You call this a projection?

Shirou Emiya had never been more grateful for the fact that the method Kiritsugu Emiya taught him to open his Magic Circuits was actually incorrect.

Because the method was flawed, simple reinforcement magecraft—which didn’t consume much prana—was manageable.

However, the moment he chose to use Projection magecraft, which consumed roughly ten times the prana of reinforcement, Shirou’s partially opened Magic Circuits would immediately overload. This kept his physical nerves in a constant state of stinging pain.

If Shirou hadn’t used his Projection to copy Joseph’s Hamon breathing technique—using the life energy generated by Hamon to substitute for the refinement of life energy by Magic Circuits and alleviate the prana consumption—he might not have been able to maintain such continuous Projections.

In other words, when DIO had Father Pucci use the Stand ability of [Whitesnake] to trap Shirou’s group deep within an illusion to disrupt their breathing rhythm—and subsequently stop their Hamon energy—he had actually inadvertently helped Shirou break free from the illusion’s control.

While the illusionary ability of [Whitesnake] is nearly impossible to break once successful—to the point where those inside don’t even realize they are in a dream—this powerful ability has a very obvious side effect: if the physical body of the person trapped in the illusion suffers even a slight amount of damage in the outside world, they will wake up instantly.

Without a doubt, the overload of Magic Circuits counts as damage!

”—[Pseudo-Magician’s Red]!!”

Without a moment’s hesitation, the jolted Shirou Emiya saw that their bodies were covered in a layer of white, wax-like substance. He immediately projected [Pseudo-Magician’s Red] to unleash fire. He used the large-scale flames both to wall off potential incoming attacks and to provide a burst of acceleration.

He intended to drag Jotaro Kujo and the others out of the restaurant in one fell swoop! He had to leave the area enveloped by [Whitesnake’s] Stand ability!

”Ah! Ow, ow, ow... Eh, what happened to me? Wasn’t I just stabbing that bastard J. Geil to death? Why am I suddenly here?”

”J. Geil? Polnareff, weren’t we just surrounding DIO?”

”What are you talking about, Avdol? Does a guy like DIO even need us to surround him? Didn’t Emiya and I use the ability of [Osiris] to seize DIO’s soul already?”

”...”

Shirou’s fire-propelled exit had been far too urgent. It was also possible that Shirou, fearing that simply leaving the area wasn’t safe enough, used the impact of the collision to knock Jotaro and the others awake. Consequently, as Polnareff and the others regained their senses, they all rubbed their heads in confusion.

Even Noriaki Kakyoin asked, ”...Was what just happened an enemy Stand attack?”

”It certainly seems that way.” Jotaro Kujo also quickly regained his composure and looked at Shirou. ”Emiya, do you know what happened? We were saved by you, weren’t we?”

It wasn’t hard to guess. Everyone else’s Stands had been deactivated for some reason.

Only Shirou was still maintaining a Stand. Furthermore, it wasn’t the [Pseudo-Osiris] he had intended to use for the Rock-Paper-Scissors match with Joseph, but the more aggressive [Pseudo-Magician’s Red].

”Jotaro is right; everything that just happened was indeed an enemy Stand ability. But that’s not important right now.”

Originally, the information that the Stand [Whitesnake] was lurking nearby was crucial. After all, given the chance, [Whitesnake] could successfully ambush even Jotaro Kujo and his [Star Platinum]. However, hearing the arguments from Polnareff and the others, Shirou discovered a blind spot—something he absolutely had to clarify.

”Jotaro, what did you and Kakyoin encounter in the illusion just now?”

”Ah, me?” Kakyoin scratched his cheek, looking a bit embarrassed. ”I was using the Emerald Splash barrier to trap DIO, intending to exhaust his Time Stop.”

”I was similar; I had roughly figured out what Time Stop was all about,” Jotaro replied. ”But, yare yare daze... so what just happened was only an illusion...”

No, it wasn’t just an illusion.

Or rather, it wasn’t merely an illusion!

It was exactly as he suspected. In order to pull them into the dream unknowingly, the illusion created by [Whitesnake] had baited out the things they most wanted to do in their subconscious. For example, Polnareff wanted revenge. Jotaro wanted to awaken Time Stop—the only Stand ability that could counter [The World].

Others wanted to play a pivotal role in defeating DIO.

Thinking of this, Shirou asked the question again that he had already asked in his own version of the illusion: ”Jotaro, do you still remember that feeling?”

”?... Emiya, you mean!?”

Jotaro clearly realized the crux of the matter and looked at Shirou.

”When DIO first awakened the Time Stop ability, Enya told him this—you must have the spiritual strength to view doing such a thing as a matter of course,” Shirou said. ”Jotaro, you couldn’t use Time Stop before because you hadn’t recognized this fact, not because you were unable to use it.

Once that mental barrier is broken, whether it happens in an illusion or in reality, you will inevitably internalize that recognition. You have to remember that things like prophetic dreams exist in this world.”

What should have been theoretically the most difficult step had been completed with DIO’s ”help.” If Father Pucci in Part 6 was ushered into ”Heaven” by the Joestar bloodline, then Jotaro Kujo was being escorted to his peak by DIO.

Thinking of how DIO was jokingly referred to as ”Jotaro’s Step-Son” in the memories of his past life, Shirou smiled mysteriously.

”However, facing a DIO whose Time Stop likely reaches five seconds, you—having just learned it—must use your Time Stop at the most critical moment.

So, I have a plan—”

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