That song was awful and the singer always came across like an asshole who was making fun of her boyfriend’s high school crush because she wasn’t interested in him when they where in high school.
One does like this, it is very apt. One shall hazard then that a particularly Royal smile, with a side order of mockery (not sure one’s siter is pitying of the tyrant) is mayhap likely also of the 7th way. You shall all have an extra petit-four for high tea.
Wrong. If someone else has not put you in there, that means you are not being punished…
…but you still are imprisoned. A prison will always be a prison, regardless of the authorship of your captivity.
Walk into a cell and lock yourself there willingly. If you tell me it is not a prison, but a site of liberty, we’ll both know you are but lying to yourself out of desperation.
‘Prison’ is an old word with varied meanings from time or place. Declaring your own definition THE definition without considering them is dishonest.
I’m accusing you of sophistry.
One is imprisoned if they are confined or involuntarily held captive, and he has confined himself psychologically in a delusion of self control. He doesn’t want his ego stroked, he needs it, just as an example.
Those that speak of “fallacies” are universally misguided.
Classical logic is a tool primarily for self-deceit.
The issue is not with the misuse (fallacies) but with the use, as one can “prove” anything at all, unless one looks to the soundness.
And classical logical arguments are too simplistic to ever be sound in reality. Language is not the building blocks of reality. Words are too abstract and generalized to ever capture real truth.
And what White Chain is doing, is pin-pricking a hole in David’s self-deceit.
He will destroy her form for it, but she has already drawn that drop of blood. It’s just not the physical kind.
It is. But while it may not be strictly true, that doesn’t mean it can’t rhyme with truth, and be useful.
Solomon has arranged the tournament to flush out anyone with the ambition to surpass him, long before they are a real threat. Then he curb-stomps them, all the whole complaining no credible component exists. Well, no sh*t Sherlock. Maybe cultivate some?
The limits to his experience are of his own making.
Coincidentally (or not) that is Himself’s true name too. And all are well recommended to beware of Him. (Or Her. Gender is a matter of momentary preference to a devil.)
Solomon is looking for a replacement, because he wants out. He, by his own words, wishes to leave and he, once again by his own words, says he can’t.
Discipline would be him ruling on in perpetuity without looking for someone to free him from his self imposed duty.
He is in prison.
Solomon is trapped by false beliefs and wants to escape. A Discipline requires a desire to remain. As when Alison showed humility before her master White Chain without any dimming of her key. Thank you MrSing for your insight.
Also to the above comments, I think Solomon enjoys the ‘idea’ of escaping, but he also tournament which he A: controls all the rules and B: changes them on a whim. Solomon enjoys the idea of escaping becuase it fits with the image he’s cultivated for himself of a philosopher king. When in actuality Sol’s using the same tools of every other autocrat and tyrant in history, hell the idea of abandoning the throne to pursue the path of Royalty isn’t even original. To make himself seem enlightened and powerful Sol’s just trying to saying he wants to emulate the most powerful wise man his subjects and rivals know, Zoss.
Finding a worthy successor is a noble goal to to put on like a sweet Gi but this tournament isn’t about that, its about the spectacle of seeming like both an even handed fair ruler while reinforcing the idea that no one can replace him.
He’s either a coward or someone whose putting machiavelli to shame.
I mean…not put to fine a point on it, but the corrosive and limiting nature of systems of oppression is a key thesis of K6BD. Om was an example of someone unwillingly trapped by a system they helped create. Solomon is a more willing participant in his the systems he’s created, but he’s trapped further by his relationships to the other demiurges and his own inflated self image. Like the main man Zoss said, “he who masters the wheel, cannot break it.” Solomon has made a world where he can only ever be a “king”.
You had internets to spare and you gave a full one to this guy? I’m not opposed to giving one to Neva because that was tight. I’m really just surprised you had one. I thought they were all traded for cryptocurrency.
To reiterate, Solomon is violent, not strong. He is so weak that in his violence he fails to realize his weakness. Strength is the power to choose, and Solomon hasn’t truly chosen, in quite some time.
Many who claim strength bear delusions. White Chain has taken blows to her body, but dealt a blow to Solomon’s ego.
