A knight in noble armor, with a long silver rapier—Silver Chariot matched Harry well. Both gave off that same noble air.
Its sword was fast. The thugs screamed and ran. They couldn't see Silver Chariot, so to them it was like getting attacked by a ghost. Cuts appeared on their bodies out of nowhere. They were scared out of their minds.
Unlike Teresa, Silver Chariot was a proper Stand—only a Stand user could see it. Even Liu A'dou could only vaguely sense its presence. He couldn't see its details at all. After all, he didn't have a Stand himself. But that didn't matter. Harry had successfully summoned Silver Chariot.
Harry stared at the armored knight in shock. "This is the Stand—Silver Chariot?"
"That's right. Don't be surprised. Only Stand users can see him. You don't have to worry about anyone noticing him. But you still need more training if you want to use his power properly."
"Silver Chariot's a swordsman?" Harry was still stunned.
"Clearly. And in theory, his speed can go even faster—faster than a bullet."
Awesome. Harry thought to himself, 'With a Stand like this, I can definitely stop my father from doing more harm.' "Then what are we waiting for? Let's keep training!"
"Besides learning to control your Stand, your mindset's got issues too."
"What kind of issues?"
"You haven't been through real hardship. You get worked up too easily. That's dangerous. Remember, your father's not all there since becoming the Green Goblin. Your mental state needs training too. You might not be unshakable under a collapsing sky, but you at least need to stay calm in chaos."
"How do I train that?"
Yeah, how? Liu A'dou thought to himself. He couldn't just invent a scenario out of thin air. But he underestimated his own luck. Where were they again? Right—Gotham City.
Liu A'dou sensed a spike of agitation. A wave of intense emotion rushed toward him with a blast of police sirens. Thanks to the Seven-Color Lantern Ring, he could pick up emotional shifts easily. That kind of tension, especially coming from cops, meant it wasn't some petty case.
If something could shake the police in Gotham, it might be just the thing to give Harry a proper scare. Liu A'dou grinned darkly.
A murder case. Not rare in Gotham. But this one—this one was particularly cruel. Even the mobs, when sending messages, usually just hung a body off a bridge or something.
But this one was different. The method was sadistic.
"Commissioner Gordon, cause of death is blood loss," the coroner said. "Same as the previous one—he was part of the Joker's game."
"The Joker…" Commissioner Gordon sighed. Even though security had been ramped up since the last escape, somehow the Joker had still gotten away.
Not only had he escaped, but he had also launched a new killing game. A nightmare of violence turned into entertainment.
"This was found with the body." A detective handed Gordon a Joker playing card.
"How long's the victim been dead?"
"Twenty hours," the coroner replied.
"Take the body down." The way it was strung up was too disturbing. It hung upside down from the ceiling, full of cuts. The deepest one was across the throat.
The room was covered in thorns, each one with barbed hooks sharp enough to terrify anyone. The victim had been strung from the rafters. To escape, he had to grab a key placed at the center of the room. But that key was surrounded by thorns.
The victim had no clothes. Even the slightest movement would tear his flesh apart on the barbs.
The result was obvious. He had tried. And he had died.
"The victim was a college gymnast. No criminal record. Just unlucky, I guess. Running into the Joker's worse than getting hit by a car. If it were me, I'd take the car," a young officer muttered.
"Enough. What we need now is to find the Joker. This is the second time already. I'm afraid we're in for the worst again." Gordon sighed. He should've been used to this insane world by now. Gotham was packed with lunatics.
"Can we go find Batman? We can't handle the Joker on our own."
Hearing his subordinate say something so irresponsible made Gordon's face harden. "Batman doesn't get a single dime of government salary. We do. I don't think taxpayers would be happy with your attitude. Now get back to work and search every corner of this room. Look for any other clues."
"Yes, sir!"
Just then, one of the investigators called out. "Commissioner, we found the victim's fingerprints on the key."
"You mean the victim actually got the key?"
"I think so. And I also found scratch marks around the lock."
Gordon quickly ran through the possibilities in his mind. Maybe the victim had managed to grab the key, but it was already too late. Maybe he was in too much pain and couldn't unlock himself in time. Or maybe he dropped it in the struggle. Or—and this was the most likely scenario—the key didn't open the lock at all. It was just another one of the Joker's sick jokes.
That last one fit Joker's style perfectly. He'd give you a piece of cake and then snatch it away, maybe even punch you in the face for good measure.
"Test the key. See if it actually fits the lock."
"Got it."
It was simple enough. Just try it. And sure enough, it didn't work. As expected, pure Joker nonsense. The key wasn't even the right one.
"Joker…" Gordon hated the Joker's methods with a passion. But like Batman, he never underestimated him. The question was—what was the Joker really aiming for this time? Was it just some twisted murder game? Or was there a deeper scheme? Maybe Batman really did need to step in. That thought crossed Gordon's mind.
Harry stared at the blood-drained corpse, his face going pale. He was a spoiled rich kid who'd never seen anything like this. His vision spun, his stomach turned, and he felt like he was going to puke.
So he did.
He threw up. And afterward, he felt pathetic. He had power now, didn't he? Why was he still so weak? It was just a corpse. Why had it shaken him this much?
"Let it out. That's normal." But Liu A'dou was more puzzled than anything. The Joker had broken out of prison, and instead of immediately targeting Batman, he was hosting a murder game? What was he up to?
Knowing the Joker's usual behavior, just killing one or two people was child's play. His typical stunts involved mass killings with gas—those signature toxin attacks that left people dying in laughter. These game-show murders were definitely his style too, but they were minor league compared to his usual chaos.
Maybe Batman would figure it out. He always said, 'Never underestimate the Joker. Every one of his moves has a deeper purpose.'
That was probably true this time as well. Liu A'dou didn't know what the Joker's real plan was, but when he saw Harry Osborn bent over, gasping and vomiting, he suddenly thought of the perfect way to toughen him up.
Let him join the Joker's game.
Dangerous, yeah. But Liu A'dou believed he could protect Harry. It was the fastest way to make Harry adapt to the dark world. After all, nothing makes you stronger than firsthand pain.