Now all that’s left to see, is the many Cubit Spear.
100? 300? 700?
Who knows what The Fool, with 3 of the 4 Flames of YISUN and the might of “I” can do.
Perhaps they can even use a spear of a greater unit!
So many people assume that she is going to kick ass… but she could be the embrace that heals, the word that enlightens… reach heaven by getting past (through) violence.
That’s a good point. One of Jag’s problems right now is that Metatron’s feathers make the dead man immune to death. But now Allison also has angel-stuff merged with her.
If anyone can bring some understanding/compassion to the mix, it’s “Aspected Chaos”, who looks much more zen than Allicio.
Yes, that is a possibility – a very unexciting possibility. And very out of character for this story, which is more oriented toward murderous rage followed by make-up sex.
Oh don’t get me wrong, she might have to overcome… resistance, or defend herself. And you are not wrong, it goes all the way back to YIS and UN. But consider that Zoss was a great master of inflicting violence, as are the demiurges that usurped him… and where has that gotten all of them and the world?
Or if you’d want it phrased differently the world has been in murderous rage for its entire history, maybe it’s time for the world to have some cosmic make-up sex.
I…don’t really get how this works though? With the devil fusion, it was simple; Allison puts on the devil mask, they fuse. It’s a rare technique because devils are assholes and they usually just eat the soul of the person wearing the mask, and it makes sense because it’s a mask and you wear masks, so that’s the logical outcome of putting on a devil’s mask.
With this it’s kind of, like…they just jumped on each other and fused? White Chain is human (or something) now, so can devil-fused warriors just fuse additional people on top of the first one? How does that work with the mask? Is DBZ/Steven Universe fusing just a thing people can do in this universe, like a technique you can learn? How’d they do it without practicing? Is it super easy as long as you’re best friends? Why don’t Mottom and Mammon fuse then? Why isn’t everyone fusing with their buddies, all the time? Why doesn’t Solomon fuse with all his sons and become some weird kind of super-dad? (is it because he hates his sons?)
42 Fragments the Universe Beyond All Reintegration
Firstly, it doesn’t really matter how, it’s awesome and they’re happy with it.
Secondly, White Chain’s recent body is still (I think) a vessel that she wears, just made of flesh rather than forged ash: this is why she could still separate her soul briefly (seen at the end of Book 4). So Allison’s body can wear both the other two.
But thou art right, the nature of White Chain’s ‘soul(flame)’ supposedly remains as was.
Simultaneously, following from here, on how one might then go on to explain that such a fusion is possible when it is unheard of, either:
a) the fleshy corporeal vessel was necessary (doesn’t seem too likely);
b) the very mindset that allowed for the fleshy corporeal vessel to happen is necessary, as an angel would normally never do such a thing, but the fleshy corporeal vessel itself is irrelevant.
c) the key of kings is involved (but this would be the least satisfying explanation, as it lends itself to explaining virtually anything).
I think you’re right that the angel’s mindset is the really big thing here. More so than the human shell she was able to assume.
I think White Chain has found out that truth is what you make it (not the same thing as lying…) even if it’s different from what others believe, and Allison is very much a person in the image of Aesma (the Fool who has things work simply because she doesn’t realize that they “shouldn’t” work according to someone else’s rules). And those two things were necessary.
I think if White Chain wasn’t as flexible mentally as she is, she wouldn’t be stable merged together with Allison (the warm black flame), much less Cio (the hot black flame).
We do know another angel has contributed (both voluntarily and involuntarily) their “stuff” to humans with the warm black flame. Metatron is the source of the Key of Kings, and I suspect it’s made up of chunks of his mind and knowledge, although it’s not explicitly mentioned it actually has angel-soul-stuff mixed into it. And we know Metatron gave Jag feathers.
The completely voluntary merging of White Chain with Allicio is a continuation of that. But a much more healthy form of it than what happened to Metatron and Jag, or between Zoss and Metatron.
Anyway, my point is, mindsets really matter when it comes to magic in this world…what you think and don’t think is possible directly shapes what is possible or not possible, and I think they’re why this happened.
42 Fragments the Universe Beyond All Reintegration
There’s also the possibility that angle-human fusions have happened before but the archangels did away with them. And then made very sure not to talk about it.
