The echo of Kars's roar still vibrated among the shattered stones.
And yet… there was no sun left in his voice.
Only ash.
Leo remained standing among the ruins.
His body bled.
His gaze did not.
The lines of his Stand still swirled in the air, slowly closing—like a manuscript sealing its own epilogue.
[Entity: Kars (perfect form) — fully absorbed.]
[Residual analysis detected: minor emotional alteration.]
Leo closed his eyes.
And inside… he laughed.
Not out of victory.
Out of expansion.
Joseph staggered toward him.
—Did you…? Did you win?
Leo looked at him.
No smile.
No trace of glory.
—You call it victory…?
I call it correction.
Joseph stepped back half a pace.
—You're not the same as before.
Leo knew.
And he didn't care.
Hours later, outside, Lisa Lisa blocked his path.
The sky was overcast.
Snow fell slowly.
—What are you now? she asked.
Leo looked at her.
And for the first time… she felt fear.
—I am the consequence, he said.
The natural result of letting monsters speak… and listening too well.
Lisa Lisa didn't lower her gaze.
—You absorbed Kars.
—Yes.
—And what did he leave you with?
Leo smiled—
but not like a human.
—The certainty… that everything that evolves, corrupts.
And the ambition… to do better than him.
Lisa Lisa clenched her fists.
—What are you going to do now?
Leo looked up at the sky.
—Keep writing.
Wherever the story still resists.
[Multiversal Transition Available. Destination: Stardust Crusaders (Parallel Universe A/B).]
[Risk level: high. Initial influence: 41%.]
Leo opened the interface.
The grimoire spun slowly over his shoulder.
A portal of inky color tore through the air.
Joseph shouted from afar.
—You're leaving?! Just like that?!
Leo didn't answer.
He no longer had to.
Lisa Lisa took a step.
Something in her chest weighed more than reason.
—Leo, she whispered. Wait!
He had already crossed half his body into the vortex.
She ran.
Maybe it was instinct.
Maybe something else.
She grabbed him by the wrist.
—You can't leave without answering me!
The system reacted.
[External contact detected. Attached presence: Lisa Lisa.]
[Narrative transfer accidental. Blocking impossible.]
Leo rolled his eyes.
—This… wasn't the plan.
Lisa Lisa stared at him, afraid.
The portal was pulling her in.
And before vanishing, she heard his voice.
Calm.
Contained.
Cold.
—Then you'll come.
And you'll see what I am.
They both disappeared.
And the world trembled—just slightly.
[New universe detected: Stardust Crusaders – Parallel Line.]
[Archive synchronization: initializing…]
[Leo's narrative influence: 38%]
[Unforeseen presence (Lisa Lisa): forced. Emotional anchor error triggered.]
And so…
the next rewriting began.