Gladius POV

I knew my way to the pool from my earlier search for an employee uniform. So it didn't take me long to find my way back there. Upon pushing the doors open, I saw him, there he was sat on one of the sunchairs with his eyes shut.

Noriaki Kakyoin, the first the Joestar group to meet their end by my hand. I almost felt bad for the guy. However that didn't stop me from approaching him and speaking up, still playing the role of a member of hotel staff. "You found it, good. Is everything to your liking sir?"

Kakyoin's eyes opened to see me stood there, my hands behind my back. I had summoned a knife into one of them, not allowing my Stand to fully manifest though. On the chance he noticed it.

It seemed only Stand users could see Stands so if I approached with Ace of Swords at my side, he'd see right through me. Instead I simply used its ability to have a dagger appear in my hand behind my back and tucked up my sleeve.

Kakyoin smiled "Yeah, thanks for the directions." I bowed "No problem. You and your friends seem to have had a busy day." Kakyoin chuckled "Oh you don't know the half of it. Lots of travelling. Takes it out of you. You understand right?" That made me chuckle as well, not because it was funny, but because I knew the real reason he was tired.

"Yeah, I can understand. Especially when it feels anyone could be out to get you." As soon as I said that, my eyes widened, I went red and I nearly used the knife in my hand to stab myself in the head! How could I be so stupid?!

Internally, I was bubbling with anger at myself. However it slowly dissipated when Kakyoin appeared not to notice my slip-up, he just continued to laugh a bit. I had to revaluate my plan. Catch him by surprise. I hastily said "Right, just wanted to be sure you'd found your way here. Enjoy your stay."

With that, I was about to leave when Kakyoin suddenly called "WAIT!" Turning to him, I saw his expression was now one of scepticism. "You mentioned feeling like anyone could be out to get us? What did you mean by that?"

I stammered for a response, eventually settling on "When you arrived, you all seemed a bit tense. Like you expected someone to jump you. That's all." DAMN IT! That's the best I could do?! Of course it didn't work. Kakyoin continued to eye me "I'm sorry. But I know none of us looked tense when we arrived. How did you know we were being pursued?"

With that, I had no choice but to drop my façade. My expression turned to a blank, emotionless one as I asked "Why else do you think?" In an instant, the knife I'd tucked up my sleeve was flung in Kakyoin's direction!

He just about managed to dive out of the way causing the projectile to hit the sun-bed and destroy it. Kakyoin quickly got to his feet again and turned to me to see Ace of Swords appear over my shoulder. His expression became one of shock as he asked "You're a Stand user?!"

I tossed the hotel uniform aside, thankful I'd kept my usual attire on underneath. My tone of voice was my usual serious one. Though not a cruel as it was speaking to Devo. I gestured to my Stand and spoke.

"Allow me to introduce myself. You may call me Gladius, my Stand represents the Tarot card Ace of Swords and it named as such. As for its ability, you shall get a good look at that shortly. Heh heh." I laughed to myself before continuing. 

"You know, I was a bit anxious that I wouldn't be able to get one of you alone. Devo already got Polnareff, however I knew I couldn't take the rest on myself. I had to wait until one of you was separated. You just happened to be my first target." 

Kakyoin seemed focussed on a particular part of my statement. "Polnareff-." I finished "Another Stand user is in his hotel room. Waiting to strike." Kakyoin seemed panicked and took a step forward, as if he was about to rush to help his friend. However I wasn't going to let him retreat.

Through Ace of Swords, I conjured a flail and swung it down so the mace collided with the ground in front of him. Kakyoin leapt back and instantly called out "HIEROPHANT GREEN!" As he did so, his Stand manifested alongside him.

Image of Hierophant Green:

Power: C

Speed: B

Range: A

Stamina: B

Precision: C

Development Potential: D

I made a light clap and said "I hope you can prove more of a challenge than that Dark Blue Moon did." This caught Kakyoin's attention. "The captain? You fought him?" I could practically see the gears turning in his head. "When we encountered him, he mentioned another Stand user. One who could make weapons appear from thin air. That was you?!"