In the Bible (Genesis) it mentions Nephilim, which is usually translated as “giants” created “when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bore children to them”. So the cool lore for this new form is already there lol
42 Fragments the Universe Beyond All Reintegration
If you were an angel, and knew that fusion was possible, safe even, why would you _want_ to do it? Not to gain power (you’re already OP). Not sexual attraction. Not existential threat (you’re immortal, so you don’t generally have those; but now there is Jagganoth etc.). Not sense of duty. Boredom? Can an angel actually _get_ that bored?
To punch people better, I assume. Angels are supposed to do justice with punches; why wouldn’t they go find some righteous soul to fuse with the way demons do and become exponentially more powerful?
I get the “because it’s awesome” explanation, which is what this comic runs on, but I guess I would like a firmer grasp of what the rules on fusing are in this universe. Because the first fusion made sense in a weird way, and the text box gave a bit of lore explaining about “devilskin” warriors and why warriors don’t fuse with devils more often (it’s because the devils eat them).
Maybe a bit of fluff talking about how no-one ever tried to fuse with an angel before because angels find humans weak/immoral/kind of gross? Maybe it was forbidden by Koss for some reason? I mean, the actual mechanic is still a bit dubious because White Chain isn’t bound in her armour anymore, which is the angel’s analogous part to the devil’s mask. She’s apparently human, or half-human, or an angel soul in a human body, or whatever is going on there. So the way it’s been presented, it really just looks like humans can fuse with other humans, or that devilskin warriors can pile fusions on top of fusions, or that angels can fuse the way devilskin warriors can and that’s what White Chain is doing but it works differently because she isn’t a nuclear ghost inside a suit of armour anymore, so all she has to do is glomp someone.
It’s just weird! I mean, yeah, sure, cool six-armed lady, but it still doesn’t really make sense yet.
42 Fragments the Universe Beyond All Reintegration
I’d agree with you that the thing most needing an explanation is why this hasn’t happened before. That it’s possible doesn’t worry me at all in this setting.
I think for an angel to do this, that angel needs to let go of absolute purity while retaining compassion and selflessness. Root knights are too hung up on purity. Thorn knights lack compassion. Petal knights tend to selfishness. If there are other kind, we haven’t really met them yet.
White Chain is pretty much the only angel who would be happy with the result, and if the fused people aren’t happy the fusion breaks.
Agree, consistency matters and this is beyond any current realm of explanation based on what we know and the story has revealed.
White Chain is something new, sure, and there might be unknown rules around that, or mindset where both Cio is much more in tune with her order side and White Chain much more in tune with her Chaos side, meeting Allison’s middle ground much more easily.
But there’s no reason (we’re aware of) for even the characters to think, believe or theorise that they could merge with White Chain either because merging with angel’s is possible in general, or because her human body somehow makes it possible. Cio is the most knowledgeable and she immediately questions it while Allison somehow gleams a “of course” moment, like there’s something obvious that lends to the feasibility.
Rather than the “take me with you” repeat, Something quick and simple about her soul flame or taking a body and leaving it or such could give SOME indication that there’s a fundamental about why they think this’ll work.
I suspect there will likely be some comment after this is done and they’ve de-merged, which is fine.
…But anway, time to finish Jag with a 300 Cubit Spear XD
It would have made more sense for her to do this before she became human, I can imagine Allicio inhaling angel vapours. Maybe her flesh form is actually just solidified angel vapour? On the other hand, they’re all magic and one of them is wearing the unlimited power of God as jewellery.
Who was it that said “Of course” in panel 3? I thought it was Cio, who certainly has a greater knowledge of such things than Allison. But… if you consider the fact that Cio’s eyes are above Allison’s, and that the question is above the reply, you could conclude that the question came from Cio and Allison’s reply is the boundless-confidence-without-basis that marks her Aesma-nature.
Yeah, I’m pretty sure the question came from Cio and the reply from Allison. Also look at their eyes – Cio’s doing a quizzical eyebrow raise, while Allison looks like she’s had the realization.
I don’t think any of the demiurges *have* buddies to fuse with, if they’d even think to try. We’ve seen plenty of times that their ideologies are incompatible with friendship, I think most obviously from Incubus’ lessons in Yre. And in fairness, standing alone has served them well until now.
