KING OF SWORDS 10-144
Chapter: 10
“Enyis reached the city of Golden Flowing Water, which was at the time the most brutal domain in the world. For spitting in public there, one could lose a finger. It was a thirsty, conquering city that took many slaves, enjoyed the whip, and worshiped the sword.
Enyis was surprised to find the streets sparkling clean and orderly. The buildings were well constructed, airy, and it was scattered with well tended gardens redolent with many colorful flowers.
‘They must enrapture you with splendor,’ said the Boar King, who had noticed Enyis’ confusion. ‘Otherwise, you might look down and notice the blood-matted beast who shoulders this city, and your mind will fill with unpleasant truths.'”
– Enyis and the Fivefold Sword
Godly abs take time.
And so the purpured legions of IMPERATVS SALEMANUS DOMS PLANETAE whirl’d round and round, their steel reflecting the violet all around and their eyes reflecting none of the violence they’d seen, blind as they day they were born. Each a mere puppet to the basest desire a king can have–pageantry. For those who are feared within and without need no grand gestures–little gestures. The slipping knife, a headsman’s axe, poison, plotting, pain.
None are so grand as an army. And yet the purple parades fade from memory,
but the executions remain vivid crimson and muddy dirt-color within the mind’s eye.
This man’s naked skin belies one thing–he does not fear his opponent.
Just look at those cum gutters!
PURE cum gutters, gotDAMN
I can’t look away!
Purple magic keeps that wrap from dropping to his ankles.
The man is proud, but damn! he’s got reason to!
I don’t wanna fight him, do you wanna fight him?
Bearer of the Word, SWOLE
The foremost art may be that of CUTTING, and one who aspires to royalty must learn it.
However, it is just as true that the royal art of FLEXING is the one most devoutedly practiced by those who have attained royalty.
Solomon David, bearer of the word Diamond and Dark Emperor of 111,111 universes, is the foremost practitioner of that royal art. Through flexing are worlds mantained; a biceps pump can quell a rebellion, a demure hamstring can pacify a rioting stock exchange, a showing of abs vivify a withered harvest.
and the godly halo forms above him:
HERO OF THE BEACH
You! Read this webcomic now, or the Earth is DOOMED!
Flex Mentallo- uh I mean Sol Davidoff, The Man of Muscle Mystery!
Dangit, now I want for two things.
A group to play Broken Worlds.
And try to build Flex Mentallo in it.
*Sniff* Such a beautiful sentiment…I cried a single perfect tear.
I can’t seem to find my seat..
What’s his onlyfans id
Solomon has forsaken the square beard. He shall surely lose this battle.
ABBADON WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO HIS BEARD?!
There is truly no mark of nobility greater than than the hallowed beard jewelry.
It’s turned into a hand grenade. Always handy to have a few grenades stashed about your person when entering a death match.
The holy hand grenade of Antioch
Bless this, O Lord, that with it thou mayst blow thine enemies to tiny bits, in thy mercy.
And the LORD spake saying, “First, shalt thou take out the holy pin. Then, shalt thou count to three. No more, no less. Three shalt be the number thou shalt count, and the number of the counting shall be three. Four shalt thou not count, neither count thou two, excepting that thou then proceed to three. FIVE IS RIGHT OUT. Once the number three, being the third number, be reached, then lobbest thou the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch towards thy foe, who, being naughty in my sight, shall snuff it.”
One… Two… Five!
Three sir!
…Three!
*𝘽𝙊𝙊𝙈*
It’s an Assyrian beard thing.
This guy has a balcony for his balconies and a grandstand for his grandstands.
Also, his beard is bound as a sign of restraint. He’s fighting a damaged angel, he has to handicap himself _somehow._
nevermind it was worth the wait
It always is. One must have faith in the reigning Prince of Hell.
We must question all splendor! We must look for the rot and dirt and corruption that build even the greatest cities! And we must criticize the beard choices of tyrants.
You just jelly of his awesome gains.
Sardaukar.
“When the Gods created Gilgamesh they gave him a perfect body.
Shamash the glorious Sun endowed him with beauty,
Adad the God of the Storm endowed him with courage,
the great Gods made his beauty perfect,
surpassing all others, terrifying like a great wild bull.
Two thirds they made him god and one third man.”
~ The Epic of Gilgamesh.
