Rain shrouded the entire wheat field like a silver curtain, and the roar of the tractor’s engine sounded frail against the thunder.
“You two stay in the tractor!”
Rock’s voice cut through the downpour.
Grabbing the shotgun under the seat, he jumped off the tractor without hesitation, his figure swallowed by the pouring rain in an instant.
“Dad!”
Dio instinctively moved to follow in Rock’s footsteps, but…
“Dio!”
Clark’s arm grabbed him tight.
“Don’t cause trouble for Uncle Rock!”
“Dammit!
Clark, don’t stop me!”
Dio wiped his face angrily, rain dripping off his golden hair and running down his tight jawline mixed with mud.
Besides…
In the rear-view mirror, that massive figure had already vanished into the deep waves of wheat, leaving behind only flattened stalks marking its path.
“Didn’t you see that…” Dio’s voice sounded as if squeezed through gritted teeth.
“That thing…
it doesn’t look human at all!”
“Di—”
*BOOM!*
A sudden crash of thunder cut Clark off, but what caught both of their attention even more…
Was a deafening roar hidden within the thunder!
Dio’s chest tightened violently.
It came from the direction where Rock had gone.
“No way!”
Taking advantage of Clark’s momentary distraction, Dio shoved the cabin door open, letting the freezing rain soak through his shirt instantly.
“I’m going to check on him!”
“Dio!” Clark hastily grabbed his wrist.
“Uncle Rock told us to—”
“Clark!”
Swatting Clark’s hand away, Dio’s red eyes gleamed with a dangerous light in the rainy night.
“That’s my dad!”
*BOOM!*
A flash of lightning ripped through the night sky, its pale glare illuminating the fierce expression on Dio’s face.
At the exact moment the thunder exploded, another loud crash echoed from the distance—this time accompanied by a distinct clashing of metal.
Dio’s breath hitched for a second.
Perhaps out of instinct, or perhaps because he had already mastered his Stand.
Time froze in this exact moment.
Raindrops hung suspended in midair, forming a glittering cage.
Clark only felt his vision blur.
The Dio who had been standing right in front of him was gone.
By the time he snapped back to reality, he could only see a flash of Dio’s blond hair disappearing into the distant rain.
In truth, if a Stand User were present right now, they would surely see a golden humanoid figure carrying a kid and sprinting like mad.
*How can he be so fast?!*
*And why is it that feeling again…*
Assuming his dizzy spell had acted up again, Clark punched his seat in frustration before jumping off the tractor without hesitation.
His super speed allowed him to quickly catch up to Dio, but when he reached out to grab him—
“Don’t touch me!” Dio roared without turning around.
“A brute like you who only relies on brute force will only drag me down!”
*BOOM!*
Another loud explosion resounded!
This time accompanied by the distinct glow of fire from an explosion.
A farmer standing with a shotgun before an unknown monster.
Don’t get it wrong—this wasn’t Dragon Ball.
This was reality.
Under the shattered metal faceplate, the half-exposed human face was twisted in agony.
The right brain of the seven-foot-tall giant appeared to be cracked open, continuously leaking silver metal…
“Pal.”
“You’re currently trespassing on private property.”
Rock’s voice was low, as if he were merely scolding a wild deer that had wandered into his cornfield.
Rain dripped from the brim of his cowboy hat, splashing off the metal barrel of his shotgun.
His finger rested steadily on the trigger, his boots sunk deep in the muddy wheat field, as he warily surveyed the behemoth before him.
Though to be honest…
Looking at the silver liquid constantly oozing from the shattered right skull of the metal monster, Rock still felt a knot of unease in his chest.
*Where the hell did this cyborg come from?* he cursed mentally.
*A Cybertronian warrior randomly popping up in a Smallville wheat field has lower odds than getting struck by lightning.*
“Kill you…
continue.”
The metal giant slowly raised its head.
Its intact human left eye was a cloudy grayish-blue, while its right eye glowed with the red light of a mechanical optic.
*Clank!*
With a crisp metallic hum, the metal man’s right arm began to transform, liquid metal writhing as it condensed into a serrated broadsword.
