KING OF SWORDS 10-149
Chapter: 10
“Make of your fate an arrow, and shoot with your heart.”
– Poetic saying, attr. Hamud V (2nd conquest)
Kill Six Billion Demons
BREAKER OF INFINITIES
“Make of your fate an arrow, and shoot with your heart.”
– Poetic saying, attr. Hamud V (2nd conquest)
In my head it was John Rhys-Davies but I think I like Brian Blessed more.
It can only be Siegmeyer of Catarina for me.
Exactly. With the same slight echo his voice has due to the fact that he has such a big helmet.
Yes! đ
Someone infected me with that same thought from the very first page Vigilant Gaze showed up in, and I haven’t been able to be rid of it since. It fits perfectly!
Brian Blessed has exactly the right voice and accent for 10 Vigilant Gaze.
But the vocabulary of a Brian Blessed in full flow is truly a sight to behold.
Or a sound to behear? đ
I’ve heard it said that at his most glorious, almost every line he delivers could be replaced with “DID SOMEBODY ORDER A LARGE HAAAM!?”
I can only hear Chris Sabbat in full All-Might mode. The GREAT CHARIOT CANNON scene has the same energy as the last fight of the USJ invasion
I think about old male voice coming from inside of a vase.
Because it’s an angel talking from inside of an old armour, It doesn’t need to sound 100% human.
Nope. None of you can dissuade me from Beau Billingslea.
It’s Keith David as Goliath.
Well shit, that can’t be unheard now. He also did the president recently in Rick and Morty apparently.
Though now I’m hearing Solomon as Xanatos and… I kinda dig it.
It’s always been John Rhys-Davies for me too! Though, leaning more towards his Gimli voice.
they sounded like a pipe organ to me
The Pride of the King.
When he is challenged he must use any weapon and style better than the one using it against him.
See how he must crush those before him!
i’m starting to think that’s the plan. krayu mat is supposedly suicidal for a human to use, and as far as i know there isn’t an exception for the 7 or anything.
and he’d try. he’d totally try.
That would make for a cool story, full of hubris.
But is it even possible for a non-Angel to perform Krayu Mat?
The description in 9-112 seems implies you need to be a litteral Angel, bearer of the white cold flame, freed of your armor, to perform it.
well, the writer of the manual of hands and feet tried some basic techniques, but was dissuaded by an angel explaining that if he did succeed in performing one if would kill him
it’s an open question what would happen if solomon seriously tried to use it, but him killing himself in an attempt is certainly a direction the story could easily head in
Well of course 10 Vigilant Gaze would sound like BB….
What excellent moves! What excellent fighting! It is still strange that Solomon is not using Ki Rata, however. Regardless, this is a fantastic spectacle. Continue fighting!
Solomon David is afflicted by PRIDE. It is not enough for him to pragmatically defeat threats to his rule; he must demonstrate he is their superior in every way that matters. For if he does not, he admits the possibility that he is not at the apex of his own world, and that would be a graver wound than any that our dear angel could hope to inflict with her palms or feet.
That said, he did use Ki Rata earlier, and there may be some limitation to how much he can use it in a certain time period. For example, that he must spend some time “charging” before he is able to use it once more.
No, if he wanted to demonstrate his untouchable superiority, he would simply shatter White Chain with a touch, the same as all the other combatants who have challenged Solomon. No, I fear this is something more insidious – he’s mirroring his foe to give her a chance to show him her strength. And then, when White Chain has given all she has, then she will be destroyed.
I know that’s the general assumption and, for the most part, I agree, but there’s a small part of me that wonders if we might be misreading this.
Nominally, the whole point of this tournament is Solomon David looking for an heir; Just like Mottom and Mommon, he wishes to be free of the burdens of his crown. However, his pride does not allow him to shirk it quite so easily as either of those two, so he seeks a “worthy heir” and, up till now, he has used martial prowess as a proxy for that wort.
Perhaps he thinks White Chain might fit the bill. She is, after all, an angel and, thus, bound to uphold what she perceives as the law, which might extend to a just rule if a crown is forced upon her head, and she has certainly shown a certain degree of competence, though not enough to resist Solomon David’s manipulation should he wish to meddle later.
Maybe the reason he’s using lesser styles is so he can test her skills and then, convincingly, throw the fight.
Oh, I really like this interpretation
I would be quite pleased if that was indeed the outcome. One can but hope.
It’s a generous interpretation for one of the Seven. Pride cometh before the fall, and all, I don’t think Solomon is going to get out of this book with his ego intact.
