Was this the final temptation of Al Yis Un? To stay in the Throne of all Creation and smoke and read books and play the lyre, while Jagganoth burns everything around here? Was this the goal of The Lady of Infinite Repose?
Dude she just went through a traumatic experience, this isn’t a temptation, it’s self care. She already given the universe everything she had, leave her alone and let her read a fucking book.
It’s been months, that should be enough time to get past the initial stages of the trauma and grief and towards the first steps on the path to recovery
I certainly agree with the point that burning yourself as fuel will not end well, but… I feel it’s a similar situation to “there is no ethical consumption under capitalism”, yknow? It’s not a license to close your eyes and pretend nothing is wrong.
“Total victory is not found in the final sword blow. To perfect victory you cannot continue to spill the blood of a fallen foe, which only shows your insecurities to your many enemies. Instead, you must nurse your foe back to health, dress, and feed him, but not so much that he regains his strength. You must take away every aspect of him which originally seemed fierce and indestructible. In every aspect you must diminish and crush his spirit with affection, all the while maintaining your grip on his sword arm. In this way, kindness is the greatest cruelty.”
I mean she kinda has a shining sign of her divinity in her head, which is pretty recognizable.
And she’s also seen the entire universe. So that probably includes this moment, and knowing that this is Zaid.
On the one hand, glad to see Allison put some weight back on and found a measure of chill instead of the previous heaping of “oof”. Seems like the mourning process is going well.
On the other hand… well… *stares out the window, sees the multiverse burning, tugs collar*
I do hope Allison at some point realizes she was deceived. The Demiurges are, if anything, a boatload of mad men at the best- at the worst cunning politicians in their words.
It’s been made plenty clear that they are prisoners in prisons of their own making – gilded cages at best. Being mad would be a preferable fate for them, and only the greediest one achieved reprieve in his own mind.
On the one hand, hurray – the pair has found each other again ( whatever the reasoning, that’s sort of been a running theme for the comic )
On the other, they’re likely about to have a particularly awkward conversation.
42 Fragments the Universe Beyond All Reintegration
Well, he was there on Rayuba when everything happened, she’ve gone missing, everybody is dead, Allisson is MIA until now… It’s safe to assume that MAYBE she wasn’t well enough to fight.
Hell I don’t smoke but there’s been a couple times I’ve been tempted to like steal one of my partners even though I hate the smell when the brain gremlins are bad cause I just like.. Need something
I honestly like it how it subverts the whole damsel in a tower archetype subtly. Less saving the helpless and more soldier addressing an injured comrade.
Note that Allison’s eyes have been grey ever since she woke up after the timeskip. Her eyes shifting from her original blue back to grey in the last panel indicates Jadis’ influence.
I think that theory finally has some legs. Compare Zaid here with Zoss in his first appearance (3-42). They both have the earlobe plugs and the reddish irises. We will have to wait and see if he gets a wooden arm and everything else.
Nah, it’s more likely that they’re in the same tradition of magic. Vajras, if I recall correctly – there’s an example really early in KSBD, when we first meet the pursuers.
Consulting the tomes, you discuss Vatras. The likes of Eris-Lo Kai, wielders of the Red and White arts. We do not know what magics or martial arts Zoss wields, or wielded, but I do not believe he is a simple Vatra. Zaid doubly so, though for lack of time rather than excess of notoriety.
It’s not made suuuper clear in the comic to which you’re referring, but the panels right after her deciding to take the food and the intermixed panels of Zaid’s entrance also has a quick mention of six months passing. The two sets of panels are kind of interspersed but its implied that she gave in, THEN six months passed, and THEN Zaid shows up.
Whoooooooshhh…. That’s the sound of real life years of comic character development thrown away in an instant. Thanks author for confirming my theory of this being Zaid who needs to save Allisson.
Thanks for this braindead take, I’m sure you have many other sparkling insights to push your delusional narrative that disregards everything that’s happened to Allison that led her to this point.
Allison believes she’s lost everything and everyone, to her own hubris. She has been daunted and defeated, and was smote by Jagganoth. The only other Demiurges who could stand to him are dead, traitors, or disinterested.
