Both start in hell: but their talents are multiplied a hundredfold.

The sidewalk fell into dead silence.

The flying pebbles hovered in mid-air, like insects preserved in amber.

The mosquito that was about to take flight on the street is now frozen in the microscopic view, barely visible to the naked eye.

The dust particles moving in the air also lost their Brownian motion trajectory, completely solidifying into a gray background.

In this forcibly severed, gray, still world, DIO grinned and charged forward.

His figure left a blur in the still image, instantly closing in on Shen Jue's side!

Within this absolute realm where time stands still, DIO is the only god, the only driving force, and he can wantonly crush any ant that dares to look directly at his majesty!

That's right, this is DIO's Stand, The World.

Its devastating Stand ability not only defined the final battle of Stardust Crusaders Part 3, but also laid the foundation for a classic villainous boss template in the subsequent JoJo series.

Since Hirohiko Araki introduced the core concept of "Stand User" in Part 3, the Stand abilities of the villains in the next four stories are all closely related to the supreme law of "time".

In the Stardust Crusaders storyline, the villainous boss DIO's Stand ability is to stop time.

In the fourth part of the JoJo series, Diamond Is Unbreakable, the villain Yoshikage Kira's "Killer Queen" third bomb, "Bite the Dust," can turn back time and reset everything to an hour earlier, which is a sinister means of self-preservation.

In the fifth installment, Golden Wind, the villain Diavolo's "Crimson King" can erase time.

In Stone Ocean, the sixth installment, the villain Father Pucci's "Heavenly Creation" can accelerate time, pushing the entire universe toward its end and rebirth. It is an attempt to "create" the world and alter its destiny.

From stopping to rewinding, from deletion to acceleration, the villains of the JOJO series demonstrate different uses of the power of time.

DIO's time-based ability! This time-stopping ability that transcends all things! Among the Stand users born in the Stardust Crusaders storyline, it is considered one of the strongest abilities!

In comparison, the only other one is probably Jotaro Kujo, who also awakened the ability to stop time when he fought DIO.

Although the pause lasted only a few seconds, for the Stand World, which boasts both A-level power and speed, it was enough to blast any powerful enemy into mincemeat and write the final chapter of victory!

Shen Jue was like a soulless sculpture, frozen in the posture of the previous second, completely unaware of the impending destruction.

DIO, on the other hand, was already standing at the point where Final Destination had arrived.

Stand World's golden, muscular body overlapped with DIO's, muscles taut, killing intent boiling.

DIO and the world simultaneously threw punches, punches powerful enough to shatter diamonds, aimed at Shen Jue's neck with a killing intent!

"Disappear, Shen Jue!"

However, just as the fist was about to touch Shen Jue's skin...

Shen Jue, who should have been frozen like a statue, suddenly heard an extremely faint cracking sound from his neck, a sound that should never have existed in a time-stopped state.

Click.

Shen Jue's head suddenly tilted to the side.

That wasn't the momentum from being hit, but a calm dodge, as if the opponent had already anticipated the punch's trajectory.

Shen Jue turned his head slightly, and his pupils, which should have been dull and lifeless in the still world, contracted slightly at this moment, and with a chilling smile, he accurately met DIO's astonished gaze.

In this static spacetime dominated by DIO, Shen Jue is observing DIO with the eyes of someone looking at prey.

DIO's pupils instantly contracted, and a sense of horror he had never felt since his century-long slumber instantly drenched his soul like ice water.

Shen Jue retreated, dodging the attacks from The World and DIO.

Yu Ri Xi He stretched out her arms and embraced Shen Jue, the jade pendant at the end of the twelve ribbons of light and the sun wheel mark on her forehead emitting a faint golden-red glow.

"Time stopped?"

Shen Jue's voice rang out, carrying a hint of amusement.

"It seems that your world and my Yu Ri Xi He are, in some ways, substitutes of the same type."

DIO's pupils suddenly contracted.

"Riding the Sun Xihe - Patrolling the Heavens".

As Shen Jue whispered, the light trail beneath his feet suddenly lit up, as if a flowing crack had been torn open on a still canvas.