A quaint story. How unsurprising it would be for Solomon to believe something similar of himself. But, alas, he is a human being, and humans are nothing more than the blustering folly of an idiot Goddess.
We don’t make mistakes. We make happy little accidents.
Such wisdom. Thank you, Oce-UN.
I palm my face in the second way.
13 Stands is observant, in the ways of the pun.
The diamond glitters like sun off a glacier! Go forth, mighty Demiurge! Defeat your foe! (May we have many more drink contracts to come!)
The squawking bird is blue
his lines from tool and you
aren’t as loud. He came through.
wouldn’t want to put blood on his white clothes
Aeons don’t bleed, fortunately, and our fire is clear and smokeless.
I guess the pageantry and the purple invoke the glory of imperial Rome. But I look at the banner carriers in the first three panels and I see … Nuremberg? Sorry, can’t shake the image.
Nuremberg as in the Nuremberg trials? Not seeing it.
Nuremberg as in the Nuremberg rallies, before WW2.
Ah, with the banners and all that? I wouldn’t be surprised if those rallies took the banner inspiration from Rome, which is where Abbadon has clearly been getting the inspiration.
Ah, the machismo of imperial ambition. It tends to take similar forms, even across many hundreds of years.
Probably no coincidence. The Nazis admired ancient Rome, and called themselves the 3rd Reich because they considered Charlemagne’s Holy Roman Empire to be the first, which itself considered it the successor to the imperial Roman title.
Sorry, *considered itself*.
Apparently I words flip when it’s too early in the morning.
So soon we forget that the tyrants were tried on the floor of their own theatre, sent to their own prisons, and executed by their own people.
None of these things are as easy to chain as they had thought.
A lack of originality is one of the hallmarks of fascism. That, and big, big flags.
And big prisons.
I pause here to dwell fondly on the suicide of Hess, and the erasure of his prison from the Earth, when he had, at last, no more need of it.
Such a bitter cup is to be sipped slowly, and well remembered.
This is some excellent artistic imagery – it puts us into the twisted, delusional mindset that Solomon David must have.
The halo of light, the open-armed pose, the retinue of near-angelic attendants – all of it serving to make him look divine, even downright messianic. But in context we know it’s all a facade – this man knows only how to brutalize and oppress, not save in any way that truly matters.
The pageantry is a needed distraction, lest his citizens question why their so-called deity is fighting angels.
Ah, but angels are not necessarily good in this context. They are servants to the grand order, and to light, but good is a moral question they do not all agree on.
Yeah, it’d be more accurate to say that angels are on the side of order and devils are on the side of chaos rather than a good/evil axis.
There are definetly devils who act evil in the the very sense of the morality and angels who are good in the same way, but there’s far more grey in between. Just as not all angels agree on the moral question of good, not all devils may agree on the moral question of evil. There may be things that some devils find too evil to ever do that others are cool with, though we haven’t seen much evidence of that.
We’ve seen the outliers far more on the angel side than the devil side though in the form of the Thorn knights which seem far more angry and disillusioned than evil, even if their version of ‘good’ and ‘pure’ involves purging Throne of everything that isn’t an angel.
On the devil side… obviously there’s Cio in her current state, but we haven’t really seen much in the way of outliers outside that. Perhaps their chaotic nature makes any ‘good’ outliers more muddled.
We saw many devils appalled at Vladok breaking a pact. That is Just Not Done.
Well, I mean, breaking such a pact does mean tearing off your face, and sublimating your existence to release the fiery anima the propels you to exact your vengeance upon your oppressor.
Murder/suicides are usually pretty shocking to witness.
Chaos by its very nature should produce the whole spectrum, from completely random to localised order, from incredibly ‘evil’ to selfless ‘good’. One imagines such a spectrum would follow a bell curve, and the extremes would only amount to a very low %age; such an extreme may be Cio.
As for order, it should be less likely to produce chaos one might think. Yet it still does – one may know and understand all the ordered and logical equations to describe a process happening in a complex system, but yet the further from the starting point, the more chaotic it becomes and the less predictable. The proverbial butterfly’s wingbeat. Ultimately all order becomes chaotic again – perhaps why there are more examples of Aeons walking that path.
The armor, it’s so shiny, almost… luminescent.
