Kars let out a snort of laughter.
Such a slow-moving shell, trying to touch him with that was nothing but a fool's dream.
Kars lightly beat his wings, preparing to dodge Ryosuke.
The Ripple flames on Ryosuke's blade had not gone out. That terrifying power far surpassed any shell or firearm, it was true annihilation-level force.
He didn't want to take another hit like that.
At the instant Kars dodged, Ryosuke lifted his toes and lightly tapped the shell.
BOOM!
The shell exploded in midair. The shockwave from the blast shoved Ryosuke, changing his direction in the air and abruptly accelerating him, further closing the distance between him and Kars.
Kars stared intently at the rapidly approaching Ryosuke, changed direction again, and at the same time spread his wings. The pitch-black feathers on his arms quietly transformed into transparent membranous wings, like those of dragonflies or bees.
The huge membrane wings were uneven. When Kars spread his arms, they were like hundreds of convex lenses, refracting and focusing sunlight, forming hundreds of scorching, dazzling light spots.
For humans, these light spots would at most feel like mild skin burns.
But for Ryosuke, once so many scorching rays of sunlight fell on him, they would instantly consume a massive amount of life energy. He would lose the ability to keep fighting and could only wait helplessly for death.
"Die! Ryosuke!"
Kars roared, manipulating the focal points of the light, about to bring them down on Ryosuke.
At that moment, Ryosuke, suspended high in the air with no support at all, actually shifted sideways out of thin air and dodged the attack.
"How is that possible?!" Kars cried out in shock.
'Ryosuke didn't have wings, how could he possibly fly?!'
Hiss! Hiss!
Sharp, fine jetting sounds rang out. Following the sound, Kars saw wisps of steaming blood mist spraying out from Ryosuke's legs and feet.
It was this scorching blood-mist vapor, like the exhaust of a jet fighter, that became the driving force allowing Ryosuke to move and fly through the sky.
Kars's eyes possessed snake-like infrared thermal vision. At a glance, he saw that the area between Ryosuke's legs was emitting abnormally high heat.
"You're… igniting yourself?"
Kars guessed correctly.
Ryosuke was using Ripple in reverse, destroying his own vampiric flesh, burning his blood and flesh inside his skin with Ripple, then blasting out the high-temperature vaporized blood mist from his pores at extreme speed, thus gaining short-term flight.
Of course, this didn't come without a cost.
Ryosuke's skin visibly shriveled, his muscles withered, and his already colorless cheeks turned even paler, like paper.
But his eyes made Kars deeply shaken.
"He wants to kill me.'
'This is the gaze only a pure predator has, without hatred, without personal grudges, taken to the extreme.'
'In Ryosuke's eyes, I… am just prey!'
Kars couldn't imagine what kind of life experience could give a man such a terrifying look.
Ambition.
An ambition even more frightening than his own.
Bang!
As Kars was thinking, the two collided again in midair.
Ryosuke's cleaver stabbed into Kars's chest.
But Kars's claws also ripped open Ryosuke's abdomen.
Blood and organs scattered.
The hearts of the onlookers on the ground leapt into their throats.
But Ryosuke and Kars, locked in battle in the sky, didn't care at all.
This was a slaughter belonging to two extraordinary beings walking the path of evolution.
Lisa Lisa clutched her wound, staring blankly at the fight in the sky.
With her experience, she could tell that whether it was combat technique, physical strength, or Ripple, the two in the sky far surpassed human limits.
At this moment, Lisa Lisa felt an overwhelming exhaustion. Years of cultivation became utterly meaningless before true "monsters."
"This… is no longer a battlefield mortals can touch."
"No. Precisely because it's so far out of reach, the courage of mortals becomes all the more precious."
The elderly Speedwagon walked over. He was speaking of his past experiences with the first JoJo.
"In my long life, my only regret is that I didn't choose to board the ship with Jonathan, didn't fight alongside them against Dio."
"And now..."
Speedwagon took out a pistol from his coat and cocked it.
"I will fight to the very last moment, as a human."
Lisa Lisa fell silent.
Ryosuke, burning with Ripple flames, looked like he was suppressing Kars, but anyone could see he was fighting by burning his life itself.
How long could he last?
Could he completely kill an Ultimate Lifeform before his life energy was exhausted?
In a situation like this… Could a miracle really be born?
"There's nothing left. Ryosuke, there are no miracles anymore. Your life is like a candle in the wind..."
Kars was gritting his teeth and speaking when Ryosuke reversed his grip on the cleaver and slashed him across the mouth, sending four or five teeth flying.
Kars didn't retreat at all.
