The silhouette gave a bone-chilling grin. "Come, Gin. Let us continue the slaughter..."
Feeling the overwhelming pressure of that evil will, Gin took a deep breath.
"Shinichi Kudo... what the hell do you think about all day? To have a soul so evil that it birthed a monster like Moriarty... But don't think the Organization will let this go. I will be back!"
With that, Gin leaped through the window Shinichi had opened earlier, dropping from the second floor. Mo Yu just watched and laughed, making no move to stop him.
In the car, Vodka watched Gin return in a state of total disarray. He was stunned, but before he could ask, his eyes locked onto Gin's back.
"B-B-Big Brother... what is that behind you? Does the Kudo family keep a pet dragon!?"
Gin looked back. The blood clouds and coiling dragon were still there. He didn't explain. "It's a Stand. Don't ask what that is. While that monster is distracted, get us out of here!"
Just now, Gin's intuition—or his Stand—had told him that the black humanoid with "Perfect Crime" was not an existence he could face. Continuing would lead only to death. However, when the humanoid manifested that power, it seemed to encounter some internal problem, giving him the chance to flee.
As for what that problem was, Gin had no time to investigate.
"Fortune-protected and mindful of the life-thread? So he sensed the opening? Fine, let him run. We have plenty of time to play later."
Mo Yu turned and walked leisurely toward Shinichi, who was still on the floor.
Shinichi clutched his chest, gasping. The heart pain had only intensified. He stared up at the "Stand" approaching him.
He noticed that Mo Yu's chest—where Gin had shot him—had a gaping hole. There was no heart. Shinichi instinctively suspected the hole in the Stand was linked to his own angina.
Mo Yu knelt down, sounding amused. "Heh. No need to guess. I'll tell you. During the Second World-Line Divergence, my heart fused with yours. Gin's strike did cause damage; it was just borne by you. I can live without a heart. You, on the other hand... well, that's hard to say!"
Shinichi wanted to swear.
You go off playing, and I take the damage? This is the worst User-Stand relationship in history!
"Your heart is damaged by a supernatural force. Your life is officially on a countdown. Of course, there are ways to survive. You have two choices..."
End of Chapter
Like this story Leave a review ; it would really help me out a lot.
Want to Read Ahead in Advance?
Join my Patreon!
+75 Chapters
Support me in
Patreon.com/BestElysium