Zaid was bought by the Star Emperor, saved by Allison, awed by her, and is happy to return the favour. He’s craved his freedom, yet she’s done so much harm, and is tempted by the tranquility of this captivity. Kerry is unobservant.
Ladies: in order to be Strong, you have to sacrifice absolutely everything and suffer unimaginably with no reciprocation whatsoever. If a friend helps you even a little bit, it means you are simply a damsel in distress. Remember that you only have value when you are serving other people! This is feminism, to me.
That is fucking insane and has nothing to do with feminism. Hell I know a lot of feminists who have argued that society needs to stop constantly expecting woman to put the needs of their family and community a head of themselves. So I have no idea where you got this idea of feminism from, but I’m pretty sure it was your ass.
Yeah. Seriously, he’s asking if she’s fit to fight. He obviously hasn’t forgotten she’s a badass who can take care of herself in a fight. (At least when she’s well). His talk about his own increased strength was in response to her concern for the danger to himself in Jadis’ ziggurath.
Hosetly, I get so tired of people imediately getting up in arms when a woman is helped/rescued/saved by a man or even if it only looks that way. The whole point of equality is that it doesn’t matter who rescues who.
Plus, it’s a bit insulting to Abaddon to think he would reduce Alison to a helpless damsel just to give Zaid a chance to play the hero.
My problem with this is that I have yet to be given a reason to care about Zaid. He first showed up pressuring Allison into sex, and since then has just kinda been a nebulous goal while also being the representation of her being unworthy.
Now, in the end, it’s shown that he has achieved so much more than her, even though she was given god like power. She is, in fact, unworthy and has not developed like someone who should have been the protagonist (Zaid) did.
Has he achieved? This may well be the final lie, the lure of sloth, the soft lie that men have spoken for centuries: that things will be OK if we let them take care of things. The final outcome remains in doubt.
He wasn’t actually pressuring her into sex; she was perfectly willing. (She even scheduled the ‘loose my viginity?’ date with him.) Sure, she was nervous, but he was NOT pressuring her. Also, back then she wasn’t yet aware that she swung the other way which explains her discomfort fairly well.
I think you’re expecting a different story from the one Abaddon seems to be telling. I’d wager you were expecting some kind of feminist shonen, and I think Abaddon delights in subverting expectations too much to write something so pedestrian.
To the specific facts you’ve mentioned, no, Allison was never destined to be a shonen hero. According to Jagannoth, Zoss prefers male heirs possessing more courage than sense and a knack for martial skills. Allison has the courage part, but as both White Chain and her first opponent in the Ring of Power indicate, she doesn’t actually have much affinity for martial arts.
Also, I think Zaid has also had more training time. Don’t quote me on this, but I think Allison had two-ish years to train, versus the three and a half Zaid has had to train?
So it’s not surprising that Zaid has exhibited more growth in the martial arts.
But that’s okay.
The series mantra may be “reach heaven through violence”, but in stark contrast, the narrative has implied that violence will not be the solution here. Hence, it doesn’t matter if she’s not good at martial arts, because this isn’t a shonen.
You’re taking physical power as something that’s important to being the protagonist, when it isn’t, at least in this comic. Zaid may be more talented than Allison when it comes to learning how to kill people, but that doesn’t make him the better person or protagonist.
What makes you think he’s achieved more than her? Literally all he’s done is sneak into a place and kill one guy. Nothing in this comic shows that he’s done anything even remotely close to as impressive as the things that Allison have done. It’s pretty clear that Allison is imprisoned here because she has been psychologically trapped, not because she has been physically trapped by those weak ass prism-headed guards.
It is mentioned before that Cio’s husband painstakingly remade her mask from pieces in order to get her back, and even then she came back changed. There is reason to worry.
Books are perhaps dangerous because they are NOT destructive. Indeed, they can give the illusion (to oneself or observers) that an individual is engaged in a worthwhile pursuit. Yet when one flees into their pages in a quest to become lost, little of value is likely to be gained. No amount of paper and ink substitutes for opening one’s eyes to the world and those who people it.
When used thus, the effect of books is like any drug; the mind becomes numb and requires greater and greater stimulation to derive any sensation from them at all. In such a state, one can read and read and read and feel nothing, not tension or interest or affection, not fear or excitement.
In the end, pain becomes the only sensation that feels real. All else is dulled, muted, a faint echo, and so one may seek out pain in order to feel anything at all.