For that reason, I think it’s totally plausible this kind of fusion was possible all along – just no one ever tried it because being a sociopathic loner is so much faster and more obvious.
I have some theories about this, actually, but it seems like they’ve all been touched on by various commenters above me. And yes, the really important thing here to remember is that neither Allison, Cio, nor White Chain actually went into this knowing how it works: they just kind of all went “OK, so all of us need to go on this mission for it to have the slightest chance, and two of us have already combined into one person so…is there a way to do something like that for all 3 of us?” And then there was.
Also, it’s very much worth noting that there wasn’t a particular “putting on the mask” scene in the last page either – just a flash of light, in between panels. It’s entirely possible there’s some other mechanics going on here, too, that we jus aren’t seeing on-panel.
Also like, Allison has the King’s Key thing, the most powerful power in the universes. A lot of things are possible for her, presumably, that wouldn’t work for anyone else, so the question of ‘why doesn’t everyone do this weird powerful thing’ becomes moot, and she’s demonstrably been able to pull random weird magic out her butt before when context-appropriate so ‘how did she learn’ is also not necessarily important.
How did Allison teleport a whole ship back in book 2? How can she summon the god-killing spears of lightning that no one has seen for thousands of years and no one ever could do except Zoss? I think the comic has been very consistent in telling us using the power of the master key comes specifically from “not” thinking about how to do something, but just deciding. The attitude of royalty.
Oh me too, Ol’ Jack! Fooled and fooled again. I didn’t think White Chain would go with it, but here she’s the one who requested it. Pretty freaking wild!
A very interesting surprise! Well, for us at any rate, others seemed to understand the direction the tale was heading.
With her new body, I think White Chain’s warming up to the notion that today’s a day to break the rules if ever there was one.
In the words of the wise sage: “#not to be a lesbian but oh my fucking god. oh my god. jesus fuck #ing christ. oh my god. fucking jesus fucking christ. god in heaven. holy fucki ng shit”
Ah, the timeless wisdom of the great 7 Lesbian Sages of the Gay Internet. Truly, a beacon in these dark times. I am glad that someone out there is so well versed in the Classics.
And off on the side,
Visage long frozen
Jadis, Demiurge:
Divine Oracle
Unfailing Seer
Beheld the New King
White Flame and Black Flame
ALL of YIS and UN
Glass cracks with her mirth
And Jadis Thus Spake:
“I *Fucking* Called It!”
There are a lot of cool things here, but it’s the central panel that I keep coming back to: the white, opalescent scene where white chain looks utterly soft and vulnerable, both a little scared and hopeful, and where Cio and Allison are gazing into her eyes with the same grin, but different expressions. Allison looks radiant, welcoming; Cio looks intent, delighted; the whole tableau is enraptured.
This panel has to *sell* why this crazy thing they are doing works; with the amazing details of their merger as a final notation. It has to crystalise the storytelling between this trio up until this point. It’s a statement about who they have become and what they mean to each other.
I just love all the love really, and it’s so beautiful to have a panel with all three of them, where it feels like their fiery-authentic selves are just there and open to each other. *All* labels: I just love what they are to each other, however it manifests. Thank you Abby <3
I was puzzling over how literal the name is–“Aspected Chaos”–until I realized that an angel, White Chain, is a part of her.
So she’s kind of almost the angel/demi-angel “1 Aspected Chaos”. Or at least the name is closer to an angel name, which says something about “who” she is, than a human or devil name.
Arms out, the body was gone, the gold fetters and chains fell to the earth and one word was grinningly spoken thus:
“DELIVERANCE.”
Now all that’s left to see, is the many Cubit Spear.
100? 300? 700?
Who knows what The Fool, with 3 of the 4 Flames of YISUN and the might of “I” can do.
Perhaps they can even use a spear of a greater unit!
So many people assume that she is going to kick ass… but she could be the embrace that heals, the word that enlightens… reach heaven by getting past (through) violence.
That’s a good point. One of Jag’s problems right now is that Metatron’s feathers make the dead man immune to death. But now Allison also has angel-stuff merged with her.
If anyone can bring some understanding/compassion to the mix, it’s “Aspected Chaos”, who looks much more zen than Allicio.
