You call this a projection?

Prudent, cautious. Like the shrewdest of hunters, DIO rarely took unnecessary risks until his prey was thoroughly dead.

Thus, although in the first clash between DIO and Shirou Emiya’s group, it seemed as if DIO had wasted five seconds, he used that time to confirm the means by which Shirou’s group could counter a Time Stop. It was nothing more than the soul extraction of [Pseudo-Osiris] and the defensive measures of Hamon—troublesome, certainly, but manageable.

The former could kill him from a distance. But now that he had brought Shirou and the others within the effective range of [The World], it was virtually impossible for the soul-stealing ability of [Pseudo-Osiris] to succeed without him noticing.

As for the Hamon...

Thud!!

”Wh-what!?” Shirou and the others, lacking the perspective of stopped time, were completely unaware that time had even paused. They certainly couldn’t react to D’Arby’s corpse suddenly appearing in front of them. By the time they realized something was wrong, D’Arby’s body had already crashed between Shirou and Joseph, obscuring their upcoming Rock-Paper-Scissors gestures behind a rising cloud of dust and smoke!

”It’s DIO! It’s the Time Stop of [The World]!

That bastard DIO actually came here!

And...”

Quickly analyzing the environmental changes and seeing that [Pseudo-Osiris] remained inactive even after the gamble should have concluded, Shirou Emiya hadn’t expected DIO to think of such a method to interrupt the wager.

”As long as it’s not seen, it’s not cheating.

By the same logic, if we can’t see what the other person threw, the outcome of the gamble is invalid...”

DAMN IT! Does the Stand ability of [Osiris] actually have such a workaround? This time, Shirou Emiya truly had his eyes opened.

And...

”Finally decided to show yourself, J. Geil!” Although the sudden appearance of D’Arby’s corpse had diverted much of Polnareff’s attention, Shirou’s subsequent shout didn’t hide anything from him. It made him realize that not only were DIO’s subordinates here, but DIO himself had arrived.

Upon seeing J. Geil appear, Polnareff—who had not yet been beaten down by the harshness of reality—couldn’t resist the temptation of revenge and rushed forward.

Of course, that wasn’t the most important part. The most important part was that J. Geil wasn’t the only enemy Stand user surrounding them.

Several other figures, clearly Stand users, had manifested in their vicinity!

”Jotaro?” Scanning the surroundings to record these new Stands before ignoring them, Shirou Emiya turned to Jotaro Kujo with an inquiring look. He was silently asking if Jotaro had managed to learn [Star Platinum: The World] during the brief pause.

However...

”...”

”...I see.”

Facing Jotaro’s regretful shake of the head, Shirou didn’t say much. He just kept thinking: What is missing?

—”[Star Platinum] and [The World] are the same type of Stand; there’s no doubt about that.”

—”The obstacle preventing Jotaro from learning Time Stop should be the realization that time can be stopped by their Stands. With my spoilers, that shouldn’t be an issue.”

—”So why hasn’t he learned it yet? Is his spiritual strength insufficient?”

After sifting through his memories of his past life many times, Shirou eventually arrived at a conclusion. Because Joseph hadn’t died in front of Jotaro like he did in the original story, Jotaro’s rage hadn’t reached its limit.

Naturally, he couldn’t grasp the key to stopping time as instantly as he did in the original work—where he went from stopping a mere moment to five full seconds in a flash.

Furthermore, it was possible that current Jotaro hadn’t physically felt the sensation of time being stopped. According to the settings established in Steel Ball Run, gravity can ignore the effects of Time Stop in the JoJo world. In fact, not just gravity, but magnetism—another of the four fundamental forces—can also bypass it. For example, DIO’s magnets could still attract Jotaro’s magnets and pull his body while time was frozen.

In the original story, Jotaro’s rapid mastery of Time Stop was likely due to the experience of being forcibly pulled into the ”stopped world” by magnetism.

Therefore, at Shirou’s suggestion, Jotaro was currently wearing a large number of magnets. The goal was for them to attract the gold-painted iron rings on DIO’s outfit once time stopped, allowing Jotaro to quickly perceive [Star Platinum: The World].

(Note: Gold is not magnetic.)

As it turned out, DIO was far too cautious. Even while stopping time, he had no intention of getting close to them!

—”Should I keep using [Pseudo-Osiris] to lure DIO in? ...No, wait! Something is very wrong!”

Shirou, who had been deep in thought, suddenly realized something. He looked around in horror.

—”While ordinary people can’t see Stands, D’Arby is definitely dead! Normally, if a dead body suddenly appeared, shouldn’t the civilians around us immediately start screaming?”

—”Unless this isn’t reality, but... an illusion!”

—”An illusion created by [Whitesnake]!!”

If you can’t see the gesture, the gamble is invalid?

Bullshit!

Thinking of this, Shirou really wanted to punch the version of himself from a minute ago that had reached that conclusion. The reason [Pseudo-Osiris] hadn’t activated wasn’t what he initially thought. It was the simple, inherent logic: If you can’t solve the Stand, solve the Stand user.

DIO hadn’t thrown D’Arby’s corpse just to block the line of sight between him and Joseph. He did it as a plausible excuse to kick up a cloud of smoke—to mask the activation of [Whitesnake’s] ability, causing them all to unknowingly fall into an illusion woven by the Stand!

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