BREAKER OF INFINITIES 2-51
Chapter: 2
“U-am-yet was old, yet spry. During the war, he often ate his lunch up by the cape, against the curfew. Soldiers had to chase him down several times and fined him his ration cards, causing him to go hungry.
When I asked him why he risked so much, he told me the ringing of steel from the Princes of the World fighting in the low valley, some ten leagues away at that point, could be heard growing closer every day, and he wanted to be ready.
He went up there every day and ate his lunch, and memorized the sound of death.”
-Unknown attestation, C.E. 260 S.C.
Too far away now. Time to go home.
maybe home will come to us rather than us returning – there is no way to reclaim the distance lost
Distance was an inadequate deterrent before. Just because the last 880,000 cubits are vertical won’t make them much more daunting.
Solomon can stop time. I expect Maya can cut space. Or atleast leap as hard as Incubus.
Solomon can do god-level stuff with Ki Rata. Does Maya have a similar power, without using her key (which she may not longer have)?
It would be ironic if none of the demiurges actually need their keys for the god-fight.
I believe Solomon was described as second only to Jagganoth in terms of raw natural power. Moving in stopped time is a broken ability, though I expect it is limited in some way.
The defining trait of the Demiurges is that they are willing to use their emense power to control whole worlds. Nadia Om is a lich, Mammon is a Dragon the size of a skyscraper, Gog-Agog eats planets for breakfast and we don’t even know what Jadis is capable of.
She had no key, but nonetheless defeated Juggernaut Star with a single blow.
She pretty easily stands in the top 1% of the most dangerous beings in the multiverse; the only real question is can she stand in the top 10, at least part of whom are now in battle above Rayuba.
All the Pursuers stand clearly within the top 1% of dangerous individuals, as do every last member of Mottom’s guard and all of the Priests of the Count. One percent of the population of the multiverse is still a truly mighty host, a throng greater in number than the average population of even 50,000 universes!
Auntie managed to *cut* Juggernaut in one blow. In the process exploding the room she was in and getting knocked out, then severely weakened by the city crashing. Juggernaut, on the other hand, was unphased by these events, having lost only an expendable remote body. Juggernaut would have finished Maya off if she weren’t le tired, so I’d say that fight has a clear winner. And despite her clear ability to Cut God, it wasn’t Maya.
So yeah, I don’t think she can fight on the level of the demiurges without a key. Though she might be able to do something blatantly impossible like oneshot Jaggy or vertically slice Inky’s head if she focuses really hard on not thinking.
But if you consider that Juggernaut Star’s objective at that moment was to get her hands on Allison, while Maya’s intent was to stop her from doing that, I think you’ll realise who the real winner was in that particular encounter.
It was implied that Maya was blown off the edge of the palace and survived a fall of a few hundred feet. She’s clearly tougher and more capable than a typical human. I don’t believe that extends to jumping up to low orbit or dicing world-destroyers. We’d have seen more from her already if she had those powers.
It remains to be seen what would happen if she used the Maybe sword on an invincible target.
What can harm something that is invulnerable to all existing weapons, but a weapon that does not exist?
I tend to agree, however, Solomon straight up killed the former Key holder with his fists of Fury. I think Maya would probably be useless against Jag and probably Salami at this point, but the others would be right to worry.
Yes, she has the Sword of Maybe, while we’ve only seen a little of it, cutting the most powerful of the thorn knights (and the room behind them) in two with little more than a broken hilt shows she’s clearly got some shit going on.
Is it just me, os she’s different? Like, a LOT!
The art style doesn’t stop from evolving.
This is one of the bigger changes, that’s for sure. If I didn’t know better, I’d say he was letting a guest artist have a go. Maybe I don’t actually know better, since I said it anyway.
I love Abbadon’s artwork, his drawings are masterpieces. I am really a big fun of the guy. But this is not Maya. It really looks like someone else’s hand here
I am a big FAN of his work, and Android’s auto correct SUX A HAIRY MONKEY DIX.
I have not previously encountered this particular feature when using Android auto correct, would you be so kind as to tell me how I may activate it if you please?
Same scars, ear plugs, necklace, and clothes. More contemplative expression and hair is different because the hair pin isn’t in place. Methinks it’s still our favorite mendicant knight.
Ousted king of the world.
Will she sit this one out?
doom! doom! doom! DOOM! DOOM!
Hold on keep going i don’t have it memorized yet
Here’s a mnemonic device to help you out:
Doom!
dOom!
doOm!
dooM!
doom!
Doom backwards is mood.
I certainly have a doom mood.
mood!
Mood!
mOod!
moOd!
mooD!
