King of Swords 10-136 to 10-136 (KI RATA)
Chapter: 10
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(content warning: gore)
“Draw the nonshape,” said Prim. “Imagine that we are kin. The fire in your fingers is the fire of my heart, the secret fire of the God of Gods. My body is the nonshape. Make it so, and dispel yourself of notions of reality.”
– Psalms
Wooooooooooooo
Woooooooooorning: gore.
The gore doesn’t bother me, but you know what does?
Dave went from bare feet to flip flops to fastened sandals over the course of three pages.
whyyyyyyyy?
Ahhhhh now I can’t unsee that!
The art of Ki Rata is the secret of how to materialize footwear from nothingness. The violence is just a proportional byproduct of corporealizing that footwear.
Now imagine the results of his art had he created thigh high boots instead.
“Clothes beam. Gods, that’s my most metrosexual attack.”
– Piccolo, Dragon Ball Z Abridged
Even if the sandals are in the shot, gotta say, I still love that he popped the skull off before his foot actually touched it. Now l, that’s skill! Being able to connect before you actually have to touch someone in the head… it’s like Abbadon knew that social distancing was gonna be a thing when he drew this… [Sfx: shattering glass] NOOOOO!!! Now he’s touching their spraying blood and guts with his hands! Not cool, S-man. Not cool.
Well, if you were going to perform the “Total Life Obliteration” kata, would you want to walk barefooted through the bits that were left?
Sure, there’s an open area around him with no gore, but that’s clearly (ouch) because he got a perfect kill.
Solomon David:
he breaks the rules
so you don’t want to.
Why? Because he can!
He’s moving so fast there was a whole extra sequence where he went home agonized over his choice of shoes and tried several options before settling on strappy sandles. Did you notice the pa
Solomon David killed him before he could finish his comment, the poor lad.
Because blood is slippery?
Remember how he tossed the arm rings, did his biznis, and was back in place in time for them to fall back on? Just to flex on the folks in the audience?
He keeps switching shoes just to flex on us.
When blood and flame become indistinguishable.
-rm!
Oh, Worm?
Gorm. The cutest KDM quarry.
Brace for a two-page spread of nothing but reaction shots.
“Wowie Zowie! Can’t show that on TV!~”
(Depicting Ki Rata on a public broadcast is a criminal offense in the Empire)
As if Gog-a-gog would allow such thing to stop her from broadcasting such fine entertainment.
don’t worry, the frame rate on the cameras is too slow to catch any details of the art.
Good point. If I were to see this on television, I’d chalk it up to weirdly choppy editing.
Well fellas, this is your best pal, Gog-Agog, with some disclaimers!
We’re not telling you what just happened.
That was the disclaimer! Hope you like the color red!
Now I am just imagining Gog broadcasting a reenactment rather than just censoring it. A bunch of Gogs running around in costume, everything is over the top and full of drama
This would be in character and feasible.
Also, please picture a Dave-Agog, beard and everything. Please picture him. Please, picture him now. Have you pictured him yet, all clownie and hamtastic?
‘Cause this is gold.
i welcome it. dis is rad.
Ai, I’m never in time to make the early comments.
This actually shouldn’t be just Ki Rata. This is Ki Rata with a great big boost according to the nature of the demiurge. Solomon is the bearer of the word Diamond, and the Words of YISUN have very esoteric applications. Reference the Flame of Ambition that Incubus distributes and consumes in equal measure. Witness Mottom’s devastation of the Darkwood, which turned the fruits that grew there into delicacies merely because of their new rarity, conferring Glory on any who can find one to eat.
Perhaps Solomon has been left unbloodied for as long as he has because his body is of Diamond which is unbreakable; unable to take damage until it passes some vast threshold, upon which the entire crystal cannot take the strain and will shatter. Or something like that. Imagine – of course the one who drew a single drop of blood has to inherit the empire, because anyone who did that also did a hell of a lot more than that and Solomon would be dead once it happened!
What Solomon did here is a way of looking at the world, you could say. If Time flows like a river, this is what happens when the river water freezes into diamond ice. And of course Solomon is excluded from the effect, because he is the bearer of the word Diamond and excluding himself takes merely an act of will.
The point I was making is that the Ki Rata technique, on its’ own, is a much cruder thing. Do you think a practitioner of Ki Rata, lacking the word Diamond, could obtain a Perfect Kill without much more damage to the landscape? Solomon just produced a layer of blood maybe an inch thick over much of the arena. Another Ki Rata practitioner would have produced a small lake of blood at the bottom of a jagged crater where the arena, the stands, and probably a bit of the lake surrounding the arena used to be. As it stands, this is practically Ki Rata in name only. Does Solomon not bother to cut his steps from the earth? Is he that weak against the idea of Rayuba being damaged? Or did the teachings of the monks affect him more than he thinks?
