Silver Chariot pierced Vanilla's mouth with the tip of its blade, suspending him in midair.
This scene stirred up memories for Vanilla. Once upon a time, Polnareff had done exactly this to him.
The man before his eyes…
Vanilla stared straight at Ryosuke, no longer able to suppress the fear in his heart.
"He's tens of millions of times more terrifying than Polnareff!"
Ryosuke did not rush to kill Vanilla.
He couldn't extract a disc.
He had just tried, Civil War was also unable to summon the killed Ringo or Man's Domain.
Every time Ringo was about to take shape and appear, a faint black glimmer would flash, and he would dissipate into nothingness.
Clearly, the resurrection of Vanilla and Ringo, as well as their traversal through time and space to arrive in the ninja world, had all been influenced by that black light.
Coupled with what Ringo said before explaining Man's Domain's ability, 'Dio mentioned that Ryosuke has the ability to stop time.'
Ryosuke had reason to believe that enemies from different JOJO worlds had very likely gathered into an alliance and were attempting to invade other worlds. He needed to know more details.
"Tell me everything you know."
Ryosuke's tone was calm, without intimidation or threats, like a conversation between friends.
Yet Vanilla's body trembled uncontrollably. He wanted to refuse to answer, wanted to control Void Rift Miasma to launch an attack, but...
A drop of blood flew from Ryosuke's fingertip, slid along Silver Chariot's blade, and landed on Vanilla's face.
His self-awareness was completely stripped away.
No matter how strong a human's will is, it cannot ignore the corrosive damage of concentrated sulfuric acid to the body.
Vanilla's spiritual loyalty to Dio was unable to overcome, on a physical level, the absolute superiority of an ultimate lifeform over him.
His eyes grew hazy as he spoke in broken phrases, "I… was revived by Lord Dio… and given the order to hunt down Hot Pants…"
With every word Vanilla spoke, a fine crack appeared on his body.
Threads of black light poured out from within him. His life fluctuations rose and fell abnormally, his expression twisted, either struggling to break free from Ryosuke's control, or enduring endless agony.
"But our operation wasn't to take back the Saint's Corpse…"
"It was to…"
He suddenly raised his head. Blood streamed from his eyes, the haze within them replaced by pain and hatred.
"To find you!"
"Lord Dio kept letting Hot Pants go, over and over, so she could lead us into your world, just to find you."
"Now, we've found you."
"It won't be long before Lord Dio comes himself, avenges us, and revives us again! You and your friends will die a most..."
Bang!
Before he could finish speaking, the surging black light inside Vanilla exploded, blasting him to pieces.
Another soul fell into the Saint's Corpse.
[Defeated Vanilla Ice. Obtained: 1 Tainted Soul]
Silver Chariot flicked its blade, shaking off the black light clinging to it, then planted the sword upright before itself. Elegant and composed, it gave Ryosuke a slight nod before disappearing.
Having dealt with two enemies in succession and obtained fragments of information from each of them, even more questions arose in Ryosuke's mind.
However, now was not the time to think.
Ryosuke asked Hot Pants, "You said there were three enemies following you. Who was the last one?"
Hot Pants was still in a dazed state.
Partly because of the power Ryosuke had displayed, and partly because of what Vanilla had just said.
When Ryosuke suddenly spoke, it took her two or three seconds to come back to her senses.
"A fat guy. He looked dull and stupid, very mysterious. I never saw him make a move."
'A dull, stupid fat guy?'
Ryosuke recalled the entire JOJO series.
'Pesci, Harvest?'
'Polpo, Black Sabbath?'
Bang!
While Ryosuke was still thinking, the ultimate lifeform's keen hearing caught an extremely distant gunshot. Immediately after came the commotion and screams of the crowd, along with the stench of blood spreading through the air.
Gunshots… chaos…
Ryosuke rose into the air and hovered high above, where he saw a mass of flesh-colored sludge repeatedly leaping about in the city center.
"Damn it."
The usually refined and easygoing Ryosuke rarely cursed.
The infamous BIG.
(For convenience, it will be referred to as "BIG" hereafter.)
The strongest, and also the most disgusting, death-trigger Stand.
Compared to it, even cheap, dog-shit-level tricks start to look clean and pleasant.
Ryosuke recalled its stat panel.
Destructive power and growth, A.
Speed, range, and durability, infinite.
It is a death-trigger Stand that only appears after its user dies. Once it emerges, it absorbs and devours everything around it.
Its only real weakness is that it instinctively pursues the fastest-moving object nearby.
This is also a kind of biological instinct.
Because fast movement itself represents abundant energy, making it the best target to devour.
In the original story, Giorno and his group, even at full strength, were nearly wiped out by this single Stand.
