Chapter Text
Makoto could only stand in shock. The phantom from his dream was now right in front of him, as if today couldn't get any weirder.
"Stop gawking," it demanded. "Summon me, so that you can escape this situation."
"Naegi!" Kirigiri called to him. Makoto remembered that he wasn't alone and turned to face her. "Listen to what it's saying. Concentrate and summon it!"
Makoto honestly had no idea what was going on, but seeing as he had little options, he did as commanded. Makoto took a deep breath and closed his eyes, telling himself over and over to summon the phantom.
"I am Thou. Thou art I," he repeated to himself as if by instinct.
Kyoko was seriously questioning her luck at this moment. What were the odds that their would be a Stand User here in a small portion town in the middle of nowhere, let alone two? She'd have to inquire about Naegi's Stand later, though. After they finished this business.
Slam! A fist attacked the dome, leaving a small crack.
"Kimura!" Naegi cried, breaking his concentration. Of all the... "What are you doing!?"
"Naegi, focus!" Kyoko reminded him. Silently, she was just as worried. In her current state, Kimura was very dangerous. Her knowledge of Stands was admittedly rather limited, but she remembered how difficult it was at first to control Nirvana.
Seiko honestly had no idea what she was doing. Honestly, she was still trying to figure out how this all spiraled out of control so fast. Ugh, every since she was hospitalized a few weeks ago, she'd been feeling all... weird. It felt as if there was something inside her just begging to be let out. And now that she had, it felt... it felt... good.
"Come on, guys, there's no need to hide!" Seiko insisted before her... whatever she should call it punched that purple girl's ice dome again.
Seiko Kimura didn't know what exactly was going on, but she was going to find out and have a good time doing it!
Makoto was trying his best to conjure his spirit, but every time he can close, another one of Kimura's attacks would break his concentration. "Dammit!" he thought to himself. "Why do I have to be so useless?" Makoto shook his head, snapping out of his funk. He looked next to him and saw Leon's unconscious body. It may have been his fault in the first place, but Leon was his best friend and best friends always stuck up for each other, regardless of the circumstances.
Suddenly, he thought back for a brief moment to something Leon once said, around the same time he and Leon first formed the Crusaders. "Makoto, no matter what, a Stardust Crusader never leaves his men behind! That's our Crusader's Creed!" Makoto dismissed it as typical Leon dribble, but seeing him in this state made Makoto think twice.
He then looked over at Kirigiri and saw how hard she was trying to keep the dome up. Despite barely knowing him and Leon, she was still going out of her way to help them both. The least he could do would be to return the favor!
"Leon, Kirigiri... I promise... I'm gonna get you out of this!" With a renewed vigor, Makoto took a deep breath and concentrated as hard as he could. Makoto let out a yell that sounded almost primal as a black aura surrounded him.
"I am Thou, Thou art I," he chanted. "I release you, my spirit!"
From behind Makoto, a humaniod being that was colored a dark shade of black almost completely save a pair of silver metallic gauntles on either forearm.
"I... I did it..." he said to himself.
"Good," Kirigiri piped up, making Makoto turn to her. "Now, I can't hold this dome any more, so get ready to fight."
"F-fight!?" Makoto paled. He was so screwed.
With a sigh, Kyoko dismissed the barrier and the two cane face-to-fave with Kimura, along with her Stand.
The Stand itself looked sleek and small compared to even Kyoko's own. Like it's owner, it had a mask over it's face and it's eyes looked positively insane. Kyoko wondered how something so small could have so much brute strength.
"Nirvana!" Kyoko summoned her Stand, which launched a stream of ice at Kimura. Kimura's Stand flicked it away without any problem. Even more shocking was that as the ice was falling, it started to corrode and melt away. That wasn't supposed to happen.
"D-did that just...?" Naegi was as surprised as Kyoko. This had to have been the reason why her ice dome was shattering so quickly. Not by brute Force, but through Kimura's unique power. The question was, how does one counter it?
"My turn!" Kimura said suddenly. Her Stand lunged at them, the two barely dodging.
"Naegi, use your Stand!" Kyoko told him.
"My what?" he asked. Seriously, how oblivious could someone be? "Do it!"
Hesitantly, Makoto did as instructed. "Um, Stand?" he asked internally. "Could you please help?" The fingers on his Stand's gauntlets retracted slightly and opened up. Before Makoto could process what was going on, the Stand fired a barrage of bullets from the gauntlets.