How does one bring division to water? The secret is that the answer isn’t force. The blow that cuts water kills angels, and breaks gods, and that blow is not delivered by fist or by sword.
Probably. T’wouldn’t be the strangest method of death dealing I’ve seen in a fight like this.
Though more to Arkwright’s point… I think that we’re about to see what hubris looks like when lodged in the brain of a man who never learned what the Silent Voice tried to teach.
I’m on pins and needles at the edge of my seat, waiting to see what happens next. I just hope that Pree White Chain survives the process of drawing blood from this particularly pride swollen Diamond. . . . . .
Pretty sure 10 Vigilant Gaze demonstrated one way to divide water, landscapes, buildings, and so forth.
Myself, I’d simply freeze the water first and cut it when I saw fit, rather than trying to punch it as my days of foolhardy strength are long past and I am neither as foolish nor as strong as I used to be.
In response to my comment a few may have missed that I have given the riddle of splitting water previously. I *believe* it was, rather auspiciously, during the “War of Teacups”, that I mentioned that my Teacher taught me that bringing division to water requires naught more than two cups.
The blow that cuts water, kills angels, and breaks gods, is not a blow delivered by raw force. Rather, it is the work of peaceable hands, and almost expressly requires that you put down your weapons and unclench your fists.
In the case of bringing division to water, teacups should be handled with care, for to clench your fist as though to strike while holding one could break it, and we with only two hands cannot hold both teacup and teapot, and also a weapon.
In the case of killing angels, breaking their body with a surplus of force does little to threaten their eternally blazing form. In the case of gods, doubtful any among us could muster the force requisite to break them, or else we would likely replace them, fools that we are and power alluring. With this in mind, one must consider a different tact.
The Lesson of Two Teacups, as my master always called it, is that not all problems can be solved with force, and many can be solved more expediently and easily with methods other than force. A gentle touch can answer that which bloodshed never will.
But we are fools and fools are many, and force is one among the few things fools will easily grasp.
A few gentle words can split the heavens where armies fail.
Interesting thing to tack onto there about Solomon’s strength, or lack thereof. Zoss’ statement about strength beyond strength, to pass a flame to others, to make those around her to rise up to the challenges that have brought the wheel to stagnation, but Solomon on the other hand comments about how “it is an age of disorded and weak nations… People have forgotten fealty and tradition.”
I think that Solomon has failed to realise that as someone who controls a seventh of the wheel, the universes and the population, the current state of the world is his fault. He’s failed to build a world that can stand on its own, failed to inspire anyone, failed to allow strength to blossom, failed to bring peace, failed his entire world, a seventh of the wheel, and 111,111 universes.
Worse yet for Solomon is that he doesn’t even have the strength to admit he has made an error, and because of that he is now perpetually trapped in a prison built out of his own expectations for himself. To change now is to admit that he failed somewhere thousands of years ago, and he would rather wait tens of thousands more years for someone to come along who is strong enough to prove him right.
Gots un nagsome feelin us, thum’s pridesome noggin nae e’er acceptin Stoneyarse’s truthsayin, gonnae crush im unnerfoot an be fulfillin ‘is auspicious name. Then be shrugsome o thon ensuin nucularsplosion.
The description also fits to Incubus and White Chain before she met Allison: Stay in your routine and think it is your freedom. Zoss, Jagganoth and Michael, similarly but different – they are still seeking but captivated by an unreachable goal.
Himself and Metatron are the only ones truly free!
It’s a universal condition resulting from the massive power imbalance in this world, and in fact the basic problem of all power imbalance: It makes people less free. The ones with the power to change that are going to have to decide if they want, well, power over everyone, or freedom for everyone. So I think it’s good to make them think about that choice.
I believe this is the third smile of white chain in the comic, I went back at the ‘first’ and re-read the whole thing to look for another instance (a clever ploy by the author to get me to re-read again).
Now it seems white chain has struck a blow against the Ego of the celestial emperor, I can see the blood forming under the bruise. So smile she should, though her job’s not yet done, not a single drop of blood will be drawn with a bruise.