Books can become a habit as empty as any other, and all the more insidious for so few perceive their danger.
If the final smile doesn’t convince you, remember that 3 pages ago he entered the place when she was on the edge from dying, so it’s definitely an illusion
The Result of someone’s will, or lack thereof, will be shown off soon. A devious smile made under breath and shadow, hiding behind it. Is this Garden of Eden truly safe from The Red Death’s encroach? Or has apathy simply won over Allison to the point of not caring. Perhaps she has truly moved on from “Nothing Matters…” to “Nothing matters!”
Those who said the guy was Zaid, despite various physical differences from. when he was last seen, are…. CORRECT. What has he (and companions) been doing these several years since the great battle?
I like that at the very beginning of the comic they were on the cusp of forging a very awkward and shallow connection, and even though they’ve only seen each other a few times since, they have an incredibly deep bond. If it wasn’t for Cio, I might even ship those two.
I do hope they become really good friends, at the very least. Zaid looks like he’s come a long way from the creep he was several hundred pages (and days!) ago.
Somehow, I don’t think he’ll take what Allison is about to say very well, though.
Was this the final temptation of Al Yis Un? To stay in the Throne of all Creation and smoke and read books and play the lyre, while Jagganoth burns everything around here? Was this the goal of The Lady of Infinite Repose?
Truly, perhaps Sloth is the greatest Sin of all
Glendis is observant
Now she’s beautiful as she never was. There is no greater frivolity than complacent contentment.
This is true, but notice how she also picked up the greatest Vice of all: cigarettes. Philip Morris has expanded into throne as well im afraid…
Is Jagganoth still around I thought his followers were still warring and He was missing?
Dude she just went through a traumatic experience, this isn’t a temptation, it’s self care. She already given the universe everything she had, leave her alone and let her read a fucking book.
It’s been months, that should be enough time to get past the initial stages of the trauma and grief and towards the first steps on the path to recovery
Emotional trauma, perhaps beginning to recover. Physical? From where she was? Possibly longer.
Months? It’s been 3 years.
The one who speaks these words bears the signology of a demon lord. The Wheel turns, regardless of pain – perhaps sometimes even faster due to it.
Okay demiurge.
It is not your duty to finish the work, but neither are you at liberty to neglect it. – Rabbi Tarfon
I certainly agree with the point that burning yourself as fuel will not end well, but… I feel it’s a similar situation to “there is no ethical consumption under capitalism”, yknow? It’s not a license to close your eyes and pretend nothing is wrong.
If action without restraint is the sign of royalty, then inaction must be the greatest sin, yes.
Holy shit!
How am I only just now realizing that the demiurges match the seven deadly sins?
Too many bottles, or perhaps too few?
“Total victory is not found in the final sword blow. To perfect victory you cannot continue to spill the blood of a fallen foe, which only shows your insecurities to your many enemies. Instead, you must nurse your foe back to health, dress, and feed him, but not so much that he regains his strength. You must take away every aspect of him which originally seemed fierce and indestructible. In every aspect you must diminish and crush his spirit with affection, all the while maintaining your grip on his sword arm. In this way, kindness is the greatest cruelty.”
-Au Vam
Bruh just fucking say Allison you god damn nerd! quit trying to be quirky
“They’ve tied my shoelaces together.”
Metaphorically speaking.
A+
this is possibly the most perfect comment of all time. i’m going to start using this phrase metaphorically, cheers zar’.
“A knot… bastards.”
Ponder the questions:
How does she recognize him, muscular and brawny?
How does he recognize her, the moody teenager?
I mean she kinda has a shining sign of her divinity in her head, which is pretty recognizable.
And she’s also seen the entire universe. So that probably includes this moment, and knowing that this is Zaid.
I doubt that. She saw nothing.
Zaid isn’t much.
On the one hand, glad to see Allison put some weight back on and found a measure of chill instead of the previous heaping of “oof”. Seems like the mourning process is going well.
On the other hand… well… *stares out the window, sees the multiverse burning, tugs collar*
Who’s mourning, eh? To what do we owe the wry smirk on the final panel?
Not Allison, I say.
She doesn’t want anyone else to die for her again.
