King of Swords 10-131
Chapter: 10
“The ruling king must know the lay of his law as the lines on the back of his thumb. He must know it like a path he walks every day, like the house he grew up in. It is a beast he must nurture without fear of being consumed by it, as he surely will be some day if he is not attentive.”
– Au Vam
A reckoning for all! Will we mourn soon? Only time will tell.
While we may mourn, the Monarch Ascendant will not be satisfied. She will go the void, force a reincarnation and accidentally awaken all the prime angels as well. It has been foretold.
2 Sachiel, 2 Shamshel, 2 Ramiel, 2 Gaghiel, 2 Israfel, 2 Sandalphon, , 2 Matariel, 2 Sahaquiel, 2 Irouel, 2 Leliel, 2 Bardiel, 2 Zereul, 2 Arael, 2 Armisael, 2 Tabris..
I myself cannot wait to see such a fate unfold!
Well-cited, dear commenter.
Are not happy with 2 Michael.
Yes, yes it as been foretold! As I keep telling those foolish followers. They always forget about the 108 burning stars I saw that would follow her rise!
It seems that my desire to leave was hasty. I realized I forgot my bag, and lo! When I went back to my viewing location, I found that indeed–we will see whether a god bleeds!
(Again, I hope he doesn’t, or that the angel is willing to make drink contracts and hold future tournaments.)
I know of several angels who are fond of tea. Perhaps your future lies in iced tea. Free tips are worth what you paid for them.
Regretfully, one is not a fan; iced ovaltine on the other hand…
Now us knows tha’s lost it, tha’s been on the strange-smelling teas tha blithering beveragebrains. Make thaself useful an help the nice man make some ice, heateater, eh?.
Please do pop by one sunny afternoon, one should be most happy to entertain and enlighten.
When it comes to teas it all depends on what one considers tea.
Crushed and fermented or carefully dried leaves of the shrub so named or perhaps leaves, petals or the fruiting bodies of other species of flora. Then there is the water, be it distilled, filtered, mountain stream, spring, glacial or the ever popular aqua regia. The inhabitants of a certain island nation have a herbal remedy they refer to as a tea named after the island made by infusing the flower heads of a certain medicinal plant in the local distilled beverage within what they call a mason jarand leaving it on the back porch overnight.
Us only drinks aqua regia, cos royalty us.
Time for White Chain to lose one ashen shell and then get a cute new one?
Ah yes! The long awaited small chisels arc!
Something to match her new accepted sense of self? Nonsense! An angel’s shell is just another type of mask. It allow the angel to act like something they are not, in this case a creature of the wheal, close to the flame of Yisun.
To match ones mask with who they are underneath is a terrible lost opportunity.
No, not a lost opportunity. If your mask matches your face and you are in the company of liars, then the liars will think that your mask does NOT match your face. After all, all liars think everyone is a liar and there is no such thing as an honest man. When in the company of liars, be only honest…and your enemies will deceive themselves. This presents you with the greatest of opportunities: for the truth to defeat lies. There is no greater victory than an honest man defeating a liar with nothing but his own clear conscience.
The double bluff! Why limit one’s self to one lie at a time! It is I who am not living up to my full potential. Time for more divisions of self.
What a night! Enlightened by the Lawgiver and owe apologies to A. L. O. G. What will be next?
Live to fight another day…
I find it hilarious that when she shouted “Tyrant”, Solomon immediately knew she was talking to him.
Superhero landing?
More of a… Casual, villainous float.
His is the desire to intimidate by displaying his control and dominance over the situation. This fits his bill better than the traditionally more impetuous three point thud, as it were.
It is a little known fact that the aforementioned three-point landing is, in fact, a Ki Rata technique.
What is the proper Ki Rata counter to a “Tyrant!” thrust? Perhaps the deflecting “I know you are, but what am I”? Or the subtle, stabbing, “Takes one to know one”?
I should think the proper response of a Ki Rata master to accusations of Tyranny is acceptance, acknowledgement, and questioning the accuser as to the nature of their doubt, for surely they can’t believe the truth they utter and seek challenge at the same time. What follows is education and certainty.
This looks more like a Mary Poppins descent, minus the umbrella.
I’m surprised he doesn’t ~teleport behind her~
Being able to casually float to his opponent, letting his integrity be exposed but not tarnished, is also a power move. The strong warrior shows off. The stronger one, doesn’t need to.
‘Tis a boast of the ages.
