Shifting your own movements to a time-stream too rapid for your opponent to register, much less to comprehend, to respond to? Nay, these are odds only cowards would set, and fools to agree to.
Cowardice has its own rewards, I fear! Though I do not know if I would call this action of his by that name. Other deeds he has done, yes. But this? This is a simple disregard for life. Just as disgusting, but what can we expect from a man who cares not even for his kin?
Getting yourself killed in a fight you know you can’t win is not cowardice, especially if the rewards for sitting out the fatal ass-whipping you were about to get are immense
True! Sometimes we must accept inaction as the wisest thing we can do to protect ourselves! And personally, I would rather not give Solomon David the satisfaction of my dying.
Remember; Solomon has very little but disdain for his children, who have taken positions and riches within the empire but refused to take their shot at glory. He may kill those who try, but I don’t believe he thinks them cowardly, only fools.
This emperor displays skill, not cowardice. He has the kindness to display to White Chain his skill, strike after strike. The emperor will strike many times, a different strike for each who has chosen to receive it.
The fighters who chose to delude themselves that it is wiser to draw blood than gold will not learn from the wisdom imparted to them on this day. After all, they didn’t learn from any of the predecessors, either.
Cowardice? Nay! For as the prophet Pietro of Maximoff himself once asked, “Why should I not avail myself of my power? Should a strong man not use his strength? Should a genius hide away his mind?” Why, then, should Solomon David not use the power of his beard to bend time and space to his will? Search your feelings! You know this to be true!
Salami Dave is a coward, not because of his power, or his will to use it, but because he is afraid that a similar power may exist. For if it does, he is not the most special person in Existence, and If he is not the most special person in Existence, he is (by his own reckoning) nothing.
Thus, he must destroy anything that even slightly resembles himself, holding all other things in contempt.
Cowardly? He competes using his own strength, no more, no less. That others contend with him knowing his power is their folly, not his. That they fall short is their sorrow; Solomon David cares not. His eye is on she who is named Al-Y-Sun and her symbiont spiritual, Cio Cioelle von Maxima VII. They represent a true threat to his hegemony. They must be dealt with.
Roger that. It is the art that passes understanding, and partakes more than a little of the vatras. If deleterious effects on causality and the nature of existence occur, seek help from a deity at once. Nay, from a whole pantheon.
My original form was a divine shard, an emanation of the goddess, forged into shape by the silver chisel of Koss, and given form and purpose according to a lost scripture of paradise.
What if the breath that kindled those grim fires,
Awaked, should blow them into sevenfold rage,
And plunge us in the flames;
or from above
Should intermitted vengeance arm again
His red right hand to plague us?
I’ve always said that someone like The Flash or Quicksilver would be 100x more deadly if they practiced martial arts. Even straight and simply karate would cause untold devastation when applied at those speeds.
bweeeEEE E E E E ͜E̢ E͝ E͘͟ ̵E҉ ̸E̴ Ȅ̼̩͙̮͙̽̑̏͂̒̐͢ ̿̐̒̄͛̚҉̺̗̼̻Ȩ͇̖ ̞͓̖͈̗̬̆̎̃ͮ̐͝Ȩ̤̹̝̟͉̫̬̔ͦ̈͐͋ E̵̡͚̯̩̹̰͔̝ͪͭͧ̒̓͜ͅ ̶̶̛̦̬̜͈̳̥͌̊ͯ̈́͒̓́̔ͫͅĚ̴̥̹̲̝͚̻̱̐ͣ͊̀̈ ͚͓ͦ͆ͣ̀̓̐͛́͝ͅE̵̝̜͕͍̮͖͔͕ͦ̌ͫ̈̾͌
Japanese Language Moment
止まれ (tomare) is the imperative conjugation of the intransitive verb 止まる (tomaru). This cannot take an object, and can only be used when telling someone themselves to stop.
The transitive counterpart to tomaru is the verb 止める (tomeru). This can take an object, marked with the particle を (o). The imperative conjugation is 止めろ (tomero).
(Apparently any post including a link goes into limbo. Reposting without the links to the entries at Wiktionary.)
You have infinitely more grammar knowledge than me, however! I have seemingly more reference knowledge. That’s a Jojo quote, said when the dude *stops time*.