One second, two seconds, three seconds, four seconds...

The ban remains in effect, with no sign of it changing!

This far exceeds the five-second limit that DIO can stop time!

Even though he was a hundred-year-old vampire who had long since abandoned his human identity, DIO's back was now soaked with cold sweat!

His proud Stand, The World, felt the pressure from another person for the first time in the realm of time stop!

"Damn it! What kind of monster are you?!" DIO gritted his teeth anxiously, trembling slightly, filled with fear and an instinctive wariness of the unknown power.

Shen Jue ignored DIO's roar and calmly counted the time.

In this world where time stands still, only he and DIO, like two isolated islands, are able to move freely.

Ten seconds, twenty seconds, thirty seconds...

DIO's sinister smile had vanished without a trace, replaced by an unprecedented solemnity and astonishment.

He tried to attack, but found his movements became unusually slow, as if he were stuck in a sticky swamp and could not move an inch.

A full minute later, Shen Jue slowly raised his eyes and said softly, "Time should flow."

The effect of "Yu Ri Xi He · Xun Tian" is interrupted.

The frozen world seemed to have been put on play, and the kinetic energy that had been building up for a minute exploded in an instant!

The hovering dust, the flying debris, and DIO's horrified expression all came to life at that moment.

Time has only just begun to flow.

"What is this?!" DIO exclaimed in shock.

"The ability of 'Riding the Sun and Surveying the Heavens' is not about acceleration," Shen Jue explained calmly.

"It's time manipulation."

"The jade pendant on the ribbon of light can accelerate the time scale between me and other things."

"And the sun wheel mark on the forehead of Xihe, when moved in reverse time, can slow down the passage of time for me and other things."

Shen Jue's smile was sunny and bright.

Shen Jue couldn't help but laugh after learning about Yu Ri Xi He's abilities.

He could only marvel at how the power of the Sun Goddess was both numerically and mechanically based.

DIO is going to escape.

After time resumed its flow and Shen Jue explained the power of Yu Ri Xi He, DIO, the arrogant and villainous emperor, sensed a deadly threat.

He no longer maintained his composed demeanor; his long golden hair flew wildly in the turbulent air currents as he turned to try and escape quickly using the power of Stand: The World.

However, Shen Jue did not give him that chance.

"Want to leave? It's too late."

Shen Jue remained indifferent as he slowly raised his right hand, his index finger pointing towards DIO's location like a sword's edge.

"The Sun Goddess Xihe".

In an instant, the air seemed to ignite.

A golden-red high-energy ray tore through the air, carrying terrifying heat and a destructive intent, piercing through space at supersonic speed!

"Pfft!!!"

The ray struck DIO's right calf with pinpoint accuracy.

There were no screams, only the explosive sound of matter being instantly engulfed by extreme heat.

That indestructible vampire body was as fragile as melted grease in the face of this power that could melt steel.

DIO's right calf disappeared instantly. The severed area didn't even have time to bleed before it was instantly carbonized and evaporated by the high temperature, leaving only a charred mess and a pungent burnt smell.

Losing his balance, DIO crashed heavily to the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust, but the shock and anger in his eyes were greater than the pain.

"You bastard!"

"By the way, the Sun Goddess can also convert sunlight and moonlight into high-energy rays," Shen Jue explained slowly.

"This is the most basic ability of Xihe, the sun goddess."

"Damn it!" DIO screamed frantically!

The intense pain caused the vampire, who had devoured countless people, to let out a agonizing scream.

It's important to know that the high-energy rays emitted by the Sun Goddess are essentially no different from sunlight!

For vampires, sunlight is a deadly poison!

Shen Jue casually ripped off a traffic sign from the roadside, the violently pulled sign making a sickening metallic creaking sound.

"I'll use this to cut off your head, DIO."

Shen Jue smiled and raised the traffic sign in his hand as if he were raising a cleaver.

"If all else fails, I'll just use the Imperial Sun and Dragon Chariot teleportation to find a road roller to send you off."