I do hope Allison at some point realizes she was deceived. The Demiurges are, if anything, a boatload of mad men at the best- at the worst cunning politicians in their words.
It’s been made plenty clear that they are prisoners in prisons of their own making – gilded cages at best. Being mad would be a preferable fate for them, and only the greediest one achieved reprieve in his own mind.
On the one hand, hurray – the pair has found each other again ( whatever the reasoning, that’s sort of been a running theme for the comic )
On the other, they’re likely about to have a particularly awkward conversation.
“Are you well enough to fight?” Zaid knows that Allison was badly hurt? Wonder who told him that.
Well, he was there on Rayuba when everything happened, she’ve gone missing, everybody is dead, Allisson is MIA until now… It’s safe to assume that MAYBE she wasn’t well enough to fight.
well in some ways
she’s characteristic mental patient, from the little socks, to the disaster ponytail, to the cigarettes
she carries the pear drop smell of unwashed hair, body odour and cigarettes, which means friend you hug till they let go
Hell I don’t smoke but there’s been a couple times I’ve been tempted to like steal one of my partners even though I hate the smell when the brain gremlins are bad cause I just like.. Need something
I honestly like it how it subverts the whole damsel in a tower archetype subtly. Less saving the helpless and more soldier addressing an injured comrade.
that is not her right?
why wouldnt it be her?
Fragonard’s the Swing parallel is sending me a bit. Curious how that’s gonna play out in Allison and Zaids convo…
Forgive my lacking insights into the rococo, but apart from her sitting on a swing what are the parallels?
The painting you refer to is a wild, vibrant and dynamic piece while Allison is framed almost like a stilleben.
Note that Allison’s eyes have been grey ever since she woke up after the timeskip. Her eyes shifting from her original blue back to grey in the last panel indicates Jadis’ influence.
The smile, if you could call it that, on the final panel- reminds me of a certain someone.
Prim Humdum is observant.
Indeed, those eyes are not smiling.
Damn Zaid is zaddy now (also feeling like my harebrained theory that Zaid is Zoss is getting less harebrained by the day)
If true, Zoss messing with his own origins would be… problematic…
Yes, but everyone is actually Yisun so it balances out.
I think that theory finally has some legs. Compare Zaid here with Zoss in his first appearance (3-42). They both have the earlobe plugs and the reddish irises. We will have to wait and see if he gets a wooden arm and everything else.
Could be that Zaid and Zoss are each their universe’s version of their archetype. In another world, Zaid might have been Zoss and Zoss, Zaid.
Nah, it’s more likely that they’re in the same tradition of magic. Vajras, if I recall correctly – there’s an example really early in KSBD, when we first meet the pursuers.
Consulting the tomes, you discuss Vatras. The likes of Eris-Lo Kai, wielders of the Red and White arts. We do not know what magics or martial arts Zoss wields, or wielded, but I do not believe he is a simple Vatra. Zaid doubly so, though for lack of time rather than excess of notoriety.
Zoss was probably master of just about every Art there is, martial or sorcerous or whatever
Except maybe Ki Rata. And except maybe the Black Art too. But he should know all the rest, alongside his own unique stuff.
It was stated that Zoss taught the Vatras and the Demiurges to travel to throne, but none of them could do it the same way he did.
I’m pretty sure that Zoss is pretty far removed from the shackles of causality by this point, as one would expect when one achieves royalty.
I mean, the man has made a career out of making time his own personal plaything.
Wasn’t Allison sick in her bed in the scene where the pyramid head heard Zaid climbing? I think something’s fishy
It’s not made suuuper clear in the comic to which you’re referring, but the panels right after her deciding to take the food and the intermixed panels of Zaid’s entrance also has a quick mention of six months passing. The two sets of panels are kind of interspersed but its implied that she gave in, THEN six months passed, and THEN Zaid shows up.
Jaehaerys is correct, yet undoubtedly the odor of fish lingers. Trust nothing in Jadis’ palace of lies.
Since the lich knows everything and so knows Zaid is there, and there’s no alarm, then she must be OK with it.
No alarm, YET. The spider waits until the fly is firmly committed to the web before it strikes.
Time skip. Six months have passed.
Duh. Damn comments didn’t load. Back to eating my plum, I guess.