By now, he had long forgotten any arrogance of being an Ultimate Lifeform, or rather, the ferocity hidden deep in the genes of all living things had fully erupted.
The shattered teeth instantly regrew, sharp like a shark's. With one bite, he crushed the cleaver.
Kars puffed out his cheeks and blew hard. The shattered blade fragments shot out of his mouth, piercing Ryosuke's left eye and skull, flying out the back.
Kars was ruthless, but Ryosuke was even more so.
Blinded and with his brain pierced through, Ryosuke still swung his fist. One punch slammed into Kars's chest, shattering a thick layer of shell-like armor.
A spinning steel ball appeared once more in Ryosuke's palm.
The Ripple flames on his body were almost extinguished, but as long as this steel ball hit, he could replenish his life energy again, using battle to sustain battle, while Kars would grow weaker and weaker.
Kars saw through Ryosuke's plan and tried to stop him, but it was already too late.
A ray of light stabbed into Ryosuke's eye from afar, forcing him to squint and slightly turn his head to look.
It was lake water.
Not just lake water, the forest below had also turned into a vast snowy field.
Snow, lake water, reflected sunlight, like countless blades striking Ryosuke, combined with the blazing sun overhead to create double the consumption.
Kars roared, "Didn't expect this, did you?! Ryosuke, you're not the only one who can make plans!"
Ryosuke's jet-like flight couldn't be maintained for long.
To stay in the air, most of the time during the fight, Ryosuke would "borrow a foothold" from Kars.
The advantage was saving as much blood-vapor consumption as possible. The disadvantage was that the general direction of flight was controlled by Kars.
With Kars's powers of observation, he immediately saw that Ripple flames, jet propulsion, and Ryosuke's recovery ability rivaling an Ultimate Lifeform were all tied to the life energy Ryosuke possessed.
So Kars deliberately lured Ryosuke into this battlefield.
Blazing sun. Snowfield. Lake.
A no-dead-angle sunbath.
The little life energy Ryosuke had left dried up in an instant.
A gust of wind blew past.
The Ripple flames burning on Ryosuke went out. The spinning steel ball in his hand fell silently.
Kars burst into wild laughter. "The victor is ultimately me..."
His laughter stopped abruptly.
Because he saw Ryosuke's expression, still so calm, without the slightest panic of a defeated man, nor the serenity of resigned acceptance.
Kars blurted out instinctively, "Why aren't you afraid?"
Ryosuke's response was, "Shh."
"Listen carefully."
'Listen?' Kars didn't understand.
Suddenly, he heard it.
Buzz!!!
A piercing roar approached. The next moment, a cross-shaped shadow covered both Kars and Ryosuke.
Kars snapped his head up.
It was Stroheim.
Stroheim was piloting a plane, chasing after them.
With Kars's hearing, he should have noticed it long ago. But the close-quarters slaughter between the two had been too intense, too focused, causing him to overlook the rumble of the approaching aircraft.
Joseph stood on the wing.
"Ryosuke, catch!"
He swung his arm hard, throwing a crimson gem toward Ryosuke.
Kars recognized it instantly.
The Red Stone of Aja.
After becoming an Ultimate Lifeform, Kars thought the Red Stone of Aja was useless and casually tossed it aside. He hadn't expected it to be picked up again.
Before Ryosuke had even stepped on the shell and flown toward Kars, he had already instructed Joseph to bring the Red Stone of Aja over.
Seeing Ryosuke's injuries, Joseph shouted, "Sorry, I'm late!"
Ryosuke caught the Red Stone of Aja and chuckled softly.
"No. Perfect timing."
The Red Stone of Aja spun in his palm, radiating dazzling light. Together with the cross-shaped shadow beneath them, the crimson gem looked just like the legendary Spear of Longinus that killed Jesus.
At this moment, Ryosuke suddenly understood.
Stroheim piloting the plane, Joseph throwing the Red Stone of Aja, Kars standing before him, and even the clouds that happened to appear behind Kars, framing him in a golden ratio.
"This is what 'everything is a perfectly timed coincidence' means."
"This is what 'coming home to find Mom happened to make udon' means."
Ryosuke laughed softly.
He found Rei's metaphor unbelievably fitting.
The so-called Golden Spin wasn't just Ryosuke's power.
It was the world, his companions, and the enemy standing before him, countless things condensed together, creating the Golden Spin's power beyond common sense.
As the one wielding this power, Ryosuke needed to express respect to them.
And so, Lesson 4: Express respect.
Achieved.
The Red Stone of Aja's rotation speed surged abruptly, tracing a beautiful trajectory of death as it howled forth, straight into Kars's eyes filled with despair.
This was... Lesson 4: The Spear of Longinus.
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