Good luck White Chain.
I have the distinct feeling that you will need every scrap and sliver of it that you can find.
HELL YES!
a millenia-old, battle-hardened god CAPABLE OF MOVING SUNS has nothing to fear from ANY of the plebs, despite what the some in these comments have repeatedly suggested.
white chain’s ’bout to get wrecked.
a millenia-old, battle-hardened angel who was resurrected more than 70 times has nothing to fear from any of the Demiurges.
Especially, once they fusion with Allicio the Demon Warrior to… Whitison Chion.
I read that as “Winston Churchill” and had to go look at that again
Now I want Winston Churchill to battle and defeat this purple poser.
They’re by the sea. After they level the arena, he can fight him on the beach.
I should think the proper venue would be a cocktail party. Though, should that sea be gin, and that brine olives, it may be enough to sate the guests.
Same here.
Totally had a brief vision of an angelic Churchill, complete with cigar, trading blows with Solomon.
Thanks for the mental inspiration
By your powers combined, I am Winston Churchill!
For plot purposes, White Chain need not be a real threat to Solomon, only to scratch him and shed a drop of his blood. She might just be able to do that by martyring herself in some weird kamikaze attack.
That’s my guess too. Or she’s planning to make a distraction. . .what’s Solomon going to do if Alison smites him when his back is turned, bleed at her with Ki Rata?
That’d be very illegal rules-wise, and probably get Allison smote in turn. Salami Dave can *probably* take a hit pretty well even if it’s an unpleasantry for him.
If we even think Allison is the sort of person that would strike when any opponent’s back is turned, even Preem Tyrant’s.
Well the last demon she killed was an immobile tree. Speaking of which she’s got to meet some quotas I think.
Au Vam assumes that people know the lines on the back of their thumbs well.
Hah. Most wouldn’t know those lines even if they were told that they should memorize them, in order to recognize thumb cancer early.
Somathing has changed in his art, I can feel it
The new stylus may be haunted!
Did the old one truly drown accidentally? investigations are in order.
Nay, arch-devil Jeff Bezos has tricked us yet again!
There is a certain striking appeal to a blazing angel standing tall with such a hollow wound emptying the core of their shape, but not their spirit. I find it inspiring and calling to mind a rotten spectrum of worlds familiar with similar iconography… Patience will tell if this feeling is warranted or not I suppose.
I cannot help but notice similarity between the composition of panel 6 and certain interpretations of number zero among the major arcana, “the fool.”
White Chain really said ‘I may have a hole in my chest but it won’t stop me from kicking your ass, old man’
Solomon seems confident, but as they say, “the only thing that beats an angel is another angel.”
Mayhaps White Chain can pull the same trick she did on Juggernaut Star.
Can humans bleed in the Void?
I’m wondering if we’re going to see the fabled Yisun’s open palm. It’s regarded as an unbeatable move, so for White Chain to have not used it so far – is she not capable of it, or does it have a cost?
One cannot help getting the feeling that the tyrant is about to appear.. considerate. Maybe even.. nice.
Thee agin. Heid clearin tho, cos Purplebollocks’ pride nae survive if’n ‘e just swats yon cracked stonyarse ifront all ‘is poplace, so cannae. Gotta be seeen t’be magnananimus.
Indeed, as others are supposing, one’s thoughts were that he would give our sister time for repair and recuperation, or even swap with brother Vigilant.
But the thought does come that if there’s anyone who can craft a much needed good new angel body it would be the demiurge. One wonders if White Chain’s new body is imminent.
Busty Abe Sapien is BAE and clearly TRUE CHAOTIC thrilled for the execution
Few indeed are the arts that might be gainfully deployed against such a tyrant in the place of his power. Temporal fugue, if a master of that abstruse art can even be located. Mayhap Ghost Palm of the Dragon, or perhaps not.
One might well wonder, however, if the internal fires of a demiurge can survive being gripped and dragged into the void by the bodiless hands of an angel.
This one questions the superiority of a fighter who watches another battle through countless enemies, and when that one emerges victorious but weary and battered from their multitudinous battles *then* challenges the champion, claiming that one last match will determine the master.
It is perhaps a clever strategy, but it is cowardly nonetheless.
DON’T LOSE YOUR WAAAAAAAAAAAY
I want WC to go full HAN-KOH-DIE on his ass
And so the god-emperor descended, confident. Not a single being within or outside the wheel shall ever again draw his blood, for surely he have rid himself of such feeble mortal tie. Only beard flows in his veins now.