As much as I wish this were true, I cannot banish the gnawing thought that this is Jadis in disguise.
Whoooooooshhh…. That’s the sound of real life years of comic character development thrown away in an instant. Thanks author for confirming my theory of this being Zaid who needs to save Allisson.
Perfect comprehension of this single page’s ultimate meaning, 10/10, would read your magnificent insight again.
Thanks for this braindead take, I’m sure you have many other sparkling insights to push your delusional narrative that disregards everything that’s happened to Allison that led her to this point.
Allison believes she’s lost everything and everyone, to her own hubris. She has been daunted and defeated, and was smote by Jagganoth. The only other Demiurges who could stand to him are dead, traitors, or disinterested.
Zaid was bought by the Star Emperor, saved by Allison, awed by her, and is happy to return the favour. He’s craved his freedom, yet she’s done so much harm, and is tempted by the tranquility of this captivity. Kerry is unobservant.
Word Nerd Note™
The word smite has simple past form smote, and past perfect form smitten. So Alison “was smitten by Jagganoth.”
Ladies: in order to be Strong, you have to sacrifice absolutely everything and suffer unimaginably with no reciprocation whatsoever. If a friend helps you even a little bit, it means you are simply a damsel in distress. Remember that you only have value when you are serving other people! This is feminism, to me.
That is fucking insane and has nothing to do with feminism. Hell I know a lot of feminists who have argued that society needs to stop constantly expecting woman to put the needs of their family and community a head of themselves. So I have no idea where you got this idea of feminism from, but I’m pretty sure it was your ass.
That sarcasm was so biting it tore out your sense of irony.
Yeah. Seriously, he’s asking if she’s fit to fight. He obviously hasn’t forgotten she’s a badass who can take care of herself in a fight. (At least when she’s well). His talk about his own increased strength was in response to her concern for the danger to himself in Jadis’ ziggurath.
Hosetly, I get so tired of people imediately getting up in arms when a woman is helped/rescued/saved by a man or even if it only looks that way. The whole point of equality is that it doesn’t matter who rescues who.
Plus, it’s a bit insulting to Abaddon to think he would reduce Alison to a helpless damsel just to give Zaid a chance to play the hero.
He LITERALLY said that with the two of them they might be able to fight their way out, implying he needs Al-Yisun’s help.
Exactly!
Al-Yisun. Allison. *magik*
This reading report recieved a D-, it lacks thematic comprehension. Make-up submissions will be accepted.
Is Alison being saved by Zaid because she is a woman and he is a man? Or is she being saved by a FRIEND because she is in need? Big difference.
My problem with this is that I have yet to be given a reason to care about Zaid. He first showed up pressuring Allison into sex, and since then has just kinda been a nebulous goal while also being the representation of her being unworthy.
Now, in the end, it’s shown that he has achieved so much more than her, even though she was given god like power. She is, in fact, unworthy and has not developed like someone who should have been the protagonist (Zaid) did.
Has he achieved? This may well be the final lie, the lure of sloth, the soft lie that men have spoken for centuries: that things will be OK if we let them take care of things. The final outcome remains in doubt.
He wasn’t actually pressuring her into sex; she was perfectly willing. (She even scheduled the ‘loose my viginity?’ date with him.) Sure, she was nervous, but he was NOT pressuring her. Also, back then she wasn’t yet aware that she swung the other way which explains her discomfort fairly well.
To be fair, he was definitely a bit pushy during that scene, but he’s come a long way from being the jock(?) he used to be.
I think you’re expecting a different story from the one Abaddon seems to be telling. I’d wager you were expecting some kind of feminist shonen, and I think Abaddon delights in subverting expectations too much to write something so pedestrian.
To the specific facts you’ve mentioned, no, Allison was never destined to be a shonen hero. According to Jagannoth, Zoss prefers male heirs possessing more courage than sense and a knack for martial skills. Allison has the courage part, but as both White Chain and her first opponent in the Ring of Power indicate, she doesn’t actually have much affinity for martial arts.
Also, I think Zaid has also had more training time. Don’t quote me on this, but I think Allison had two-ish years to train, versus the three and a half Zaid has had to train?
So it’s not surprising that Zaid has exhibited more growth in the martial arts.
But that’s okay.