I feel that Solomon has gotten too used to relying on the word Diamond, lately…
So what you are saying, Jan, is that diamond is not, in fact, unbreakable?
Diamond can be Cut, ground, polished or crushed, if you know the proper way to apply the proper forces.
even more telling: Diamond can… burn.
It’s effectively pure carbon, as is charcoal and graphite. Chlorine trifluoride will turn that into ozone destroying refrigerants on contact and the resulting halogen fire is one which can not be extinguished by any known means, only contained … if you use Helium, Nitrogen (which ClF3 does react with) or Neon (maybe).
doth a flame not burn wanton and wouldst ye call it’s cut crude?
Ah, king of kings of kings! He is reliant upon the gem that graces his brow, not understanding that it is neither a gift nor a curse, but rather a responsibility! He bears Diamond, and the light shines upon him, showing us the refraction of his power, rather than the truth! He is afraid to lose what he has! As cowardly as the sons of the sons of his sons!
I dare you to say that to his face.. I thought not.
I am speechless.
Wonderful work. Even now, you manage to surprise me with your sense of scale and creativity.
“You cannot grasp the true form of Solomon David’s attack!”
I may not be able to grasp that, but I see what you did there.
Wow
They really fucked up.
“Anyone may strike at the emperor,” is not the same as “It would be a good idea to try.” As many predicted.
All those that were not struck are now kneeling, ankle-deep and covered in mince meat, thinking “boy, I’m sure happy all this blood is keeping my pants red!
Any hypotheses on the significance of Soloman’s many armlets? He threw them off into the air, then proceeded to kill all these contestants, and then caught them on his arms. The best I can gather is that he did it for the flex, or perhaps he didn’t want to damage them or get blood on them (or they jangle and get in the way), but it seems largely unnecessary. Narratively I think Abbadon did it to show the speed of his movements and that all this happened in a mere instant, but it seems like an arbitrary thing for the Emporer to do.
You must not forget; this is the lord of Pride. Such showing off is to be expected from those who consider themselves peerless.
It’s part of the finesse in the show. By catching the rings on his arms at the end of the move he ensures that he finishes exactly where he started. To the audience he seems never to have moved.
He absolutely did it for the flex.
He is, with little exaggeration, the God of Flex.
Little known fact, also bearer of the word PECS and Lord of the Seven-Part Gym.
One does not gain the physique of Solomon by avoiding opportunities to flex. The path of Royalty also includes the lesser path of Gains.
Those rings bear a lot of resemblance to Iron Rings (see link) though obviously these ones are gold. If that’s what they are intended to be he is taking them off because they are what constrains his power. Kind of a “Let me show you my true power” thing…
… of course, to those watching he never seems to have taken them off, he just waved his arms and everyone else exploded.
Puttin his goldeny gold anklets back on likewise?
Holy shit, Solomon
Yeah, I may or may not have the biggest turn-on I ever had.
You guys always bring me the best hyper-violence.
The demiurge in purple reveals his primary composite colors.
Shall he spill the cold blue fire of aeons next?
but did he kill the bug who decided to just chill? asking the important questions
If he did, would anyone even notice?
I would ;-;
Probably not, the mantis person you’re seeing is quite close to where Solomon is, and we saw all the people running pass by all the non-combatants. Plus, mantis-bro was sitting down, and the one you see covered in red is standing.
I assume he really did not kill anyone who wasn’t attacking him. Otherwise, why would he have bothered to go one by one instead of just nuking the lot of them with a single attack?
Bug sitting completely still, absolutely drenched in the blood and juicy bits of everyone who decided to attack Solomon. “This is fine.”
I hope the survivors get free therapy sessions.
…just free lunch.
And titles, position, gold and glory.
but “every one of them thinks he really has a chance at his drop of blood.”
So the secret to Solomon’s power is not necessarily that he has some flashy power but show but instead that his karate stops time and no one can fight back while time is stopped.
If White Chain somehow manages to spill his blood then he’ll either be a graceful loser or get mad at it and break his own word, since he represents the sin of pride
*flashy power to show
It’s not that his karate stops time, it’s that his karate makes him so fast that time stops mattering.
“Speed is an illusion of perfect motion.” –Popular Kenpo Karate saying
That is exactly one ki-rata technique, and only halfway up the power scale (5 points out of 10). The secret to Solomon’s power is that he has lots of other techniques, some more powerful.
