Raymond (Gladius) POV

I couldn't help but feel like a coward as we leapt from the window of the mansion.

We'd gone through such an effort to find the place only to run as soon as DIO revealed his Stand's power. But what choice did we have? Me and Polnareff had seen what his Stand looked like and we all saw glimpses of its ability, but we still didn't know what that ability was. 

Kakyoin worded it best, the presence we felt was like knowing a steamroller was coming just by the sound. We all felt that murderous intent and even though there were six of us, I had a hunch he could have wiped us all out right then.

Using our Stands, we were able to break our fall. However now there was another problem, the sun was fast setting. Darkness was DIO's domain. Even so, Polnareff declared "I'm not running away with my tail between my legs!"

Kakyoin agreed, saying "I'm with Polnareff." I nodded, "So am I. We've made it this far." Joseph turned to us, clearly hesitant as he explained. 

"Listen, I agree with you three. But the tables have turned on us. We may've encountered his Stand the World, but we have no clue as to what it can do. Fighting him now would be guaranteed disaster. We know DIO will come after us, he'll try to finish us by sunrise. In the meantime, we can figure out the true extent of his Stand's powers. We need to wait for that opportunity!"

Polnareff still interjected "NO! I won't run! Avdol and Iggy died because of me!" I added "Because of both of us!" Polnareff continued "The point is, I'll go to hell and back, I'll do whatever it takes to destroy DIO! But I won't run away!"

With that, he ran off. Before any of us could follow, Jotaro stopped us. "It's no use when he's like this." He said before going on to suggest. "Polnareff is going after DIO to fight him. We're retreating him, but we're also fighting him."

I raised an eyebrow, asking "What are you getting at?" Jotaro turned to face me, explaining. "What I mean is, we'll attack from three angles..."

Timeskip...

And that's how it happened. I clever plan by Jotaro's part, we had no idea what DIO's ability was, so we'd have to try and catch him in a triangular movement. And for this, we split into pairs.

Jotaro went with Polnareff, Joseph and Kakyoin were together and I was partnered with Gyalzen.

Night had fallen by now, so we had to be careful, we briefly stuck with Joseph and Kakyoin, just so we could keep tabs on one another as well as get our individual transports. Buying a car, we began executing our plan.

Of course, I drove. Given that Gyalzen seemed to have no experience in that area. In fact, as we drove, it occurred to me that I knew nothing about this guy. So I decided to ask.

"If I may, what's your story? You're a friend of Mr Joestar's right? How did you come to meet him?" Gyalzen, who seemed in deep though, opened his eyes, saying "That's a lot of questions to ask at once. But very well." He paused for a moment before taking a deep breath.

As he did, I noticed a build-up of static around his hand. He took a moment to explain "Hamon, an art that is unfortunately practiced by very few. To explain simply, it utilises one's breathing to release an energy similar to that of the sun. Lethal to Vampires."

I muttered "Like DIO." Gyalzen continued "Exactly. This is the method I aim to use to defeat DIO once and for all. Though to factor into what you asked, after my initial master betrayed me and became a Vampire himself, I was forced to seek training from another, who just so happened to be Joseph's mother."

At this, I was shocked, but I wasn't too surprised. "Elizabeth Joestar, I knew her mostly as Lisa Lisa. I just happened to be training under her when Joseph and a friend of ours named Caesar showed up. They needed training to defeat entities called the Pillar Men."

He paused for a moment, before saying "We trained for months. In that time we became good friends. And that friendship maintained long after the Pillar Men's defeat. When Joseph's daughter Holy was born, I vowed to protect her. That's why I came out here, to aid my friend and his family. I'd heard of DIO long ago, I just didn't think I'd be witnessing him first-hand. Perhaps it was fate I would gain a Stand before then."

He begun chuckling "This whole ordeal, it's just like old times. If only Caesar was here..." It was as if a switch was flipped and his whole demeanour changed. He seemed to stare off into nothing before looking up. He was about to say something else however he cut himself off and instead say.

"Look alive Raymond, there, ahead of us." He pointed and I instantly caught what he was talking about. Ahead of us was a black limo, driving very erratically. And by erratically, I mean it was running over passers-by without hesitation!

Just in front of it was the car I knew Joseph and Kakyoin had bought and it seemed the limo was pursuing it. Turning to Gyalzen, I spoke "I'm going to get in a little closer. If I give the signal, attack." Gyalzen replied "Very good."

I wasn't certain at first, that's why I wanted to get closer. As soon as I made out the familiar pointed blonde hair over the passenger seat. I knew we'd found him. I didn't say a word, instead I made a gesture with my hand.

This was confirmed even more as I witnessed Hierophant Green spring from the car in front! He stretched out towards the limo, providing us with our chance to strike. While Ace of Swords' weapons were long range, the Stand itself couldn't go that far, so I sped up to get close.

Gyalzen asked in shock "What are you doing?!" I didn't answer though, instead as soon as I was close enough, my Stand appeared. We'd caught him off guard.

DIO POV

So it seems Joestar and his little band have thought up a strategy after all. They'd already pinpointed my car and before long, I had Kakyoin's Hierophant and Raymond's Ace of Swords on either side.

Kakyoin's voice projected through his Stand, saying "Take this DIO, Emerald SPLASH!"

Both Stands went right in to attack with a cascade of emeralds from one and a flurry of knives from the other. A pathetic attempt, even worse that they'd fired them at the same time.

