Pillar Men

The Pillar Men (柱の男) are four powerful humanoids that serve as the main antagonists of Part II: Battle Tendency.

Summary
The Pillar Men are ancient (up to ~102,000 years old), humanoid, super-human beings; highly intelligent, and able to manipulate their fantastically powerful bodies to a very fine degree. They are vulnerable only to the energy of the Sun, along with Hamon.

Each possess a differently shaped horn on their heads, reflecting a hierarchy; following Kars, Esidisi, Wamuu, and Santana, in descending order. For them, displaying their horns is a sign of honor.

Led by Kars, they awaken in 1938 to continue seeking out the Red Stone of Aja, which, combined with their technology of the Stone Mask, will convert them into "ultimate life forms"; resistant even to the Sun and the Hamon.

Body Manipulation
Pillar men can freely and quickly change and manipulate their bodies. Along with this, they have the ability to regenerate any physical wounds, much like vampires. This ability requires training however, as Wamuu, Esidisi and Kars are more capable at doing so than Santana who was classified as a "disciple".

Absorption
The Pillar Men's main method of sustenance is absorbing living beings (including Vampires), which they accomplish upon the contact of any part of their bodies. Each one of their cells releases a digestive fluid that eats their prey's cells individually, creating the illusion that they appear to be merging.

Wamuu demonstrates the ability to chain this effect, when after fusing multiple targets together, by simply touching one, he absorbs the entire group.

Enhanced Senses
Pillar Men possess enhanced senses, although to what extent is unknown. These are demonstrated a number of times, such as Santana smelling the area much like a dog, or Kars being able to analyze the number of people in a room via heat signatures.

Advanced Intelligence
The Pillar Men's most dangerous trait is their intelligence. They are all geniuses: able to analyze and understand languages, machinery and people's minds and actions within a matter of seconds. Instances of this include Santana dissembling a gun in a procedure that might have taken a human hours to learn; and Esidisi being able to predict Joseph's speech pattern.

Elemental Battle Mode
The more experienced Pillar Men each have their own special fighting style, characterized by a specific "element" such as Fire, Wind or Light. When activating powers based around these elements, they are referred to as "Modes" (流法（モード）).

Along with their Body Manipulation, this ability appears to be only accessible for those associated with Kars and have presumably tested the Stone Mask. The Pillar Men race originally used primitive weapons such as spears before they were massacred.

Ultimate Life Form
Obtained after a Pillar Man activates a Stone Mask affixed with the Red Stone of Aja; in this form, a Pillar Man becomes apparently unable to die. Aside from a massive boost in their previous abilities, new ones include: While only Kars has achieved this form, it may be assumed this boost would apply equally to other Pillar Men.
 * Being unaffected by sunlight
 * The inability to grow old
 * Dismantling one's body on a cellular level to take the shape of any kind of human or animal
 * The ability to use the Ripple

History
The Pillar Men came from an ancient race of humans that had extraordinary strength, intelligence and lifespan. This race once ruled the Earth, living at the top of the food chain and consuming ordinary humans.

However, because of their great abilities and physique, the race followed the "rule of evolution" regarding the trophic level: the "higher" it "evolved", the fewer its population became, and it was unable to overcome its adversity to sunlight.

Hoping to overcome their weakness to the sun's rays, Kars invented the stone masks, which can bring out the race's full potential through acupuncture. He found that although the mask worked on ordinary humans (and would turn them into vampires), and presumably unlocked the use of Elemental Battle Modes, a red stone would be still be needed to create the ultimate being.

However, the race of pillar men, fearing Kars's genius, sought to execute him. Kars massacred the opposing members of his race, including his parents, and subsequently travelled with Esidisi along with two children (presumably Wamuu and Santana).

Kars sought to combine the Stone Mask with the Red Stone of Aja to achieve his goal of evolving into an "ultimate life form". To this end, he, Esidisi, and Wamuu travelled to Rome to seek the Red Stone, and defeated the Ripple Clan in a war.

However, they were ultimately unable to find the Red Stone of Aja; so they hibernated, transforming themselves into stone pillars; 2000 years prior to the events of Part II.

It was predicted that they would awake in the year 2852 of the Aztec calendar, the equivalent of the year Part II takes place; 1938.

Trivia

 * All remaining four Pillar Men were defeated by Joseph Joestar.
 * The Pillar Men's appearances consist of a combination of Roman sculptures, the Great Sphinx of Giza, and the Nio Buddhist guardians.