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
Seeker of Thrones
“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! 😀
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? 😄
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.
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 ‘he’s a god’ thing.
KSBD says trans rights
Trans rights!
𝓽𝓻𝓪𝓷𝓼 𝓻𝓲𝓰𝓱𝓽𝓼
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.
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.
“Your Leisure Kicks will not save you”
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.
“What do you see ?”, Drona asked.
The twins replied alternately…. “I see the bird, I see my hand…”
“I see the pole, the arrow…”
“Return to your places,” commanded their teacher.
“Duryodhana, Vikarna, come forward, take position, aim.”
The princes did so.
Drona asked, “What do you see ?”
Vikarna replied, “I see the bird, the wall, the pole…”
Duryodhana replied, “I see the bird, my hand, the sky…”
“Return to your places”, commanded their teacher.
“Arjuna ! Come forward ! Take position and aim !”
Arjuna obeyed, swiftly taking position.
He notched an arrow, drew his bow, and aimed in one fluid movement.
Drona asked, “What do you see ?”
“I see the bird, master Drona,” replied the prince.
“Describe the bird.”
“Master – I cannot describe it.”
“Why can’t you ?”
“I can only see…..its’ eye.”
“Release your arrow !” commanded Drona.
The arrow flew – impaling the right eye of the bird target.
“I will make you the FINEST ARCHER in the WORLD !”, 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.
Vigilant Gaze voiced by Brain Blessed in the live action remake. Who would voice Solomon David tho
If he was alive, I would give the part to Michael Clarke Duncan.
With extant actors? No idea, maybe an older Michael B. Jordan.
If you mean just voice, then I’d say Keith David would make for an EXCELLENT Solomon David.
In the flesh though? That’s tougher, there aren’t many actors who are that gigantic AND also good at acting. I like Djimon Honsou though.
One life. One arrow. A short journey from bow to target.
I’m predicting one of two things. The first is the most obvious – White Chain uses Krayu Mat, Solomon replicates it, but loses blood in the doing so, and White Chain is credited her win. The second isn’t a prediction at all, but instead simply that she’ll do something truly unique among angels for her victory.
I was expecting the Krayu Mat thing, possibly combined with Solomon kicking a hole in her armour when she’s not in it and cutting his foot on the sticky-out screws. But I think that’s a heisenplot now; we killed it.
I’m now looking for something much weirder: White Chain will use a move that *accidentally* knocks Solomon’s key out of his head. There’ll be a moment of stillness while the key lies on the floor with both of them looking at it speechless. Then somebody else (who?) jumps in and snatches it … and the *real* crazy starts.
He killed the last person who had the key in a direct confrontation with his bare hands. He does not NEED the key.
White Chain’s popping quite a few of those nails, how long can she hold together ?
I feel like at this point the nails are symbolic/not helping her. She didn’t request them put in, Solomon’s men did that as part of readying her to die to him. Maybe once she loses them (and maybe the shell she has already referred to as “not her body” as well) she will be able to do something miraculous?
I’m not familiar with this Brian Blessed people keep mentioning. I hear Vigilant Gaze sounding like Robbie Coltrane in full on Hagrid mode.
Brian Blessed is the actor who played Vultan in the Flash Gordon movie.
Have a look at his page on TV Tropes. Simply glorious.
If WC finds a way to exist in her true form outside the void you will hear my screaming from across the universe.
I was thinking the same thing! I’m betting 6 Juggernaut Star is there too, but maybe not as an enemy…
I’ve lost a competition by axe kick before.
Not fun.
OUR SISTER MAY NOT WIN THE BATTLE BUT SHE WILL WIN THE WAR!!
GRAB HIS DICK AND TWIST IT
Monkey Steals Peaches
Man I too see Vigilant Gaze as Brian Blessed.
And if I’m not mistaken – White Chain is going to pull off Ki Rata.
That or an entirely novel martial art that Solomon will be unable to respond to.
“To be a reporter, you’ve got to turn yourself into a gun. And aim the gun. And shoot it. That’s reporting.” -Attributed to Spider Jerusalem.
THUMBS!
I’ll gladly take Brian Blessed. Excellent choice.
(But I still hear Siegmeyer of Catarina first)
The white fire darkens.
SOMETHING
TRANSCENDENT
Contrary to what it looks like, the humanoid angel without a head is not disparaging 82 White Chain for looking human, but for not wearing clothes like he does
Hold on. What usually happens when an angel’s shell is completely destroyed? I feel like something different might happen this time.
This is also my hope
She set him up for that. That should knock back a little smugness…
Upper right angel doesn’t totally look like White Chain to me, mostly because the hair looks like Allison’s, or perhaps Delicious if Delicious had White Chain’s colors and lost her collar ruff.
Can’t tell if I’m reading too much into it or what.
This is gonna be sad
I was thinking of an even gravlier version of Ron Perlman but Brian Blessed is pretty much perefection.
‘Angels. Angels never change.’
Despite only having confirmation from this page, I’ve always seen 10 Vigilant gaze as having the voice of Brian Blessed.
TRANSCENDENTAL BOOTYASS
Only an Angel beats another Angel. Ki Rata is the ultimate martial arts. Irresistable Force, meet Immovable Object.