A whited sepulcher–nothing of value inside! Ha ha!
poor white chain, shes going to be obliterated
Remember, she only needs one drop of Solomon David’s blood to win.
I hear the closest anyone has ever come to winning the tournament was when a wise man dressed as a doctor and offered to check Solomon’s cholesterol.
I keep thinking back to the manual of hands and feet entry on Empty Palms: “…None, however, deny the power of its techniques, which include YISUN’s Open Palm, widely regarded as an unbeatable move.”
It seems not every practitioner knows all 47 techniques, given that one angel’s surprise at White Chain using Burning Finger and promptly surrendering, so I don’t know if White Chain can use YISUN’s Open Palm, and using it may have severe consequences. However, can the ultimate technique overcome Ki Rata?
From my knowledge of it, ’tis not that Burning Finger is surprising on it’s own, but that it is employed on the ones the aeon deems truly guilty and seeks to obliterate.
Judicious Rain misunderstood the scale of White Chain’s fury, before she clarified it with her use of Burning Finger.
As for the Open Palm, I too believe we shall see it in action here.
If White Chain can avoid being turned into milkshake within the first millisecond of the fight, she stands a fair chance.
White Chain obliterated? Since only an angel can kill an angel, no. The body might need a little more TLC from the two medical hunks, though.
It took a legion of angels to bring down Yablchoath and she had but a fragment of a single Word in her forehead.
The keys of kings change the rules, when one has the understanding to wield them.
Though, it might be wise for such a wielder to remember that they are keys, not swords, and even a key powerful enough to be used as a sword or a spear, can be more useful when used in the intended manner.
Any fool can find the rot of decadence by following the unmistakable stench. (It is a thick, cloying odor of rare incense and overripe fruit).
The splendor that comes dressed in gleaming silver and spotless white has no such stink about it. You will know it by the extravagant cleanliness it calls “austerity”, but such piety is as hollow as an angel’s tomb! I trust not those who bear not a speck of filth upon them, for such immaculate visage is measured by a weight of ashes and the fat of butchered flesh.
A moment of perfection is a rare beauty to behold: a perfectly-formed petal at the exact instant of its fullness, the gasp of a lover in the height of passion. These are perfect and worthy because they are passing. They must be sought out, cared for, and looked to for their meaning and worth to enrich the world, their beauty held to improve the beholder as they carry on, that it may inspire their growth.
This show of splendour is death and horror, well-cut, finely polished, and placed on a pedestal. The god Solomon David is a god of the hammer and chisel, broken earth and blood-rusted iron. His splendor is detractive and destructive: diamonds only sparkle after many cuts.
Look in terror upon a godly monster.
Are the balconies near Allison and Cio for Dave’s wives then?
Or his son’s wives, if he allows them to have wives.
I was wondering about that myself. The balconies round about where Allison and Cio are look like they’re for ladies. Important ladies perhaps. Going by the hairstyles (or hats?) and the way they appear to be dressed, though it is difficult to be sure at that size, esp since we can only see them from the back.
Solomon’s sons, we know what they look like, and we see them seated somewhere as well. Not entirely sure of where they are in relation to the other viewing areas though.
If hair colour, or hat colour, means anything, perhaps these ladies vary in age, which could indeed mean they are Solomon’s sons wives.
The other thing I noticed is that, while Allison and Cio have a box to themselves, there are other boxes that are elevated above theirs. I suspect their seating is another subtle barb from Solomon: A private box, as befits a visiting demiurge, but not a prominent one or even ones in an area reserved for dignitaries.
I think the ladies are wearing their long hair tied back, covered with turbans. It’s either fashion, or a court convention. In fact, of all we’ve seen outdoors today, the only ones without headgear are Allison, Solomon and the two craftsmen aiding white chain. Query: are hats (and coronets) a big status thing in this world? There was one young lady on the previous page with no hat, and wearing the same style of dress as Allison. Query: is Allison’s costume prescribed dress for a girl rather than a woman? Patern(um)alism is quite keen on treating women as children so that they can better be ignored.
It would make sense with Solomon obvious complex over the death of his daughters (and wife), after all something to remember is that the secrets of the Demiurge dosn’t seem to be their wickedness -for it’s obvious to all- but their pain.
I wouldn’t be surprised to learn Solomon is projecting his own fear and guilt of his familly loss on Cio/Alisson, or just on women in general.