The series mantra may be “reach heaven through violence”, but in stark contrast, the narrative has implied that violence will not be the solution here. Hence, it doesn’t matter if she’s not good at martial arts, because this isn’t a shonen.
«I think Zaid has also had more training time.»
He may have been trained by Solomon David himself, the master of Ki-Rata, and anyhow a martial arts master of greatest skill.
You’re taking physical power as something that’s important to being the protagonist, when it isn’t, at least in this comic. Zaid may be more talented than Allison when it comes to learning how to kill people, but that doesn’t make him the better person or protagonist.
What makes you think he’s achieved more than her? Literally all he’s done is sneak into a place and kill one guy. Nothing in this comic shows that he’s done anything even remotely close to as impressive as the things that Allison have done. It’s pretty clear that Allison is imprisoned here because she has been psychologically trapped, not because she has been physically trapped by those weak ass prism-headed guards.
Allison smokes?
Since Cio, yes.
Cio got smoked
Demons don’t die, they just get banished (and this is canon).
She will return, if someone go to the aether between worlds and give her another mask.
If not, it would be a huge continuity error.
It is mentioned before that Cio’s husband painstakingly remade her mask from pieces in order to get her back, and even then she came back changed. There is reason to worry.
I wonder if Alison and the Sphinx could cooperate to bring back the one they love, even if the product is somewhere between Yab and Cio.
The Hot Black Flame is immortal. The fragile individuality that is generated by a Mask? Less so. Not absolutely mortal, but, very, very much more so.
I really want to protest that a pile of good books shouldn’t be equated with the wine, cigs, and beer, but…
…yeah, books can be used as a way to avoid your pain too.
Ask me how I know.
How do you know, Prim Domini?
Books are perhaps dangerous because they are NOT destructive. Indeed, they can give the illusion (to oneself or observers) that an individual is engaged in a worthwhile pursuit. Yet when one flees into their pages in a quest to become lost, little of value is likely to be gained. No amount of paper and ink substitutes for opening one’s eyes to the world and those who people it.
When used thus, the effect of books is like any drug; the mind becomes numb and requires greater and greater stimulation to derive any sensation from them at all. In such a state, one can read and read and read and feel nothing, not tension or interest or affection, not fear or excitement.
In the end, pain becomes the only sensation that feels real. All else is dulled, muted, a faint echo, and so one may seek out pain in order to feel anything at all.
Books can become a habit as empty as any other, and all the more insidious for so few perceive their danger.
Looks like Allison went the way of Bilbo Baggins in her self-care. Let’s see if Zaid can Gandalf her out of it…
“Fear the dead man, for he cannot change.
A dead hero is forever a hero and even their corpse will haunt the wicked.”
– Sleeping Knight mantra.
If the final smile doesn’t convince you, remember that 3 pages ago he entered the place when she was on the edge from dying, so it’s definitely an illusion
Sure if you completely ignore the six months later part.
There’s a 6 month smash cut between Allison’s hand reaching for the fruit, and Zaid’s hand hitting the window.
I see she still hasn’t realized that the world is a lie.
Is the world a cake?
To be fair if the world is a lie then nothing isn’t a lie and it’s a meaningless distinction regardless.
The Result of someone’s will, or lack thereof, will be shown off soon. A devious smile made under breath and shadow, hiding behind it. Is this Garden of Eden truly safe from The Red Death’s encroach? Or has apathy simply won over Allison to the point of not caring. Perhaps she has truly moved on from “Nothing Matters…” to “Nothing matters!”
Buzz Buzz
Those who said the guy was Zaid, despite various physical differences from. when he was last seen, are…. CORRECT. What has he (and companions) been doing these several years since the great battle?
I like that at the very beginning of the comic they were on the cusp of forging a very awkward and shallow connection, and even though they’ve only seen each other a few times since, they have an incredibly deep bond. If it wasn’t for Cio, I might even ship those two.
Oh my YISUN you’re right. They would be perfect ship material.
You’re thinking much too small. Allison is the bearer of the blade of want.
Add him to the pile.
I do hope they become really good friends, at the very least. Zaid looks like he’s come a long way from the creep he was several hundred pages (and days!) ago.
Somehow, I don’t think he’ll take what Allison is about to say very well, though.