Come now you teevats, you do not get be emperor without meeting a few smug bung-holes whose confidence your personal overachieving makes them think that trite prose and fully beaten horse lacking in functioning limpet systems is going to fold the next time a clone of the same doesn’t just trundle up and belch out more the acrimonious holier-than-thou drivel you have had to hear a thousand times from your so-called “fellows”.
Really; give the emperor a few more panels to fold; A battle of wits and words is just exciting as trading fleshy flakes and sweat particles.
I doubt Solomon will fold. Egos tend to be fragile things, and an entire personal built on ego is precariously placed indeed. Solomon probably hardened his ego to be as diamond to compensate for this, but such hard things are brittle and their failure tends to be sudden and catastrophic. He has already shown stress cracks, revealing he grows weary of his mantle which has only grown heavier over the centuries. A dire warning. This bout may be the final straw, the last grain of rice. He will not fold. He will shatter.
The being who must declare to all who see them that they are indeed the King is in fact nothing of the sort. This observation goes double for those who must use great displays of violence to garner attention in the first place.
A true King attracts attention and followers through the strength of their passion, their vision of a grander life for their people, their desire to live the dreams of their nation.
Have we so quickly forgotten that he is the kind of Emperor to shuck his fine robes and send an over-worked crew of laborers home in order to get his own hands dirty?
Yeah, that was all about his ego. It had nothing to do with true compassion for the laborers. He was playing the part of the benevolent ruler, which he’s been doing for centuries.
“Though you toil and bleed and break your bodies at my command, and must work to build a grand stage upon which I may demonstrate my greatness to the world once again, on this day I come to impress upon you a single truth:
I can, if I so choose, do the full measure of this work myself. I can do so without even the first drop of sweat dampening my brow. And although today, in this place, I choose to do this, tomorrow I will not.
Tomorrow, by my orders, you will resume your meaningless labor. Tomorrow, by my actions, you will have but one thought in your mind: the Emperor could do this himself. But he will not.”
Thats a very dramatic way to put it, and I feel like its quite spot on. I imagine he does want to appear as a benevolent ruler, but for some of his audience I suppose he would want to send that message. The entire Tournament itself is meant to show how pointless fighting him would be, how unassailable he is, why wouldn’t the process of its construction be used to illustrate that too?
And therein lies the flaw of Solomon David. So eager to show, to prove, to demonstrate. So eager to put himself on such a high pedestal. But when one is so high up, tell me:
How does one get down?
He is a slave to the image he has cultivated. He desires to walk the Path of Royalty, but it is so far away from him now. And by his own hands. His pride has raised him to his lofty position.
Solomon was taught Ki Rata, he did not invent it, though he seems to want others to believe it was merely he who achieved his goals. He lies. He had help, he had teachers, he was a student.
If Solomon was altruistic in his goal to find equals, he would train some.
Kiddin hisself be Salami in’t it, nae never wantin nonesuch equal. Oblitered ‘is masters so’s thums couldnae train none other neither, just fer starters.
The final revelation of the Conquering King! And it only took her 82 lifetimes, rather than the infinite recursions that have driven Juggernaut and Metatron completely mad, to get there.
24 Plum Blossoms Dance Under the Messenger's Wings
Is it truly power, one has to wonder, if it will crumble the moment you loosen your grip or glance away? Is it truly order if the absence of one figure will cause it all to scatter?
The monks of Ki Rata knew this. They knew the cost of their power was that it could never be used, lest they become tyrants in the name of fleeting order, of fragile authority. They knew that such might could never be unleashed, even in the defense of others, for once you break the rules for a good reason it’s only a matter of time before they are broken for bad ones.
They chose to lock Ki Rata away with their agency, only using it to prevent anyone else from gaining this power and becoming a tyrant. And now Solomon may finally start to realize that in breaking the rules, he has himself been locked into violence and denied the enlightenment he seeks, lest his false power shatter under his own hand.
The cost of ultimate power is that it can never be used. The cost of gaining ultimate authority is that you can never be free of the responsibility it brings. The cost of being the best is that you must never allow yourself to be at ease, lest someone else claim the title when you least expect it. The only winning move, indeed, is not to play.
In hindsight, the guy REALLY shouldn’t have napped during that part of the training.
And yet tyrants came anyways, and families died, and suns were stolen, planets froze. He saw that the inaction of the monks may have not spawned ki rata trained marauders, but the end result was the same.