It appears that the tyrant can match her every art. …But can he match Krayu Mat? Perhaps someone whose body is hardened to this degree and whose soul flame burns so brightly could manage this feat?
I do believe there was a term for this, in a faraway world. They called such an event a ‘Stand battle’
The sad droopy wings on panel two are heartbreaking.
I personally like the dark blue humanoid Angel with a fire sword – he’s clearly a reference to the one that cast Adam and Eve out of Paradise and stood guard at its gates
In my head, 10 Vigilant Gaze also sounds a lot like Brian Blessed.
*cries in trans*
How’s come so many angels (panel 2) don’t got no headses?
its a metaphor for them being stupid idiots
I’d say it’s actually an allegory of their inhumanity – even those with a humanoid shape don’t have a human-like head, while our dear White Chain has evolved into not just any androginous figure, but a distinctly feminine one. The other Angels revile her closeness to humans, her refusal to forgo the spirit of the Old Law in order to protect them – this makes her stand apart from both the inhumanly static and neutral Angels and the inhumanly warped and destructive Thorns
And this dichotomy also informs Juggernaut Star’s tendency to reveal a beautifully human face when she’s feeling vulnerable and at her lowest. Juggernaut Star acts as White Chain’s foil, hiding her closeness to humanity behind a monstrous veil. White Chain meanwhile has only flourished by embracing her human features. And now look at her, a supremely heroic idiot fighting a brutal tyrant while Juggernaut Star not too long ago preached submission to a crushing fate.
I think that White Chain is discovering something.
Not that they are the rules, the laws, the art, the training, the skills. All are mechanical, all can be strung together and work in deadly conjunction by a decent AI and neural network.
No, White Chain has discovered that she must do something that she didn’t think was possible. Didn’t know was possible.
Live.
Become truly sapient and exist in this world as something other than a routine of process. Discover, in all of it’s bladed glory, free will.
Welcome to your first true life, White Chain.
So our boy Salami david is a true fight nerd, a beefy bulky chunky powerful NERD
ok so it might just be misplaced optimism cuz solomon seems to be fucking around which gives White Chain a non-zero chance of landing a proper blow but i am curious to see if she will manage to draw solomon’s blood… i think the only way anyone could manage it, given his key and their lack of such, would be a blow to his nose. on the human body (and i assume he is anatomically similar enough to humans that i can make this statement) the nose is one of the few places where one cannot promote defense through muscle and has some very thinly covered blood vessels in there that are prone to bursting.
that said, the only way White Chain is going to manage to land such a blow is to genuinely surprise solomon in his fucking around phase, most likely on his baseline assumptions of what angels are capable of and willing to do.
the reason i posit this is because if she *does* draw his blood, i only see two possible reactions from solomon regardless of whether or not he slays White Chain. the first, he is true to his word and bequeaths his empire to White Chain (probably also ki rata). the second and, imo, more likely, he rages the fuck out. there’d be any number of reasons why this would be the case, but chief among them would be his pride. he clearly puts a truly ridiculous amount of emphasis on appearances and the emperor being suckerpunched in the face to draw blood would look very bad. so much so, he might even forget himself for a moment and simply obliterate White Chain. whether or not he then bequeaths the empire and such to white chain afterwards is anybody’s guess but at the very least, it would change drastically, most likely for the worse.
of course, this is even assuming an angel’s potential strength is anywhere near enough to damage his body at its weakest points… it’s also assuming solomon doesn’t stop fucking around for a while which is probable because, again, appearances. the reality is that white chain is most likely going to die to him, probably slowly since solomon has been throwing damaging, but not lethal, blows at her so far. there’s also the possibility of a curveball mid-fight from gog agog cuz they seemed like they were planning something against solomon and this fight would be the absolute best moment of opportunity for whatever that is.
Well, Allison got stabbed in the eye and the knife broke. Key users have all the cheat codes xD
Nevertheless, good call on Gog Agog. They’ve played the bumbling idiot for so long I had discarded them as a threat, but they may still play a role in this…
Also where the hell are Princess, Nyave and Zaid? This has to be the longest hanging thread in the narrative by far. The fact that they have vanished again is making me wonder whether they truly are the wildcard in Team Alison’s hand, or whether something really nasty (probably invovling Gog Agog) has happened to them.
Last we saw they were surrounded by miffed halberdiers, so my first assumption is that they are still in jail like Al and Cio were
If White Chain draws blood, could she ask Solomon to make her human?
Not in the sense of altering her flame colour, I think. But to make a shell that is flesh rather than forged ash? Maybe.
In the bottom left panel Solomon looks like a surfer. A really smug, beefy, surfer dude.
I effin love White Chain’s story. So epic.
I’m not quite sure why people are predicting Krayu Mat will win the day – this book is titled King of Swords, and we’ve already seen how Intra, who also held that name, defeated an unbeatable fighter by throwing a strike of such incredibly poor form that it slew his opponent instantly. I think it fairly evident that White Chain will learn from her foolish apprentice and use a supreme lack of technique to defeat Solomon. If she defeated him through superior technique that’d just validate his sin – he could no doubt make like a shonen protagonist and master the technique that defeated him in about 5 minutes, but something so abjectly inferior to himself? That’s what he can’t do.
I think you mean BRIAN BLESSED, not Brian Blessed. it’s a subtle difference in the pronunciation, all the more important for it.