If they hadn't happened to pass by the ocean and thrown BIG into the sea, causing it to endlessly chase the waves and finally escape its pursuit, there likely wouldn't have been any story afterward.
Endless devouring ability.
Regeneration on par with an ultimate lifeform.
And unrestricted movement range after the user's death.
"This is Dio's 'safety lock.'"
Ryosuke understood.
Once Vanilla and Ringo failed, the third Stand user would commit suicide, releasing BIG to carry out large-scale slaughter and devouring, killing everyone present.
Ryosuke summoned Made in Heaven once more and charged out like a gale.
———
Today was the Water Garden Festival, with many tourists coming and going. To ensure safety, Oda Ieyasu had arranged ninjas and samurai in advance.
It wasn't to guard against enemies, but to prevent people from getting too absorbed in watching the fireworks and failing to watch their footing, causing unnecessary stampedes.
During a festival, getting hurt would really ruin the mood.
The ninjas and samurai were stationed along the streets. The moment BIG appeared, they rushed forward to engage it.
However, they vastly underestimated how terrifying the enemy was.
In less than half a second of contact, three companions were grabbed by the flesh sludge, their limbs seized, clearly about to be devoured. All their attacks were ineffective and instead became nourishment for the blood-and-flesh monster, which in the blink of an eye grew as large as a building.
"What kind of monster is this?!"
"Is Hidan's flesh going berserk?!"
They stood frozen, having no idea what to do.
BIG has no thinking ability and only instinctively chases moving objects. The personnel standing still were no longer attacked. Dozens of flesh tendrils shot out, flying toward the civilians fleeing behind them.
Whoosh!
Hundreds of dazzling flashes of blade light swept through.
A figure flashed like lightning from the end of the street, weaving through the crowd and appearing behind BIG.
Miyamoto lowered his body and slowly sheathed his sword.
Click!
The blade slid into its scabbard.
Countless chunks of flesh flew apart. The three samurai who had been trapped inside BIG, not yet absorbed or digested, were freed one after another.
Joy spread across everyone's faces.
A smile curled at the corner of Miyamoto's mouth.
Kyoto was his hometown. To come back during a festival and protect the elders and townsfolk, this was the greatest happiness a swordsman could have,
Shhk!
A spike formed of blood and flesh pierced straight through Miyamoto's chest.
All smiles froze.
"It can survive even that?!"
Miyamoto drew his sword again.
Slash!
The arm holding the sword was torn apart and flew high into the air.
Countless chunks of flesh lunged toward Miyamoto.
The fleeing women and children instinctively stopped, their hearts jumping to their throats. They closed their eyes, unable to bear witnessing what came next.
At that moment, roaring wind and thunder swept in from the distant horizon, plunging straight down with a thunderous crash. Dust flew everywhere. People instinctively stepped back and looked over.
Ryosuke stood in front of Miyamoto, blocking the fatal blow for him.
Ripple crystals formed an absolutely defensive shield. No matter how BIG's flesh battered against it, it couldn't advance even an inch. All flesh that touched it sizzled and burned.
"Ryosuke, be careful, it can regenerate endlessly, "
Miyamoto tried to warn him.
Ryosuke tossed him a bottle of healing potion.
"I know."
BIG's abilities, its strength, and the methods to counter it, Ryosuke had long understood them thoroughly from repeatedly reading the manga over the years.
Infinite devouring, infinite regeneration, it truly is a terrifying ability, especially in Kyoto, a super metropolis with millions of people.
Killing it would be extremely difficult.
But…
If it's climbing to the heavens, then climb to the heavens.
"Aerosmith"
"Killer Queen"
The familiar combo appeared once again.
Aerosmith fired bullets into the sky. BIG, lacking intelligence, immediately abandoned its attack on Ryosuke and leapt high into the air, chasing after the bullets.
Its speed was indeed astonishing, it could even catch up to and devour machine-gun rounds.
The next second...
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Killer Queen pressed its thumb. A chain of explosions forcibly blasted BIG into smaller and smaller pieces.
Until only a final chunk of BIG's flesh, about the size of a palm, fell to the ground.
Ryosuke took out a coin from his pocket and flicked it casually.
BIG pounced on it like a dog.
BOOM!
The final explosion.
[Defeated the infamous BIG. Obtained: 1 Tainted Soul]
The third soul fell into the Saint's Corpse.
This thing even has a soul?
Ryosuke couldn't quite understand it.
But since the system gave it, he accepted it.
"So… it's done?"
Miyamoto asked, clutching his chest.
Under the effect of the healing potion, the wound was rapidly closing and vanished in moments, but the pain couldn't be avoided. The legendary swordsman grimaced in pain.
