Dio and Clark froze in the doorway, both pairs of eyes wide, staring unblinkingly toward the barn where a massive black shadow was slowly rising.
Rain blew inside, dripping from their hair, but no one bothered to wipe it away.
"Dad…" Dio's voice carried a trace of tension. "What the hell is that thing?"
"Is that what that kid left for us?"
"Dio." Clark felt something was very wrong. By all rights, he should have been able to see clearly through the curtain of rain, even notice the anomaly before they opened the door. But—
All his senses were muffled, as if a layer of fog had descended over them.
"Uncle Locke…"
"I…"
Clark's lips were pale. "I feel kind of—"
Before he could finish, a wave of weakness unlike anything he had ever felt suddenly swept through his body. His knees buckled, and he pitched forward.
"Clark!"
Locke reacted instantly, his powerful arm catching the boy before he hit the ground.
The moment he touched him, Locke immediately noticed the abnormality—
Clark's body was frighteningly cold, his muscles twitching uncontrollably.
This was no ordinary faint spell.
In the rain, the shadow by the barn stood to its full height.
By the light of a lightning flash, Locke finally saw the creature clearly—
A humanoid monstrosity pieced together from shards of metal, towering more than three meters tall.
The most terrifying part was the faint green glow radiating from its body, burning like a beacon in the rainy night.
"Kryptonite."
Locke's heart sank like a stone.
No wonder Clark had suddenly weakened. No wonder his super-senses hadn't warned him.
That cursed green rock was practically made to break him.
"D-Dad!" Dio's voice rose sharply. "It's moving!"
Yes—
The metal monster had begun to walk.
Its first movements were stiff, but with every step, its joints grated with an awful screech of metal on metal, as if the fragments were gradually "adapting" to the body.
"Get Clark inside! Dio!" Locke barked.
Gritting his teeth, Dio summoned The World, intending to drag Clark back into the house.
But what was usually effortless suddenly became agonizing—
Clark's weight seemed to have multiplied tenfold. Every step The World took felt like dragging a mountain.
"You big oaf, would it kill you to eat less—"
Dio gasped for breath, his head swimming, but even as he complained, he had The World grip Clark's arm tighter.
BAM!
"Uncle… Locke…"
Clark's head lifted weakly, blue eyes full of guilt. "I'm sorry… I'm a burden…"
"Take it easy, Clark." Locke cut him off without turning around. "This isn't any of our fault."
But even as he spoke, his peripheral vision caught Clark's fingertips turning a sickly shade of gray-blue—
The kryptonite's radiation was eating away at the Kryptonian boy's life force.
Damn it.
HUMMMM—!
With a low metallic hum, the monster suddenly stopped.
It cocked its head, its glowing green eyes fixed on the three of them, as if studying them from afar.
There was something unnervingly human in that gesture of curiosity, which only made the atmosphere more chilling.
"I-It's watching us?" Dio's voice quavered.
Locke didn't answer.
His mind was racing, recalling Giorno's final warning.
Could this be what he meant? But why now? Why here, of all times—
CRACK-BOOM!
A jagged bolt of lightning split the night sky, flooding the farm with stark white light.
HUMMMM—!
The lightning struck the monster—but it clearly did no damage.
It only shuddered once, then strode forward with crisp, decisive steps.
But in that fleeting flash of lightning, through Star Platinum's eyes, Locke finally saw the engraving beneath the kryptonite in the monster's chest—
A faint, scarred X-shaped mark.
Locke's pupils shrank violently, his heart nearly skipping a beat.
Weapon X!
That "Reaper-9," the one he was sure he had smashed into pieces, had been revived by kryptonite's radiation?!
"Damn it…"
Locke clenched his teeth, his fingers curling into fists on instinct.
The battle from a month ago was still vivid—
The silver fluid seeping into the soil after the metal giant exploded, the grotesque remnants writhing in the rain before vanishing,
the suited retrieval squad leaving empty-handed.
He had thought it was over.
He hadn't realized they were only lying dormant, waiting for a stronger power source to reassemble themselves.
And now, they had found it—
Kryptonite!
"Dad…?" Dio's voice rose from behind, tinged with rare unease. "Look at where that thing's heading."
Locke nodded slightly, his gaze locked on the monster.
Dio was right—its massive frame was slowly turning, joints grinding with teeth-on-edge screeches, crushing the wheat beneath its steps as it moved toward—
Wait?!
Locke's breath hitched.
"Jonathan… Martha—"
His voice was forced out between clenched teeth.
Giorno's final words flashed in his mind:
"Be careful of our family's barn."
"Today is a crucial point in time. The professor said that during this very storm, my grandmother Martha and grandfather Jonathan—whom I've never met—they…"
So that was it!
The monster's target wasn't them at all—it was the Kents!
Maybe it was afraid of Locke, who had previously destroyed it, or maybe it had a target set for it in advance.
Either way—
That WXR9 was nothing but a cold, merciless killing machine now.
"Dio." Locke's voice was sharp. "Do you remember what I taught you? When you face an enemy you can't beat—"
"Secure safety first, then look for a chance to strike back," Dio answered instinctively. His red eyes flickered with realization. "But right now—"
He couldn't finish his sentence.
The metal monster suddenly let out a piercing metallic shriek, and the green light from the Kryptonite on its chest intensified.
Clark immediately curled in agony, his blue eyes half-closed, his breathing rapid and shallow—the kryptonite's radiation was ripping through the young Kryptonian's life force, raised under Earth's yellow sun.
The rain was coming down harder, the large drops pelting them, but they couldn't extinguish the spreading sense of despair.
Dio's golden hair was plastered to his forehead, Clark's breathing was getting weaker, and Locke...
Lock suddenly smiled. "Dio," he said without turning back, "remember what Giorno mentioned about the 'crucial point in time'?"
Dio froze. "You mean—"
"History has already changed."
Locke slowly straightened his body. Behind him, Star Platinum manifested, its violet form glowing faintly in the storm.
"But some things are destined to be solved by the Kent family."
"Dad, then let me—let's do it together."
Dio sends you a party invite.
"No." Locke refused without hesitation, his tone firm. "Right now, you get on the tractor, and get Clark to Jonathan and Martha before the monster reaches them."
"But—"
"No buts!" Locke's voice brooked no argument. "Remember what I said!"
The words slammed into Dio's chest like a hammer.
He lowered his head, looking at the dying Clark in his arms, then at the massive metal silhouette trudging through the rain—
A choice.
Dio's lips trembled. He stood frozen, watching as his father strode alone toward the towering beast.
In the rain, Locke's back seemed impossibly tall. His cowboy hat was long gone, his brown curls plastered wet against his head—yet none of it dimmed that calm, unshakable presence.