[73] The Pillar Man

"Kurokawa Kazuya..."

Looking at the latest issue of "Fate/stay night," he once again uttered this person's name.

"It's already gotten to a point where there's no turning back... Zouken Matou!" His anger towards this person had reached its peak.

Even though he had always told himself to remain elegant, he couldn't quell this anger.

It was all because of this person...

If it weren't for this person, everything wouldn't be as terrible as it is now!

...

On the other side—

Kazuya fell into a deep sleep.

"This... this is— I can't move, I can't move—" Kazuya couldn't see the situation outside, but he felt as though he were sealed inside a stone statue.

But—

All around him, there was something like flowing water, being absorbed by his body reflexively.

"This state, this feeling... could it be... a Pillar Man!? Have I become a Pillar Man?"

At this moment, he felt like he could move. The stones that had covered his body now seemed like his own skin, capable of turning into real flesh at any moment—

"Flowing blood, a Pillar Man... could it be that I've become Santana?"

Santana was the first Pillar Man encountered by Joseph Joestar, the protagonist of this part. Santana was also the weakest Pillar Man, who didn't know the Ripple techniques that the later Pillar Men would learn!

According to Kazuya's guess, Kars, and the others had almost wiped out the Ripple warriors long before Santana grew up, so he didn't learn the Ripple techniques and didn't know about the existence of Ripple warriors.

However—

What he had never imagined was that he would become Santana!

"This feeling... I'm so hungry... my body feels incredibly hungry, but... even so, what tremendous life energy!"

In reality, Kazuya's physical body now had a life energy level of "10," as he had classified it.

And now, as the weakest Pillar Man, after having been asleep for thousands of years, there was still at least level "30" life energy inside his body!

How incredible!

Moreover, with every drop of blood he absorbed from the surroundings, his life energy continued to rise as if there were no limit.

"I remember, outside is the German army, right? And Joseph Joestar, who might have arrived by now..." Kazuya thought to himself, "For now, let's absorb blood... increase my life energy. Even if I can't use the Ripple, it doesn't matter. I'll go outside and see the situation first."

Boom—

On the other side—

In a room where German soldiers were observing, Stroheim and the captured Speedwagon saw it—

The Pillar Man, originally like a stone, deep within a wall fifty centimeters thick, armed with flamethrowers, machine guns, and time bombs, had moved—

"Ha—"

Kazuya took a deep breath and then fell from mid-air.

Boom—

Free-falling from several meters in height, Kazuya was astonished to find that he hadn't suffered any injuries!

"So, this is a Pillar Man..." Kazuya tried to stand up.

However, perhaps it was because he had just taken control of this body or because he had been inactive for two thousand years, his body unexpectedly felt stiff. He stood up and then fell down again. However, soon enough, he felt that his control over his body was increasing rapidly.

Human voices outside.

The scent in the air...

He felt that his five senses were several times stronger than before!

"I see, so this is what a Pillar Man is like... it's truly a novel experience... not only that, my brain has become unexpectedly clear."

German—

This was a language he hadn't learned before, but—just by listening to the few sentences Stroheim said outside, he felt that he was about to recall the entire language.

He was about to learn this language!

What an incredible ability.

"Buzz..."

On the side, a small passage opened, and a somewhat strange-looking person stood there in a peculiar posture. Yes, it was a vampire—

But now...

The vampire, whom he had previously felt incredibly powerful, now felt like... he had encountered the most wonderful food!

"Wryyyyyyyyyy—" The vampire screeched and rushed towards him, thrusting his arms into Kazuya's arms, and his teeth toward Kazuya's shoulder!

However—

Kazuya's heart moved slightly.

The place where the vampire made contact with his body was gradually disappearing, slowly being absorbed by him!

'I see... with creatures like this, both Vaporization Freezing Technique and Space Ripper Stingy Eyes are completely ineffective.'

The one behind probably can't do much harm either, and the one in front, the Pillar Man, has a much stronger control over his body. Being frozen might actually be a benefit for him.

After absorbing the energy of this vampire, Kazuya felt that his condition had improved significantly.

His body had swollen slightly.

He now should have a life energy level of around 35.

Well then...

Let's try to get out next. Test the strength of this body—

The method should be the same as Santana in the original.

Thinking this, he began to move his body, searching for the ventilation duct nearby—

That narrow ventilation duct, only 4x20 cm in size.

If he found it, he could twist, or even say crush, his body from the inside and crawl out!

"Where is it..."

Kazuya thought, shifting his gaze towards the outside and walking around in all directions.

Then, at that moment!

During the one or two seconds when everyone wasn't looking here—

He jumped towards the ventilation duct and twisted his body to enter it!

Listening to the direction of the outside voices.

Kazuya continuously adjusted his orientation, searching for the path to the outside through the air supply pipe, moving quickly—

"Well, maybe I can draw a perspective from Santana's point of view while moving through the air supply pipe when I'm drawing the tankobon for Part 2 of JoJo. It should be quite impactful. Have I reached the exit?"

The next moment—looking at the German soldier at the exit.

He passed through the man's entire body!

"Ah—him! Santana! "

At this point, the professional commentator, the captured Speedwagon, spoke up: "He's entered the soldier's body!"

"Ah ah ah—"

In the next moment, the soldier's entire body shrank, leaving only a layer of skin that was torn off by Kazuya. He didn't need to test or experiment with the people of this era... he would follow the plot as usual. When he wanted to draw the tankobon for Part Two of JoJo, he could consider it then.

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