Ryosuke patted Miyamoto on the shoulder and passed a thread of Ripple energy to suppress the pain, saying helplessly, "If you'd acted a bit slower, you might not have had to suffer this."
The place where Hot Pants was found was in the outskirts of the city. BIG erupted in the city center.
With Ryosuke's speed, he could fly over in the blink of an eye.
But Miyamoto had acted too quickly.
BIG's ability is simple, if you're fast, it's fast; if you're slow, it's slow.
So during the brief time it took Ryosuke to arrive, Brother Miyamoto took a beating for nothing. If he had acted more slowly, or maneuvered with technique, he might not have been injured at all.
Of course, this kind of assumption was just hindsight, something said casually after the fact.
For a swordsman, if the sword in his hand isn't swung to protect, then it might as well be broken.
"As long as no one died, that's good."
A few minutes later, rescue teams arrived.
Because the incident was brief, and because there were always people fighting BIG and supporting one another, there were many injured, but no actual fatalities.
By the time Mei Terumi and Hot Pants arrived, the scene had already been stabilized, with a temporary medical area set up. Ryosuke had just finished treating an injured civilian.
Looking at the chaos before her, Hot Pants recalled what Vanilla had said before dying, that she had led the enemies into this innocent world.
As a nun, she was originally a kind-hearted woman. Thinking of this, overwhelming guilt welled up in her heart.
"Don't think too much."
Ryosuke saw through her thoughts and handed her a bottle of water.
"Don't let the enemy's actions affect you. The ones killing and committing evil are them, not you."
If all of this truly was Dio's doing, with his ambition, even without Hot Pants, he would have come eventually.
Hot Pants looked at the water handed to her, took a deep breath, and the sadness in her heart eased slightly.
"Thank you, Ryosuke… you're truly an amazing person. It feels like as long as you're nearby, there's something to rely on."
Mei Terumi crossed her arms and squinted as she looked over.
Ryosuke asked, "So what exactly happened?"
After a moment of silence, Hot Pants began recounting the events, "With your help, we defeated President Valentine and went on to finish the SBR race."
Too much time had been delayed along the way. Johnny, Gyro, and Hot Pants only completed the course and didn't place.
But after everything they'd been through, their goal was no longer first place in the race.
"After the race ended, we were in New York with Lucy and Mr. Steel, discussing how to settle the Saint's Corpse."
"And then… they came."
"They?"
Hot Pants nodded slightly. "One called himself Father Pucci. As a nun, I can say for sure, he has nothing to do with the title 'priest' at all.
There was another person. He had long golden hair, pale bluish skin, star-shaped markings, and a white cape behind him. I couldn't tell what kind of being he was, and he… Called himself Dio."
Father Pucci and Dio.
How did these two end up in the Steel Ball Run world?
Hot Pants didn't know the answer either.
In her account, the moment they appeared, they tried to seize the Saint's Corpse. Johnny and Gyro naturally refused to hand it over, and a battle broke out, or rather, a one-sided crushing.
"Dio didn't even make a move."
"Just Father Pucci alone had us completely suppressed, and his Stand..."
Hot Pants looked at Ryosuke.
"Was the Made in Heaven you just summoned."
Faced with the absolute speed of Made in Heaven, the speed of the Steel Balls also increased, but with Johnny and Gyro's human dynamic vision, aiming and locking on became impossible.
"Later, the two of them used the Golden Spin together to buy time for me to escape. I took D4C's disc and a piece of the Saint's Corpse, traveling through parallel worlds all the way until I arrived here."
"That's everything that happened."
Hot Pants looked at Ryosuke.
During her traversal through time and space, she saw world after world suffering under Dio's corruption.
She prayed to the Saint's Corpse to guide her toward a path of survival.
Finally, before losing consciousness, Hot Pants heard the Saint's voice, "Go find Ryosuke."
"Only he can stop everything."
Now Hot Pants had found Ryosuke, yet the words asking for help stubbornly refused to leave her mouth.
Because she saw this unfamiliar yet prosperous city.
Everyone here looked at Ryosuke with such reverence. Considering Vanilla's curse before his death, this world might no longer be safe. How could she ask Ryosuke to leave this place and go risk his life?
Hot Pants lowered her head and fell silent.
"Rest for one hour."
Ryosuke glanced at his watch. "In one hour, we depart."
Seeing Hot Pants stare at him blankly, Ryosuke smiled and said, "I told you, don't think too much."
"The Hot Pants I know isn't a woman who hesitates and second-guesses herself. Besides…"
Since a fight was inevitable sooner or later, Ryosuke chose to move the battlefield outside, rather than let it be in the ninja world.
Hot Pants felt as though the world suddenly brightened. She pressed her lips together, held back the sting in her nose, stepped forward, and hugged Ryosuke tightly.
"Thank you."
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