I’m guessing that’s necessary context by which that sentence won’t normally make sense but was deemed acceptable by the Japanese author, perhaps?
Admittedly, Jojo is a series where someone just spoutting gibberish is equally likely as ‘it being a sentence of stopping time justifies it’ but either way, it was a native Japanese speaker that put together that one.
Funfacy, he doesn’t say toki wo tomare but toki yo tomare, yo being in this context a calling suffix added to things like God or Time itself, so there is no grammatical error, he’s commanding time to stop, not saying “stop the time” or something like that.
My reaction as well, honestly. I got all the way to the bottom of the page, wondered what the “total life obliteration” part of this was, and then my eyes went up to reread it again and FINALLY noticed that Solomon was the only thing moving.
For all it’s anime-like flashiness, Abbadon’s storytelling can be terrifyingly subtle sometimes.
That’s the interesting part, he’s not using his god-power at all. The big square bracket “crown” of purple fire is gone, the glare from the key in his forehead is faint enough I suspect it’s just reflected sunlight. Maybe simply bending reality by the power of entitlement is less fun than exploding people with his fist.
The most remarkable feature of this breathing technique is the exquisitely fine control over space and time required to keep an opponent frozen in motion yet also have it explode in torrents of gore upon impact.
This is most certainly a demonstration of skill for third parties gifted with timeless vision.
Sonorous prose. This may be the Gilt Devil within me, but I sense such a world–untouched, as you say–would be quite the attractive one; full of sweet treasures. Like an exquisite, unguarded jewel box…
Time kills everything. Time makes poisons, weapons and assassins of the most unsuspected of subjects. Give it time, and it will end.
… of course, it works two ways, and this guy is already immortal thanks to Ki Rata Breathing Techniques, so there is a chance it will kill you first! Ha! Ha! Ha.
You…aren’t? I mean, yes, technically the winner of the tournament is supposed to have a chance to “fight” the Emperor, but I don’t know where you got the idea that any of them are “supposed to” have any actual chance of giving him a hard time of it. Literally every time for the past 6 millennia or so, the final match of the Ring of Power is basically just “contestant unleashes their greatest moves against Solomon. They are completely ineffective. Splat.”
This is a fucking DEMIURGE, not just some prissy stuck-up king. Other demiurges MIGHT give them an interesting fight on occasion (Jagganoth’s invincibility, Gog-Agog’s sheer mass and regenerative capabilities, etc.), but otherwise, as Allison has proved, the only way to not be killed by an angry Demiurge is to manipulate their flaws enough to distract and/or demotivate them so that you can successfully run away and hide.
Allison just barely survived Mottom because the old woman was still too busy wallowing in self-pity and shame to actually want Allison dead at the time, until just before she teleported out (which nobody knew she could even do at the time, including Allison). She survived Mammon because the aging Dragon was literally too senile to recognize her for who she was at first, and then Mottom came in and they distracted each other long enough for Allison to run away. Allison might have grown a lot since then, but as she herself just remembered a few pages ago, she is BY NO MEANS capable of giving a Demiurge an actual fight.
Keep in mind that one must attune to the power of their truth in order to use it.
Allison has the Ruling Key, Majesty. She could command Diamond to warp and soften, Ki Rata to disperse rather than focus its power, herself to attain infinite force (the Tower guards and contains, and we have seen her guard her body by the key’s power). But to do that requires understanding that Majesty is not merely a spear or a club: it is a *master*. It is not the Glory that radiates from power and mesmerizes the fool with Illusions and want, it is the controlled force that comes of being in charge of that power. Of knowing the way of rule. It shapes other things and aims them! Majesty used in this way IS the infinite sword of God, both cutting and joining with its power.
To use a mastery requires understanding how to guide and shape it, as well as the nature of its natural opposition. If one has not studied the nature of one’s own gifts… well, then, one has not done the necessary work to attain their true capabilities.
Most everyone (in the story) thinks that Allison’s key is destined for another. But it was placed within HER head by one who understands rule. When she believes that it is truly hers, I think with her hard-gained wisdom and now-better-experienced intuition, she will claim it and learn it for herself. At that time, Allison will be able to choose to acknowledge the true Word and wield it as a Demiurge, rather than a victim.