Yes, that is a possibility – a very unexciting possibility. And very out of character for this story, which is more oriented toward murderous rage followed by make-up sex.
I’m hoping for the most royal battle royal ever!
Oh don’t get me wrong, she might have to overcome… resistance, or defend herself. And you are not wrong, it goes all the way back to YIS and UN. But consider that Zoss was a great master of inflicting violence, as are the demiurges that usurped him… and where has that gotten all of them and the world?
Or if you’d want it phrased differently the world has been in murderous rage for its entire history, maybe it’s time for the world to have some cosmic make-up sex.
I KNEW THEY WOULD ONE DAY EEEEEEEEEEEEE
GIANT WOMAN
I am rendered speechless.
They finally have ONE voice when fused.
(Love the rainbow touch. ^^ )
And basically all I want to say has been done so already by others.
Thank you all for sharing the joy of this with everyone.
I feel that binge-watching Steven Universe with my children has prepared me for this moment.
I…don’t really get how this works though? With the devil fusion, it was simple; Allison puts on the devil mask, they fuse. It’s a rare technique because devils are assholes and they usually just eat the soul of the person wearing the mask, and it makes sense because it’s a mask and you wear masks, so that’s the logical outcome of putting on a devil’s mask.
With this it’s kind of, like…they just jumped on each other and fused? White Chain is human (or something) now, so can devil-fused warriors just fuse additional people on top of the first one? How does that work with the mask? Is DBZ/Steven Universe fusing just a thing people can do in this universe, like a technique you can learn? How’d they do it without practicing? Is it super easy as long as you’re best friends? Why don’t Mottom and Mammon fuse then? Why isn’t everyone fusing with their buddies, all the time? Why doesn’t Solomon fuse with all his sons and become some weird kind of super-dad? (is it because he hates his sons?)
Firstly, it doesn’t really matter how, it’s awesome and they’re happy with it.
Secondly, White Chain’s recent body is still (I think) a vessel that she wears, just made of flesh rather than forged ash: this is why she could still separate her soul briefly (seen at the end of Book 4). So Allison’s body can wear both the other two.
It is a story! Internal consistency matters!
But thou art right, the nature of White Chain’s ‘soul(flame)’ supposedly remains as was.
Simultaneously, following from here, on how one might then go on to explain that such a fusion is possible when it is unheard of, either:
a) the fleshy corporeal vessel was necessary (doesn’t seem too likely);
b) the very mindset that allowed for the fleshy corporeal vessel to happen is necessary, as an angel would normally never do such a thing, but the fleshy corporeal vessel itself is irrelevant.
c) the key of kings is involved (but this would be the least satisfying explanation, as it lends itself to explaining virtually anything).
I think you’re right that the angel’s mindset is the really big thing here. More so than the human shell she was able to assume.
I think White Chain has found out that truth is what you make it (not the same thing as lying…) even if it’s different from what others believe, and Allison is very much a person in the image of Aesma (the Fool who has things work simply because she doesn’t realize that they “shouldn’t” work according to someone else’s rules). And those two things were necessary.
I think if White Chain wasn’t as flexible mentally as she is, she wouldn’t be stable merged together with Allison (the warm black flame), much less Cio (the hot black flame).
We do know another angel has contributed (both voluntarily and involuntarily) their “stuff” to humans with the warm black flame. Metatron is the source of the Key of Kings, and I suspect it’s made up of chunks of his mind and knowledge, although it’s not explicitly mentioned it actually has angel-soul-stuff mixed into it. And we know Metatron gave Jag feathers.
The completely voluntary merging of White Chain with Allicio is a continuation of that. But a much more healthy form of it than what happened to Metatron and Jag, or between Zoss and Metatron.
Anyway, my point is, mindsets really matter when it comes to magic in this world…what you think and don’t think is possible directly shapes what is possible or not possible, and I think they’re why this happened.
There’s also the possibility that angle-human fusions have happened before but the archangels did away with them. And then made very sure not to talk about it.
