Kira Yoshikage tore a piece of flesh from the corpse on the ground and wiped Barris's face, cleaning away the disgusting snot and tears, replacing them with fresh blood.
He added a touch of eerie battle damage to her.
His fingers still gently hooked Barris's chin, seemingly admiring her fear, but in reality, his brain was rapidly processing, filtering all the information he had just obtained.
The Americans have an arrow... The Presidential Palace might be a clue... This information seemed reasonable, but one word, like a poisonous thorn, pierced Kira Yoshikage's keen nerves.
"President-sama..."
This address appeared more than once in Barris's mouth, even alongside 'President,' indicating they were two different terms.
Initially, he thought it was a slip of the tongue or an honorific for the current President, but considering the context, especially the profound reverence in her tone, it felt wrong. She showed no reaction when speaking of the 'President,' but her expression would subconsciously become serious when she mentioned 'President-sama.'
It wasn't like addressing a political figure who changes every four or eight years; it was more like addressing an... eternal existence.
Furthermore, she said, "The President has already reported to President-sama"... This hierarchical relationship was also very strange.
A regular President is the highest head of state; why would he need to "report" to another "President-sama"?
Unless... the highest power in America had long ceased to belong to the master of the White House on the surface, or perhaps it never did.
A preposterous yet explanatory conjecture flashed through Kira Yoshikage's mind like lightning.
He recalled legends about certain unsolved mysteries in American history, and he remembered that there was something in this world that could grant eternal life, immense power, and control.
And that thing could be used with the aja stone; that thing was called the Stone Mask.
"...The 'President-sama' you speak of," Kira Yoshikage's voice was very low, tinged with a probing coldness, his eyes almost pressed against Barris's, having transformed into Killer Queen's cat-like pupils.
"Has he... been there for a long time? For example... since the last century?"
Barris's eyes, which had been unfocused from fear, suddenly constricted the moment she heard this sentence!
A fear deeper than facing death, originating from her soul's instinct, instantly seized her!
Her body began to tremble uncontrollably, her teeth chattering, as if merely hearing the question itself had violated some absolute taboo!
"No... can't... can't say... that is... sacred..."
She spoke incoherently, her eyeballs bulging, blood vessels rapidly spreading. She no longer cared about the threats around her body; a dozen hands directly clawed at Kira Yoshikage, and her Stand appeared behind her.
Even if she died, she refused to give that answer. She was no longer afraid; instead, she wanted to fight Kira Yoshikage to the death, willing to die just to harm him.
Kira Yoshikage's heart jolted! He had guessed correctly!
He backhanded her, directly pinning Barris to the ground. The difference in their strength was too great now; his hitting her was no different from an adult stepping on an ant.
However, just as Barris was once again pressed to the ground and interrogated by him, a sudden change occurred!
Beneath the skin of her forehead, an extremely complex mark, like a circuit board or ancient runes, suddenly glowed with a dazzling red light!
That was not Stand energy, but rather a sign that some deeper, more malicious curse had been activated!
"Uh ah ah —!!!"
Barris let out a horrifying, inhuman shriek, and her body violently inflated as if being pumped full of air! The blood vessels beneath her skin bulged, turning an ominous purplish-black!
Her eyes, nostrils, ears, and mouth began to spray a foul-smelling black viscous substance that was not blood. These substances combined and twisted to form strands of flesh.
"Mercy... President-sa..."
Her plea was choked by more black substance gushing from her throat. Finally, her entire being was completely controlled by these black substances, turning into a deformed monster. A dozen hands became sharp and directly squeezed Kira Yoshikage's neck.
Kira Yoshikage reacted extremely quickly, recoiling sharply the moment the mark lit up! Killer Queen instantly blocked him!
Her body, before Kira Yoshikage's eyes, was torn and squeezed simultaneously from multiple directions by an invisible giant hand!
She transformed into an... unknown creature.
Looking at this bizarre creature, Kira Yoshikage reached out and slapped it. And then... there was no 'then.' Killer Queen didn't even have to act; he simply smashed the opponent into a pulp with one hand. The monster's physique was still too weak compared to his own mutated physique.
No remains were left on the spot, only a small patch of ground covered in a mixture of blood, flesh, bones, and excrement, along with a faint, metallic and putrid smell like rust and decay.
Everything happened in a flash.
Kira Yoshikage stood still, and even with his coldness, his pupils couldn't help but slightly contract.
This kind of death... he had never seen it. This was definitely not an ordinary Stand ability; it was more like... a variant of Dio's flesh bud?
"D4C..."
Kira Yoshikage murmured the name he had deduced from Barris's pre-death anomaly and his past life memories, "Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap... Funny Valentine... So that's it."
Everything made sense.
Why America understood Stands so well, why they could create those cyborgs, why they could so domineeringly interfere globally... Because the one controlling everything behind the scenes was a monstrous vampire who had lived since the 19th century, wielded powerful Stand abilities, and might even be inhuman!
His dream was to make America great forever. He had selfish desires, but for his ideals, his patriotism, he could suppress his desires and forever serve as the power machine controlling the nation, akin to Stalin as the embodiment of national will.
He was fierce and cruel, yet possessed a terrifying and insidious charm. He could casually kill innocent passersby just to guard a small piece of information.
He could rape an underage girl for the sake of having offspring.
But similarly, for the eternal greatness of his homeland, he was willing to sacrifice his life, his everything.
Barris merely attempted to reveal a bit of information about his existence, and such a terrifying prohibition was triggered, directly erasing her from all possibilities.
This level of control and cruelty was chilling.
Kira Yoshikage's expression became more solemn than ever. The world he had transmigrated into was truly a bit abnormal. Cyborgs, a shadow government, Kishibe Rohan, a vampire President-sama—none of this should be in the original JoJo world, right? He realized that the enemies he faced might be far more than Diavolo and Kishibe Rohan.
A vampire President-sama who had lived for over a century, hidden in the nation's shadows, controlling advanced technology and terrifying Stand power, and perhaps even completely controlling America... This was absolutely the most dangerous opponent he had encountered so far.
He glanced at the rapidly dissipating black stain on the ground, then touched the aja stone in his pocket and the arrow within him.
"Things... are getting more and more interesting." A cold, excited curve, however, appeared at the corner of his mouth.
The greater the challenge, the stronger the pleasure after conquering it.
Whether it was Diavolo, Kishibe Rohan, or this Funny Valentine, they would all ultimately become stepping stones on his path to absolute "peace."
And perhaps Funny Valentine would be a more suitable sacrifice for him, after all, the ability to travel through parallel worlds is a bit better than the ability to erase time.
He no longer lingered, turning to walk quickly into the dark tunnel. He needed to retreat for now.
His next target was still the Presidential Palace in Rome. There, perhaps, lay clues about Diavolo...