Anime Crossover: Post-Apocalyptic Survival, My Stand is the World

He slashed down at Kurumi's snow-white, slender neck, which was as elegant as a swan yet seemed vulnerable.

"..."

Kurumi's body trembled violently, and the last glimmer of consciousness in her already empty eyes vanished completely.

He was like a puppet whose strings had been cut, losing all his strength and falling forward.

Finally, she collapsed into a warm, solid embrace.

Su Chen caught her.

……

"Is it... over?"

On the roof.

Yukino Yukinoshita looked at the dramatic and impactful scene before her, muttering to herself in disbelief.

That powerful Time Witch, who instilled despair in them and seemed invincible, just like that... lost?

"It seems... to be over."

Kasumigaoka Utaha also let out a long sigh of relief, feeling as if all the strength had been drained from her body.

She felt that her brain, which had been aching as if pierced by countless needles due to the overuse of Word Power, could finally relax completely at this moment.

Although she still didn't understand the final battle, which was nothing short of divine, the ultimate divine operation of "predicting your prediction and the prediction of your prediction".

But she knew that Su Chen had won, and that was enough.

Meanwhile, Mai Sakurajima and Megumi Kato rushed to the two heroes who were swaying due to exhaustion and supported them from the left and right.

"Thank you for your hard work, Yukino, Utaha." Mai's voice was filled with sincere admiration.

"Mm." Yukino simply nodded slightly, but a rare hint of relaxation after exhaustion appeared on her usually cold face.

The four girls smiled at each other, and a warm atmosphere of "comradeship in arms" and "survival of the ordeal" flowed slowly between them.

They looked down at the man holding the spoils of war, their eyes filled with complex emotions that defied description.

……

And in the center of the battlefield.

Su Chen looked at the Time Witch in his arms, who had completely fallen into a coma.

He looked at her beautiful sleeping face, devoid of all madness and pretense, as serene as Sleeping Beauty, and at her brows, which were still slightly furrowed even in her unconscious state, as if due to some kind of nightmare.

His heart, which had been taut like steel, finally relaxed completely.

To be honest, he didn't win that duel, which was a gamble on the "future," easily.

It could even be said to be the most dangerous and exciting fight he had ever had since he transmigrated.

That woman brought her "future vision," her rich combat experience, and her ruthlessness in using herself as bait to the extreme.

If he hadn't had that stroke of genius at the last moment, perfectly combining the time-deleting ability of [Crimson King] and the future-predicting ability of [Epitaph], delivering a "dialogue prediction" that even he himself considered a stroke of genius, he would probably be the one lying on the ground right now.

'but…'

He looked down at the "trophy" in his arms, a veritable hot potato, and felt his head start to ache again.

What should we do with this guy?

Kill directly?

No.

Su Chen immediately shook his head, rejecting this simplest option.

He was hoping to pry more secrets about this anime-themed post-apocalyptic world out of this woman's mouth.

The intelligence value of a living S-rank spirit is immeasurable.

What's more... looking at Kurumi's unguarded sleeping face, his heart softened for no reason.

'Seriously... she's so cute, why does she have to be the 'worst elf'? Wouldn't it be better to just be a mascot and give everyone some treats?'

He sighed somewhat helplessly, and finally made a decision that best suited his "JOJO" persona, one that was full of wicked humor.

He slung the petite Time Witch onto his shoulder with an extremely skilled and rough manner, as if carrying a sack of unruly rice.

Then, he gave a bright, sunny smile to the girls on the rooftop who were looking at him with extremely complicated expressions, and loudly announced:

"Alright, girls."

"I have successfully won over the BOSS."

He patted the soft body on his shoulder, as if showing off his trophy.

"It's time to clean up the battlefield and reclaim our deserved rewards."

Chapter 137 The Witch's Escape Drama

Su Chen caught her.

The girl in his arms was very light and soft, like a weightless feather, or a phantom about to disappear.

The air was filled with a strange fragrance, a mixture of gunpowder smoke and her unique, sweet, and bloody scent.

She had completely lost consciousness. Her pretty face, which always wore an elegant or manic smile, was now only a serene paleness.

Long eyelashes, like butterfly wings, cast a quiet shadow under the eyelids.

She seemed like a beautiful young girl who had just fallen into a deep sleep after playing an intense game. The suffocating sense of oppression was gone.

"ended."

On the rooftop, Yukino Yukinoshita watched this scene and finally breathed a long sigh of relief.

The nerve that had been taut like a steel wire since stepping into Shinjuku finally relaxed completely at this moment.

