KING OF SWORDS 10-145
Chapter: 10
“Chief among the concerns of any code of punishment is that it is important for the executed to have dignity. A man’s death must be treated with reverence and not treated at some soiled thing. It therefore transforms from a wrongdoing into a spectacle.”
– Au Vam, Pankrator of Vesh
The fact white chains gi is not a clean white like Solomon’s isn’t exactly subtle of him.
He’s not a subtle man.
Jokes on him. You can’t beat a tasteful off-white.
S-tier vs X-tier.
Place your bets!
Holy fight!!!
I hope this fight can be fantastic and unparalleled!
Good luck, White Chain.
This show down is going to be wild, I just know it.
That third panel. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Salami Dave’s arrogance pictured any better. Abaddon’s become incredibly good at his art!
BTW, I hope White Chain has some other idea than simply attacking SD like she always does, because that’s not going to work against a Demiurge. When White Chain tried it against Mottom, she swatted our favourite angel like a fly. White Chain didn’t even make a distraction to Mother Om, and Solomon Dave seems a lot more dangerous than Mottom!
I wonder if she had any coaching from Vigilant Gaze? Though probably the best he could do here are words of encouragement and imparting whatever knowledge on Ki Rata that he has.
The whole knowledge of the fourth syllable of royalty may become a chekovs gun here.
Yes, the 4th symbol along with so many other hanging threads: Nyave/Zed/Princess, Gog-Agog, Vigilant Gaze, Incubus… my curiosity overfloweth.
I don’t see Nyave, Zaid, Princess, or Vigilant Gaze doing anything, they’re spectators here as much as Allison and Cio are. Gog Agog and Incubus are more plausible, but even a predator knows when to lie in wait (and Solomon has probably put a special watch for the remainder of the tournament on Gog Agog in case they try something) and Incubus can only do so much with the dream state, besides, he seems more like the subtle cloak and dagger type. Even then, he knows better than to attack Solomon directly.
No, I don’t think the hanging threads waiting to be pulled are going to be from them. It could also come from a completely unexpected direction, for all we know.
Incubus is pretty much played out at this stage, since Allison no longer trusts him. Apart from petty acts of cruelty, he’s just noisy toilet paper. Incubus has just one major move left: goad Jagganoth into an early and dramatic attack. J. is scary enough when he’s calm, and I hate to think how he would do if he really lost his temper.
If there’s a narrative need to interrupt the duel between Solomon and White Chain, Jagganoth gating in would certainly do it.
Don’t forget that Incubus was a pupil of Meti, just like auntie Maya. Presumably he’s pretty good with the sword, so, more dangerous than noisy toilet paper.
True, but his plan so far has basically involved getting Allison to ‘mess shit up’. He wants a fight, but doesn’t want to be the one who instigates the whole thing. Even if he could give Solomon a serious challenge one-on-one, attacking him directly doesn’t fit his MO that we’ve seen so far.
Noisy toilet paper, I like that, heh.
A footstep-
A moon cracked
A knuckle popped-
Another dimension shuddered
Bare movement on a cosmic scale-
lives disrupted across a dozen separate worlds—
all from two walking towards a war
In addition to her feet missing the bandages/linen strips in the first panel, she’s also missing the bandage/linen strips that was on her left hand and possibly the one that went all the way down her left wrist. Though it’s also plausible that those two craftsmen were removing the linen rather than applying it.
If that werer the case, sholdn’t therer have been a small pile of discarded bandages under her hand in the previous page? Sorry, this bandage thing is kind of getting to me.
White Chain has trained and fought with the True Key Master, however inexperienced she is.
Now how do they know Salami Dave isn’t a John Carpenter’s Thing From Another World in disguise? White Chain should do a blood test!
Gog Agog already has the ‘shapeshifting monster’ bit covered
Solomon is nothing if not polite.
He going to cheat isn’t he?
Why would he cheat?
He’s guaranteed to win in a fair fight.
His morals might be a bit fake, but his strength is unquestionably real.
Hrmm… Do you think he bleeds purple blood? Heh, growing up, my ol’ Pops always told me “there’s no such thing as a fair fight”.
“Kick him in the dick white chain!”
~ Jim
A fair fight? Solomon’s actual words were, “an honorable duel.” Not the same thing at all, to a tyrant. One begs leave to doubt Solomon has any real interest in fairness.