No, Solomon’s mistake is that while pledging to seek a replacement to ensure the peace and safety of his people he never thought to foster one, or empower the citizens so they would need no one defender against the rest of the demiurges.
I wonder what an entire empire of ki rata trained citizens could accomplish. If your first instinct is to say, ‘Their own destruction’ then maybe you agree more with Solomon’s actions than you think.
Would it be an Empire though ? With every citizen capable of using Ki Rata, would there be the kind of hierarchy structures that are typical of an Empire ? With no central figure, there would be no cult-of-personality, so would you have an Empire ? or would it be something else ?
It would be the Wild West. Cut me off while driving? I’m following you and Ki Rata-ing you when you stop. Did I brush against you as we passed on the sidewalk and you found it rude? You Ki Rata me for my lack of respect. It’s the ridiculous solution to the second amendment – give everyone a nuclear weapon and hope somehow peace results.
24 Plum Blossoms Dance Under the Messenger's Wings
Indeed they came, and the result was the same no matter what. This is a fact, and I did not intend it to be in defense of the monks; I apologize if my words indicated as much.
I meant it more as… what is that clever human proverb? When all one has is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail? Both the monks and Solomon were trapped by the same power in different ways; the monks through their unwillingness to use it even as worlds died, and Solomon through his inability to do anything BUT use it. As you said, he was so caught up in his own strength that he never thought of fostering a replacement, nor establishing a system he was not in the center of. Why would someone else with the same level of power and influence be any different? Even with the best of intentions, could loosing the might of Ki Rata upon the wheel be anything but devastating?
I have fallen into similar trappings as Solomon myself on occasion, being so focused on perfection that my true goals lie forgotten. Rather than having an empire of Ki Rata masters, each struggling with the weight of that power, would it not be better to foster citizens and leaders who are imperfect but retain their agency, their willingness to concede and collaborate for the good of many? Who are weak, but fight against great power and terrible perfection anyway, simply because people are suffering and someone must act?
The unfortunate reality they find themselves in is there are 6 other beasts at the borders, and the realistic assumption is if Solomon steps down without leaving behind some equivalently devastating deterrent, no matter how finely principled and successful at the higher ideals of society building his former subjects are they will be wiped out or subjugated.
Even worse since survival right now depends on at least some nominal cooperation with at least 5 of those beasts against the six.
White Chain seems to imply that the moral thing would be to let things get messy and the chips fall where they may, because at least then there is the chance for history to move forward. One though seeks to undo creation. I guess an eventual new creation would count as history moving forward, but I do not fault the citizens of the now if they preferred not to sacrifice themselves en masse for someone else’s idealism and an unknown world’s possible benefit.
“Is it truly power, one has to wonder, if it will crumble the moment you loosen your grip or glance away? Is it truly order if the absence of one figure will cause it all to scatter?”
It quite literally is. Solomon’s glorious empire was formed, sustained, and stabilized by his power, it is a byproduct of his existence and operates in accordance to his will. Naturally, it breaks down when separated from him, just as a machine ceases to function when deprived of its battery.
You’re describing omnipotence not mere power.
The majority of people here very clearly furiously wracking their brains trying to fabricate sage insights to put in the comments but, predictably, achieve the opposite effect every time.
Haven’t we come too far to have Solomon crumble – or even be distracted – by someone saying he has a big ego? White Chain is likely not the first person to say so. That smile of hers says she knows something we don’t.
Missed notice: When did WC stop speaking by using precise literal wording (like can not and you are) and start using contractions (like can’t and you’re)? Was it recently? Who did the corrupting?
I read back a bit. WC has been using contractions for ages, but mainly in informal conversation. Official Angel Business gets the formal grammar. Now, she’s engaged in the most important fight of her existence, and her words are relaxed, almost intimate.
Our humble wax head seems to be gathering quite the group of bards, all eager to ply their trade.. It makes me wonder if this is the purpose for which it was cast, or just a happy accident.
I personally am really hoping in the next book, Allison will make it into the Tower of Zoss, and the rhyming wax head will get a cameo, sitting on a shelf in there.
