Chapter 28
Summary
Jonathan is facing down the Black Knights when a zombie approaches him from behind! Suddenly, Bruford gets behind the zombie and rips off its nose and the skin around it. He calls to Dio that he wants to finish Jonathan by himself. Dio is not pleased with this as he notices that Bruford is acting on his knightly pride rather than only on his orders, but he allows Bruford to go ahead with his intentions. Yelling out a battle cry, Bruford leaps into the air with both arms behind his back, using his hair to draw his sword to strike Jonathan! It is only by Speedwagon’s warning that Jonathan catches and dodges the move: Dance Macabre Hair in time.
Bruford is impressed at Jonathan's ability to dodge this technique and it is because of use of it during the trial of the 77 rings, which the chapter explains. In the trial warriors must climb, 10 kilometers of mountain roads wearing heavy armor traversing whatever obstacles present himself or herself to the warrior. In addition, that warrior must fight 77 warriors along the way in real knight combat who hold golden rings on their armor that they must take from them to prove to the next warrior that that person has defeated that knight. Each warrior fights as normal but because of the amount of rings, the challenger accumulates on his armor the weight he carries increases and slows him down and it only accumulates until the brave knight faces the last warrior with more than 100 kilograms more weight on that warrior than when he started. Only five men have survived this great ordeal those knights being: Winsoloe, Ikeman, Kaynegis, and Bruford and Tarukus themselves! In addition, Bruford maximized the use of his Dance Macabre hair technique to accomplish the trial.
Wasting no time Bruford knocks Jonathan into the lake and goes after him. Zeppeli then becomes concerned for Jonathan's safety, for since he is underwater he cannot breathe and thus cannot use the ripple. Believing that Bruford will inevitably defeat Jonathan since the both of them are underwater Dio leaves Zeppeli, Speedwagon and Tarukus to feed on the lives of the hapless people of Windnights.
In the lake the fight with Jonathan and Bruford continues, Jonathan desperate for a single breath to use the Ripple. Bruford wanting to make the duel between him and Jonathan fair says he will not use his sword. Jonathan desperate for breath tries something drastic…he dives to the bottom of the lake attempting to use the trapped air there to catch a breath without having to go to the surface. Lifting a single rock Jonathan gets all the air he needs to create ripple energy in the form of a bubble. Then increasing the speed of his bloodstream, Jonathan uses the “Underwater Turquoise Blue Overdrive” and hits Bruford's face with it!