Local man has difficult hang-ups regarding women, more at six.
Coffee is for closers. Matrimony is for heirs.
Oh my. Solomon….oh my.
*cough* Very um. Very nice physique there.
wow… well done capturing exactly how full of himself he is in a single image. Diamond abs. Pride indeed.
Everybody else: AAAAAAAABS
Me: WOW Look at that armor design!!!
I KNOW RIGHT! I know absolutely nothing about armor design, but that stuff looks SO ridiculously detailed, fancy, and shiny, while at the same time not being obviously impractical! How cool is that?!?!
Can’t say I’m an expert, but I’ve looked into armor designs a bit for game-modding reasons.
Some of it is mildly impractical (the armor itself, not like, the obviously decorative and optional cloaks), but some can just be called off as ceremonial.
There’s three distinct ranks among the troops: the regulars, shown first, then probably some kind of captains, shown second (fancier helmets and more decor overall), and up with Solomon, some kind of special troop. Probably not a personal guard, since Solomon is too prideful for that, but maybe the lion face guy is the general and the other guys up there are the general’s personal guard.
As for practicality, I think the helmets are the least practical part, since the helms have exaggerated details as opposed to standard Roman helmets (which they’re based on), and are thus a bit more likely to catch a sword blow rather than detect it away, which is bad for blunt trauma to the head reasons. The regulars’ helmets look pretty much fine, though, it’s just the general’s helmets that have the exaggerated decorations, and they might have more practical helms for battle. And then whoever has that lion face mask probably has a less ridiculous one for actual fighting, seeing as they’re likely high ranking to have a fancy type of armor and be up on the podium with Solomon. Still, it could be their actual helm, visors aren’t a super important part of the armor and knights frequently lifted their visor after the initial charge for better ventilation and visibility. The kneeling guys might have the worst helmets for realism, since those are awfully ventilated and the visors don’t really look like they come off. Some older helmets (early middle ages) were designed just for the initial charge into battle and would literally just be cast aside in favor of some kind of helm underneath (a skullcap), but we’ve no idea if they’re normally mounted soldiers or what they are.
Past the helmets, most of the rest of the armor looks fine practically. Minus the plate neckguards (they have an actual name when they’re not part of the coif, but I forget it). We don’t have a great view of their full extent, but man those look like they’re awful for turning your head. The regulars don’t appear to have a consistent theme for neck protection from what I can see, though. One has their armor jutting out past their chin, so the regulars don’t have the same neckguards as the squad leaders. And outside of the neckguards, the shoulder thingies (which were actually used on the one side of the head) are absolutely massive in their girth. If it were designed to be fully practical it should just be a regular thickness piece of armor that does that, which makes it a lot harder to get a slash into the gap between the chestplate and helmet, which normally only has a bit of mail protecting the neck.
So, yeah, kudos to Abbadon.
All the soldiers are in parade dress. I imagine their battle dress is very practical, since there is fighting currently on the fringes of empire. If they wear armour into battle it would be the ballistic cloth kind, or powered exoskeletons. And guns.
A good comparison here is the Pope’s Swiss Guards, who have renaissance armour and pole-arms for tarting about and more practical clothes (and guns) for actual guarding. There’s also the Yeoman Warders at the tower of London, who are retired warrant officers rather than serving soldiers.
>Why yes, my favorite Star Wars character is Rey Palpatine, how could you tell?
The flames rise on his form like a whisper of the engulfing pyre that is Ki Rata, the most terrifying form of efficiency.
Well, his arena seems to have recovered well from the recent trauma.
His Honor Guard sports dazzling armor; their faces are battered and beaten.
His sons, who look like grandfathers, have seen this show before. Their sour expressions tell us what they think of it.
And finally, the arrogant, self-centered, self-absorbed beefcake Solomon David himself, always the star attraction in every show.
Yes, this is an empire built with the blood and sweat of others. Solomon David is a true…asshole.
One wonders as well – he can choose how he appears, and clearly he chooses an image that radiates power.
But I wonder if there is a truer version of who he really is — like the lovely Mottom when the fruit bowl is empty — that doesn’t look so attractive.
Imagine what we’d see if we could truly see him – you know, ala “Picture of Dorian Gray”
Don’t know if that’ll ever happen, but if it did…be prepared to be sickened.
