Conquista (8)

Jonathan Joestar was currently regretting skipping training in the past.

It could be faulted to laziness as he had found the necessity of exercise fundamentally valuable when it comes to protecting those that were endangered such in this case. Yet the various duties he held as the scion of the Joestar Family held him back from pursuing a more rigid training schedule. Plus, it never came to his mind the notion he would have ended up facing this kind of situation. It was clear the opponent was just like the one he, Dio and others had fought back in Windknight's Lot due to the style used by his current foe.

Wang Chan had used sharp metal claws for close encounters, and dark magic to make up in case of long-ranged skirmishes. The monk he was fighting against relied on a similar strategy and… that should have been way easier than it was turning out to be. Especially since he had a Stand to use to bolster his combat prowess. Turns out that this expectation was riddled by an issue: it's been too long since he had fought in these conditions and the pace taken by his opponent was nothing short of upsetting. Claws were clumsy to use, experienced or not, but knives were easier to move around at the expense of reach.

It wasn't a major sacrifice considering that the bearded stranger's speed was impressive. Not only could he match up with a hamon-boosted human, but he was doing so while also relying on a flexible body. Jonathan couldn't use ｢Violet Sage｣ in these circumstances because it was too slow and it couldn't assume a humanoid form just yet. Still, he expected his body to be way more prepared for this sort of encounter. Yet, as he could see just now, his enemy was moving with grace and nimbleness that rendered any brutish attack ineffective. Cuts started to appear all over his clothes and exposed skin. Nothing too deep, but the injuries were piling up and those were starting to sting after some time.

"Your pace is lacking-" The priest hummed, his jab at him diluted and interrupted when he realized that Jonathan's fist was now not letting go of his shoulder due to sharp thorny vines piercing into his clothes.

Jonathan grinned back at the man. "I think your luck has run out!"

He tried to throw another punch at him, but the priest glared at him and pushed away, uncaring of shredding his robes up and revealing the white shirt under it. Jojo's eyes widened in surprise at this move, but he didn't lose the chance to try this tactic again, this time using his Hamon to increase ｢Violet Sage｣'s reach and wrap another vine around the foe's neck.

Yet, as he got closer to reach out, his legs froze up when sudden pain forced them to go still and then wobbly. Surprise struck Jonathan as he looked down to see a dark tendril owned by one of the several demon-like monsters the man had summoned, now firmly piercing into his left leg. He shredded it with Hamon, but the damage took a while to heal. And the increasing ranks of foes was not getting any smaller. So, he started to cut into them.

He had heard many times from both Bhediya and Speedwagon that this was actually a common circumstance during their trip to the US together with Dio, and Jonathan was somewhat relieved he hadn't accepted the offer to come and handle the first years of marriage in peace. This mess was already troublesome now that he was in a more stable position in his life, he doubted this could have gotten any easier on him as a younger man. Still, Hamon was key to success and Jonathan was still not too shabby in throwing his hooks and jabs at the right time and within reach.

The fiends kept on getting 'restored' by the grinning priest, and Jonathan knew he had to come up with something about it. A distraction, anything that could work on getting the priest unfocused while he got hold of him again. ｢Violet Sage｣ was going to be enough to handle the long-range gap between them, but he needed time for the vines to cut through the distance and reach their target.

"Your potential is impressive, but nothing that can match Grigori Rasputin's might!" The gloating bastard admitted and Jojo had his chance. Arrogance. As always, there was a bad trait one can use as a leverage against this kind of enemies.

"Truly? Then how come you forgot to tie your boots?!" Jonathan exclaimed, his mind thrown in a panic as he tried his best to keep up with the pressure exerted by the now-multiple foes.

A blink, Rasputin actually believed him as he looked down and Jonathan used this chance to sneak a little surprise through his opponents and towards the distracted magician. By the time Grigori had recovered from that trick, it was already too late for him. Rasputin paused, his eyes landing on the violet vines that had wrapped around his knives.

Jojo grinned and yanked those away from his hold, leaving him disarmed and unable to defend against a closer skirmish. The bulkier man rushed up towards the attacker, but the monk's hesitation was lesser than he could have imagined. And the reason for that to be the case was… the stabbing feeling of a sharp blade cutting and piercing into his flesh. He looked down, to his chest, several knives swiftly stabbing onto his chest all at once. None pierced any important organs, but the damage and pain brought him to his knees.

"More knives?!"

"What? You thought I was just going to just rely on a couple of those?" Rasputin said, a monstrous grin forming on his face as he approached the young man.

