After more than ten minutes of climbing, the four arrived at the Kennedy Space Center.
Ryosuke turned around and held out a hand toward Anasui.
Anasui handed over a small pouch.
Ryosuke opened it, and inside were over a dozen sharp nails with barbs, as well as two pitch-black iron balls. To better fit Jolyne's slightly smaller palms, the two iron balls were two sizes smaller than the ones Ryosuke normally used.
One of Anasui's Stand Diver Down's abilities was destroying and modifying objects.
At Ryosuke's request, Anasui had pulled nails and iron pieces from guardrails along the way, then used Diver Down to produce weapons that matched Ryosuke's requirements.
"Is this enough?" Anasui asked.
Ryosuke nodded.
Compared to the priest's C-Moon, Stone Free's Stand ability had a huge gap. To defeat Father Pucci, Ryosuke had to rely on the power of the Golden Spin.
"Act according to the plan."
Anasui controlled Diver Down to enter the ground. He grabbed onto Diver Down, using surrounding debris for cover, and quickly disappeared from the others' sight to search for the hiding Father Pucci.
The remaining three arrived at the plaza in front of the Space Center. The surroundings were quiet; only two women were hanging on the iron railings, crying and begging Ryosuke for help.
Emporio was a half-grown kid, kind-hearted and gentle. Seeing the two crying so miserably, he looked at Ryosuke, silently asking with his eyes.
Ryosuke waved his hand.
"We're about to fight Father Pucci. Saving them now would only harm them."
Ryosuke scanned the area.
After the chaos from the gravity changes, the plaza was in complete disarray. It was impossible to determine where Father Pucci might be hiding.
He lightly leapt up and landed on top of a ticket booth.
Ermes and Emporio climbed up onto another building.
Emporio held the revolver, his palm full of sweat. He was very smart, but even with his intelligence, he couldn't figure out what had happened to Jolyne.
'Focus… I must focus.'
Emporio squeezed his eyes shut, warning himself in his heart, this was not the time to overthink. Only after defeating Father Pucci would there be time to satisfy his curiosity.
He made up his mind.
'As long as I see Father Pucci, I'll pull the trigger. Even if I become a murderer, so be it!:
With that thought, Emporio opened his eyes, his pupils instantly constricted.
He saw it.
A Stand like a green demon silently flipped over from behind the ticket booth and appeared behind Ryosuke.
Emporio remembered the intel Ryosuke had spoken of earlier.
"Careful! It's C-Moon!"
Too late.
Hiding in the corner of the Visitor Center and peeking secretly, Father Pucci sneered.
C-Moon's speed wasn't high, but with a surprise attack, how could it miss?
"As long as it lands one punch, the battle ends."
To Father Pucci, C-Moon's ability was truly invincible. Even if Jotaro Kujo came, against C-Moon the only outcome was defeat, let alone a mere Jolyne?
Father Pucci controlled C-Moon, raising its fist high and swinging at the back of Ryosuke's head, and said in a low voice, "Die, Jolyne. Your death will become the step on which I ascend to heaven, What?!"
His pitch rose instinctively.
Ryosuke moved as if he had predicted it, his body suddenly dropping low, dodging C-Moon's sure-kill punch.
"How is this possible?!"
Father Pucci narrowed his eyes, and only then did he see that scattered around Ryosuke's feet were strands of blue threads.
These threads acted as his senses, allowing Ryosuke to detect C-Moon's attack at the very first moment.
Ryosuke lowered his body to avoid the punch, then immediately turned. A thread appeared in his hand again, wrapping around C-Moon's punching wrist.
In the original story, even with Jolyne having never received real combat training, she could rely on instinct to fight C-Moon evenly for a short time.
With Ryosuke's four years of combat training in the Naruto world, even without Ripple or Natural Energy, he was more than enough to crush C-Moon.
After all, it was a long-range controlled Stand.
By instinct of a cunning old fox, the place Father Pucci chose to hide was about sixty to seventy meters away from them. Naturally, his control of C-Moon was slightly slower.
C-Moon swung again. Ryosuke used the same trick, wrapping the other arm, then flipped onto C-Moon's back, completely restraining both of its arms behind it.
A series of movements flowed seamlessly. By the time Father Pucci reacted, Ryosuke had already pressed his knee against C-Moon's neck, pinning it firmly to the ground.
Ryosuke reached for the iron ball at his waist.
"Brother Ryosuke!"
Emporio tossed over the revolver.
With Ryosuke's current body, to spin and fire the iron ball required half a second of rotation time. Clearly, compared to the iron ball, at a critical moment the gun was the more suitable weapon.
Clack!
Ryosuke caught the gun, aimed it at the back of C-Moon's head, and pulled the trigger.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Bullets shot out.
But C-Moon moved faster than bullets. It suddenly raised its foot and kicked at the ticket booth. Affected by "inversion," the steel wall of the booth twisted like prawn crackers thrown into hot oil, violently ripping apart and bending inward.
The torn edges of the wall were like sharp daggers. As they bent, they stabbed toward Ryosuke from both sides.
Nobody knew whether C-Moon would die from the bullets, but with Jolyne's body, if those stabbed him, Ryosuke would definitely die, and the trial mission would fail.
Threads shot out, pulling Ryosuke out of the steel plate's attack range. C-Moon took the chance to free itself from Ryosuke's restraint and also dodged the bullets.
One human and one Stand, after a brief clash, looked at each other across the pried-open steel plates.
They rushed at each other again.
This time, C-Moon was especially cautious. The scene just now had really scared Father Pucci. He discarded all carelessness and faced the battle with absolute seriousness.
Punches that meant serious injury if they landed swiped past Ryosuke's ears, flipping a strand of hair inside out, but Ryosuke's gaze remained calm. He said softly, "C-Moon's movements are more precise now. Anasui, the priest is nearby, reduce the search radius to fifty meters."
The voice traveled along a thread outward, extending continuously until it reached Anasui hiding in a dark corner. Moments later, Ryosuke received Anasui's response, "Got it. Also…"
"Not bad."
Ryosuke smiled.
All the words and intel in the world couldn't compare to performance in real combat. With his actions, Ryosuke proved his position and earned his teammates' trust.
———
[Three Kilometers Away]
Tanks, armored vehicles, soldiers, and police arrived on the scene.
They had no idea what was happening, and they couldn't understand why driving into a certain range caused perfectly functioning armored vehicles to be flipped for no reason.
"…What do you mean you 'can't get in'?!!"
The commander's furious roar came through the radio, "You're on a mission, not in bed with your wife! Get in there and save people, that is a soldier's duty!"
The frontline soldier opened his mouth but had no words.
Everything before his eyes was beyond his understanding.
The radio crackled again with the commander's voice, "Also, there is an occult expert on the way there. Estimated arrival in a few minutes. He will assist you in entering the Space Center."
The frontline soldiers were stunned.
'They're even bringing in occult experts now?'
"May I ask… what's his name?"
"Kujo Jotaro."