Once a year, Solomon allows himself a treat. He goes into a room with no family, no servants, no pets and absolutely no cameras … and has a panic attack.
Don’t forget heavily soundproofed so that he can scream all he wants, can’t have anybody hearing him freaking out.
Hahahahaha
Hey, it’s mr. Eye Patch Guy again. Hi mr. Eye Patch Guy. Hello.
I tend to encourage non-violent conflict resolution, but Solly is one of those people who need their folly *shown* to them, rather than explained. Show him, Chain.
“But if there can be no arrangement, then we are at an impasse.”
“I’m afraid so — I can’t compete with you physically. And you’re no match for my brains.”
“You’re that smart?”
“Let me put it this way: have you ever heard of Plato, Aristotle, Socrates?”
“Yes.”
“Morons.”
“Really? In that case, I challenge you to a battle of wits.”
Aristotle say un Tyrant be perverted Royalty.
Must’ve been a real moron, then.
It’s interesting that Vigilant Gaze isn’t joining Allison and Cio in the stands. I wonder if he’s sitting with Zaid instead?
The invited audience seems to be segregated by gender, with the court ladies on the side of the arena opposite Solomon’s tower.
That seems to be in keeping with the trend we’ve already seen of no women in the military (though it would be hard to tell with those garments), government/palace officials and servants, and officials/personnel in the arena area itself.
I wonder if he even HAS court ladies at all, other than maybe the wives of the sons.
And here i thought only dwarves knew hot to craft fancy and elegant beard decorations
Got them big bara tiddie flames
well were either about to see a second angel die in this comic or were about to see white chain pull off something that less than 100 people alive have seen, a demiurge harmed in direct combat.
Were I to take that drop of blood, I would tell him: Abdicate your throne. Maintain what you like, do whatever, but be emperor no more of nations or men – only yourself!
He would then be as he began.
So much lovely detail work in this page, bravo Abbadon!
BEARD JEWELRY
If I didn’t know any better, I’d say that Abbadon was mildly socialist.
Could you please explain what appears ‘mildly socialist’? Because I don’t see anything that is even nanoscopically sized socialist here. Is it the shiny armor? The glorification (which isn’t monopolized by any one ideology)? The purple?
To address smjjames’ question about Rizz Rustbolt’s comment:
Because if you adopt the definition of ‘socialism’ common among living English-speaking socialists*, socialism is an ideology that is deeply hostile to stratified class systems, conspicuous displays of wealth, and the dominance displays of a permanent class system. Solomon David and his empire have lots of all these things, and are being portrayed as authoritarian jerkfaces.
_____________________________
*(Yes, it is commonplace among English-speaking advocates of capitalism to say ‘but no, that definition English-speaking socialists use is not really socialism, REAL socialism is Josef Stalin, which is why socialism is very bad.’ Even if you believe that, though, this isn’t about what you think socialism is, it’s about explaining Rizz’s comment)
Some of the most violent and ruthless governments in recent history were (or at least claimed to be) socialists. The nobility or monstrousness of a society doesn’t lie in how perfect its moral system is when written down, it is in how the people apply it and when they chose to ignore it.
Genghis Khan and the Mongols were violent and ruthless, does that mean they were socialist?
That’s the problem with the way people use the word ‘socialist’ these days, it’s become utterly meaningless, might as well have 7 billion different definitions for it.
I’m saying that just because a government calls themselves something or follows a certain government structure doesn’t mean they are good or evil.
Societies are made by people and there is no structure so pure and perfect that it can’t be corrupted by the people within, just as there is no structure that is so vile that it can’t contain nobility caused by the people in it.
Certain types of society can engender or suffocate noble behaviour, but it is always the people in them and how much they are willing to interpret or bend the rules for their own gain or the gain of others that ultimately makes a society noble or vile.
If you see critique of a type of government it does not mean that it is an endorsement of others or that the type of government has no value. But history has proven time and time again that just because a government structure claims it is noble, doesn’t mean that it actually is noble.
Virtually any form of government can be equally good or evil, because as you say, it all depends on the people. But then, the true measure of a system of government isn’t how well it works when the people are trying to make it work, but the reverse: how well does the government work when the people are trying to abuse it for their own personal benefit?
