Chapter 11: [Invisible Black Monster: Maw] VS [Justice]
In the pitch-black darkness, Enya's triumphant laughter echoed. "Just as I calculated! This is the fatal flaw in your Stand's ability!"
In that moment of crisis, Enya's mind had worked with lightning speed. If Jonas's Stand needed a shadow to consume, what would happen if there was no shadow? It was a gamble. She had intentionally let Maw get close, sacrificing a piece of her own shadow as bait, just so she could reach the table and extinguish the room's only light source.
And her hypothesis was correct. Plunged into absolute darkness, Maw was rendered powerless! The tables had turned!
Victory belongs to me, Enya the Hag!
Jonas's brow furrowed. The sudden darkness, coupled with Enya's instant deduction of Maw's weakness, filled him with a deep sense of foreboding. His pupils dilated, slowly adjusting to the gloom.
The corpse puppets, still under Enya's control, were closing in.
He lashed out with a powerful kick. The sickening crack of bone echoed as the nearest puppet was sent flying, crashing into two others and buying Jonas a precious few seconds. He immediately drew his pistol and aimed it in the direction where Enya had been standing, hoping to end this by taking out the user.
But she was gone, having vanished into the darkness. Only Maw remained, sniffing the ground frantically, trying to locate her.
Behind a large, ornate pillar, Enya's face was a twisted mask of triumph and agony. Triumph, because she believed she now controlled the battle. Agony, because the wounds torn in her body by Maw were radiating a soul-crushing pain.
She gritted her teeth, wincing. Even with crude bandages, the pain was relentless. But she knew the rule of Stand battles: to defeat the Stand, one must defeat the user. With a surge of will, she commanded [Justice], and her army of puppets accelerated their advance.
Seeing that Enya was hiding, Jonas had no choice but to deal with the grotesque horde first.
BANG!
He squeezed the trigger. For a brilliant, fleeting moment, the muzzle flash illuminated the entire room. The bullet tore through the head of a female puppet, shattering her desiccated skull into a spray of bone fragments.
In that same flash of light, a sliver of Enya's shadow was revealed.
Like a predator that had spotted its prey, Maw shot across the floor. Enya's eyes widened in shock as the creature closed in on the shadow at her feet. She started to react, but the light was already gone, and Maw, its target once again vanished, resumed its frantic sniffing.
Enya let out a breath she didn't realize she was holding. But then, she saw a faint, knowing smile playing on Jonas's lips from across the room. He'd seen it too. He understood.
As long as there is a source of light, no matter how brief, Maw has time to attack!
Enya's eyes went wide with terror. She understood his strategy in the same instant he had conceived it. Maw was less than a foot from her. If the next flash of light lasted for more than a second, it would be enough. It would tear another piece from her. She could not bear that agony again.
Driven by a desperate need to escape, she scrambled backward, using the pillar as cover, trying to put as much distance as possible between herself and the tiny Stand before the next shot.
"Maw is right on top of you, old woman! Do you really think you can escape?!" Jonas roared.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
He fired three more times, the bullets obliterating the three foremost puppets. The rapid succession of muzzle flashes lit the room like a strobe light. In the flickering illumination, Enya's shadow was cast, a perfect target.
Like a frog snatching an insect out of the air, Maw lunged. Enya watched in horror as it closed the distance, its fanged mouth wide open, ready to bite.
No! I can't let it take any more!
While she didn't know the ultimate consequence of having her shadow completely devoured, even her fear-addled mind knew it would not be pleasant. She stabbed at it with her scissors, but the blades struck its body with a dull thud, as if hitting solid steel. Looking closer, she could see its tiny legs were rooted firmly in the dark patch on the floor, making it an immovable object.
Her attack having failed, it was Maw's turn. It sank its teeth into the shadow of her thigh.
The familiar, excruciating pain flared up again. Enya bit down on a scream, and as Maw paused to swallow the piece of shadow, she continued her retreat. She didn't dare leave the cover of the pillar; Jonas's pistol was still the most immediate threat. At the same time, she pushed her Stand, [Justice], to its limits, driving her puppets into a frenzy.
They swarmed forward, forming a literal wall of rotting flesh, a tide of bodies surging toward Jonas, with more shambling in from the doorway behind them. Jonas glanced behind him and saw that Enya was still safely behind the pillar, out of his line of fire.
"You cunning old witch!" he cursed.
BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!
He fired four more times in quick succession. In the ensuing flashes, Enya scrambled and dodged, desperately trying to evade Maw's relentless attacks. Her only hope now was that her puppets could overwhelm Jonas before his Stand devoured her completely.
The four bullets took down the four closest puppets, but the endless tide of corpses kept coming. Jonas kicked another one back, buying himself a precious second. He did a quick mental calculation. The pistol was an Egyptian Helwan, loaded with 9mm rounds. Nine in the magazine. He had just fired his eighth shot.
Only one bullet left. And the puppets were endless.
I have to find a way to break this stalemate! NOW!
His eyes darted around the room and landed on the travel bag at his feet. A plan—a desperate, brilliant, insane plan—flashed in his mind.
He kicked the bag, sending it sailing into the oncoming horde of puppets. He then raised the pistol, taking aim at the bag mid-flight.
This was his gambit. The bag contained the bottle of ultra-high-proof liquor! A single bullet would turn it into a Molotov cocktail, creating a raging inferno. It would incinerate the puppets and provide the constant light source Maw needed to finish the job!
Enya's eyes widened in horror. She remembered the liquor. She saw his aim. She understood his entire plan in a terrifying instant.
NO! I have to stop him!
She burst out from behind the pillar, pouring every ounce of her remaining spiritual energy into her puppets, commanding them to stop him at any cost.