Perhaps… perhaps I overreach, but… does the key itself want something?
If so… Majesty could get it.
But first, it must be wanted, or it cannot be wielded in full.
Something tells me he’s just gonna one-hit-kill every single poor, foolish bastard who didn’t choose to sit this one out, probably before his rings and fancy scarf even touch the ground.
Everyone will blink, and somehow, the entire stadium will be covered in chunky gore.
The common joke in the Celestial Empire goes thusly:
“Hundreds of opponents arrayed themselves against the Emperor. The Emperor took off his many bracelets. He killed the entire crowd. Then the bracelets hit the ground.”
One’s realisation is doubtful. On a good day, one’s conscious brain is not aware of what one’s unconscious has already decided until several seconds later.
Who put the kettle on?
Oh thank goodness, one’s not losing one’s mind, it’s just a stalker. That’s all right then, one was worried there for a moment.
😀 No, no apologising necessary, you park yourself in the comfy seat, put your feet up and tell uncle, erm, Cuppa all about it.
One imagines a busy night sneaking into people’s houses, cleaning, tidying up, doing the dishes then slipping quietly out again. It can so take it out of one.
Mr. Pretending To Be A Martial Arts Teacher So Impressionable Youths Do The Chores For Me
I once was on the receiving end of brain pulverization via kick and let me tell you, it hurts a lot. Now, it might be true that i had a spare brain reserved for such an occasion, and they probably dont, but the principle still stands.
Lord of time and space.
Shifting your own movements to a time-stream too rapid for your opponent to register, much less to comprehend, to respond to? Nay, these are odds only cowards would set, and fools to agree to.
Cowardice has its own rewards, I fear! Though I do not know if I would call this action of his by that name. Other deeds he has done, yes. But this? This is a simple disregard for life. Just as disgusting, but what can we expect from a man who cares not even for his kin?
Getting yourself killed in a fight you know you can’t win is not cowardice, especially if the rewards for sitting out the fatal ass-whipping you were about to get are immense
True! Sometimes we must accept inaction as the wisest thing we can do to protect ourselves! And personally, I would rather not give Solomon David the satisfaction of my dying.
Those fighting the Emporer aren’t the cowards, but rather the Emporer himself is the coward in question.
When the last sounds you hear are clinking rings and neck pops.
I think he just obliterated that dude before the sound of the rings reached him.
Remember; Solomon has very little but disdain for his children, who have taken positions and riches within the empire but refused to take their shot at glory. He may kill those who try, but I don’t believe he thinks them cowardly, only fools.
The Word Diamond does not tolerate imperfection.
This emperor displays skill, not cowardice. He has the kindness to display to White Chain his skill, strike after strike. The emperor will strike many times, a different strike for each who has chosen to receive it.
The fighters who chose to delude themselves that it is wiser to draw blood than gold will not learn from the wisdom imparted to them on this day. After all, they didn’t learn from any of the predecessors, either.
What kind of grotesquely sheltered existence have you been living in if you think iife is even remotely supposed to be fair?
The Emperor is enjoying the enormity of his power by virtue of having it in the first place.
Only performers, braggarts and contemptors would consider handicaping themselves in such a situation.
Cowardice? Nay! For as the prophet Pietro of Maximoff himself once asked, “Why should I not avail myself of my power? Should a strong man not use his strength? Should a genius hide away his mind?” Why, then, should Solomon David not use the power of his beard to bend time and space to his will? Search your feelings! You know this to be true!
Salami Dave is a coward, not because of his power, or his will to use it, but because he is afraid that a similar power may exist. For if it does, he is not the most special person in Existence, and If he is not the most special person in Existence, he is (by his own reckoning) nothing.
Thus, he must destroy anything that even slightly resembles himself, holding all other things in contempt.
Cowardly? He competes using his own strength, no more, no less. That others contend with him knowing his power is their folly, not his. That they fall short is their sorrow; Solomon David cares not. His eye is on she who is named Al-Y-Sun and her symbiont spiritual, Cio Cioelle von Maxima VII. They represent a true threat to his hegemony. They must be dealt with.