Somehow the last panel looks less like White Chain’s armor form and more like her void form. I don’t know what it is, but I like it. She looks like herself.
White Chain misses precisely one piece of the puzzle that is Diamond.
Yes, the empire is a prison, and yes, its warden-prisoner has built it for himself. But it was not for that purpose it was constructed.
Behold, my lovelies, a temple built by a god, for the adoration of the thing that created him. Vast and merciless, shining and pitiful, hollow and magnificent is this cathedral, the work of billions of human lives. Its keepers keep it free of rats, its priests keep it free of the unfaithful. It is a boulder dropped onto the ruber-sheet of the universe, a great gravitational well that consumes those who trespass near it, that they, too, might know and marvel at its terrible weight.
All to venerate the pain of a man who died when his wife and children were taken from him.
When in the height heaven was not named,
And the Earth beneath did not yet bear a name,
And the primeval Apsu, who begat them,
And Chaos, Tiamut, the mother of them both
Their waters were mingled together,
And no field was formed, no marsh was to be seen;
When of the gods none had been called into Being,
And none bore a Name, and no Destinies were ordained;
Then were Created the gods in the midst of heaven,
Lahmu and Lahamu were called into Being…
Ages increased,…
Then Ansar and Kisar were Created, and over them….
Long were the days, then there came forth…..
Anu, their son,…
Ansar and Anu…
And the god Anu…
Nudimmud, whom his fathers, his begetters…..
Abounding in all wisdom,…’
He was exceeding strong…
He had no rival –
Thus were established and were… the great gods.
– Excerpt from the Enuma Elish,
~ The Babylonian Epic of Creation
As much as I love WC doing this, because of how important it is to her character development, I highly doubt this SD’s first time being called out like that. This won’t be the thing that breaks him.
Agreed. It’s not the first time he’s hearing platitudes from someone whose face he’s stepping on, and it won’t be the last. Only a sore loser tries to get philosophical when they’re beaten.
42 Fragments the Universe Beyond All Reintegration
Yeah but … how many angels has he fought? Bet she’s the first. She’s not the usual, frothy-mouthed maniac thrown up by the Ring of Power.
The start of the revolution is being televised. The thing that breaks Solomon will be a video tape. He will watch this scene again and again; he won’t be able to stop himself. WC’s truths will etch him like acid.
Solomon wants to hand his empire off to some one else so he can “pursue the path of true royalty” but refuses to relinquish his throne till some one can accomplish a near impossible task of combat prowess. It doesn’t matter how fit they’d actually be, they just have to “beat” him. Solomon has set up a situation where he can only get what he wants if he loses. He could of course at anytime just relinquish his throne, but then either his empire would collapse meaning he failed his people again or it wouldn’t meaning he wasn’t as important as he thought and his cruelties where meaningless. Neither of those things are acceptable to him.
Thing is, Solomon never intended to give away his crown. All of this is just a giant play to serve his vanity. He’s not there to find a successor, he’s there to show off that he can’t be beaten.
really, if solomon wanted a true heir, he would raise and train one. he’s so paradigm locked into his successor doing almost exactly what he did that he can’t see such a simple solution… or he chooses not to.
Hey, I’m not YISUN, but I do’t think the built-his-own-prison is what is burning him. Yes, he’s built it, but don’t forget that White Chain points out no one has come close to beating him during his rule. What REALLY CHAFES at Solomon is that by failing to produce an equal (or a better) from his nation or sons, he has failed as a leader. The wheel turns… the rim doesn’t just end up at the beginning, but a wheel drives its own hub to drive progress. Like the Olympics, each generation strives to be better than the last. Solomon has failed at this, in his monumental prison, garbed in his beautiful bureaucracy of sons unfit to be heirs, and he thinks he’s the only one wise enough to notice.
Solomon and White Chain are so very similar at times, and yet only one has made the choice to be free of the system they are in. No piece, no matter how highly placed, is free from the machine.