"Holy shit, duck!" Makoto cried aloud. Kirigiri and Kimura both did so, barely managing to escape.
"What was that, Naegi?" Kimura taunted. "Were you trying to make me dance a little?"
"Great shooting there, Tex!" Makoto internally scolded. He saw Kirigiri fire another stream of ice at Kimura, who used her Stand to corrode it. Makoto took advantage of this to try firing at her again, only for Kimura to turn and corrode his bullets.
"Damn, she's fast," Makoto mumbled under his breath. He was forced to retreat a bit as Kimura's Stand started attacking him.
"That's right, keep backing away!" Kimura said as she continued lunging. "Typical Naegi, always backing off when things tough! Be a man and fight!"
"Naegi!" Kirigiri cried as she summoned a large chunk of ice before shattering it into many shards and unleashing them at Kimura. Kimura turned and started corroding the shards, seemingly forgetting about Makoto.
"Now I understand!" Makoto thought. "For as powerful as that Stand's ability is, it's reach is very short-range and can only corrode our projectiles one at a time. Kirigiri must've noticed this and... Now's my chance!"
Makoto took aim and started firing bullets at Kimura. She turned around to face him, only to get pierced by the shards of ice. Since her guard was down, her Stand was shot up with Makoto's bullets.
"Dakakakakakakakakakakaka!" cried out his Stand as its shots hit dead on.
"Ahh!" Kimura screamed in pure pain. Makoto's eyes widened. She may have been trying to hurt him, but he couldn't help but feel a little sorry for her.
"K-kimura, a-are you- Oh no!" Before his very eyes, Seiko Kimura fell down to the ground, bleeding badly.
"She'll be fine," Kirigiri said as she dusted herself off, retreating her Stand. "Neither of us used enough power to hurt her, I can tell."
"How do you-?"
"Now's not the time," she calmly retorted. "We have to call an ambulance."
"Yeah, you should," said a voice from behind.
The two turned to see another Stand, this one looking slim and unassuming with the exception of it's piercing red eyes.
"My name is unimportant, but you may address me as Psycho Killer," the Stand known as Psycho Killer said. Kyoko couldn't believe her eyes. She had never even heard of a Stand that could be used as some kind of communication from its user. Sure, Nirvana could occasionally speak to her, but this was completely different. "And it appears that my tests proved successful."
"Tests?" Naegi cried. "What are you talking about!?" Kyoko too was rather curious.
"Ah, that's right, you wouldn't remember," Psycho Killer nodded. "That Stand of yours that you just brought out? I was the one who gave it to you! And that weirdo mask girl over there."
Kyoko's eyes widened, her normally atoic and calm demenor shattered. Something that could create Stands... Could this person be associated with... Him?
"But it looks like my little experiment worked a little too well," the Stand shrugged. "Who knew a shrimp like you would get such a powerful Stand?" Psycho Killer turned to Kyoko. "And yours ain't half bad, either, even if I had nothing to do with it, maybe."
"So, all those hospitalized people...?" Naegi asked, his hand clenching into a fist.
"All me, handsome!" Psycho Killer laughed.
Kyoko could hardly contain her disgust. "Do you have an idea of what you've done?" she asked. "All those lives you've endangered... How did you even get this ability anyway?"
"Well, if you must know..." Suddenly from out of nowhere, an arrow shot out from.a tree and struck one of the bodies.
"LEON!" Naegi cried. Kyoko herself was thankful Kuwata ws already unconscious.
Naegi fired some bullets from his Stand, but to both his and Kyoko's surprise, Psycho Killer dodged every single one and struck Naegi down.
"Don't worry," the Stand mockingly consoled as it pulled the arrow from Kuwata's shoulder, "if you can survive the arrow's test, then he definitely can. And if not, well there's plenty more Stand Users in Morioh that can fill his niche."
Naegi screamed and shot at the Stand again with the same results.
"Hey, I think I heard something from over hear!" shouted a familiar voice to Kyoko. "Hina..."
"Well I'd love to stay and chat, but I've got better things to do, so if you'll excuse me..." The area was briefly lit up very brightly, blinding Kyoko. By the time her vision returned to normal, Psycho Killer and its user were already gone.
"Kyoko!" Hina cried as she rushed over to her. "What's going on here? Why's everybody all messed up? And what was with those noises I was hearing...?"
Hina's voice was drifting further away, and Kyoko realized then that she had used so much energy, she was feeling faint. Her last thought were of her angr at what had just transpired and a small hint of sadness for Naegi, though she couldn't articulate why...