Ah, a fellow master of the temporal fugue.
Creatures of Light and Darkness arisen…
Roger that. It is the art that passes understanding, and partakes more than a little of the vatras. If deleterious effects on causality and the nature of existence occur, seek help from a deity at once. Nay, from a whole pantheon.
Is your name a Hellboy reference?
My original form was a divine shard, an emanation of the goddess, forged into shape by the silver chisel of Koss, and given form and purpose according to a lost scripture of paradise.
What if the breath that kindled those grim fires,
Awaked, should blow them into sevenfold rage,
And plunge us in the flames;
or from above
Should intermitted vengeance arm again
His red right hand to plague us?
Nae sae iquitous thasel then poverettino, us’d be a bit mixed up an all. Ifn us already int.
out here just squishing people
ATATATATATATA! TA!
And here we witness the importance of a proper breathing regime for the exercise of martial arts and other civilized pursuits.
Industrial grade meat grinders are also a civilised pursuit.
This is just demolition applied to the sentient body.
There will be blood. Everywhere. EVERYWHERE AND IN THEIR UNDERPANTS.
Are you SURE it’s not an industrial meat grinder we’re about to witness?
Oh, sure, it could be used as one. Is it one? Bare in mind, Big Dave watches you.
We’re also witnessing the appalling results of the lack of a proper skeet training regime. You don’t shoot ’em where they ARE…
He must have practiced his Total Concentration Breathing for centuries…
Hm, he was also trained in Zwee Fighting. I may have to try actually punching and kicking.
Now there’s a reference.
*inserts an image of feces hitting a spinning blade*
Could this be the legendary Go-Time? Show me!
Overlorrrrd…. BUTTBLOW(tm)!
I believe this may forecast an example of the legendary martial art, Ecky-Thump.
Us sees nae black puddn! Lessen tha’s insultin Salami Dave. G’ luck wi that, rinkydinkthink.
OH SHIT HES
HES
HES HAVING A QUICKSILVER MOMENT
Oof, no kidding. Been ages since I read it. Hold onto your asses, ass-holders!
LET US DO BATTLE WITH RIDICULOUSLY HIGH POWER LEVELS NEVER SEEN BEFORE! RAR!
I’ve always said that someone like The Flash or Quicksilver would be 100x more deadly if they practiced martial arts. Even straight and simply karate would cause untold devastation when applied at those speeds.
何？？？
This is the only correct reply.
for those who dont get it yet
“NANI? ? ?”
*High Pitch Screech*
alt text: お前はもう死んでいる aka “Omae wa mō shinde iru”
apparent meaning: you are already dead
N-NANI?!
Nooooo. I never knew there was an alt text. So many things missed
Omae wa mou Shindeiru
何
bweeeEEE E E E E ͜E̢ E͝ E͘͟ ̵E҉ ̸E̴ Ȅ̼̩͙̮͙̽̑̏͂̒̐͢ ̿̐̒̄͛̚҉̺̗̼̻Ȩ͇̖ ̞͓̖͈̗̬̆̎̃ͮ̐͝Ȩ̤̹̝̟͉̫̬̔ͦ̈͐͋ E̵̡͚̯̩̹̰͔̝ͪͭͧ̒̓͜ͅ ̶̶̛̦̬̜͈̳̥͌̊ͯ̈́͒̓́̔ͫͅĚ̴̥̹̲̝͚̻̱̐ͣ͊̀̈ ͚͓ͦ͆ͣ̀̓̐͛́͝ͅE̵̝̜͕͍̮͖͔͕ͦ̌ͫ̈̾͌
Toki wo tomare! ZA WARUDO!
Japanese Language Moment
止まれ (tomare) is the imperative conjugation of the intransitive verb 止まる (tomaru). This cannot take an object, and can only be used when telling someone themselves to stop.
The transitive counterpart to tomaru is the verb 止める (tomeru). This can take an object, marked with the particle を (o). The imperative conjugation is 止めろ (tomero).
(Apparently any post including a link goes into limbo. Reposting without the links to the entries at Wiktionary.)
You have infinitely more grammar knowledge than me, however! I have seemingly more reference knowledge. That’s a Jojo quote, said when the dude *stops time*.