Only beard.
Oh boy, we’re about to see some hot angel/demiurge ultraviolence! Our cup runneth over! Actually, my cup is empty, where’s that icemonger?
I do not provide the drinks myself; merely the ice supply. It was quite difficult to keep the ice in good condition under the heat of a binary star system; when the concessions come closer feel free to have another drink.
Beard vs Bird
We are not ready, yet watch we must!
Welp. It was nice knowing tha, White Chain.
Executions take me far and wide, from the humblest of hovels nestled in the wasteland to the tallest spires built of the finest worksmanship on worlds built of diamonds – and yet, I have always made it my business to stay out of the business of Demiurges. I may be a big fish, but they’re the entire damn ocean.
Deep. Truly tha’s the Ominous Star of Depth.
I do so hope White Chain invokes ancient law to settle this final round as a rap battle.
White Chain, I fear you may soon slumber next to our sister Liminal Blossom, if you are lucky.
Dang, if only there were an angel shell that’s intact–
*turns to look in Vigilante Gaze’s direction*
I wonder if that kind of switcheroo is possible. Seeing big manly VG in WC’s dainty little bod would be worth a giggle.
Everybody railing on the Tyrant.
I am going to laugh so hard if the ‘as it stands’ means that when he lands, he’s going to take a few moments to repair White Chain so that the situation stands differently and she can give him a proper fight worth seeing.
Solomon simply doesn’t strike me as someone to simply pimpslap a noble opponent because they’re already weekend.
That’s certainly the question, isn’t it? Was Solomon trying to be gallant and give White Chain an easy way out by disqualifying her? Or was he reluctant to be seen crushing an exhausted and badly injured opponent? The third possibility, and seemingly the least likely, is that he is actually afraid to fight her.
Repairing White Chain’s armor before fighting her would earn Solomon many points in my book.
Given the deadliness of the contest (and Salami Dave’s smugness) I’d expected the winner to get one day to recover from their wounds before facing the Big Cheese, or something like that.
As the demiurge with the second best defensive abilities, not that he’d admit that, he likely desires an heir with a similarly unbreakable vessel, one who could endure the entire tournament without being worn down. Such is his pride to think that only his own traits can lead to victory.
At least my shrine is outside his domain. I deeply fear the destruction to come from a shattered diamond.
But, Honourable Beast, isn’t it so that as with Angels that only an Angel can beat Another one, that alone Diamond can cut another Diamond? It seems the -likely deserved – fate of this peculiar Diamond to be yearning for an equal and yet remaining alone and uncut.
But if this Diamond, full of pride and power, actually gets Cut, the wave of upheaval might indeed reach wide and far.
All of this to say, wouldst thou allow this Angel refuge in thy shrine?
Ahh, it is so, diamonds are only cut by other diamonds. But they can shatter entirely , without being cut, if one is forceful enough.
You are welcomed, Reddened Eyes. So long as you refrain from harming others on the premises. You may even be the first such guest not to walk the path of Petals.
Thank thee for thine courtesy shown to this one. It is great to witness the Law has not been forgotten entirely in this accursed realm.
Might it be so that cracks appear in the well-constructed façade of the Bearer of the Fragment Diamond, I will be on my way.
And I certainly will refrain from doing unwarranted harm. To do so would be to forsake the Law burning in me after all.
Heaven or Hell. Final round, Let´s Rock!
Now it is time to wait and see if White Chain´s confidence is just bravado or if she actually has an ace up her slieve to show Dave that he is maybe not that allmighty.
Is Nagel right, or maybe mindless?
His heart’s allergic to the pine, he says
you don’t know ’bout his blindness.
Brother 999, as the last tyrantbreaker, do you have any advice for our sister, as she challenges the Violet Demiurge?
Hrrm… the best advice I can offer, in this particular situation, is not to aim for the face, but to aim through the face.
Also, funnel your entire being into a single point no wider across than one’s own knuckles, then throw your entire self at your foe as forcefully and as swiftly as you can. But that’s second nature for any practitioner of Tyrant-Shattering Fist.
One is reminded of the parable of the master of the tea ceremony who a warrior challenged to a duel.
That is a helluva insult right there.
What? “Tyrant”?
Preem Fool Appreciator here is probably referring to Preem David’s last remark upon the match’s likely outcome due to Pree Chain’s sorry state
More like a boast, I’d say. One that he seems quite capable to make good on.