Who says the scale stops at ten?
Use the toes for complete multiversal annihilation.
Ki Rata. Accept to substitutes. Go toe or go home.
Does it go up to 11?
If she can cancel his time stop, then he’s just a man with skill.
One could say that, if time was held at bay as such, killing on this scale could be managed regardless of the killer’s skills.
But then one must ask how time was first held at bay.
An extra flex here is that Solomon is completely untouched by the ocean of gore he has released to the air. A man who controls both action and consequence.
What we don’t see is that he went to take a quick run through a waterfall after this. No one can call you out on it if no one sees it happen.
If you’ll look at pannels 12-15, he actually catches some blood on his hands, and flicks it off at people, with enough force to sandblast their faces off.
I’m not sure if it is his Key, or some Ki Rata technique that prevents his hands from flying off as well.
How dignified these deeds must look in the empire!
But look closer, and all you see is a most masterful performance of the art of turning people in ghosts! Behold it very well.
How the Emperor has fallen! Surrendering his Will, his Fire to that Great Enemy, Ego.
Not to mention how gauche this is, anyway.
On the other hand, he could probably have released some powerful mega-attack that killed all of them in a single stroke. Yet he took the time to give each of them an individual, personalized death. He didn’t _have_ to do it, but he still went the extra mile. That’s noting if not craftsmanship. Solomon has my respect.
Craftsmanship, or obsession? I don’t know.
Also, fancy meeting you here!
Oh hi. I’m afraid your username doesn’t ring a bell right now ^^u What do we know each other from? GGaR?
As for craftsmanship vs obsession: why not both?
I know OF you from GGAR. I don’t know if we ever were formally introduced, however.
If nothing else, Solomon David’s control over his empire is so absolute, he rarely gets an opportunity to put his Ki Rata skill into practice.
In truth, he relishes these tournaments more than words can describe, for exactly this purpose.
Wasn’t there a below page text or alt ext a few pages ago say that it had been some years since a display of Ki Rata happened at the tournament?
He might not have the opportunity to use it on occasion (for whatever reason) or the champion chooses coin/prestige/titles instead of facing Solomon occasionally.
…Okay, that’s definitely epic, though I imagined Ki Rata quite differently.
The best/worst part of it is that this isn’t even his strongest move. There’s apparently a ten-point strike that he can probably use, and that doesn’t even touch on using his Key
KILLTACULAR
…they had him surrounded, the poor bastards.
One would be surprised. So many species, and they all seem to bleed red.
Hmm, I’m inclined to think they don’t but rather its his power that make them so. Look in the last panels, their bodies are turning red too.
(Or it is an artistic choice that isn’t reflective on in-universe factuality but shush).
I agree.
Let the Emperor meddle with the electromagnetic spectrum as much as he likes. It’s his pageant, after all.
I just conjured a mental vision
Abaddon : “I’m, let’s put precise colors for each alien blood”
Abaddon’s wrist : “AM I A JOKE TO YOU!?”
Abaddon : “Ok, red it is”
Red-shift. The colours of objects moving away are shifted in apparent colour towards the red end of the spectrum.
There’s two with pinkish, almost purple, vital fluids.
There should be more colours though, even in the humans, if, and it’s a big if, we make the assumption that the humans have largely the same composition as humans on our world. For example, one of the curious facts is that human fat is a very yellowy colour compared to animal fat.
Some unfortunate soul, Solomon punched her right in the bosom. There should be a fair amount of yellowy mammary fat in the debris as a result, if she was composed of the same flesh as our world humans.
First, ew, weird mammary focus.
Second, bone should be whiter in the pictures. Every organ and inner tissue is essentially soaked in capillary blood vessels at all times; tear it by force and it is always red first, then separates from the blood as it cools down, bowing to gravity.
Third… really, mammary fat. Really. No other source of fat in the entire arena, you had to go for the mammary. Seriously, man.
Maybe not the most appropriate example to use, true, but adding more colors into realistic gore isn’t really necessary.
As for the bone color, I guess you mean panels 16-17? The skull there doesn’t appear to be human, so, it could be some creature with off-white bones for whatever reason, or maybe an exoskeleton.
Is diffrent. Has un certain piquancy.
I noticed it because it was one of the “featured deaths” as it were, where a specific individual is splatted by Solomon.
But now that you mention it, the ones where Solomon punches through the brain, should there be a bit of grey in the chunks of debris ?