I’m guessing that’s necessary context by which that sentence won’t normally make sense but was deemed acceptable by the Japanese author, perhaps?
Admittedly, Jojo is a series where someone just spoutting gibberish is equally likely as ‘it being a sentence of stopping time justifies it’ but either way, it was a native Japanese speaker that put together that one.
Funfacy, he doesn’t say toki wo tomare but toki yo tomare, yo being in this context a calling suffix added to things like God or Time itself, so there is no grammatical error, he’s commanding time to stop, not saying “stop the time” or something like that.
He fast.
It’s not his speed! He’s using the Word Diamond to warp!
The Emperor inhales time and exhales death.
“Inhale, kill, exhale.”
za warudo, etc.
huh. i would’ve expected ki rata’s first demonstration to be more fla- wait. wait.
oh.
And how anyone managed to learn such an art is beyond me…
Martial arts BS really. I suppose they started at slower speeds and built up going faster and faster.
100 Push-Ups.
100 Sit-Ups.
100 Squats.
10KM Running.
Every Single Day.
My reaction as well, honestly. I got all the way to the bottom of the page, wondered what the “total life obliteration” part of this was, and then my eyes went up to reread it again and FINALLY noticed that Solomon was the only thing moving.
For all it’s anime-like flashiness, Abbadon’s storytelling can be terrifyingly subtle sometimes.
A fearsome display of Ki Rata? Or a fearsome display of being a god of the seven-part world?
Either way, quite a fitting overlay text.
That’s the interesting part, he’s not using his god-power at all. The big square bracket “crown” of purple fire is gone, the glare from the key in his forehead is faint enough I suspect it’s just reflected sunlight. Maybe simply bending reality by the power of entitlement is less fun than exploding people with his fist.
We may be seeing how he won his key in the first place.
Solomon was strong enough to fight and kill gods *before* he ever became one.
The most remarkable feature of this breathing technique is the exquisitely fine control over space and time required to keep an opponent frozen in motion yet also have it explode in torrents of gore upon impact.
This is most certainly a demonstration of skill for third parties gifted with timeless vision.
Oh my. Well, this seems to speak well towards the chances of another tournament happening in a few years.
Allow one to share some poetry from a relatively untouched world, which may give insight to what we witness:
“FEEL MY FIST
ON YOUR FACE
YOU HATE THIS
I FEEL GREAT”
Brutal.
Sonorous prose. This may be the Gilt Devil within me, but I sense such a world–untouched, as you say–would be quite the attractive one; full of sweet treasures. Like an exquisite, unguarded jewel box…
*vigorous snapping*
Wow. What a jerk.
An excellent rendition. Of a jerk. Jerkdition. Kudos to you, Perjurist.
How in the hell is anyone supposed to fight that?!
I believe a technique of the same style is required. A similar stance, or Stand, if you will
I wonder how many seconds his breath will hold him.
I recommend time.
Time kills everything. Time makes poisons, weapons and assassins of the most unsuspected of subjects. Give it time, and it will end.
… of course, it works two ways, and this guy is already immortal thanks to Ki Rata Breathing Techniques, so there is a chance it will kill you first! Ha! Ha! Ha.
Ha.
Um.
So we just sic Barragan on him then?
I’m down to try to find what gate he is from and get him here.
You…aren’t? I mean, yes, technically the winner of the tournament is supposed to have a chance to “fight” the Emperor, but I don’t know where you got the idea that any of them are “supposed to” have any actual chance of giving him a hard time of it. Literally every time for the past 6 millennia or so, the final match of the Ring of Power is basically just “contestant unleashes their greatest moves against Solomon. They are completely ineffective. Splat.”
This is a fucking DEMIURGE, not just some prissy stuck-up king. Other demiurges MIGHT give them an interesting fight on occasion (Jagganoth’s invincibility, Gog-Agog’s sheer mass and regenerative capabilities, etc.), but otherwise, as Allison has proved, the only way to not be killed by an angry Demiurge is to manipulate their flaws enough to distract and/or demotivate them so that you can successfully run away and hide.
