Stardust Devil Hunter 1 (Patreon)

Stardust Devil Hunter - or ‘A Scarlet Crusader in a World of Devils’ (Chainsaw Man x JJBA 7th Stand User)

This is not a good place to die… but it is a fair one to find solace in one last victory.

In that quiet street of Cairo, anyone passing by would notice two relevant elements in the scene: a Japanese High-schooler that looked extremely tired and fairly bloody leaning by the edge of the bridge he was standing on and… a burning book that was consumed into ashes.

“I am sorry, Keiji.”

The apology was empty to the ears of one Kageyama Keiji. He was just… too tired of hearing it.

Sorry… sorry for what?

Sure, this bizarre adventure shouldn’t have seen him being involved. He shouldn’t have tagged along, he shouldn’t have made friends with so many wonderful people, he shouldn’t have learned the Ripple, and he shouldn’t have had a Stand.

Regret? That wasn’t part of his soul at the moment. He was sad for things to come to an end like this- so suddenly and… so unpleasantly. Keiji felt a bit… tired. He didn’t have anything to patch the broken ribs he got from fighting DIO’s ｢The World｣.

It was no surprise he was meant to do this- to fight on his own with that monster of a Stand. His own was meant to face something so horrendously powerful. The fact that most of his fellow crusaders were meant to die to the Vampiric Bastard and his group didn’t feel like a surprise, but this mission he went through, this task that felt so forced upon him was reasonable.

He had to stop the end of the world by DIO’s servants. The Diary… it had to be destroyed. And that’s what he did. ｢The World｣’s ability was one to stop time, while his Stand’s main ability through a sheer will-driven power-up to the maximum possible into Requiem was the Erasure of one’s soul at all cost.

All the while draining the user considerably.

He killed DIO and his servants in his manor… but then ended up burning up while fighting that woman, Vins- she was not as strong as DIO, but she was still a tad too much for his body. So, after beating her and capturing one last victory before properly burning the diary… Keiji felt his soul spiraling out of his body.

Speaking of which, his Stand was currently struggling to keep him from falling down the bridge as he felt too unbalanced and drained to properly hold onto the edge. A muscular humanoid donning a red armor and yet with a rather sorrowful look plastered on his face due to what was soon to happen, ｢Red Garland｣ appeared genuinely alive in that moment but… soon he would come to him to the end.

To see Heaven or Hell, regardless of their destination, they would stick to each other.

“S-Steel-san?”

“Yes, Keiji-kun?”

“Do- Do tell my parents that I will miss them. And Nee-san too.”

“I will do my best to grant you this wish.”

A weak smile appeared on Keiji’s face as he felt his last ounce of strength faltering as he saw his Stand disappear and-

“KEIJI!”

Joestar…-san?

He barely saw them coming around the corner, and so he was surprised when familiar purple vines rushed forth to stop his fall. It was a successful catch… but even as he felt Hamon try to reach out… his lungs were too damaged. No amount of healing could fix him but… they found him.

Old Man Joseph rushed in first, followed by Kakyoin, Iggy, Avdol Jotaro and Kakyoin. Polnareff jumped down from a nearby rooftop and he was the one that broke into tears first.

It was upsetting, really, to be the other sibling figure he ended up losing. But Keiji couldn’t do much about it. They spoke, they begged him to survive, to beat back the darkness slowly putting him to a closure but…

It was too late on this Foggy Day in Cairo.

Kageyama ‘KK’ Keiji

–– Has Died —-

Death Date: January 16 1989

– Secret Ending Achieved –

The Divine Sacrifice

—----------d-d-d-d—--------

Kageyama Keiji woke up on January 17 1989.

He was in an alley in Cairo, nothing but trash welcoming him as he felt panic rise at the sudden circumstance. His body was fine, devoid of any signs that proved he had fought against DIO and that… he had been together with the Stardust Crusaders.

Shock was the first thing that hit him after noticing that the radio which he used to speak with Steel was now nowhere in sight. He thought that something happened- that time had been reversed or something, but as he pushed himself off the ground and gave a look around in the city… he came to realize that DIO’s palace was nowhere in sight.

It was a new day… in a new world. A world where Devils were a normal expectation and… he ended up learning of this through quite the situation while he was still understanding what had happened and how he survived that near-death experience.

The shop seemed to be fine enough, but what he didn’t expect was stepping inside to find a scene worthy of the Exorcist movie. A man (who Keiji noticed being the Shopkeeper by his white apron with the shop’s name on it), his wife and son were pushed to a corner by a monstrous creature that looked like a cat had been severely mutated by radiation. Four eyes, two horns and fangs that grew curves until forming two circles each.

Right as KK noticed the sight, the beast paused and turned its attention to him.

“What?” A sniff, then the Cat Devil’s nostrils flared at the newcomer. “What are you?! This smell- so wrong… hideous!”

Keiji frowned at that. “Says the furred dipshit that is about to become paste to the wall.”

The growl was back. “DIE, MONGREL!”

｢Red Garland｣ manifested swiftly between the approaching beast and his User, the Behemoth being noticed by the Devil as surprise flashed on the ugly feline’s face before-

“AREAREAREAREAREAREAREAREAREAREAREAREAREAREAREAREAREAREAREAREAREAREAREARE!!!”

“GUH!” The feline’s frame was battered with punches, impacts denting onto the skin and sinking deep as the beast’s body suddenly burned up in the pain. “W-What are you?! This- This is horrible.”

KK blinked and then huffed. “I am just a regular Highschooler from Japan that wants to play the hero.”

“Wh-WHAT?!”

“Are!” Keiji exclaimed before slamming a hamon-powered fist on the beast’s mug.

The punch slammed through and, just as Keiji had suspected through the smell of ‘undead’ within the beast’s burning skin, the Ripple burned what was left of the monster.

The creature vanished and… peace was restored to the shop.

Keiji’s posture eased down and he saw the three innocents slowly approaching him.

“T-Thank you.” The owner muttered in Egyptian Arabic, remembering some words that Avdol had taught him during their trip through India and Pakistan.

“You’re welcome,” Keiji replied politely and then turned to the source of his current attention. A calendar nearby which saw that today was indeed January 17.

…Why am I still alive? And… What should I do now?

—---------d-d-d-d—---------

AN

Kageyama is the Generic Male MC 1 of JJBA, the 7th Stand User game. Red Garland is one of the Stands available after going through the ‘Personality Test’ at the beginning of the old-style RPG game and the only Stand in the list that has such an interesting Requiem Ability… which reminded me of the Chainsaw Devil - but instead of eating a Devil to erase it, ｢Red Garland｣ only requires to be in his Requiem Form and punch his target.

The next chapter will ensue after a bit of a ‘Time Skip’ to the beginning of CSM’s plot but… there will be some changes to before the plot that will be explained early on the first few chapters or beyond those in case of ‘big revelations’.

Also, question: Tooru/Wonder of U vs. Makima - Who wins?