In the Bible (Genesis) it mentions Nephilim, which is usually translated as “giants” created “when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bore children to them”. So the cool lore for this new form is already there lol
If you were an angel, and knew that fusion was possible, safe even, why would you _want_ to do it? Not to gain power (you’re already OP). Not sexual attraction. Not existential threat (you’re immortal, so you don’t generally have those; but now there is Jagganoth etc.). Not sense of duty. Boredom? Can an angel actually _get_ that bored?
To punch people better, I assume. Angels are supposed to do justice with punches; why wouldn’t they go find some righteous soul to fuse with the way demons do and become exponentially more powerful?
I get the “because it’s awesome” explanation, which is what this comic runs on, but I guess I would like a firmer grasp of what the rules on fusing are in this universe. Because the first fusion made sense in a weird way, and the text box gave a bit of lore explaining about “devilskin” warriors and why warriors don’t fuse with devils more often (it’s because the devils eat them).
Maybe a bit of fluff talking about how no-one ever tried to fuse with an angel before because angels find humans weak/immoral/kind of gross? Maybe it was forbidden by Koss for some reason? I mean, the actual mechanic is still a bit dubious because White Chain isn’t bound in her armour anymore, which is the angel’s analogous part to the devil’s mask. She’s apparently human, or half-human, or an angel soul in a human body, or whatever is going on there. So the way it’s been presented, it really just looks like humans can fuse with other humans, or that devilskin warriors can pile fusions on top of fusions, or that angels can fuse the way devilskin warriors can and that’s what White Chain is doing but it works differently because she isn’t a nuclear ghost inside a suit of armour anymore, so all she has to do is glomp someone.
It’s just weird! I mean, yeah, sure, cool six-armed lady, but it still doesn’t really make sense yet.
I’d agree with you that the thing most needing an explanation is why this hasn’t happened before. That it’s possible doesn’t worry me at all in this setting.
I think for an angel to do this, that angel needs to let go of absolute purity while retaining compassion and selflessness. Root knights are too hung up on purity. Thorn knights lack compassion. Petal knights tend to selfishness. If there are other kind, we haven’t really met them yet.
White Chain is pretty much the only angel who would be happy with the result, and if the fused people aren’t happy the fusion breaks.
Agree, consistency matters and this is beyond any current realm of explanation based on what we know and the story has revealed.
White Chain is something new, sure, and there might be unknown rules around that, or mindset where both Cio is much more in tune with her order side and White Chain much more in tune with her Chaos side, meeting Allison’s middle ground much more easily.
But there’s no reason (we’re aware of) for even the characters to think, believe or theorise that they could merge with White Chain either because merging with angel’s is possible in general, or because her human body somehow makes it possible. Cio is the most knowledgeable and she immediately questions it while Allison somehow gleams a “of course” moment, like there’s something obvious that lends to the feasibility.
Rather than the “take me with you” repeat, Something quick and simple about her soul flame or taking a body and leaving it or such could give SOME indication that there’s a fundamental about why they think this’ll work.
I suspect there will likely be some comment after this is done and they’ve de-merged, which is fine.
…But anway, time to finish Jag with a 300 Cubit Spear XD
It would have made more sense for her to do this before she became human, I can imagine Allicio inhaling angel vapours. Maybe her flesh form is actually just solidified angel vapour? On the other hand, they’re all magic and one of them is wearing the unlimited power of God as jewellery.
Who was it that said “Of course” in panel 3? I thought it was Cio, who certainly has a greater knowledge of such things than Allison. But… if you consider the fact that Cio’s eyes are above Allison’s, and that the question is above the reply, you could conclude that the question came from Cio and Allison’s reply is the boundless-confidence-without-basis that marks her Aesma-nature.
Yeah, I’m pretty sure the question came from Cio and the reply from Allison. Also look at their eyes – Cio’s doing a quizzical eyebrow raise, while Allison looks like she’s had the realization.
I don’t think any of the demiurges *have* buddies to fuse with, if they’d even think to try. We’ve seen plenty of times that their ideologies are incompatible with friendship, I think most obviously from Incubus’ lessons in Yre. And in fairness, standing alone has served them well until now.
For that reason, I think it’s totally plausible this kind of fusion was possible all along – just no one ever tried it because being a sociopathic loner is so much faster and more obvious.
