Crimson blood flowed from beneath Ryosuke's feet, spreading outward.
Although the range of the Civil War's ability was limited to just a single building, once "sins" had been generated, they naturally wouldn't just vanish into thin air before the ability was withdrawn.
And so, the blood spread outward, spreading endlessly, to the point that it became hard to tell whether it was the setting sun dyeing the sky red, or this vast, boundless sea of blood.
"Ryo… suke…"
Fuguki Suikazan crawled out of the sea of blood.
He was the first one. Just as he was about to step toward Ryosuke, he was pressed down by more deceased crawling out of the blood sea. One dead person after another climbed out, roaring as they charged at Ryosuke.
Whether it was teammates like Gyro, Johnny, and Hot Pants.
Or enemies like Funny Valentine and Axl.
All of them were plunged into overwhelming shock.
The Civil War's ability was very special, only people you personally killed would appear in the form of "sins."
For example, if a military officer gave an order during a war that led to the deaths of thousands of enemy soldiers, that kind of thing would not appear as sins.
In other words, the tens of thousands of deceased crawling out of the blood sea before them had all been personally killed by Ryosuke.
"A demon… He's a demon that walked out of hell!" Funny Valentine murmured to himself.
In his eyes, Ryosuke was a hellish demon standing opposite a saint, and Valentine suddenly came to an understanding.
"No wonder he could tear open D4C's wall of light. Because the evil and slaughter he represents just happen to counter the happiness bestowed by the saint!"
It all came full circle.
Everything made sense now.
Thinking of this, Funny Valentine felt a wave of bleakness. This country's beautiful future had actually been brought to an end by a demon.
Ryosuke had no idea that President Valentine had so much inner drama going on. He calmly watched the tens of thousands of deceased charging at him, his gaze open and steady, without the slightest trace of guilt.
Because there were only two kinds of people who would die by Ryosuke's hand.
Villains who deserved to die.
Enemy soldiers who went to the battlefield.
The former had committed countless evil deeds and deserved death.
The latter, once they stepped onto the battlefield, already had the resolve to kill and be killed.
The reason these tens of thousands of people appeared before him was not because Ryosuke felt guilty about killing them.
It was because Ryosuke felt regret that life had ended so easily.
Even someone as beastlike as Uchiha Itachi, when he was a newborn infant, must have been cute, must have been someone his parents and family had expectations for.
Day after day, year after year, an infant grows into an adult under the care and love of many people.
And then, he is killed by Ryosuke.
What Ryosuke regretted was the love they had received, and the path they had chosen.
Valentine stared at Ryosuke. Watching the tens of thousands of deceased charging at him, a sudden surge of heat rose in his heart. He glanced at the saint's remains held in Johnny's arms, and an uncontrollable thought sprouted from the depths of his heart, 'If Ryosuke is killed by his own sins… there might be a turning point!'
He was thinking this when he suddenly noticed that the dead were slowing down.
Under Ryosuke's indifferent gaze, they froze one by one. Even with boundless resentment, even knowing they were immortal, even though a single touch would plunge Ryosuke into a bubble of sin, "But they…"
As the controller of the Civil War, Axl sensed the emotions of the deceased most clearly and cried out in shock, "They're still afraid of this man!"
No, not all of the deceased were afraid.
Funny Valentine could see clearly that strands of fine golden light were winding around the bodies of the deceased, stopping them, preventing them from touching Ryosuke.
This was… the saint's blessing?
The saint was protecting a demon?
Why?
Valentine couldn't understand it. His worldview collapsed in an instant. The dead in front stopped, but those behind kept pushing forward, knocking the ones in front down.
The crowd piled up into a small mountain, surrounding Ryosuke, who stood at the peak. The saint's golden light still severed the connection between Ryosuke and the deceased.
"Valentine, come over. I'll fulfill my promise to you."
Ryosuke's voice came from the mountaintop, snapping Funny Valentine out of his chaotic thoughts. He subconsciously raised his head to look.
The setting sun sank into the earth. The world fell into darkness. Amid a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood, Ryosuke stood at the highest point. The dry, wild western wind danced through his golden hair.
Beautiful. Terrifying. Demonic.
These three words flashed through Funny Valentine's mind. He desperately wanted to run, to get as far away from this monster as possible.
But patriotism made Valentine take the next step.
He wanted to live.
Only by living could he have a chance to start over.
The saint's remains would not disappear.
He still had D4C.
As long as he survived today, Funny Valentine could regroup his subordinates and remake his plans.
Staggering with each step, he climbed over the corpses and reached Ryosuke.
Ryosuke stretched out his hand and lightly tapped his eyeball.
The rotation stopped.
'It stopped!'
Funny Valentine was ecstatic. As long as he switched to another body afterward, everything could start over.
"Yo, you guys are all here?"
A flippant, lazy voice sounded behind him.
Valentine turned around. Before he could even see who was speaking, a slap landed squarely on his face.
Zzz! Click!
Two discs popped out.
Funny Valentine collapsed onto the mountain of corpses, sliding down along body after body, until he was finally soaked in blood, losing consciousness.
He was still alive.
Only two Stand and memory discs had been extracted.
Ryosuke had promised him that he wouldn't let Valentine die today, and he would honor that promise.
Swish!
Two discs were handed over.
Ryosuke took them and revealed the old friend that had been hidden behind the discs.
White Snake.
This was the true reason Ryosuke had decided to come to the Steel Ball Run world.
Ryosuke had searched through all the JOJO manga. The only way to bring White Snake back was through the Civil War.
To obtain the New Moon, Ryosuke had been forced to abandon White Snake. This regret would manifest in the form of "sins."
And the owner of the Civil War could manipulate their own sins.
In other words, as long as Ryosuke drew out the Civil War, he could search for White Snake within the sins.
And not just White Snake, basically anyone Ryosuke had killed, or who had died because of him, would appear as sins, such as Uchiha Itachi and Nagato.
White Snake's earlier line, "you guys are all here," was him greeting them.
Perhaps they couldn't unleash all of their strength from when they were alive, and their activity and influence were limited to the area around Ryosuke.
But they were still a force not to be underestimated.
More importantly… Black Zetsu.
Black Zetsu was Kaguya's child. As long as White Snake extracted discs from him and checked his memories, they could find a way to revive Kaguya.
And not long ago, Ryosuke had confirmed this with the saint through questioning.
This path worked.
As for how to extract the Civil War?
Resonance Sound.
Lock onto a five-star Stand, and it would be drawn with 100% certainty.
Of course, before entering Steel Ball Run and truly facing the Civil War's ability, all of this had just been Ryosuke's speculation. To verify it, he had to come in person.
Fortunately… his guess was correct.
Ryosuke had hesitated many times over whether to use it to draw Gold Experience, and later evolve it into "Gold Experience Requiem."
But in the end, he held back.
Ryosuke was glad he made that choice.
Because compared to a Stand that might or might not evolve someday, the return of an old friend, whether from a tactical perspective, using disc extraction to deal with the Otsutsuki, who had terrifying physical defense and regeneration, or from a personal, emotional standpoint, was far more important to Ryosuke.
"Long time no see."
White Snake chuckled lightly. "For me, it was just a blink of an eye… how have things been lately?"
Ryosuke raised his fist and said honestly, "Pretty bad."
"Got it."
White Snake stretched lazily and raised his fist as well.
"Then as your bro, I'll come back and help you out again."
The two fists lightly bumped in midair.
"Welcome back."