Now, THAT would be an interesting plot twist
Superior? It is said her style includes an unstoppable and nigh all powerful attack. The question is if she has mastered it and can use it with other styles. And the whole âheâs a godâ thing.
KSBD says trans rights
Trans rights!
đ˝đťđŞđˇđź đťđ˛đ°đąđ˝đź
I must learn this secret.
“What’s your gender?”
“Trans(scendent)”
I kind of enjoyed reading it as a transhumanist commentary. Transangelist. Haha.
White Chain is “trans-human” in the sense that she is an angel that carries a feminine gender identity/prefers a female presentation–characteristics that imply a human body. She wishes to be a typical human female (ironically, the opposite of what “transhumanist” usually means.)
Holy carp!
The post-human god is not a transhuman, but a trans-god.
I think you did something amazingly deep and beautiful there and I hope in time we are all able to appreciate it fully.
Like seriously not even kidding here that is as fucking amazing as this comic is awesome.
Itâs rare to see good transgender fiction. Even more so for it to be the character arc of a side character who is fleshed out beyond just their transition. That captures both the internal and external pressures of gender identity. This work goes a step beyond that by tying the characters struggles with identity into the greater themes of world and story and showing the stagnation and decay of society!! God damn Abbadon?!?!!
He’s making a show of things…
Gog says that was the whole point. Agog, for once, agrees with Gog. Also, Gog Agog would like you to try out their free Premium Worm week – anyone can opt out after that, but no one ever does!
It must be a great deal if no one ever backs out.
It’s a truly mind-altering experience.
âYour Leisure Kicks will not save youâ
I wonder how that holds up for you.
Beautiful
Brian Blessed! Dear God, I was thinking the exact same thing.
May we bless her fists, her feet, her stubborn, majestic heart; our brothers have burned so brightly for so long we’ve blinded ourselves.
Interesting that in the third panel the light in her body is exactly where the broken bit is in the material world.
Behold how the emperor’s pride gets the better of him. He must defeat our sister with whatever style she uses, and she is better than he. Observe how he has begun to channel his Key just to hold her at bay.
It seems that White Chains is not the only angel to have changed, hm? A welcome sign.
And once more, White Chains’s repair work is showing strain. I had wondered if the emperor deliberately had a shoddy job done, but I think that would be admitting to himself that he needs to resort to underhanded methods to keep up appearances, and his pride would not allow that.
It seems obvious what his downfall would be in this fight, though – a fighting style he does not know about, has not mastered. I believe we shall see Krayu Mat once again, before this day is over.
Angels are not chained, they will wear chains of their own making.
The angels have always had capacity for free will but they must be taught how to use it. To transcend their axiomatic nature is to acknowledge their own Royalty, and discover that the chains they wore were never there in the first place.
White Chain is the ideal combatant against the Emperor, because White Chain understands pride, law, and duty. Furthermore White Chain may be able to see the weakness in pride. Solomon cannot be beaten by hand or foot but by striking mind and heart with words.
An angel should know that Pride comes before a great fall.
We cut the chains into their souls.
This does not men they are not real, only that they can be broken by a thought.
Chains matter only when they are tethered.
Pride is an adamant chain weighed down by failure.
It takes only a single blow to drown in hubris.
The Emperor truly has no clothes.
I’m sorry Abbadon but it’s a long-established canonical fact that he’s voiced by Siegmeyer
Also, LEISURE KICKS. Have we seen this one before? I’ve always wanted to, the name is incredible.
Not since poor Liminal Blossom fought White Chain.
Judicious Rains, actually, not Liminal Blossom.
Judicial Rains, who was saved from a messy death by a guardian human.
Hehe, *trans*cended. I see what you did there, master Abbadon.
::3
I think Solomon will suffer a flesh wound from some debris that falls off of White Chain after she weathers a particularly powerful strike.
I’m sure that the same powers that make him super-powerful also make him super-tough. I don’t think he’s going to be grazed by some flying bits of stone.
What do you use to cut a diamond?
The force of his own attacks might be the only way.
So that is what the whole Manuel of the Hand and Feet thing was about. We’re going to see every single style in this fight.
Probably not, since the shadow arts are specialized schools that neither is likely to practice, head of John requires body modifications that neither of them have, Demon flips the cart cannot be practiced by angels and Solomon’s in mirror mode, Flying snow and Shivering arrow seem impractical in this kind of fight, 25 purities seems to be the kind of style that’s practiced exclusively.