This whole discussion of course hinges on whether the internal composition of the denizens of this realm matches that of the humans in our world. Plenty examples of people with highly unusual skin or eye colours, which could mean that they don’t, and would have different coloured internal bits.
With most of these species sharing the need to inhale oxygen and convey it to their muscles in whatever form that may be), they also share the use of iron in their circulatory system to bind said oxygen. Thus when the blood is exposed to the outside, the blood oxidizes and turns red.
One cannot say that Solomon David is rusty.
Haem ligands is intrestsome. Yon mantis be redsplodin, but hav cousin arthurpods wi coppersome blue haemocyanin in thums haemolymph. Nae so richlike tastysome as un good red fillet myoglobin.
Iron isn’t the only oxygen carrier used, copper is used in some invertebrates. There could very well be other oxygen carriers not used by Terran lifeforms out there. Plus some other invertebrates also use iron but the blood is a different color.
I would post a link to Wikipedia, but the comment system likes to eat links for some reason.
Given the variation that already exists in real life, Abbadon could have chosen to put in multiple blood colors, but for whatever artistic reason, they didn’t.
M-M-M-MONSTERKILL
And not a single drop of blood on him.
I was thinking the same thing. Not a smear. I have to wonder, at these speeds, how is all that blood not vaporized? It should become an aerosol.
He is so fast that blood can’t stick to him.
And seems to have a purple forcefield around himself and his clothes whilst massacring, which turns off just before he puts his bracelets on again.
It only seems to cover his trailing edge though, wouldn’t it be more effective on the leading edge? Might be an artistic blur effect on the part of Abbadon or some effect of his key.
Old n Spicy aerosol odorant, now wi new vaperized blood flavour. For the devil in your life.
If only the janitorial staff that must clean up this slurry should be so lucky.
They don’t clean it. When Solomon gets his splat on, the tournament is really, truly over and the arena becomes a war grave. Next 3-year cycle, they hold the Ring of Power somewhere else.
It seems pretty clear that the tournament always takes place on that island in the bay, what other location would be grand enough. They rebuild the arena every time, it’s been said.
My question is: has any other tournament ever ended this way? I think not.
It’s the only way noone would doubt he was untouched by anyone from the crowd — not a single drop of blood not from him, anywhere near. And, heh, that’s the flexity flex
OK, but he really didn’t have to flex that hard.
His word is Pride. Of course he did.
(wait, no, his word is Diamond, his sin is Pride.)
Behold the glorious musculature of Solomon! Gaze upon his perfect pecs! Gasp at his iron abs! Tremble before his bulging biceps!
Such a physique can not be obtained without regular flexing.
Now I want a Viscera Cleanup Detail map of the arena floor post Salami Dave’s rampage
Imperium is built upon a shared understanding of the might of the Emperor. All law is violently enforced, but Peace only comes from an agreement to keep it. After all, the wilderness has laws, and while they are frequently orderly, they are also brutal and merciless. There can be no peace without conscious accord.
It is in the interests of Imperium to demonstrate its capacity to violently enforce the law. That way, the people will willingly maintain the peace. Or else.
…
That Solomon David also gets to stroke his ego is a fringe benefit.
A fool and his lower body are soon parted.
“Hey, Solomon, I got this baby here that I’m definitely sure is mine, but that lady over there keeps insisting my kid is actually hers. Any thoughts on how to solve this little dispute?”
One of you has to give up maternity rights, or I punch you both in half.
Oh my. You’ve made a mess there, dear Solomon. Glad I’m not the poor bastard who has to clean that up. Probably some pretty decent sized chunks of meat in there, though….
This is why you can’t dualclass Mage and Monk.
Solomon David vs Jagganoth Unstoppable force vs the invulnerable object.
Because this is carnage on a hierto unseen level of murderforce.
Fundamental, unavoidable paradox! Multiverse gives up and reboots: Jagganoth wins. If J. does destroy the multiverse this is how he will achieve it.
The distinction between the unstoppable force and the invulnerable object is an illusion. Do not try to bring together that which is already one. Only try to understand the lie that is the Multiverse. One then becomes an invulnerable object with unstoppable force, the unmoved mover, True Royalty.
An unstoppable force is just an immovable object in a different reference frame. They pass through each other, both being immovable and unstoppable. Neither is moved, neither is stopped.
huh, that looks strong
I thought he wasn’t going to attack those who didn’t move?
He didn’t. You just can’t see them through the blood of everyone that did.
Him Diamond
Mister Shine!
Him who mountain crush him no
Him who sun him stop him no
Him who hammer him break him no
Him who fire him fear him no
Him who raise him head above him heart
Him diamond