All it took was a flick at one of Kakyoin's emeralds and both projectiles were entirely disrupted, ricocheting off one another. First it was just the emeralds bouncing off one another, then they hit the knives. They shattered windows, even broke one of the doors off. 

Kakyoin was quick to attack again, however I knocked the emeralds up into the car's ceiling. Raymond was about to attack, however that's when I used my chance to strike.

The World appeared between the two...

Raymond POV

I hadn't expected DIO to effortlessly deflect  both our projectile attacks with such ease. However before I could throw even more, The World once again manifested, seemingly out of nowhere. How had I missed it, one second it wasn't there, then it was.

It effortlessly managed to swat Hierophant aside before turning on my Ace of Swords. I conjured an axe and a scimitar, both of which went in to attack only to be stopped by The World's grasp.

He retaliated with punch which I barely had time to get out of the way of. He followed up with a few more, each time, I heard him roar out. "MUDA, MUDA, MUDA, MUDAMUDAMUDAMUDA!" The individual punches shifted into a barrage of blows.

I ended up unable to dodge, instead having to resort to summoning a large shield just like I'd done in my encounters with Star Platinum. The Stands seemed to work very similar, so as soon as the shield was present, the punches rained against it.

Gyalzen attempted to intervene, Page of Cups appeared in  a puff of steam behind The World. There was a strange ring in the air as those orange sparks from before covered the Stand's body. He attempted to attack DIO from behind however in an instant, his Stand was gone.

And I do mean an instant, because before either of us could react, it reappeared right between us again and performed two swift uppercuts on our respective Stands. They lurched back and transferred a bit of damage over to us.

That wasn't the end of it, due to the sudden damage I'd taken, I struggled to keep the car straight. Seems DIO had caught wind of this as well. Because next thing I knew, the black limo swerved into us and slammed into our car's side. As he did, the World slammed its fist into the car's engine.

I wasn't able to stay straight, the car slammed into a wall of a building and came to a stop. Thankfully, we weren't injured badly. The car on the other hand, was definitely no longer suitable.

We were quick to climb out, I asked "Hey Gyalzen, you alright?" The elderly monk responded "Yes. But we need to hurry, we can't lose sight of DIO. I know his focus will be on Joseph due to him actually having the Joestar blood. We need to get to his aid as soon possible."

All I could do was nod, we couldn't drive, so we were forced to run in the direction they'd been heading. Given that we were now reduced to running, it was obvious they'd gotten a massive lead on us. 

As we did, I spoke up "Wait." Gyalzen came to a stop and asked "What's wrong?" I went on to explain. "You saw that earlier right, his Stand. It was as if it appeared in a blink, had it not gone for Kakyoin first, I'd have not been able to defend myself."

Gyalzen added "Yes, and he managed to evade us easily. It seems we're dealing with a close quarters ability, similar to Jotaro's Star Platinum. However there's something else. We need to tread cautiously. Or we may find ourselves overwhelmed."

I agreed "Yeah." As he said "Perhaps its range will be its undoing. If we rendezvous with Joseph and Kakyoin, we each have Stands that can utilise range to an extent, that could be our ticket to victory."

That's when I noticed something that made me say. "And I think I found them." Gyalzen turned to meet my gaze as we saw both Kakyoin and Joseph using their Stands to swing through the city like rope. 

Followed closely behind them, we saw DIO leaping from building to building. He was closing in fast. I turned to Gyalzen to see his eyebrow twitch. I thought over what he said earlier, he'd heard about DIO, to him, this was his chance to put an end to things.

Without a word, he summoned Page of Cups, using it to extend an arm made of steam to grip onto a nearby building. My eyes widened as I asked "What are you planning to do?!" 

Gyalzen gave me a sideways glance. "I made a promise to help Joseph in any way I can. This is something I must do." Before I could even say anymore, he retracted the steam, pulling himself into the air. Proceeding to swing after them.

I had no way to follow them, I tried summoning a knife on the end of a rope which I threw at a wall, attempting to get it to stab in. However it just bounced off. 

Gyalzen had left me behind. I was forced to run after them. In the direction that they'd gone in. Doing so, I rounded a corner to be met with a sight that made my eyes widen.

It was definitely Kakyoin's work, Hierophant's tendrils had formed a wide network of webbing criss-crossing throughout the buildings. On one end of it was Kakyoin himself and trapped in the centre of was none other than DIO.

Atop one of the buildings I could see Joseph watching and Gyalzen appeared on another. A part of me wanted to throw a knife and DIO then and there, maybe hit him with my Iron Maiden trick. However I remained still, watching from the road.

Kakyoin had a plan, he must have if he'd gone to this much effort. Joseph wasn't interfering. One wrong move from me could mess up this whole plan, seems Gyalzen thought the same. 

I couldn't hear what he was saying either from down here, but he pointed to DIO announcing something. I assume, he was using this webbing to detect any movements from The World.

With his Stand, I could just about hear him call out "Take this DIO! The 20-Meter radius EMERALD SPLASH!" He shot out one more cascade of Emeralds, however even from here I saw DIO smirk before saying something that I couldn't hear followed by him announcing "THE WORLD!"

His Stand manifested just as the oncoming emerald projectiles collided with him. What happened next? I honestly can't explain it, it happened so fast I was left in a state of shock.

Kakyoin was launched back, a gaping bleeding wound in his CHEST!

Author's Note: And that's it for this chapter. The next one will actually be Joseph and Gyalzen vs DIO, which will actually be Gyalzen's last fight for this book. I really hope you enjoyed this chapter and as always, thank you for reading.