Is this going to be on the test? Should I be taking notes?
Doomy dooms of doom.
I’m waiting for The Rock and Keith Urban to appear…
She would have joined the battle in time if she had not stopped to comb her dreads . . .
If she was able to comb dreads, that is just another testament to her power
Is not the act of combing, just a very particular application of cutting the space between ones hair?
You may be on to something there.
Ahh, clever. Rationing the number of times he has to draw that beautiful monstrosity
This fight has been so much exposition, a few pages of action and so many uninteresting filler pages. Every moment can’t be amazing action, but it should at least advance the story.
At this point of the fight, I do enjoy these serener pages so very much. I miss the quiet passages, peaceful vistas, interesting places and mystic characters.
I agree. Even considering that this quiet passage-way is full of dead people and the peaceful vista is on fire, it’s a nice punctuation.
My point excactly. I do hope this final book gets its share of serenity even though the gods are having a moment.
So close, yet so far.
Doh!
Can’t be much more from the heart
It is said that through the Logic of the Sword, a true master can slice a wound in the very tapestry of space itself, allowing one to step through and reappear elsewhere in the grand tapestry of the Wheel.
Only if you scream “Za Hando” while cutting it though
AIAT!
A true master could even cut in twain the very concept of an object, thus erasing temporarily the knowledge of that thing from an observer.
They’re just bowling or something probably.
Playing Doom.
You lived to heed the call, your aid, questionable at best. Maya, you aren’t the powerhouse your pupils see you as when you stand before the gods themselves.
*enigmatic grin* truth I am no god, but I exist as evidence godhood can be obtained.
Only a total idiot would stand against the omnipotent power of the assembled princes of the wheel, let alone the one who masters them all.
Then again, we all know the blow struck by an idiot. One whose foe never even considered him to be attacking.
Her power, the supposed strength of the blade, and power she holds; all lies.
And as YISUN says, lies may be the most powerful thing of all.
I take it that somewhere way up there, someone is ringing the Heterodyne Doom Bell.
Easy mistake, but no. That existential despair you’re feeling is entirely natural.
Actually, the day has finally arrived. Someone has passed the test, as foretold by the godslayer, to Sound the Great Unsounded. The anchors of reality and culture are unmoored, to seek more bountiful waters.
Perfect souls have finally established justice in the cold neutrality of The Khert, and now the worlds Material and Mental shall be remade.
Know how to tell if a Ssaelit is in the room?
Wait 30 seconds, he’ll make sure everyone knows
I summon bigger fish.
I’m honestly a little surprised that the Dreen have not show up yet, considering how badly Jaggy and Zoss have been twisting up the timestream.
I’m still waiting for Muthangi Ten Meti to lop of Incubus’ head and for Allison to start carrying it around, Mimir in God of War style.
I mean he’s got to be a master of Head of John for a reason right? What greater cause than our entertainment?
Sadly, one perk of the Head of John style is becoming extremely resistant to decapitation.
I’m sure Maya would take it as a challenge, but it’s one of those wossname, paradoxes.
False, it makes them immune above the neck, and less bothered by decapitation in general. The lower neck is fair play.
Exactly. Just cut off their body, not their head!
I like how this one thinks.
If Broken Worlds is to be taken as canon, Incubus would be able to live for a year and a day after his head has been severed IF at least one of the studs is intact.
That time when you left home just a few minutes late and missed the bus.
Big bada-… doom?
The fight so violent and doomtastic wecan only display it in doom-a-rama.
Meanwhile in Aunty’s head: “target squired, calculating distance to cut.”
I predict that she has a way to make it up there.
I am expecting a fairly nonchalant jump, just like “Hup!” and there she goes.
That or like cutting a rift in spacetime
the legend of zelda “hup” sound in particular
IF THEY ARE FIGHTING IN SPACE THEY SHOULDN’T BE ABLE TO HEAR IT
THIS ISN’T REALISTIC IM VERY UPSET
Sound cannot travel, but matter projected due to powerful blows reaching the atmosphere is very noisy, when gods battle.
Also cats.
Cats of Dooom!
Perhaps if it were in orbit of Earth, sure, but we know not the atmospheric reaches of this planet. Perhaps the gaseous makeup of its air reaches far past what we would consider normal, maybe due to the planet having a different gravitational well/weight.
You could see in past pages that they are above the atmosphere, with the curve of the planet clearly visible far below.
Yep. Different world, different physics, different gravity model. And then Solomon messed with things to install the second sun. Physics is a bitch, as all engineers know, but in this metaverse she’ll curl up on the lap of the creator with the strongest will.