Rasputin advanced towards the downed opponent, ready to finish him off. He felt at the peak of material pleasure, the sheer relief of winning over a most arduous task at a cost- but one he was willing to pay and enjoy losing for the sake of true victory. He appeared quite mad, his psyche compromised again as he was about to kill off the unconscious man and… and then there was pain. He couldn't see from one of his eyes as blood was pouring from it.

One of the knives Jonathan had pulled away earlier had been retrieved by someone that he had ignored up to this point. Little Giorno. The boy had snapped, attacking back the one that had so long tried to kidnap him and… that knife was hurting. It was in a situation where he should have died, but either through sheer willpower or general dark magic, Rasputin survived the deadly wound and persisted in his task.

"G-Giorno?" Jonathan exclaimed in shock, looking at his nephew and… trying to grasp how the young boy had gotten that precise hit on their opponent and how had Rasputin survived that attack.

"Un-Uncle Jojo!"

The boy was tense, his face a ghostly pale shade compared to the usual and… he couldn't exactly fault him for the reaction. Rasputin may not have a clear sight on his visage, but he could imagine the horror of a man with a knife stabbing through his left eyeball. But Grigori didn't care for this. Victory was at hand and… this just made him more eager to claim that win. He was within reach to take the boy and kill off the fool that tried to stop him from achieving success- and then something happened.

Almost ironically-timed, his hopes came crashing down when he felt a pair of eyes staring harshly at him from… behind him. A quick look confirmed that the mother of the child had successfully dealt with the soldiers he had employed, and, beside her, her husband stood with the most furious look a man could muster. Behind them the tall servant that escorted them and…

Baba Yaga?!

The woman stood around the trio with no hints of potentially betraying them, clearly allying herself to them and… ditching him. Even though he was so close to victory. The child was within reach, he was going to be a greater wizard than he was now. And yet she just ditched him, as if he was some sort of pathetic waste of space and- and that he couldn't accept.

"You betrayed me?!"

"Absolutely not," The redhead said with no shame, clearly switching sides for the winners of this 'war'. "That would imply I trusted you and considered you a proper ally to begin with. You were a puppet, and one that got out of hand quite fast. Planning for a betrayal and then do worse than anything I could conceive."

Rasputin gnawed his teeth at this, his anger weaker than it should have been because of the two irritated entities that were now ready to jump him. He didn't expect for his teacher to know of his plans of betrayal, yet this created a terrible situation for him to run from. Now bringing her the child wouldn't do anything to him. He was screwed regardless of the response he delivered. Still, he gave it a try, unaware his fate was already sealed behind unknown deals.

"I-I can still be of use. I am sorry if- If I disrespected you and-"

It wasn't enough- or not fast enough to be more precise. A blink, and Dio Joestar was now standing in front of him, charging at him.

"Y-You! How did- How did you move so fast and- GUAAH!"

Too slow- despite the sheer number dispatched by his erratic summoning, Dio easily shifted through the excessive amount of monsters. The blond didn't even need to stop time to tear into the mass of creatures, as he was soon upon him and hitting him with an uppercut. The monstrous killer was stunned by the move, but Rasputin's mind registered too late what his plan was. His wide eyes shifted from Dio's face back to my fist. It arched upward, then, in a rapid change, it rushed down onto the former monk's face, dragging it down to the ground in a loud and explosive power-slam.

A small crater formed at the impact, and Dio stared down at the shivering foe, already groveling at his feet. Sadly, someone else wanted to get into the action and Rasputin's face was further damaged when a heeled shoe stomped down onto his forehead. If Dio had gone to inflict pain, Hannah Joestar had gone to inflict death. For she was a scorned mother who just saw the terrified look on her son's face. And that, Rasputin knew as he felt his head being compressed by the pure power exerted by the stomp, was enough to enable a woman of her mindset to commit murder for the sake of her child.

Grigori Rasputin was soon killed as his skull was crushed by that power-move, but his 'murderers' didn't linger much around his body as they went to check on Jonathan and their son. Santana walked slower in his approach, leaving just Baba Yaga over the deceased body of her latest apprentice. A failed experiment, that's how she referred to him. But the fault wasn't just on him. She held some of that mess, and she already knew the new goals she had in mind were way better than her usual way of life.

Her lips twitched, discomfort and upset washed away at the thought of the deal she struck with Dio. It was unexpected for her to just accept it, but she was sure of it now as she looked at the boy that had inflicted that knife-wound to Rasputin's eye. That boy, he held potential that was going to exceed Dio's own power. In due time, and with the right amount of training and discipline.

Baba Yaga grinned as she saw the child's teary eyes looking at her and she felt… a pang of something shook her whole body.

Is that little boy the cutest thing in the world~?