The best type of government is one that is not convinced of its own perfection and genius. The worst type of government sees its people as obstacles to overcome and to strictly bind by its rules, believing they can’t be trusted to do the right thing.
A government’s worth isn’t measured by how well it works when people abuse it, but how well it encourages people to be noble, kind and to oppose the structure of the government when it does not fit the situation. And most importantly to make people want to do the right thing instead of forcing them.
Some government structures are better at this than others, but all of them fail when they become convinced of their structure’s moral and intellectual suporiority over the people it governs.
In short, please never believe that any government structure is perfect and unquestionable. It always ends badly when context, kindness and understanding are no longer the guiding lines of the individuals in any structure.
it’s worth noting that socialism is more of an economic system and essentially a philosophy of human rights, and the political side of it is entirely in relation to people trying to either enact policy that allows socialist society or using the word as a cover for their heinous authoritarian/fascist ways. but while theoretically someone COULD enact socialism through authoritarian force and then relinquish their power with mechanisms to prevent a successor, but in practicality it seems like you kinda have to do it through a strategy more like cooperation and mutual aid and democratic governance, because as we see time and again… as with stupid sexy salami dave here, nobody really ever relinquishes that power once they’ve arranged society to their liking.
[i]Imperium Romanum intensifies[/i]
They seen to be expecting a small scale fight at least. With everyone sitting so close and the knights gathered just outside the circle. I’m suspecting fast moves and lots of not-doomsday-aoe techniques lest we need a a refill of red paste.
Kill 6 Billion Incorrect Definitions of Socialism
(I think you replied to the wrong comment here by accident, sir. The one you want is Preem Rizz Rustbolt’s post, above. Just a courtesy reminder.)
That is true but I didnt know how to change it so it will stand here as a testament to my flailing eyesight
Splendor for splendor´s sake is often used to cover up things that are missing but what Solomon clearly isn´t missing is any of his workout days.
Oooooh. Enyis and the Boar King are back. The armour is astonishing (and did you notice the unic heraldic things for each man on the third panel?). And Solomon is plainly radiating badassry. Gorgeous, gorgeous.
The emblems are particularly suitable for citizen soldiers. Uniform armour, but each carries their family badge. A very nice touch.
Alternatively, the emblems are also particularly suitable for a hereditary or semi-hereditary warrior aristocracy that has been forced into uniformity by their powerful, demanding, and very meticulous overlord.
All the knights of the realm must wear Solomon David’s armor in Solomon David’s royal presence, but are allowed to wear family heraldry. Most citizen soldiers through history wouldn’t have heraldry.
They would have had unit heraldry instead, to encourage them to think of themselves as a part of their unit, rather than individuals.
It is difficult to say which type of association these badges represent.
So do Salomon’s sons impregnate their wives or that is a role reserved only to the ruling King so the descendants would be of his pure blood than have it diluted through his son seed? It’s kinda shitty to have a wife but your dad or grandfather or great grandfather etc. has the right for first night ending with 100% magical certain impregnation.
Does it mean Salomon choose Allisson as his next wife candidate and Cio as her servant seeing where they seat are?
They repaired the arena over night? Salami Dave seems to run a tight ship there!
Completed civil engineering projects include: moving stars to recapture planets into orbit in the habitable zone, opening portals, and building imperial architecture across 1000s of worlds.
He had the arena built by people hauling on ropes with bloody hands. He probably fixed it overnight himself with demiurge bullshit.
One has to agree, one whole tower from one end of the arena has gone, replaced with these multiple viewing daises.
One also wonders where the tsuriyane or dohyo roof attaches to.
Quite possibly he has much more high-tech methods for building arenas, and was having it built by hand labor to emphasize its ritual importance. If the Area-Builder 2000 just floats over to the construction site and plops out an Arena like a chicken laying an egg, it does very little to glorify Solomon and a lot to make Omniversal Construction Equipment, Inc. look impressive. People must toil and sweat to make Solomon look more glorious by comparison.
White Chain: Your need to maintain control comes at too great a cost!
Solomon David: My beard is an egg, your argument is invalid.
*Youtuber voice* Swolomon David here and today I’m about to destroy this angel in one on one combat. Like, subscribe, and submit to my divine law for more content like this
Invoke the Fist of Ten Thousand Storms and SMASH! that like button!
Chant a canticle of submission, and RING THAT BELL!