I smirked "Guilty as charged. Glad to know I had an impact on the guy. Then again, a spear through the abdomen isn't something you forget easily. Now then, enough talking!" In a split second, the flail was gone and a knife took its place.

"I'm so sorry it has come down to this. Just so you know, it isn't personal." I swiftly threw my knife in Kakyoin's direction however once again, he barely managed to dive out of the way. He spun around to face me. "Okay, try this on for size." 

A stream of liquid began to build up between his Stand's hands as he yelled "EMERALD SPLASH!" As soon as the words were spoken, a cascade of emeralds shot from his hands in my direction. In a swift motion I used Ace of Swords ability to summon a series of knives which were promptly flung to counter.

They collided with the oncoming emeralds, deflecting a few and causing these emeralds, along with the knives themselves to ricochet off one another and collide with the other emeralds. They bounced off one another, over and over until there were no more left.

This left Kakyoin shocked as he stammered out "I-impossible! No one can deflect the Emerald Splash!" I just glared at him and retorted "Hmm... I'm afraid I just did. Now then..." My Stand raised its hand as three more knives appeared.

"It's clear that from that last effort your Stand boasts considerable range, just like mine. I wonder though, how would you fair if I attacked you head-on?" This confused Kakyoin for a moment however I quickly regained his focus as I threw the knives at him. 

He was quick to counter by once again yelling "EMERALD SPLASH!" Once more, emeralds shot out in a rapid barrage, however this time I leapt out of the way, once again summoning a knife and throwing it in his direction.

The action seemed to catch Kakyoin off guard, the knife narrowly missed his face, instead it narrowly sliced his cheek leaving a shallow cut that would heal within a day or two. By this point though, our skirmish hadn't gone unnoticed.

Bystanders were running inside, scared of what was happening. I mean, they wouldn't have seen our Stands but the stray emerald projectiles had gone astray and damaged the tiles on the floor. Did I feel bad for them? A bit yes, however for now I had something more important to wait on.

For a THIRD time, Kakyoin yelled out "Let's try this again, EMERALD SPLASH!" Again, the emeralds shot out and AGAIN, I dodged, throwing a series of knives to intercept the projectiles. The emeralds and knives bounced off one another disbursing the trajectory.

As soon as I landed back on my feet and turned to face Kakyoin, I noticed he now wore a smirk as he stated "You fell for my trick." I raised an eyebrow however before I could even ask what he was talking about, something lashed out from under one of the wrecked beach chairs.

I just about managed to leap back and it was now I noticed it seemed to be some form of green tendril. As I observed it, I felt something slash across my left leg, looking down I saw ANOTHER tendril shoot past said leg.

A third shot up, seemingly from right under me however a somersault allowed me to avoid that one, as well as avoid another that attempted to go for my arm mid-somersault. It seemed more tendrils kept appearing around me. Snaring me in a web of green.

Kakyoin spoke up. "It's no use Gladius. You're trapped in Hierophant's web." I came to a stop, as did the webbing tendrils. They criss-crossed along the floor around me, forming a pattern. All of which connected to the feet of his Stand

He explained "You were so focussed on my Emerald Splash, that you didn't notice my snare. This was the same trick that I used to outwit the Tower of Grey Stand. I'll give you one chance to surrender."

However this didn't deter me. I spat "I'm not one to give up. As you'll soon learn." In a quick movement, I summoned a sword and proceeded to slice through several of the green tendrils. Kakyoin let out a grunt as similar slashes appeared on his legs.

He snapped "Damn it!" As the tendrils began to shoot towards me, I avoided most of them however one cut my side. As soon as this stunned me, Kakyoin once again called out "EMERALD SPLASH!"

This time I was left unable to dodge, the projectiles collided with me head-on, causing several cuts across my body. However I only flinched slightly from this, he'd landed a successful hit. For that, he had my praise. However I wasn't going down THIS easily.

