Drawn by the Saint's remains, the Atlantic Ocean came to Hot Pants' side. Like the legendary story of "Moses parting the sea," the ocean split apart out of thin air, forming two towering walls of seawater.
Hot Pants had been a nun. If this were any other time, she would definitely have been moved to tears by the miracle before her eyes, clasping her hands together and praying to the god she believed in.
But now...
"Damn it!"
The ground beneath her feet, soaked by seawater, had become soft. When she stepped down, the feedback from her footing instantly felt wrong, and her speed dropped sharply.
Those five gunmen earlier, although they had been effortlessly crushed by Ryosuke's terrifying combat power, still ended up delaying Ryosuke's group by about two or three seconds.
Combined with the softened ground soaked by seawater, after just three or four steps, Hot Pants felt Lucy's breathing stop once again, and a bone-chilling gaze fell on her back.
Funny Valentine.
He had caught up.
Hot Pants turned her head and saw President Valentine once again bringing three clones from a parallel world.
They were already on a narrow path. As they ran, the seawater walls on both sides rose higher and higher. With a forceful throw from D4C, the three clones lunged at Hot Pants, instantly covering all space and vision.
Hot Pants whipped her tail hard, she was immensely grateful that she was in her dinosaur form, with enough strength, and smashed the three clones away.
They slammed into the seawater walls, sank into them, and vanished without a trace.
But the one who vanished as well was Funny Valentine's main body.
"Watch out!"
Hearing Ryosuke's warning, Hot Pants followed the direction he pointed and saw D4C appear from the rear side.
The enemy was right at hand.
Ryosuke and the other two charged into the seawater corridor. In at most three seconds, Gyro's range would cover this area.
Hot Pants understood. This moment was the crucial one.
Gyro had already grasped the power to kill Valentine. They absolutely could not let Funny Valentine get Lucy.
With the speed President Valentine had shown, if he was determined to escape, no one could stop him.
At that point, the entire U.S. military would treat them as enemies. No matter how strong Ryosuke, Gyro, and Johnny were, there was no way they could win against hundreds of thousands of soldiers.
With Lucy clenched in her mouth, Hot Pants suddenly whipped her head back, flinging Lucy more than ten meters away onto the ground. She turned around and faced the charging D4C alone.
"As long as I can hold him for three seconds, three seconds will be enough!"
The great rabbit D4C struck with a knife-hand, stabbing straight toward Hot Pants' heart.
With a dinosaur's dynamic vision, she caught the attack and swung her tail again.
Slash!
Her tail was severed on the spot. Blood sprayed as a dragon's tail spun through the air.
D4C didn't even glance at it and launched another attack.
At that moment, a spray can appeared in Hot Pants' hand.
Cream Starter.
She sprayed it toward her severed tail. In an instant, flesh and blood dissolved into a thick crimson mist that filled the air. At the same time, D4C's palm pierced straight through Hot Pants' chest.
Hot Pants let out a cry of pain.
But just as D4C withdrew its hand, she stretched out her claw, scooped a large amount of the blood mist into her palm, and slapped it onto her shattered chest.
Cream Starter's healing effect activated.
Her shattered heart barely knit back together.
This was Hot Pants' plan.
She didn't need to defeat Funny Valentine, nor did she have the ability to.
As someone who came from a nun's background, Hot Pants would never attack President Valentine knowing full well that every time she struck him, someone somewhere in the world would die at random.
So, as the wielder of the Stand "Cream Starter," there was only one thing she could do, use her own flesh and blood as a shield, becoming Lucy's final umbrella of protection.
Sunlight fell through the blood mist filling the air, refracting again and again, reflecting a crimson, sacred glow, as if they were standing inside a church.
Enveloped within it, Hot Pants, though in the form of a dinosaur, radiated an indescribable sense of holiness, enough to move even her enemy, Funny Valentine.
"Come on, Valentine!"
One second had already passed. If she could just hold on for two more seconds...
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Three gunshots shattered Hot Pants' focus. The bullets howled toward her pupils.
She swung her claws to block.
Whoosh!
A sharp, cold flash slashed through the air. D4C severed the hand that was gripping Cream Starter.
President Valentine's upper body leaned out from the light barrier, a handgun pressed against Hot Pants' face.
"I acknowledge your resolve."
"You are an outstanding 'trial sacrifice.'"
Two seconds.
Hot Pants had used her life to stall him for two seconds.
In Valentine's eyes, that was enough for her to be proud of, and enough for her to die without regret.
He pulled the trigger again.
The bullet fired.
But...
'No spray of blood...'
'A miss?!'
'How is that possible?!'
'That was point-blank range!'
Yet the truth was exactly that, the Hot Pants pressed against the muzzle had "disappeared."
His gaze moved downward, and when he saw Hot Pants back in human form, he immediately understood, at the very last moment, Ryosuke had canceled the Scary Monsters Stand ability.
Compared to a dinosaur's massive head, a human skull was smaller by a circle, and so it naturally "disappeared" beneath the gun barrel.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Two stone balls flew in from nearly fifty meters away.
One struck Funny Valentine's handgun. Clearly frightened by Gyro's Cavalry Spin, he hurriedly threw the gun away and retreated back into the light barrier.
The other stone ball hit Hot Pants in the chest. She was launched high off the ground and fell into the seawater wall at the side. Driven by the power of rotation, the seawater churned, carried her in a full circle, and spat her out from the seawater on the other side.
Hot Pants closed her eyes, ready to crash to the ground, but instead felt a warm embrace.
She opened her eyes and met Ryosuke's gaze, staring blankly into his eyes, feeling that this moment was indescribably beautiful.
Suddenly, Hot Pants snapped back to her senses and looked ahead.
Funny Valentine had walked to Lucy's side, reached out and pulled Lucy into his arms. He buried his face in the hollow of her neck and took a deep breath.
He had reclaimed his goddess.
Hot Pants pointed at Valentine.
"Stop him!"
"Absolutely don't let him escape!"
Hearing this, Funny Valentine, who was deeply inhaling Lucy's scent, slowly opened his eyes, turned his head, and cast a glance over.
"Escape?"
"Don't joke."
"I said it already, this is a trial to step into a new world. As long as it's a trial, it will inevitably be accompanied by battle and blood. The stronger the enemies of the trial, the better."
"Because all of you are sacrifices leading to the new era."
"The stronger and more precious the sacrifices, the grander the ritual will be, and the more brilliant the new era I create will become."
"And now..."
Within the divided sea.
The world seemed to enter its final fork in the road.
Funny Valentine's gaze fell one by one on Ryosuke, Hot Pants, Gyro, and Johnny, with D4C standing behind him.
"The sacrifice begins."