AN

Dear Lord, Baba Yaga in this story is like one of those individuals like Aoko Aozaki in Carnival Phantasm! But worry not, Hannah-mama is on the case!

Omake 51: Giorno's Childhood (2)

Out of all uncles and aunts Giorno had, only one stood out from the rest as the one he liked the most.

It wasn't exactly a competition as he still loved his family the dearest, and saw no point in disliking anyone due to how kind and nice they all were. Still, this particular uncle had a curious background on how he became the one Giorno liked the most. And it all started right at the beginning, when he threw very little of him.

Bhediya had been a trusted friend of his father for several years now, and he had been quite nice towards him too… in his own ways. Differently from Auntie Sarah, the rough-looking man rarely showed any form of affection unless provoked into it and… even then, Giorno was never the one that started that sort of interaction.

It had never been a reason for displeasure, but the boy was unnerved by the lack of interaction. His mother confirmed it was because he was 'pampered' in that regard, but he couldn't understand the word and its meaning in the context. Only that he was accustomed to being 'bathed' in social interactions and spared the hassle to handle first contact.

Bhediya? He wasn't suited to handle first contact himself. And that's why Giorno's father had been quite close to him. Dio was the one that tended to speak first, and Bhediya was the one that replied. It was a custom the man had gotten just after he started to train more intensely to develop 'discipline in combat', something that Giorno didn't get to understand because he had yet to be trained by his father.

One day, as the boy and his family were visiting Grandpa George's manor, there had been a bit of a bicker between him and his mother. The little blond had wanted to eat a slice of cake before lunch and, obviously, his mother had refused to concede to that. Soon Giorno found his way to the kitchen barred by the servants at the orders delivered by Hannah and… Giorno was angry. Still, instead of retaliating in some way that could potentially end up messing his chance to eat by the kitchen ever again, he decided to go for a walk.

What Giorno didn't seem to realize was that the weather was far from peaceful at the time, and that wandering alone wouldn't just do despite how much he wanted to. Giorno loved walking this side of the countryside and he had been told by some servants at his grandfather's house that it was something both his father and Uncle JoJo were keen to love too.

It was such a calming place and one that, even under that heavy raining, felt refreshing to go by. A way to calm himself down while also thinking how he could make up for his 'loss'. Bhediya was close behind, having accepted the burden of keeping an eye on him, and his discomfort about the rain was not something Giorno was unaware of.

Yet, Giorno persisted, allowing his bitterness to color his behavior for a while and… that didn't do well for him. He hadn't noticed he had started to get too close to the river, and ignored the clear signs that one small trip and he would end up face-first into the body of water. And then it happened.

A twig, he tripped on a twig. He barely registered the fall, and he looked at the water with dreading eyes. He had yet to learn how to swim and it was raining hard so the river's flow was incredibly agitated. He tried to adjust his legs so the fall could be prevented, but everything was moving too fast and… then it got even faster. A choked yelp left his mouth, and that was enough for Bhediya to react.

Giorno wasn't sure what had just happened at that point, only that he found himself crouching down by the other side of the river, his uncle sighing tiredly while still having an arm wrapped around his waist and… part of his pants, the lower legs' area to be more precise, utterly wet due to the river's water.

"S-Sorry."

"It's alright. You are safe."

A nod, Giorno's tears didn't stop flowing even as he was lifted up and taken back to the manor. He was given a strict lecture from his mother for going outside with that weather, and, for the first time ever, he didn't put any resistance to it as he felt embarrassed how it all worked. Especially since he knew he was at fault for this and came close to dying.

That experience marked a shift in Giorno's life when it came to handling restrictions. Sometimes he would still whine about those, but he was willing enough to hear out any reason why he couldn't do one thing or the other. Bhediya never once reminded him of that matter and their jovial and yet quiet bond remained the same. Or, should have remained the same if Giorno hadn't taken it upon himself to discover his uncle.

It was like exploring a whole new person. He had more than just him constantly staring at others, and he was willing to teach Giorno about meditation. Which was, in the humblest opinion he could muster, quite dreary and boring. Yet, he couldn't help but enjoy it at times. It helped him clear his mind whenever he felt it clouding before a situation and it allowed him to get a 'head start' for when it was going to be time for him to finally learn how to fight.

This constant poking at Bhediya eventually resulted in a rather close relationship, and one that both Jonathan and Robert were quick to lament about because they felt their expectations to be Giorno's 'Best Uncles' had been snatched away by a clueless werewolf that just was too restrained in his social skills but still good enough with his limited capacity to communicate feelings.

Plus, Giorno found Bhediya cooler to some degree due to his real nature. Werewolves, he once said to his mother, are quite cool.