As soon as an opening presented itself. I proceeded to conjure and throw a lone knife. It was able to travel through the incoming emeralds and with extreme precision, stabbed directly into Kakyoin's leg!

The result of this made him stagger and let out a groan of pain. The emerald barrage ceased immediately and I was easily able to maintain my footing. Kakyoin on the other hand, had hurt his leg badly from my knife attack. Unable to keep his footing he dropped down on one knee.

In one last ditch attempt, Hierophant's stray tendrils from earlier lashed out at me, however with a sword in one hand and an axe summoned to the other, I cut them back like cutting through vines or ivy.

As soon as they were out of the way, my focus was right back on Kakyoin. I'll give him this, he gave me a challenge. Both of us were left tired. However given that I was still standing with my Stand's weapons in my hand and he wasn't, it was safe to assume I'd won.

I stepped closer towards my opponent as I complimented "You fought well. I'll give you that." I continued to catch my breath before saying "I'm sorry. I'm normally a bodyguard, not an assassin. It's a shame we met in these circumstances"

Kakyoin asked "Then why work for someone like DIO?" That was a good question. Even I didn't fully understand why yet, aside from the pay. I had an idea though. "He may know something, upon our meeting, there was something about him that reminded me of something important to me. I wish to gain his favour in order to uncover this truth." My Stand raised the arm with the sword and swung down to attack...

"SILVER CHARIOT!"

There was a sudden loud ringing as out of nowhere, another Stand appeared and clashed with mine! The speed of which rivalled Ace of Swords, however its appearance was completely different, this one resembled a knight in silver armour with a rapier that had managed to counter my finishing blow with rapid reflexes.

Image of Silver Chariot:

Power: C

Speed: A

Range: C

Stamina: B

Precision: B

Development Potential: C

"Kakyoin!" My head shot to the source of the new voice and my eyes widened in shock when I saw Joestar along with Avdol and Polnareff now stood across from us, looking at their friend in panic. Their faces turned to shock when they saw me.

Joestar addressed me. "You, you're the receptionist who booked our rooms earlier! You're a Stand user?!" I looked to Polnareff and calmly spoke "So, Devo was unable to take you out. Pathetic." It was clear that while Devo had failed, he'd managed to injure Polnareff as he had a few bandages across his body.

Avdol warned me "We have you outnumbered. There's no use in fighting us." I retorted "You think I'm not aware of this? Who do you take me for, some kind of fool?" Slowly but surely, I began to step backwards. On the other side of the outdoor veranda was a railing balcony overlooking a busy road. If I timed this right, I'd be able to escape.

Joestar and his cronies seemed unaware of my intentions. Polnareff's Silver Chariot pointed its rapier at me as he spoke "Before we put you out of your misery Stand user. You're going to answer my question. So tell me, where can I find a man with two right hands!"

At this, I just looked at him confused. Two right hands... Like Enya? No, he said a MAN. Perhaps some sort of relation. As I picked my brain on this topic, the sound of a horn caught my attention. I turned to see a large struck driving down the road, soon it would cross right under the balcony. Perfect.

Turning back to Polnareff, I decided to tell him what I know. "I'm afraid I don't know a MAN with two right hands. I do however, know an elderly woman with two right hands." This caught Polnareff's attention. "An elderly woman?! What do you mean, tell me more!"

My expression shifted to a smirk as I said "Well that would spoil the surprise, I know next to nothing about her that would help anyway." I pointed at Joestar, saying "For now though. You haven't seen the last of me Joestar. Mark my words!" 

Before any of them could react, I leapt backwards, over the edge of the balcony and landing on top of the truck's trailer! Polnareff ran to the balcony's edge calling "Damnit! Get back here!" However it was too late for them to do anything. I'd gotten away.

However, I knew I'd be seeing them again soon enough...

Author's Note: And that's it for this chapter, the second fight for this story. I hope you enjoyed it and as always, thank you for reading.