Rain fell like a silver curtain over the wheat fields. The tractor's engine rumbled weakly against the thunder.
"Both of you stay in the truck!"
Locke's voice cut through the downpour. He grabbed the shotgun from under the seat without hesitation and leapt off the tractor. In an instant, the storm swallowed his figure.
"Dad!"
Dio couldn't help but chase after him, but—
"Dio!"
Clark's arm clamped around him tightly. "Don't make trouble for Uncle Locke!"
"Bastard! Clark, let go of me!"
Dio angrily wiped his face. Rain streamed down his blond hair, mixing with mud along the sharp line of his jaw.
And besides…
In the rearview mirror, the massive silhouette had already vanished into the waves of wheat. Only the trampled stalks showed its path.
"Didn't you see it?"
Dio's voice squeezed through gritted teeth. "That thing… it wasn't even human!"
"Di—"
Boom!
A thunderclap cut Clark off. But worse—
Mixed in with the thunder came a deafening roar!
Dio's chest tightened.
It was from the direction Locke had gone.
"No!"
Seizing the moment Clark wasn't looking, Dio shoved open the truck door. Cold rain instantly soaked his shirt through.
"I'm going after him!"
"Dio!" Clark lunged, grabbing his wrist. "Uncle Locke said we should—"
"Clark!"
Dio ripped free, red eyes glowing dangerously in the storm.
"That's my father!"
Boom!
Lightning ripped across the sky, bathing Dio's face in a pale, feral light.
And then—another crash in the distance, this time with a clear metallic clang.
Dio's breath caught.
Maybe it was instinct. Maybe it was the Stand's will.
Time froze.
Raindrops hung in midair, forming a crystalline cage.
Clark blinked, and in that instant Dio was gone.
By the time he registered it, all he saw was a flash of blond vanishing into the curtain of rain.
If another Stand user had been present, they would have seen a golden figure carrying a small boy and running like crazy.
"How can he be that fast?!"
"And why does this keep feeling so… strange?"
Clark clenched his fist, annoyed at himself for spacing out again. Then, without hesitation, he leapt from the tractor.
His super speed quickly brought him close to Dio, but just as he reached out to grab him—
"Don't touch me!"
Dio roared without looking back.
"You muscle-headed brute—you'll only drag me down!"
The two boys stood facing each other in knee-deep muddy water, rain streaming down their faces.
Boom!
Another colossal impact shook the night—
this time with a flash of explosive fire.
The farmer stood with his shotgun aimed at the unknown monster.
Don't misunderstand—this wasn't Dragon Ball.
This was reality.
Beneath the shattered metal helmet, a half-exposed human face twisted in agony.
The giant, over two meters tall, had its right skull torn open. From within, silver metal kept leaking out.
"Buddy."
"You're trespassing on my property."
Locke's voice was low and steady, as if he were just scolding a deer that wandered into his cornfield.
Rainwater dripped from the brim of his cowboy hat, pattering against the shotgun's barrel.
His finger rested firm on the trigger. His boots sank deep into the muddy field as he studied the hulking figure before him.
But honestly…
Looking at the silver fluid pouring from the cyborg's broken skull, Locke couldn't help a pang of unease.
What the hell kind of cyborg is this supposed to be?
He cursed inwardly.
A Cybertron soldier popping up in the middle of Smallville's wheat fields—
the odds were lower than getting struck by lightning.
"Kill… continue."
The metal giant slowly raised its head. Its intact left eye was a murky gray-blue, while its right eye glowed with the red light of a machine.
Ka—!
With a sharp metallic hum, the giant's right arm began to transform. Liquid metal squirmed and reshaped itself into a jagged long blade.
Bang!
The shotgun's roar tore through the curtain of rain.
The bullet struck the giant's chest dead-on, blasting open a bowl-sized hole.
Silver liquid sprayed outward, some drops splattering onto Locke's leather boots, instantly corroding tiny pits into the hide.
But that wasn't the most terrifying part—
the wound was healing, visibly, right before his eyes!
The monster gave an inhuman howl as the liquid metal writhed like a living thing, filling the damage in seconds.
That uncanny sense of déjà vu—
?!
Locke could almost hear the blood vessels in his temples throbbing.
Nanometal? Or Adamantium?
Where the hell was this kind of tech coming from?!
Forcing himself to calm down, Locke reasoned with himself.
If this truly was legendary Adamantium, his old shotgun wouldn't even scratch it.
The fact that his shot had left visible damage on its chest…
Bang!
Another blast of the shotgun split the storm.
Ah. So that was it.
Watching the slowed regeneration of the monster's body, Locke grinned.
He leisurely pulled a blasting cap from his pocket.
What? A farmer afraid of wild beasts keeping a bit of dynamite on hand to protect his fields—that's perfectly reasonable, isn't it?
He lit the fuse. Sparks sputtered as he lobbed the stick of dynamite in a perfect arc.
"Looks like you're a defective product, friend."
"Die!"
The metal giant seemed enraged by the word. Its chest boiled with liquid metal, sprouting dozens of sharp spikes.
But just as it lunged—
BOOM!
The dynamite struck true and exploded.
The blast wave nearly knocked Locke off his feet, but…
With Star Platinum shielding him, face etched with the word Invincible, he felt utterly at ease.
Calling the Stand back, Locke peered through the rain.
The giant had lost its legs, kneeling motionless in the smoke.
That only confirmed his suspicion.
Adamantium couldn't possibly be blown apart by dynamite.
And what kind of cyborg would be built with such a rare material anyway?
"Game over, Mister Knockoff-Wolverine."
Spitting out a mouthful of muddy rainwater, Locke stepped forward and leveled his shotgun at the creature's head.
But just as he was about to finish it off, a desperate cry pierced the storm—
"Dad——!!!"
Startled, Locke turned. A blond boy was tearing through the rain toward him, with a frantic Clark right on his heels.
That brat! Didn't I tell him not to come?!
Locke's face darkened.
Worse still—the shout had stirred the metal giant.
Its lone mechanical eye flared red again, its legs beginning to regenerate!
Grk…
Its stiff head locked onto Dio. From its throat came a stuttering, electronic rasp:
"Kill…"
Bang!
Without hesitation, Locke pulled the trigger. The modified shotgun's blast obliterated the giant's skull.
Smoke curled from the barrel.
By all logic, no creature could survive that.
But…
this was the world of comics.
Vrrrmmm—!
With an electronic roar, the headless giant's right-arm blade split into three metal whips. They lashed through the air toward Dio and Clark, racing past Locke's flank!
If they hit, the boys' fate was obvious.
Enough pretending.
Locke's eyes hardened.
Star Platinum · The World!
Vrrrmmm—!
The instant before impact, the whips froze midair, like dead machinery.
Time itself had stopped within the storm.
"Yare yare…"
Locke tugged his cowboy hat low, gazing into the frozen rain.
"One second, huh?"
"That's plenty."
The purple giant towered over the world. Locke extended a finger and gave his quiet order:
"Crush him."
Star Platinum!