I have some theories about this, actually, but it seems like they’ve all been touched on by various commenters above me. And yes, the really important thing here to remember is that neither Allison, Cio, nor White Chain actually went into this knowing how it works: they just kind of all went “OK, so all of us need to go on this mission for it to have the slightest chance, and two of us have already combined into one person so…is there a way to do something like that for all 3 of us?” And then there was.
Also, it’s very much worth noting that there wasn’t a particular “putting on the mask” scene in the last page either – just a flash of light, in between panels. It’s entirely possible there’s some other mechanics going on here, too, that we jus aren’t seeing on-panel.
Are you saying to mask Jaggy?
Also like, Allison has the King’s Key thing, the most powerful power in the universes. A lot of things are possible for her, presumably, that wouldn’t work for anyone else, so the question of ‘why doesn’t everyone do this weird powerful thing’ becomes moot, and she’s demonstrably been able to pull random weird magic out her butt before when context-appropriate so ‘how did she learn’ is also not necessarily important.
How did Allison teleport a whole ship back in book 2? How can she summon the god-killing spears of lightning that no one has seen for thousands of years and no one ever could do except Zoss? I think the comic has been very consistent in telling us using the power of the master key comes specifically from “not” thinking about how to do something, but just deciding. The attitude of royalty.
O no she big
No words….. just OMG!
They shall contain galaxies.
Heavens, even as people were claiming it would occur I didn’t believe it myself, yet here it is. It seems I too am The Fool then.
Oh me too, Ol’ Jack! Fooled and fooled again. I didn’t think White Chain would go with it, but here she’s the one who requested it. Pretty freaking wild!
A very interesting surprise! Well, for us at any rate, others seemed to understand the direction the tale was heading.
With her new body, I think White Chain’s warming up to the notion that today’s a day to break the rules if ever there was one.
Spelling Check: First panel “you’ve” should be “you’re”. Or you’re missing a word, possibly ‘become’.
So stop me if you’ve heard this one before; An angel, a demon and a demiurge walk into the apocalypse…
…and knock it sprawling to the floor.
In the words of the wise sage: “#not to be a lesbian but oh my fucking god. oh my god. jesus fuck #ing christ. oh my god. fucking jesus fucking christ. god in heaven. holy fucki ng shit”
oh, agreed. 100% agreed.
I hear you.
Ah, the timeless wisdom of the great 7 Lesbian Sages of the Gay Internet. Truly, a beacon in these dark times. I am glad that someone out there is so well versed in the Classics.
And off on the side,
Visage long frozen
Jadis, Demiurge:
Divine Oracle
Unfailing Seer
Beheld the New King
White Flame and Black Flame
ALL of YIS and UN
Glass cracks with her mirth
And Jadis Thus Spake:
“I *Fucking* Called It!”
There are a lot of cool things here, but it’s the central panel that I keep coming back to: the white, opalescent scene where white chain looks utterly soft and vulnerable, both a little scared and hopeful, and where Cio and Allison are gazing into her eyes with the same grin, but different expressions. Allison looks radiant, welcoming; Cio looks intent, delighted; the whole tableau is enraptured.
This panel has to *sell* why this crazy thing they are doing works; with the amazing details of their merger as a final notation. It has to crystalise the storytelling between this trio up until this point. It’s a statement about who they have become and what they mean to each other.
I just love all the love really, and it’s so beautiful to have a panel with all three of them, where it feels like their fiery-authentic selves are just there and open to each other. *All* labels: I just love what they are to each other, however it manifests. Thank you Abby <3
Yes! And it’s mostly White Chain on the outside embracing the others two. Love love love love love, all the way down!
YISUN as my witness, i think this may be my favorite page in the entire series.
Shiva, the Destroyer of Worlds
Indeed!
Thank you. All I wanted to see was a giant woman (a giant woman).
I was puzzling over how literal the name is–“Aspected Chaos”–until I realized that an angel, White Chain, is a part of her.
So she’s kind of almost the angel/demi-angel “1 Aspected Chaos”. Or at least the name is closer to an angel name, which says something about “who” she is, than a human or devil name.
True Glory has the dawn
and the dusk, the bare newborn
and wizened one all struck, forlorn.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
ohhhh that’s hot…….
The Key of Kings, White Flame from the angel, Black Flame from the demon… Yeah, I’d imagine that it’s VERY warm.