*BANG!*
The shotgun’s roar tore through the curtain of rain.
The bullet landed squarely on the metal man’s chest, blowing open a hole the size of a bowl.
Silver liquid spattered outward, a few drops landing on Rock’s leather boots and instantly corroding small pits into them.
That wasn’t the worst of it, though.
What was truly spine-chilling was that the wound was actually healing at a speed visible to the naked eye!
The monster merely let out an unhuman howl, and the liquid metal writhed like a living creature, filling the gap in an instant.
This familiar sense of deja vu…
?!
Rock could practically hear the blood pounding in his temples.
*Nanometal?
Or Adamantium alloy?*
*Where did this high tech come from?!*
Rock forced himself to calm down, reassuring himself mentally.
If it really were the legendary Adamantium, with the vintage shotgun in his hands, his bullets wouldn’t even count as scratching the itch.
The fact that this monster had a clear bullet mark on its chest meant its metal purity…
*BANG!*
The shotgun roared once more, tearing through the rain.
*I see…*
Looking at the metal body whose regeneration speed had noticeably slowed, Rock grinned.
He methodically pulled sticks of dynamite from his pocket.
*As a farmer afraid of wild beasts, carrying a few sticks of dynamite to protect my wheat field is perfectly reasonable, isn’t it?*
Lighting the fuse, Rock tossed the sparkling explosive in a perfect arc.
“Looks like you’re a defect, my friend.”
The metal giant seemed enraged by the word.
The liquid metal on its chest suddenly boiled, forming dozens of sharp spikes.
But right as it prepared to charge—
*BOOM!*
The dynamite sticky-attached precisely to the monster blew up directly.
The blast wave nearly blew Rock off his feet, but…
Looking at Star Platinum standing in front of him, the word “Invincible” practically stamped across its face, he felt completely at ease.
Recalling Star Platinum, Rock looked through the rain—
The metal giant had lost both legs and knelt motionless in the smoke.
This confirmed Rock’s suspicion even further.
*How could Adamantium be blown to pieces by dynamite?*
*And what kind of cybernetic cyborg would use something as precious as Adamantium anyway?*
“Game over, Mr.
Wolverine knockoff, wherever you came from.”
Spitting out a mouthful of mud that had splashed into his mouth, Rock walked forward, raising his shotgun toward the giant’s head.
Just as he was about to deliver the finishing shot, he suddenly heard Dio’s desperate, heart-wrenching yell from the downpour:
“Dad—!!!”
Looking back in surprise, he saw a blond boy bursting frantically through the rain, followed by an anxious Clark.
*That brat!
Didn’t I tell him not to come?!*
Rock’s expression darkened.
To make matters worse, the metal giant seemed to be provoked again upon hearing the yell.
Its remaining mechanical eye flashed red once more, and its two legs began to regenerate!
“Gurgle…”
Its stiff head locked onto Dio, and a broken electronic voice squeezed out of the metal man’s throat:
“Kill…”
*BANG!*
Without a moment’s hesitation, Rock pulled the trigger, the firepower of his modified shotgun blowing the metal man’s head to smithereens!
Smoke curled up from the barrel.
Under normal circumstances, any living creature would be dead.
But…
This was the comic book The World.
*Hummm—!*
Accompanied by an electronic roar from its battered body, the serrated blade on the headless metal man’s right arm suddenly split into three metallic whips, whipping toward the approaching Dio and Clark with the sound of tearing air!
If it hit, it was painfully clear what would happen to the two of them!
*No more holding back…*
Rock’s eyes grew heavy and grim.
“Star Platinum: The The World!”
*Hummm—!*
Just as the attack was about to land, the whips froze in midair like mechanical arms cut from their power supply!
Time came to a complete standstill in the pouring rain.
“Yare yare…”
Tipping his cowboy hat down slightly, Rock looked at the frozen rainfall.
“Just 1 second?”
“That’s more than enough.”
As the purple giant towered between heaven and earth, Rock pointed a single finger forward and issued a calm command: “Pulverize him!”
“Star Platinum!”