White Chain going to change name to Purple Grain. Solomon is just the spoon that will stir it.
strictly speaking he *did* abandon the ring for a moment there
Did not “set foot” outside of it, though.
(We’re talking about White Chain, right?)
Hear the
Captain
Coming
Riding
Won’t be
No more
Running
And hiding.
This is plot armor abuse, White Chain. If you keep pushing it, you won’t like where this goes.
WHITE CHAIN WHAT ARE YOU DOING
WHITE CHAIN STAHP
Giving them doctor doom vibes right there.
I think Aretha said it best:
Chain chain chain, chain of fools!
My dear ones rattle and roll, the precipice between victory and defeat. Let us see the result.
“Tryant!”
It seems my sister has a fine talent for the production of great and terrible proclamations. Roiling words indeed.
In truth, it remembers me of another, far-reaching sound:
“Then Leothric smote upon the Porte Resonant with Sacnoth, and the echo of Sacnoth went ringing through the halls, and all the dragons in the fortress barked. And when the baying of the remotest dragon has faintly joined in the tumult, a window opened far up among the clouds below the twolit gables, and a woman screamed, and faraway in Hell her father heard her and knew that her doom was come.”
But I fear less respect and fear will be shown to White Chain than Leothric’ foes did to his sword. May Aesma guide your fury and Prim your mind, sister.
“Fiery the Angels rose..”
[raises eyebrow]
Well, good thing the popcorn is ready.
Really loving the purples and blues
Choose your destiny!
Some might see this as White Chain having a hole through their chest, but I see it as a newly gained immunity to chest punches!
’tis but a flesh wound
Get his ass
Methinks this shall go… poorly.
But some good may come of it yet. A conflicted Aasimon may see true growth and a young claimant may be rid of a stifling influence. A learning experience shall unfold in any case.
How interesting!
9/10 dentists agree that y’all should talk regular before you wake up without tongues in your heads.
No need to be the OC that you wanna see in the world. 😉
So hostile! Perhaps before telling your fellow being to stop doing things for their own entertainment, which harms nobody, you should look to the sea, and to the sky, and to the mountains and remind yourself of the smallness of such concerns.
What strange vernacular you use to criticise that of others.
Crowd’s getting their money’s worth from this tournament
At least allow for a period of rest…
Dude in panel 4: “I know Angels can only speak the truth, but Lady… none of us really say that shit out loud.”
We bouta see what happens when a stone ass gets clapped :U
An execution however, is not in the style of this tournament! Perhaps the Tyrant will offer her some respite or a chance to recover, or maybe a ‘free shot’ as they call it?
In which case, one recalls a certain technique of the holy empty palms, that many regard as unbeatable.
He’s trying to make the point of how easy it would be, or perhaps he’s trying to give WC an out because he doesn’t really want to fight an angel, even one in weakened shell.
As for the unbeatable technique, you mean Ovid’s Palm? Doesn’t look like WC was trying to contain Alicio with it or instead just blasted them backwards. In any case, I suspect that Solomon is a black belt dodgemaster supreme (hence the whole ‘hit me’ goal), so, she’s going to have to actually hit him with said unbeatable technique for it to work.
This one refers to YISUN’s Open Palm instead, also spoken of in the Manual of Hands and Feet. It is possible that the two techniques are in fact the same and this one is simply confused, of course.
Also, even though Allison doesn’t really know how to use her Key, it still seems to give her a level of invulnerability. Surely Solomon David has learned to use every advantage his Key has to offer over the millenia? ‘Only another Angel beats an Angel’ but I doubt Cio was thinking of Demiurges when she said that.
Call him out, White Chain!
A fool is he, for freedom is in the air we believe and cannot be chained! Speaking of, I do believe this angel has studied her tactics too well, for as anyone knows, going up against a vastly superior foe while on your last legs is a sure path to victory. But, as everyone knows this, it is a sure bet that he too, has his secrets that will destroy the angel, despite that.
The universe knows a certain tune. Its notes have always existed like laws of nature, like one of the first strings that became part of the great Pattern. Every soul will recognize it and tremble in fear or excitement when it begins. This is what started playing just now.
They call it the Boss Music.
After seeing this amazing chapter, I beg you, Abaddon, PLEASE launch Broken Worlds RPG v2, using an approach and mechanics closer to LANCER RPG.
The back of my hand you say?
Strange. I don’t view it often.