An indescribable feeling of exhaustion, as if it were draining her very marrow, surged up from all directions like a tidal wave, making her almost unable to stand. Fortunately, Mai Sakurajima, who was beside her, caught her in time.

"Well done, Su Chen."

From the communicator came Kong Na's excited roar, filled with the feeling of surviving a catastrophe.

"I knew it! I knew you, this 'player' outside the rules, would win sooner or later! Time stop and future vision, you managed to turn the tables on that combination, you're a monster!"

"Quick, bring her back! Xiaobai and I can't wait to study the internal structure of this 'humanoid time server.' Her very existence is a living miracle that can overturn all our common sense about physics!"

The joy of victory, like warm sunshine, began to dispel the gloom over the battlefield and slowly spread throughout the team.

however--

at this time.

The man holding the "fruits of victory" should have been the most relaxed person in the room.

Su Chen.

His brows furrowed tightly.

Not right.

It's not right.

He looked down at the seemingly completely "harmless" girl in his arms.

Everything in his senses seemed flawless, but the most acute intuition about "life" itself, stemming from the [Triple Rebirth], was frantically ringing alarm bells deep in his mind.

Her body was soft and warm, but the temperature carried an unnatural chill, like a piece of jade just pulled from the deep sea, lacking the core warmth that a living creature should have.

Her breathing was steady, but Su Chen couldn't hear the strong, powerful heartbeat that belonged to an S-rank elf. There was only deathly silence.

Most importantly, when Su Chen tried to use a wisp of innate Qi to probe her soul, he touched only emptiness.

Just like a doll, no matter how realistic it is, it ultimately has no soul.

What he thought was a trophy was just a perfect empty shell.

A deadly danger lurking deep within, like a venomous snake hiding in an abyss, has quietly opened its eyes.

"Haven't you seen enough?"

He suddenly spoke.

The sound wasn't loud, but it was filled with a chilling coldness, instantly freezing the joyful atmosphere that had just begun to spread.

He didn't speak to Kurumi in his arms.

Instead, he suddenly raised his head and cast his sharp, hawk-like gaze toward the shadow of an empty building dozens of meters away.

"!"

His seemingly inexplicable action surprised everyone on the rooftop and on the other end of the communicator.

Who is he talking to?

Isn't there nothing there?

however--

Just the next second.

A chilling and eerie plot twist occurred, sending shivers down everyone's spines.

Hearing this, Kurumi, who should have been unconscious, suddenly began to twist and dissolve, as if a phantom had been punctured, while being held in Su Chen's arms.

Without making a sound, her body outline blurred, and her gorgeous spirit attire and delicate features turned into a dark, twisted, writhing shadow.

Then, the shadow silently slipped from Su Chen's arms, merged into the ground, and disappeared without a trace, as if it had never existed.

"Wha...what?"

On the rooftop, Kasumigaoka Utaha watched this scene, her beautiful wine-red eyes filled with disbelief.

"Create...a clone?"

"wrong."

Far away in the building, he jumped up from his seat like a cat whose tail had been stepped on.

He stared intently at the rapidly disappearing energy readings on the monitor screen, and roared in a tone filled with horror and disbelief:

“This is not one of those cheap, mass-produced clones created using ‘time’ and ‘shadow’!”

"Both the energy response and the vital signs are exactly the same as the 'original body'!"

……

That's right.

The same.

Even Su Chen's keen senses, comparable to a life detector, couldn't immediately discern the difference.

This is Kurumi Tokisaki's true, trump card for survival—[Stand Attack].

· ········Requesting flowers··· ··

Using a portion of his time and soul, he created a perfect counterfeit that was indistinguishable from the original in terms of strength, aura, and presence. This counterfeit was then used to take the most fatal blow and to stage the most realistic defeat.

"hehe…"

A slightly weak, yet still triumphant laugh emanated slowly from the shadows Su Chen had been gazing at.

The real Kurumi Tokisaki.

She emerged slowly from the shadows, gracefully, like a goddess rising from the water.

A trace of crimson blood, left from the forced splitting of her soul, still clung to the corner of her mouth, adding to her morbidly eerie beauty.

Her face was pale, a pitiful sight, due to the immense exhaustion she had endured.

.. ...... ....

But her face wore a cunning smile, like that of a witch.

"As expected of Mr. Su Chen."

She looked at the man whose face had completely darkened and sincerely praised him.

"Even my most perfect 'stand-in' can see through it. If it weren't for your reminder, I probably would have quietly slipped away with the fruits of 'victory'."