I wonder if Demiurges are capable of Krayu Mat; it requires a strong soul flame that humans simply cannot possess, but Solomon isn’t exactly human anymore. He leaks color similar to Angels, but he still doesn’t strike me as a soul encased in a shell.
In the case of humans, the soul and body are one. This is especially true for Lord Solomon.
Likewise one does not see even an enhanced human capable of Krayu Mat. But also where would a human’s base-level atum end and key-enhanced soulflame begin? One does not feel there would still be distinct separation, but rather a continuous spectrum. And Solomon is definitely using at least some power from his key in his moves in this set-to, just look at his purple blazing eyes, needless if he wasn’t.
We have seen Head of John, though – Incubus has it. That’s what those studs in his forehead are for.
Pugh (not Barley) in the ring
Stirs the mustard, doesn’t sing.
Frosted Heady Rock’s best thing.
Is she about to achieve ultra-instinct?
Not sure what I love more – superior angelic depictions with profound comments of 10 Vigilant Gaze, or a surprising twist in combat (White Chain using Leisure Kicks? now thst’s unexpected). Whatever it is, surely KSBD remains badass & beatyfull.
So they are talking about White Chains change, while she is in the Arena fighting an oponent copying her every move…
Yeah, so she will find/invent/remember/create/ be a new Style I would guess… which will force Solomon to counter with Ki Rata, and anger him greatly cause he cant show he is better at everything any more
I’m thinking either Krayu Mat, which might be particularly difficult for Solomon to replicate, or White Chain might turn the tables and copy his Ki Rata, which he might find enormously surprising.
I’m guessing Krayu Mat, given the foreshadowing. Both previous climactic fights came down to the boss being destroyed primarily by their own iconic vice, after our heroes provided a comparatively minor disruption to some massive brittle edifice of coping mechanisms, rather than directly matching strength against strength. Setup this time has been all about Solomon’s constraint by his own laws, and he’s implicitly surrendered the initiative, allowing White Chain to define which style will be used next.
I cant agree with that. Krayu Mat is like the definition of the old way, and White Chain has used it be beat her friends in the last fight, and i dont think she can use Ki Rata herself, and if she did, it would be copying Solomon, that does not seem like the right way forward, more like a way back
I think you’re right. I doubt White Chain could manage Ki Rata, and I can’t picture her using the suspended time technique, destroying her enemies without them being able to fight back.
You found a way to bring Brian Blessed into the story. For that, I love you!
One day, Drona, Martial Arts Teacher to the Pandava and Kaurava cousins, had a bird target set high upon a pole in a courtyard of the palace.
He instructed the princes in the details of archery. He taught them the grips, the stances, how to draw and release, how to breathe.
Finally he addressed aiming. Having explained, he called upon the princes to examine their comprehension.
He called upon the twins,  Nakula and Sahadeva to take position and aim.
âWhat do you see ?â, Drona asked.
The twins replied alternatelyâŚ. âI see the bird, I see my handâŚâ
âI see the pole, the arrow…â
âReturn to your places,â commanded their teacher.
⨠âDuryodhana, Vikarna, come forward, take position, aim.â
The princes did so.
Drona asked, âWhat do you see ?â
Vikarna replied, âI see the bird, the wall, the poleâŚâ
Duryodhana replied, âI see the bird, my hand, the skyâŚâ
âReturn to your placesâ, commanded their teacher.
âArjuna ! Come forward ! Take position and aim !â
Arjuna obeyed, swiftly taking position.
He notched an arrow, drew his bow, and aimed in one fluid movement.
Drona asked, âWhat do you see ?â
âI see the bird, master Drona,â replied the prince.
âDescribe the bird.â â¨
âMaster – I cannot describe it.â
âWhy canât you ?â
âI can only seeâŚ..itsâ eye.â
âRelease your arrow !â commanded Drona.
The arrow flew – impaling the right eye of the bird target.
âI will make you the FINEST ARCHER in the WORLD !â, exclaimed Drona.
~ Excerpt from The Mahabharata
– As performed by the Peter Brook Company of Players.
Film edition, 1989.
We love that film. There’s something about how much wonder and awe they manage to convey with so few props and gimmicks.
Wonderful. I’m just diving into the +5 hour epic myself.
I imagine him sounding like Tiny Tim. A high pitched voice coming from a bulky body is inherently entertaining because of the contradiction between expectations and reality.
“Yes, I have also mastered this one. Any others?”
Also, “TRANScendent”. Yes, I too see what you did there.