The Pillar Man Santana
Since the Nazi Party took over Germany, the German military have been working to get an advantage over the rest of the world through science and ancient relics. Major Rudol von Stroheim was sent by his superiors to Mexico to find out if the Stone Masks could be of use to the Third Reich. Once Speedwagon regains consciousness, he is brought to a secret bunker built under the hacienda where the Pillar Man is stored and is horrified to hear Stroheim's intent to revive him.
Elsewhere, after a brief run-in with thugs in a village, Joseph is riding a motorcycle through the Mexican desert until he confronts his stalker: A German assassin named Donovan whom Stroheim sent to intercept Joseph for intel about Straizo. Joseph manages to defeat Donovan, learns Speedwagon is alive and leaves the assassin tied to a cactus after getting directions to the hacienda. Once there, after a failed attempt to sneak inside in drag, Joseph knocks out the guards and takes one of their uniforms.
Inside the bunker, after killing most of their prisoners for their blood, the Nazis proceed to revive the Pillar Man which Stroheim named "Santana" after the wind. Upon awakening, Santana's attempts to situate himself off the ground proved hilarious to Stroheim. They then begin the experiment by introducing a vampire they starved for days into the bunker, with Santana allowing the creature to attack him without resistance. A disappointed Stroheim was about to press the kill switch when he and his group realize that Santana is absorbing the horrified vampire into his body for nourishment. But once Santana finished devouring his prey, he shocked everyone by saying Strohiem's full name.
The moment everyone's gazes were away from him over that he is learning their language, Santana had suddenly vanished. Confused, Stroheim orders them to stop the oxygen flow into the room and replay the recorded footage. On the film in slow motion, it depicts Santana distorting his body to squeeze into the air vent. Stroheim realized too late that Santana heard his name though the ventilation system as the Pillar Man forced himself into one of soldiers near the grate. The rest of the soldiers waste no time firing on their doomed comrade's bloated body as Santana consumes his host, The Pillar Man proving to be vastly intelligent as he demands why he was prematurely awakened before using the bullets in his body to kill everyone in the room. Only Speedwagon and Stroheim were spared as Jonathan makes himself known and shields them with his “Ripple Hair Attack”.
Joseph then tries to be friendly with Santana to the bafflement of Speedwagon and Stroheim, the latter getting into an argument with Joseph over if Santana is truly evil or if he only killed the Nazis in just defense. Though Santana ignored the "primitive" Joseph to suit his curiosity of the Germans' weapons, he eventually gets annoyed and tries to kill the human. Confused when Joseph's Ripple prevented him fro absorbing the human, he decides to consume Speedwagon to see if he would get a similar response. This infuriates Joseph, finding his Ripple-infused punch to have no effect despite Speedwagon assuring him that his energy is protecting him from being absorbed. Santana physically overwhelms Joseph and absorbs him once knocking the wind out of the human, only to realized too late that Joseph was holding his breath to lull the Pillar Man into a false sense of security to blow him up with a surge of Ripple.
Binding Santana's torso in chains as his body begins to reassemble, Joseph tries to drag up the bunker and expose him to sunlight. Joseph succeeds with Storheim's help after being forced to chop his leg off. However, Santana enters Stroheim's body through his wound with the Nazi keeping himself from being moved towards a well as he takes out a grenade. Stroheim tells Joseph of the other Pillar Men his people discovered in Rome, asking him to find a way to defeat them before triggering the explosion to kill himself and leave Santana exposed. Joseph was touched by the German's noble act before a furious Santana he lunges at him while they fall into the well. But Joseph allowed the Pillar Man to get the drop on him so he can be exposed the reflection of the noon sun, turning Santana back into stone.
Santana's damaged body is subsequently brought into the Washington branch of the Speedwagon Foundation, stored away with UV light exposure. After analyzing the mural from the ruins, Speedwagon confirmed that there are three more Pillar Men that are stronger than Santana as he decides to contact an associate to meet him and Joseph in Rome. The associate is revealed to be William Anthonio Zeppeli's grandson Caesar Anthonio Zeppeli, who clashes with Joseph in their first meeting.
Rating: 9.5/10
Ultimate Worriors from Ancient Times
Still mutually hostile to Caesar following their match, Joseph is forced to wait several hours along with Speedwagon before Caesar's German contact Mark picks them up and brings them to the Roman Coliseum where the three Pillar Men are kept under watch by the Nazis stationed there. Along the way, explaining that he had formed an alliance with the Nazis due to their shared interest in stopping the Pillar Men, Caesar expressed pride in Mark planning to marry the girl the Italian introduced him to. The group arrives to "The Mouth of Truth", which serves as a secret entrance into the Pillar Men's resting place.
They arrive at the underground cave where the Pillar Men are, learning that they have already awakened and killed the Nazis platoon overseeing them. Mark attempts to run away, only to lose half of his body when one of the Pillar Men, Wamuu, casually walks into him. Ceasar is forced to put the dying Mark out his misery before attacking Wamuu to avenge his friend. But unlike Santana, the three Pillar Men are revealed to have dealt with Ripple users in the past and have developed counters as seen in Wamuu's headdress and Wind Mode.
After Caesar is defeated, Joseph takes over the fight to show off his Ripple-infused clackers. Wamuu accepts Joseph's challenge once the other two he calls his masters allow it. Wamuu then slices Joseph's wrist to the artery so the bleeding can serve as a timer for their fight. Joseph proves to be a capable fighter despite his lack of Ripple training, managing to wound Wamuu before pummeling the Pillar Man for various reasons that include just not liking him. But Wamuu's only allowed Joseph's hits to connect as punishment for underestimating his opponent and being scarred by him, eventually taking out Joseph with his Divine Sandstorm attack despite the human barely being caught in its crosshairs.
Wamuu is about to kill Caesar and Speedwagon as witnesses to his humiliation when he notices Joseph, feigning death the first few times, crawling towards a mine cart. Though Caesar assumes that Joseph is acting cowardly, he realizes that Joseph is luring the Pillar Man away to save him and Speedwagon. Wamuu reaches the same conclusion once on the cart, also guessing Joseph's intent to use a stick of dynamite to kill him and derail the wagon. After Wamuu personally knocks the cart off the tracks, he decides to finish Joseph off. But Joseph plays on Wamuu's pride and thirst for battle to give him a month to train for a good rematch. Wamuu accepts but implants a Wedding Ring of Death on Joseph's aorta to keep him from running away. Wamuu explains the ring will dissolve into a poison within 33 days while revealing the antidote to be inside his lip ring. One of the senior Pillar Man, Esidisi, also places his own ring around Joseph's windpipe, with the antidote in his nose piercing. The Pillar Men's leader Kars doesn't participate in the game.The three Pillar Men take their leave to find the Red Stone of Aja. In the aftermath, Caesar finds respect for Joseph for his heroic resistance.
Rating: 9/10
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