Creating Anime In A Fantasy World

Chapter 256: The Premiere of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure! (Part 18)

At the Southern Territory Grand Duke’s estate, everyone fell a little silent when Hamon was presented on screen.

As a veteran swordsman, the Southern Territory Grand Duke felt the same tremor that had struck General Wilhelm. He had some familiarity with the theories of bodily cultivation, and the idea behind Hamon struck him as profoundly staggering. Instinctively he turned to Arcueid beside him, wanting to know what the True Ancestor made of such a strange technique.

Sensing his gaze, Arcueid considered for a moment before answering softly, “That ability does have a precedent in history.”

“…It actually existed?” the Grand Duke blurted, surprised.

Arcueid’s face remained calm as she replied, “The human body holds astonishing potential. Mages and swordsmen are just two different expressions of it. In fact, even without external aid, humans can—of their own accord—manifest something like holy light.”

The Grand Duke’s breath caught. Arcueid had said something astonishing, but she would not elaborate. She turned her attention back to the screen instead, leaving the Grand Duke to chew on the implication. Knowing she would not press further, he fell silent and watched the movie, his mind spinning.

. . .

Back in the film, after Jonathan mastered Hamon, he, Zeppeli, and Speedwagon made their way to Windknight’s Lot—the secluded mountain hamlet. Along the road they chased a pickpocketing boy and, with composed precision, used Hamon techniques to capture him.

But it was then they realized the boy had been manipulated. The trio had unwittingly stepped into a graveyard infested with vampire-zombies. Moonlight bathed the hilltop; on the crest stood Dio, arrogant and confident, watching the intruders below.

Surrounded by an endless tide of vampiric corpses, Jonathan and Zeppeli began to fight their way out with Hamon. Zeppeli himself showed extraordinary combativeness toward this first meeting with Dio.

Dio, however, only sneered coldly. “Don’t get cocky, you insignificant ants. I stand at the apex of life—creating a new species for the future. How could I ever be on the same level as humanity?”

“You reek of overwhelming evil—are you already a tyrant?” Zeppeli spat.

“If I heal my abdominal wound, everything JoJo did to me will be cured. Come, sorcerer—use your life to sterilize this wound!” Dio taunted.

“How many people’s blood have you drained to heal yourself?” Zeppeli demanded.

“Would you remember how many loaves of bread you’ve eaten?” Dio retorted dismissively.

The sight of Dio’s unrepentant cruelty finally snapped Zeppeli’s restraint. With a roar of fury he surged up the slope toward the hilltop. “Dio! I’ll bring you down!!”

“Golden Hamon—swift strike!” he cried.

His fist slammed into Dio’s arm, and a golden ripple flared with blinding brilliance. For a heartbeat, hope lit Jonathan and Speedwagon’s faces—until Dio only smirked. His limb changed instantly, as if wrapped in frost.

“Too weak. Too weak,” Dio mocked.

“Frozen?!” someone cried.

“You must be Zeppeli. Your energy seems tied to the flow of blood, so freeze the vessels and you inhibit that flow—you lose the output. Do you know I can control flesh? I vaporized the moisture in the arm you touched. When moisture vaporizes, it robs energy. In an instant I froze your limb, and then—”

Dio’s eyes gleamed coldly as he let out a low chuckle.

In the next instant, he wrenched Zeppeli’s frozen arm apart, shards of flesh and ice scattering into the night air, before driving a savage punch straight at him.

“I’ll smash your skull and that arm of yours as easily as shattering a vase!”

His fist cut through the air like a hammer of judgment—only to be intercepted.

“Dio!” Jonathan roared, his own arm raised to block the blow. Behind him, he shielded the pickpocket boy they had caught earlier. “Your ambition ends here—with me!”

“Heh~ JoJo,” Dio sneered, the corners of his lips twisting upward. “You’ve grown strong enough to withstand my strike. I’ll admit that much. But if I were you, I wouldn’t stay in contact with my hand for long.”

The vampire’s voice sank into a guttural roar.

At the same moment, Jonathan and Zeppeli bellowed their defiance back at him.

“WRYYYYYY!!—!”

A freezing shock surged through them. Both men felt their limbs lock, their bodies stiffening as the ice crept up their veins. By some desperate will, they tore themselves free from Dio’s grip and staggered away, half-frozen, half-dead, their escape nothing short of a miracle.

“He’s invincible…” Jonathan gasped, despair written across his face. “If we can’t channel Hamon into him, then there’s no way to defeat him!”

Dio, towering at the mountain’s peak, only laughed—an arrogant, resonant laugh that echoed over the battlefield.

“Hamon? Breathing tricks? Since you’re so fond of blowing air… allow me to provide a trumpet for your requiem.”

His scarlet eyes narrowed. “Tarkus. Bruford. There’s no need for me to dirty my hands. Come forth, and let these insects hear the dirge of their own demise.”

From the mountain fissures, two towering figures stepped into the moonlight, their presence suffocating, monstrous.

“Clean up the scraps,” Dio said, his tone almost bored. “The task of swatting ants is yours.”

And with that, he turned his back, leaving the field behind him as though the battle had already been decided.

. . .

The audience inside the theater sat in stunned silence.

No one had expected Dio to be so overwhelming—two against one, yet JoJo and Zeppeli had barely survived. One gravely injured, the other battered and shaken, while Dio emerged without a single scratch.

“How are they supposed to beat him?!”

“Hamon can’t even touch him! He’s… unstoppable.”

“He doesn’t even see humans as people anymore. To him, we’re bread. Just bread to be consumed…”

“Too terrifying… that’s no longer something a human can fight.”

“This is hopeless…”

The tension in the hall was palpable, the audience’s dread spilling over as if they too stood on that battlefield. All they could do was pray that Jonathan and Zeppeli might somehow survive against the vampiric knights about to descend upon them.

. . .

Meanwhile, within the Imperial Mage Academy, students and professors alike were just as shaken.

“Dio can manipulate his body that precisely? Even vaporize water to create freezing effects… that’s practically sorcery.”

“With intelligence like that, if he’d been born with magical talent, he’d have been a Grand Mage at the very least.”

“I never even thought water element could be used like that…”

Their voices buzzed with disbelief. Even if their commentary strayed toward the technical, one thing was clear—every single one of them was shaken to the core by the spectacle they had just witnessed.