Allison just barely survived Mottom because the old woman was still too busy wallowing in self-pity and shame to actually want Allison dead at the time, until just before she teleported out (which nobody knew she could even do at the time, including Allison). She survived Mammon because the aging Dragon was literally too senile to recognize her for who she was at first, and then Mottom came in and they distracted each other long enough for Allison to run away. Allison might have grown a lot since then, but as she herself just remembered a few pages ago, she is BY NO MEANS capable of giving a Demiurge an actual fight.
“…she is BY NO MEANS capable of giving a Demiurge an actual fight.”
…Yet.
Keep in mind that one must attune to the power of their truth in order to use it.
Allison has the Ruling Key, Majesty. She could command Diamond to warp and soften, Ki Rata to disperse rather than focus its power, herself to attain infinite force (the Tower guards and contains, and we have seen her guard her body by the key’s power). But to do that requires understanding that Majesty is not merely a spear or a club: it is a *master*. It is not the Glory that radiates from power and mesmerizes the fool with Illusions and want, it is the controlled force that comes of being in charge of that power. Of knowing the way of rule. It shapes other things and aims them! Majesty used in this way IS the infinite sword of God, both cutting and joining with its power.
To use a mastery requires understanding how to guide and shape it, as well as the nature of its natural opposition. If one has not studied the nature of one’s own gifts… well, then, one has not done the necessary work to attain their true capabilities.
Most everyone (in the story) thinks that Allison’s key is destined for another. But it was placed within HER head by one who understands rule. When she believes that it is truly hers, I think with her hard-gained wisdom and now-better-experienced intuition, she will claim it and learn it for herself. At that time, Allison will be able to choose to acknowledge the true Word and wield it as a Demiurge, rather than a victim.
Perhaps… perhaps I overreach, but… does the key itself want something?
If so… Majesty could get it.
But first, it must be wanted, or it cannot be wielded in full.
Invincibility or unlimited power seem like plausible alternatives.
I was expected a huge explosion, but I guess this is more reasonable to protect the contestants who decided to sit down instead.
Something tells me he’s just gonna one-hit-kill every single poor, foolish bastard who didn’t choose to sit this one out, probably before his rings and fancy scarf even touch the ground.
Everyone will blink, and somehow, the entire stadium will be covered in chunky gore.
The common joke in the Celestial Empire goes thusly:
“Hundreds of opponents arrayed themselves against the Emperor. The Emperor took off his many bracelets. He killed the entire crowd. Then the bracelets hit the ground.”
Truely the horde was mighty, if they prevented the Emperor from catching the rings before they fall.
From the outside this will look like just an explosion.
They will feel nothing.
Can a brain feel when vaporized?
No. No it can’t. Not a thing.
One’s realisation is doubtful. On a good day, one’s conscious brain is not aware of what one’s unconscious has already decided until several seconds later.
Who put the kettle on?
Oh, I did. I’m in your house, making you tea, Cuppa.
I’m sorry, intense night.
Oh thank goodness, one’s not losing one’s mind, it’s just a stalker. That’s all right then, one was worried there for a moment.
😀 No, no apologising necessary, you park yourself in the comfy seat, put your feet up and tell uncle, erm, Cuppa all about it.
One imagines a busy night sneaking into people’s houses, cleaning, tidying up, doing the dishes then slipping quietly out again. It can so take it out of one.
I once was on the receiving end of brain pulverization via kick and let me tell you, it hurts a lot. Now, it might be true that i had a spare brain reserved for such an occasion, and they probably dont, but the principle still stands.
If I could save time in a bottle…
…the first thing that I’d like to do…
…is to save every day…
…’til eternity passes away…
It’s always a jojo reference.
Except when it isn’t. Like, when it’s a Fist of the North Star reference.
WRYYYYY
The Emperor chose to disdain shoes in the previous moment, yet still have them now.
Still, hail the Emperor!
Clearly the Emperor has mastered the red art and has simply manifested sandals as per his will
Hail the Emperor
He must know the secret Clothes Beam technique
His most metro attack.
Solomon’s capacity for slaughter and for mercy are equal and rarely seen without the other.
It’s all in the reflexes.
A great many people are going to feel immense yet short sadness about their life choices in a very little while.