KING OF SWORDS 10-142
Chapter: 10
“Total victory is not found in the final sword blow. To perfect victory you cannot continue to spill the blood of a fallen foe, which only shows your insecurities to your many enemies. Instead, you must nurse your foe back to health, dress, and feed him, but not so much that he regains his strength. You must take away every aspect of him which originally seemed fierce and indestructible. In every aspect you must diminish and crush his spirit with affection, all the while maintaining your grip on his sword arm. In this way, kindness is the greatest cruelty.”
-Au Vam
Tch.
At least Mottom had some understanding of fashion.
Women tend to be very good at knowing what men like to see. How odd that it doesn’t often work the other way around.
Choosing the clothing of your enemy… certainly a more subtle display of power, but no less effective at diminishing one’s enemy.
And in choosing the clothing, no doubt, Solomon believes he has chosen more. Their moods, for example, predictably and justifiably miffed. There is nothing Solomon wants except to be in complete and undeniable control.
Off to meet the big man himself, in his royal box! What does he have to show them there?
Solomon David: First, may I direct your attention to this? *points to ornate sigil carved into the white stone of the box wall*
Allison: *stares at sigil intently* It says… “NO SMOKING”. Well, okay… no problem… *glances at Cio*
Cio: *stands caught in the middle of rolling up her own tail tuft into a makeshift cigarette* (hisses) Ah, pox on thee, thou assclenched killjoy…
Solomon David: *stoneface* *crackles with power* *raises hand in obscure gesture*
Colossal phantasmal forms: *materialise in arena*
Gog-Agog: (into microphone) Oh wow! It looks like- yes, it is – we are starting today’s event with one of our great Paternum’s great anti-smoking presentations!! Brace yourselves, folks, and pace yourselves on that popcorn consumption – these things can go on for a looooong time! But we will get on to the match when it’s over! Sure we will!
Cio: *seethes*
Solomon David: *slight, but VERY superior smile*
>:=)>
When you get a funny outfit for your cat.
“Dawn of the Final Day.”
When combined with the fact that this is an artificial solar system created and probably held together by Solomon, that doesn’t bode well for…well, anybody.
I suppose it depends on how exactly it’s ‘held together’, it’s plausible that at least one of the suns is a super bright satellite*, but even then, it’s like ‘what’s physics?’ Either way, in the context of sun destroying and creating, that alt text isn’t exactly auspicious.
*While appearances are that the highest known tech level is modern equivalent, word of Abbadon was that Jadis had a bunch of scientists doing whatever they were doing when she glimpsed the shape of the universe, so some seriously high tech could have existed at some point someplace before the technology crackdown. Of course, Rayuba’s original sun got destroyed somehow (probably not via super/nova), so, whatever is capable of destroying suns may well be capable of creating them.
Cio looks so unenthused to be wearing those clothes
Aww they have matching outfits, aren’t they adorable!
That dress that Cio has been given do not befit somebody of her status and deed doing.
Cio’s face speaks at volumes here
The nation’s turned their Yale down
so they wake up and dress in gown
with horned beasts in two-Ls town.
“Dawn of the Final Day,” eh?
And Daddy is about to try and fight an angel?
This city is doomed.
Worms. I foresee worms.
Of course you do, my dear. *kisses your worm-equivalent of a forehead*
Should I have stood in Ms Cioelle’s (unflattering) shoes that day, would I have remarked, “plumpen-arsed that dress assuredly makes tha look”?
Ay, assuredly I would.
Ah, Cio, take heart! He has attempted to humiliate you by forcing you into servant’s garb, but in fact he has given you a great weapon – your foes’ underestimation of your power – and in doing so wields that weapon against himself.
What better guise than a drab’s? Who so unseen as a frump? What blow so unexpected as from a rag?
So play his game, Cio. Play it until the moment is ripe.
And then reveal it is *your* game.
Everyone is so focussed on David making them wear dresses, that they look past the fact that David also dresses his guard in those uniforms. Truly what won’t this mad man put clothes on?
Her face looks like, ‘this is the second Demiurge who wanted to dress me up – what’s with that?’.
There is only one path to true power and that is to start your own fashion company.
So slavic peasant women is considered presentable? Hotdawg
Solomon taste in clothing is abyssmal.
It would be better if that jester choose their clothes.
The fuckin Paternum, amirite? Every time.
Au Vam has learnt his Sun Tzu, or perhaps it was the other way around.
Lol Cio looks like a scullery maid
Did Solomon David just wrap two warriors in fancy clothes and expect them to be happy just because they are female? Or was it a way to mock them? I think he is supposed to represent a force making people stay in line and fulfill their role (like he spared the fighters who listened to his order and did not move) so maybe he is stereotyping them now too.
I cannot imagine trying to fight while wearing something like that. I used to throw people around wile wearing a hakama and this must be even less comfortable.
One warrior in fancy clothes. That monstrosity Cio is being made to wear can’t be cally “fancy” by any stretch of the imagination.
He is absolutely mocking them.
Salami Dave is a man who came from a world that looked to be stuck in the dark ages, or something very close to them. Seeing the ridiculous way that his subjects all dress, I’m thinking he keeps Rayuban culture alive in the fashion they have. While he may be mocking them I can absolutely see him as thinking that it was also generous of him to dress them in the local style. And, he’s admitted to being a tyrant, so I doubt he cares for their wishes over presentability. It seems Salami Dave cares more about appearance than anything else. Having served under an organization that absolutely prizes appearance over substance, I both get his mindset and their misery at basically dressing like Puritan milk maids.
Also, I’ve never seen Cio look so defeated. It’s pretty funny.
Has anyone commented on the Discourager of Hesitancy there with his axe and his fierce countenance?
I assume the armed guards are there merely for show. I can’t imagine what four guys with halberds could do against people who fight angels.
A halberd is just the worst (edged) weapon for guarding even ordinary prisoners. If these chaps were expecting trouble they’d be marching with drawn swords.
Halberds are quite good for *murdering* prisoners. I think Abbadon was aiming for an “OMG no no no” reaction on the first line of the strip with the dress buesiness hidden below the page-fold. It certainly had me spluttering my morning tea.
Right, I am wondering what the guards are supposed to thinking. Just a few of them are stuck escorting two fighters who literally wrecked the arena together. They’d be just as dead as everyone who charged Salami Dave if Allison decided to fight. It would make more sense to send a diplomat to fetch them. Maybe a pathetic group of guards is part of the humiliation.
Getting antsy thinking about what’s become of Princess, Nyave and Zaid. Odds weren’t exactly in their favor last we saw them. Should we expect a reunion under duress in the next page?
Probably nothing. Solomon knows that Allison wouldn’t let him hurt her friends and would demolish the jail if he tried.
Hey, free dress.
Alt text Zelda reference?
Those dresses are weaksauce. This is what happens when you don’t keep three golden devil handmaids on your payroll exclusively to clothe yourself and your guests as extravagantly as possible, Dave.
Your guests are an extension of yourself, and how can you expect people to respect you if you don’t look fucking crisp at all times?
Salami Dave’s relationship with clothes is complicated; this fact is well-documented.