Magic is immaterial yet impacts the material.
Hence magical shock waves can jump the void, and re-materialize as sound once a suitable medium is found.
They are far enough into the upper atmosphere that they can still speak, ergo DOOM.
Their blows are sending shockwaves that propagate through the luminiferous aether to the upper atmosphere.
It is not sound that travels, but the sky witnessing events beyond its realm and reporting back to the world within. Being easily alarmed, however, the sky makes not for a good broadcaster – it speaks only the broadest strokes, chanting “doom” with every major blow.
makin’ my way downtown, walkin fast, faces pass and i’m doombound
doo doo doo dooo doo doo
Kar En Tuk!
Jagganoth is just talking about his favourite fps game
You mean Duke Nuken?
Ways Maya could meet up with the demiurges
1 Jump
2 Cut Space Time and teleport
3 Hijack an airship and fly
4 Stand around until one of the demiurges are thrown to earth
5 Be assisted by The Fool or other demiurges
6 Commune with the Conquering King-> ? – > Profit
“Hello is this Zoss, the Conquering King? Could you forward me to Incubus, sword King of the Middle Army, Bearer of the Word FLAME and God of the Seven Part World?”
“How did you get this number?”
“I told you to never call me on this wall!”
Space Uber.
Yay! Maya!
The Doomsday clock is tolling for midnight.
Aunty Maya! Nice birthday present to me, well.
There’re notably little servants in the streets and lots of humans. Apparently us tunnel apes are really not that bright.
These are the ones who didn’t leave Pompeii in time. Looters, early casualties, those seeking their loved ones. And yes, candidates for Darwin Awards.
Hey, be fair – even if it’s been months for us since this fight started, for them it’s been like, a couple minutes, and not *everyone* can just ride the lightning out. These are just the poor fools burdened with only being able to run like a normal human being.
Sure, but the smart ones had their go-bags packed like the authorities said and they started walking as soon as Solomon shouted. They were outside the city when the meteors fell. Then there’s those who were packed up to go but hung around eating noodles until Jagganoth set the city on fire. And now we see the few who didn’t leave even then. There’s slow and then there’s stupid.
I respectfully disagree. Between Solomon ordering evacuation and now, it was 10 to 15 minutes maximum. NO WAY people would be outside the city. In fact much of them could not even get home to pack their stuff. When the meteors fell, they were a couple of blocks away, if much.
Yes, it’s a mild anomaly. In BOI 1-11, at meteor time, citizens are shown heading out through countryside with the palace in the background. Perhaps that’s the palace gardens? But it’s a very small city: see KOS 10-156. One could easily walk to the surrounding woods in 15 minutes.
In BOI 1-3, Maya’s first appearance in this book, we see citizens already with backpacks watching the fire in the stadium.
My reading is that citizens are required by law to carry an emergency pack, a bit like British civilians always carrying gas masks in WW2. Some (most?) obey the explicit regulation for the pack, but only the smartest were willing to jettison their lives and march on hearing the evacuation order. It says something about the level of social tension in the empire.
This I can attest. Then again, free noodles and beer, and a son et lumière show! Anyone?
She looks so tired…
Akkadian Prayer to the Gods of the Night.
The princes are closely guarded,
The locking-bolts lowered, the locking rings placed,
(Though previously) noisy, the people are silent,
(Though previously) open, the doors are locked.
The gods of the land (and) the goddesses of the land,
Shamash, Sin, Adad and Ishtar
Have entered into the lap of heaven.
They do not render judgment, they do not decide a case.
The night is veiled.
The palace, its chapel, the cella are obscured.
The traveler invokes god, but the one (who offers) a decision remains asleep.
The judge of truth, father of the impoverished girl,
Shamash has entered his cella.
The great ones, the gods of the night,
Bright Girra,
Warrior Erra,
The Bow, the Yoke,
Orion, the Furious Serpent,
The Wagon, the Goat,
The Bison, the Horned Serpent,
May they stand by so that,
In the extispicy I am performing,
In the lamb I am offering,
You may place the truth.
——————————————————————
…. A prayer of the night.
~ From ‘Reading Akkadian Prayers & Hymns, an Introduction’
Edited by Alan Lenzi, 2011
Know where I can find a copy? I have periodic episodes of Akkadian religion obsession.
Looks like I can’t post a link in the comments. Go to the site digitalambler, look in the Prayers drop down menu for an article called “Diviner’s Prayer to the Gods of Night”. It has the prayer, a transliteration of the Babylonian text, and some commentary about the constellations mentioned in the prayer.
Doomy doom doom,
GIR!!
I was the demiurge all along!
MEEEE!!!!