"Everyone, be careful. Dio and The Cream should be fine."
The mansion had completely turned into ruins. Just as Takatsuki finished speaking, a burst erupted from the ruins.
"Who attacked… Ahhhhhhhh!!!"
The furious words were cut short and turned into ash due to direct sunlight.
"Hey, hey, that must have been a vampire, right? It really turned into ash when exposed to the sun."
Polnareff, who had just summoned Silver Chariot and was preparing to attack, froze.
"That's why, Polnareff, you need to remember that when fighting Dio, don't just stab him, because that won't kill him."
Polnareff's swordsmanship was exquisite, but most Western swordsmanship attacks were thrusts, which might be fatal to humans, but were harmless to vampires.
"Alright, everyone, be careful and search the ruins. It's daytime now, so Dio can't move in the sun."
Joseph shouted, then began to use Hermit Purple to bind a large piece of rubble and push it aside.
Just as Takatsuki was about to go up and help search, Kiana suddenly pulled Takatsuki's hand.
"Takatsuki, Takatsuki, can I borrow your cool armor to play with?"
Kiana's clear blue eyes were filled with anticipation.
The Demonic Steel armor receded from Takatsuki's body, gathering into a ball of light in his hand.
"Here, absorb it into your body. You can wear it with your will, and it can transform into the shape you imagine."
Takatsuki was not stingy with these items. For him, the Dog Talisman was enough to protect him, but both Mei and Kiana were still in danger.
Especially Kiana, who had previously erupted into her Herrscher form when encountering danger.
Kiana didn't notice Takatsuki's concern, and happily absorbed the light ball into her body. A set of armor similar to Takatsuki's previous form appeared on her.
Clearly, she hadn't listened to Takatsuki's advice on how to use it.
"Yahoo!"
After putting on her new toy, Kiana excitedly ran off to explore the ruins with the others.
"Takatsuki… Kiana, is she okay?"
Kiana didn't see Takatsuki's hidden emotions, but the delicate and sensitive Mei noticed them.
"It's fine."
Takatsuki shook his head, but saw Mei's barely concealed worry: "Sigh, I'll explain to you when I have a chance, at least for now, it's fine."
Hearing Takatsuki's words, Mei's expression improved. It seemed that it wasn't a serious problem that would happen immediately.
Mei racked her brains but couldn't imagine that there was another Herrscher beside her. Such rare beings, two of them in such a small place, and becoming friends—it seemed impossible no matter how she thought about it.
"Everyone! I found it!"
Avdol's voice came over at this moment. Everyone rushed over and saw a huge circular pit, and below… it was bottomless.
"This hole, it's The Cream's ability, isn't it?"
Joseph looked at the perfect circle in front of him, realizing how the hole was created.
The Cream can form a spherical devouring circle by swallowing its own body and Stand, and it can move freely. This devouring circle will devour everything it touches.
The scene in front of him clearly showed that The Cream had used its Stand ability to dig a hole when the mansion collapsed, to cover Dio's escape.
"Then what are we waiting for! We can't let that guy Dio escape!"
Saying that, Polnareff impulsively wanted to jump down, but Joseph stopped him: "Wait! Polnareff! This is a trap!"
"Why do you say that?"
Joseph looked at the hole in the ground with a grim expression: "The Cream only digs one tunnel. If we jump down, we will definitely follow the tunnel it dug. We won't be able to find The Cream at all. It only needs to ambush us along the tunnel, and we'll walk right into its trap."
"Then what do we do! Are we just going to let Dio escape like this!?"
"Don't worry, Polnareff, of course we can't let that guy Dio escape!"
On Joseph's arm, Hermit Purple, carrying Hamon-infused electric arcs, continuously swayed: "Since we've found his hiding place, then…"
"Hermit Purple!"
With a slap on the ground, the dust and broken stones covering the ground from the collapsed building formed a surrounding map under a strange power.
And on it, two small stones were constantly trembling and moving.
"This is Dio and Vanilla Ice's location! Let's chase!"
After confirming Dio's location, the group immediately gave chase.
Kiana also let out a cheer, and was just about to follow when a flash of light not far away caught her attention.
Walking over the rugged ruins, Kiana discovered that the shining object was actually a golden arrow.
"How can there be something like this here?"
Kiana reached out to pick it up, when suddenly a sharp pain shot through her fingertip.
"So painful!"
Just as she was about to check her injured finger, Kiana noticed: "Huh? Aren't I wearing armor?"
She couldn't see the injury on her finger through the armor. This time, Kiana carefully picked up the arrow, only to find that only the arrowhead remained. On this arrowhead, there was a carving of a bug-like creature, and on the blade of the arrow, there was a trace of fresh blood.
"This thing can actually penetrate the armor's defense?"
Kiana tried the arrowhead, but it couldn't penetrate the armor made of Demonic Steel she was wearing.
"How strange? Never mind, I'll go show it to Takatsuki."
Holding the part without the blade, Kiana took the bug arrow she found and chased after Takatsuki.
After only two steps, Kiana felt the clumsiness of her full body armor.
"I should put it away first, otherwise it's hard to move."
As Kiana had that thought, the armor on her body suddenly changed, transforming from full body armor covering her entire body into gauntlets only covering her forearms and foot guards like long boots.
"It can even do this?"
The lighter equipment allowed Kiana to easily catch up with the others.
"Takatsuki, Takatsuki, I, I, found something."
Joseph was using roadside stones to pinpoint Dio's location. Kiana caught up and handed him the bug arrow.
"A bug arrow? Where did you get it?"
Takatsuki naturally wouldn't mistake this distinctive bug arrow. Taking the arrowhead from Kiana's hand, Takatsuki also noticed a trace of blood on it. Takatsuki quickly asked: "Kiana, were you stabbed by this thing!?"
"Yeah, I don't know why, but I got inexplicably stabbed when I picked it up just now, even though it shouldn't be able to cut through this armor. Takatsuki, look, I turned this armor into this, isn't it amazing?"