His sons in the fourth panel look extremely unhappy. I wonder who they’re rooting for? There’s probably not one of them who hasn’t wished he could challenge Solomon David like White Chain now has. Imagine living your life knowing there’s NO POSSIBLE WAY you’re ever going to get out from daddy’s shadow! Being an Emperor of over a hundred thousand universes, a Demiurge and the only living Grandmaster of the most unbeatable matial arts in the multiverse serves to crush whatever ambitions they may have had.
What a prominent chandelier-like banner holder! I’m guessing there’s a non-zero change that this fight ends with a sudden eclipse of both suns, rendering a darkness such that no one can tell how Solomon David ends up dead underneath the fallen ornament, with the next chapter being a murder mystery that grows increasingly absurd as more evidence piles up that the culprit was obviously Gog-Agog.
I like it
Observe the sun-shade over the ring. It casts its shadow in the centre of the ring, so a sun is directly overhead; and this an hour or so after dawn. Solomon has clearly fixed one of Rayuba’s suns directly over his palace and the day-night cycle is made by dimming the suns as previously posited.
Fully expecting Solomon to get over confident, underestimate White Chain, lose to a ring-out, have his key taken and get eaten by gog-agog.
He can’t lose to a ring-out. By his own decree, which is all that matters, he has to lose a drop of blood.
One was expecting that Solomon might refrain from using Ki-Rata, otherwise there would be forged ash smithereens in less than a microsecond. Where is the honour in that? Or the adulation of your populace.
The realisation comes, that if sister White Chain’s body is destroyed, then one of those smithereens could just nick Solomon and draw a drop perchance, after WC has been sent to the Void and is stuck there until such time as someone is good enough to craft her a new body. A confusing endgame.
Rayuban Populace: So do we just forge her some new armor, display it on the throne, and establish an interim government, based on majority consensus and consent of the governed, until our new, one true empress returns, to save us in our darkest hour?
LOL J/K, it will be based on paperwork.
As the fight nears by, there’s one thing I’m really hoping to see relevance of.
White Chain introduction included claim to know 4th syllable of Royalty. Which is the same one as Solomon’s.
If she uses that, would that disable his Key-based powers? It would still be an incredibly difficult fight, but less impossible.
Oh ho, Adana! You have definitely paid attention to the details. There may be an ace up White Chain’s sleeve, after all.
Or horseshoe in her glove, sock full of quarters in her hip pocket, etc.
That’s something I had completely forgotten, if indeed it ever made an impression on me when I first read it.
Who knows what will happen, but in any event that’s a brilliant observation Adana!
Where does it say that the fourth syllable of royalty is the same as Solomon’s though?
And DLDracorex has a point, while it’ll remove his key based abilities and enhancements, he’ll still be capable of using Ki Rata.
Also, considering that he seems to maintain those two artificial (if they truly are artificial) suns by sheer will through his key and moves them at will, disabling the key doesn’t seem like a very good idea. If it’s just temporary and assuming the suns don’t crash into Rayuba, things should be okay. But if it’s permanent or it lasts a very long time, then, depending whether the suns are real suns with solar masses and whether they turn off, Rayuba will either freeze or become scorched, only inhabitable to the servants adapted to such conditions.
I am seriously enjoying the floral motif at the hem of Solomon’s pantaloons. Very tasteful, almost like a kimono.
They look like Hakama to me tbh. “samurai pants.” Also like Solomon D’s beard scrunchy.
Suddenly I realize everything is in CGA colors.
Wild.
Does Sully D have red/green colorblindness?
that blue-silver armour with royal purple is so good, can i steal it for my space marines
*IDES OF MARCH INTENSIFIES*
I’m interested to learn more about the two sons of SD that are not assuming the standard pose.
“Psst! Dude, get your elbow off the railing.”
“Whatever, man!”
Eeeh _7/10
Being new here, and having just caught up, I’ve got three things to say.
First, this is a masterpiece, one of the best comics I’ve ever read, right up there with Sandman.
Second, a question: just how much was the KSBD lore inspired by Elder Scrolls in general and Vivec in particular?
And finally, thank you. Thank you for creating this beautiful work of art. There have been few times in my life I have enjoyed an activity as much as reading your work. I’m looking forward to more.
Oh my God, you could grind meat on those.