Step by step, leather shoes crunched against the gravel-strewn concrete with heavy, rhythmic thuds.
Towering at six-foot-five, Jotaro didn’t take long or hurried strides, but every single step was heavy, steady, and resolute.
“Yare yare daze…
In the eyes of the world, I, Jotaro Kujo, am nothing more than a violent delinquent.
When I get into fights, I hit so hard that people are still rotting in hospital beds because of me.
Arrogant, incompetent teachers who tried throwing their weight around never returned to school after I taught them a lesson.
Walking out of restaurants without paying because the slop wasn’t worth the money is second nature to me.
But even a delinquent like me can recognize a true tough bastard when I see one.
Horne, you are the toughest motherfucker I have ever laid eyes on.
Your resolve has earned my respect.
In that case, I have no choice but to meet you with equal resolve!!”
Jotaro muttered aloud as he closed the distance, his eyes completely purged of hesitation.
“I have the resolve to kill.
Try not to actually die on me, Horne.”
Jotaro yanked down the brim of his cap as his murderous aura swelled to an apocalyptic level.
“[Star Platinum]!!”
“ORA!!!”
Star Platinum materialized in full glory, unleashing an ear-shattering war cry as it threw a punch calculated to extinguish Horne’s life completely.
Jotaro didn’t pull back a shred of strength this time; if this blow landed, Horne was dead meat.
Star Platinum moved with blinding speed; unable to see the Stand, Horne could do nothing but wait for the executioner’s blow.
The sheer terror of knowing death was rushing at you without being able to see its trajectory would shatter the mind of any mortal.
But Horne was built different; under the suffocating pressure of imminent death, his psyche refused to shatter—it grew fiercer, harder, and incandescently bright.
The universe seemed to grind into ultra-slow motion, crawling until his vision pierced the veil, finally locking onto that solidifying purple phantom!
He could see it now—the massive fist was right in front of his face, ready to detonate his skull like an egg in a microwave!
“[One-Man Army], manifest!!!”
His Will!
His Resolve!
His Spirit!
His Temperament!
His Soul!
His Destiny!
His System!
Pushed past the absolute brink in the face of death, every single facet defining the man named Horne crystallized, ascended, and materialized into reality.
At last, a figure emerged: possessing the exact same physical stature as Horne, encased from head to toe in sleek pitch-black armor, a gleaming silver belt around its waist, and eyes radiating a soft, chilling blue glow.
This was Horne’s Stand: [One-Man Army].
[One-Man Army] thrust its fist forward, clashing directly against Star Platinum’s incoming strike.
The violent collision of pure kinetic power sent shockwaves rippling through the surrounding air.
The recoil forced both men a step backward; Horne instantly re-engaged his status stacking, his mortal wounds snapping back to full health in an instant.
“Finally, I can actually hit that Star Platinum of yours.”
Horne shook out his limbs, measuring the gulf between the two Stands.
(One-Man Army’s base parameters match my stacked stats.
In other words, it’s a Stand that scales infinitely as my bodies grow stronger—its Developmental Potential is an absolute infinity.)
Horne and [One-Man Army] lunged forward together, initiating a coordinated pincer attack on Jotaro.
“Lesson Five: Some Stand users possess physical bodies that hit just as hard as their Stands!
In close quarters, always watch out for synchronized combination attacks between the user and their Stand!!”
A flawless flank—even an invincible powerhouse like Star Platinum could only guard against one angle at a time.
But did it need to guard?
Not at all!
With Star Platinum’s broken stats, obliterating the user’s body directly was the only answer needed.
Star Platinum threw a left hook to deflect [One-Man Army] while slamming a right hook straight through Horne’s ribs; as the Stand took impact, the damage mirrored back onto the user.
Even Horne took immense internal trauma from this exchange, his demonic regeneration visibly lagging under the spiritual assault.
“Spit!”
Horne spat out a mouthful of blood and mockingly clapped his hands for Jotaro.
“Sensational battle instincts.
Lesson Six: When dealing with a freak whose physical body just won’t stay dead, bypass the flesh and smash their Stand directly!
The Stand is the manifestation of the soul; when spiritual energy takes damage, the user suffers identical trauma.
If the Stand is shattered completely, the user drops dead.”
By the time he finished his lecture, Horne’s injuries had fully knit back together, and he launched another offensive.
This time, he triggered his Stand’s signature ability.
“[Army into One]!”
With a command, [One-Man Army] dissolved into liquid shadow and re-formed as a full suit of heavy armor wrapping Horne’s body.
“This is the primary ability of my Stand, [Army into One]—it fuses with my physical form into a genuine set of armor.
This armor possesses physical mass; ordinary people can see it, touch it, and normal non-Stand attacks can hit it.
But in exchange, it grants me impenetrable defense and completely severs the damage backlash that plagues normal Stands.”
Horne swung a heavy fist, colliding with Star Platinum’s knuckles once more; with the armor absorbing the kinetic shock, he weathered the impact with absolute ease.
Yet Jotaro quickly realized the fatal flaw of [Army into One]: confined to a single combatant, Horne could never breach Star Platinum’s ironclad guard.
And Star Platinum packed more than enough raw kinetic output to smash that armor into dust.
“[Star Platinum]!!”
“ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA!!!!!”
At Jotaro’s roar, Star Platinum unleashed a torrential barrage of furious, lightning-fast punches that hammered into Horne like a relentless meteor shower.
Horne’s [Army into One] could easily tank one strike, two strikes, three, or four.
But a hundred bone-shattering strikes crashing down in less than a second?
That was impossible to withstand—at least for the current iteration of [Army into One].
Yet beneath the cracking visor, Horne grinned; this was the exact opening he had been waiting for!
The moment Star Platinum went all-out in a blind barrage was the exact moment Jotaro was most exposed!
“Checkmate, Jotaro.”
Out of thin air, a second [One-Man Army] materialized behind Jotaro, resting the blade of its armored hand flat against his throat.
The battle was over; Horne dismissed the [Army into One] armor, revealing the true nature of his Stand.
[One-Man Army] was a multi-unit colony Stand comprised of multiple entities, mirroring how Horne himself existed across multiple physical bodies.
The number of Stands he could deploy was dictated entirely by how many living bodies he possessed.
Even their appearances varied according to their corresponding vessel; the Stand born from his demon body possessed burning scarlet eyes and a pair of sharp demonic horns protruding from its helm.
This meant Horne could summon two full-spec Stands at once, giving him three coordinated combat units on the field.
Even three rabid hounds could tear down a Lord of Cinder, let alone three synchronized, peak-level incarnations of Horne.
“Jotaro, Lesson Seven: Stands come in infinite forms.
Never assume an enemy has only one Stand, and never assume a Stand must be humanoid.
Stand abilities are bound only by imagination; don’t assume every opponent relies on brute force like your Star Platinum.
If utilized with ruthless cunning, even the most bizarre Stand power can produce unimaginable lethality.
Even an apex powerhouse like Star Platinum can be brought down in a split second by a seemingly pathetic Stand if you let your guard drop.”
In this bout, Jotaro was beaten fair and square, thoroughly convinced.
“Horne, what’s our move now?”
Jotaro had no idea what Horne intended to do next.
“First off, let’s haul these street punks to the hospital.
Their broken bones aren’t lethal, but leaving them out here to suffer will only cause permanent damage.”
Horne pointed toward the pile of unconscious delinquents who had been folded by Jotaro’s invisible phantom at the start.
Had Horne not mentioned them, Jotaro likely would have forgotten they were even lying there.