Ahem. Yisun Atru Vayam, forgive White Chain for this crushingly painful ball stomping she is about to inflict.
I don’t think Solly is stompable. Scratchable maybe.
Abbadon did a really good job making Salami Dave’s face ooze condescension in this scene.
As is known, one should never trust a man who asks or declares an honorable duel. Honorable duels do not exist, except in the definitions of the winner. Worse yet is when it is a spectacle.
“Anything and everything is a weapon.”
his boss battle weak point is obviously his beard
The irony of Dave offering an honourable is that he may have been the most duplicitous of the demiurges we know of. He may seem upright and just. But he was able to hide his nature from his masters while the world he loved burned to nothing, and then turn around and destroy them.
That’s the kind of deception it took for him to gain power.
What do you think he will do to keep it?
Actually, from the background story (Incubus’s telling of it anyway), it sounded like they were extremely naive about choosing a random desperate person and assuming that their thirst for revenge would fade in time. It’d be easier to hide a thirst for revenge in the face of that kind of naïveté than one who would be more wary of it.
Yeah, gotta say. The original Master’s of Ki Rata might have done better than choosing to save one man. Perhaps saving as many as they would would have been better. Ahh well, hindsight as they say
Absolute Unit
always forgetting that Solomon is just Enormous.
Is Solomon’s head too small for his body? Also, anyone else think of Lawrence Fishbourne as being perfect for voicing the guy?
Or James Earl Jones.
Need a voice that oozes with menace and authority.
Nope, Solomon’s head appearing to be too small is just you. He does have rather broad shoulders though.
“By which I mean this will be a total curbstomp, but I’ll try to make you look a little less insignificant than you actually are.”
Fascinating how with Salami Dave EVERYTHING seems to be about his ego. He just HAS to feel better than everybody else. Remember how he made apoint of walking amongst his people without bodyguards back when he was talking to Zaid? Even though there’s no need for one since there’s really no-one (except perhaps Jagganoth) who can threaten him, he seems to cherish the idea that his people love him for being such a good and righteous king. He gives White Chain time to rest and even has her shell repaired, not because he’s honourable, but because he wants to be SEEN as honourable. He seems to have this need to be seen by himself and others as the Hero, the Saviour – even though he really isn’t. (His fellow Demiurges aren’t fooled for a second, but even amongst them he play his role.) His title, the Paternum is telling: to him, he’s the only adult among children. In fact, the only one who he seems to consider an equal is Zoss himself. (Wonder what the old man has to say about SD?). Also, I wonder how much of his current attitude goes back to the murder of his family? It’s almost as if he feels that he’s the only on who can prevent another disaster like that.
Yes, ego to the nth degree. However, his walkabout with Zaid and the soldiers bronze-aging the arena build does reveal one thing: he actually is well regarded by the citizens, to an extent that he, Solomon, finds wearing. He doesn’t need zealous idiots who injure themselves hauling stones, he needs practical, well-adjusted citizens who don’t need so much looking after.
Also, the textual commentary from way back in the book suggests that Solomon’s governors, for the huge part of the empire he can’t run personally, are selected for ruthlessness and bloodiness. Perhaps it’s not all peace and light like Rayuba?
I looked back and found the quote you mentioned, and the text at the first page of the book does imply that his worlds are generally ruled with an iron fist.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Solomon uses the tournament to recruit governors for his empire, whether as a prize to the champion if they choose not to take on Solomon or as a prize for the top ranked surviving fighters. Obviously it’s not guaranteed to result in a ruthless governor as there could easily be those with virtuous goals, but the whole point of the tournament is going to attract a good deal of those with one particular goal, a thirst for power. Plus, they’re probably told to keep a lid on things and that if they can’t or are lax on enforcement, Daddy Solomon will be forced to come and deal with it, and Daddy Solomon doesn’t like being forced to do so.
Solomon looks very smug. I cannot wait for things to go wrong for him.
With a name like that, I doubt your claim of being unable to wait.
Next Page: Large Black Man Publicly Pounds Blue Clay Girl
Maybe her next incarnation should be named Karen 83.
Mild continuity error with the foot wrappings there. White chain doesn’t have them in the first panel, but then later does.
Make him bleed, White Chain, and show the multiverse he is vulnerable.