“Consider one of life’s original situations: that of a hide and seek game. What a thrill to be hidden while someone’s looking for you, what a delightful fright to be found, but what a panic when, because you are too well hidden, the others give up looking for you after a while and leave. If you hide too well, the others forget you. You are forced to come out on your own when they don’t want you anymore. That is hard to take. It’s like turning too fine a phrase, so subtle that you are reduced to explaining it. Nothing is sadder than having to beg for existence and returning naked among the others. Therefore, it’s better not to know how to play too well; it’s better to know how to let others unmask you and to endure the rule of the game. Not too fast, not too late.” -jean baudrillard
Solo man dave ur a tryhard and nobody wants to play with u anymore
Solomon David is well aware of the prison of “duty” that he has put himself in, because he cannot free himself of it. White Chain thinks that she is wise for realizing it, but her wisdom is not something new. All of the demiurges have prisons of their own design, all of them have trapped themselves into visions of what royalty is.
They realize this, and this is why each is seeking escape in their own way. Solomon wants to be defeated, but his pride cannot let him give up. Mottom wants to be replaced, but her greed for continued life keeps her trapped.
The Buddhist philosophy is strong here. None are at Nirvana – they are stuck in the cycle. Break the wheel.
As I have said a few pages ago – if you cannot hurt his body then hurt his pride as it is more fragile. And it is not the fragility of a thin, little glass container but of a balloon that was pumped up as much as it could stand over the ages of his rule.
Ah, White Chain! We do so love the fierceness the newly disillusioned feel when confronted by the tenets of their former faith. “Come,” they say. “I was as you are, and now I am Free, and you can be Free too if you just…See the laws you have chosen to bind yourself with are unjust, and walk away from them!” Girl’s got that mighty Just Came Out Energy and we LOVE it.
Also, be careful who you stomp on barefoot, sirrah! In your anger, your own strength is certainly enough to drive a nail through your very sole!
Solomon is probably a direct descendant of Meti, so would Metia and Maya and even Mottom. We haven’t even seen Maya in the tournament yet. I can’t help but wonder if this fight is just a Master testing her Student. Ki Rata would have been one of the fighting styles taught to Meti by the Gods and Angels, and passed down to King David. These two probably know each-other from the time of the Universal Wars, and even before that. WC did say they know eachother before the duel began.
Uh… no, Solomon has already been shown in comic flashbacks to have learnt Ki Rata from the Monks of the Silent Voice that refused to save Rayuba from demiurge Yemmod. Just because he has dark skin does not make him related to either Meti or Maya – since all Rayubans were dark skinned, and we’ve met similarly tan people from other worlds (eg, Nyave)
Rayuba isn’t Mayas homeworld anyway, it’s the unnamed world where Incubus has his throne (well, the one he apparently took from her at some point). They are definitely contemporaries though, possibly separated by a couple decades since Mayas training began before the war got under full swing and Solomon started at some point after it began.
We’ve also seen darker skinned people in Throne itself.
I know that expression of Solomon’s well, for I have worn it myself many times. It is not consideration for one’s opponents or their words – it is growing boredom as you realize that despite everything, they’re nothing novel.
Indeed! I am saddened by the many here who are celebrating White Chain’s words for striking at a weak point of the emperor. A swollen pride such as his will not crumple at mere words like these, and it does seem far-fetched to assume no one has seen the farce for what it is and called him on it.
But such ego is paradoxical, for it is both unyielding and fragile. Undeniable proof would send all this crashing down. Let’s see how long it will take for this to happen.
We should remember that for Emperors, Angels, Gods and Mathematicians, an analogy is the utmost form of offense. They imply that the listener is not capable of understanding the statement if the interlocutor simply said it, so instead of saying that Bearer of the Word Diamond created the tournament to cope with the fact that God Emperor of the Celestial Empire does not know what goal to pursue, she said the prisoner analogy instead to increase the Pain afflicted upon Solomon David’s heart.
For these Enlightened Beings, it like giving someone a “‘subject’ for dumbs” kind of book instead of answering questions.
I kinda feel like there’s a better point that White Chain could be making here: Solomon clearly doesn’t actually intend to find someone who can beat him, because if he truly believed in his “law of kings,” he would surrender his empire to Jagganoth, who is literally indestructible and said to be powerful enough that he could feasibly take on the other six demiurges by himself. Even if Solomon thought he could beat Jagganoth – and even if he actually could – his “duty” would demand that he test their power to validate that belief. But he’s never done that, for some reason.
More importantly, if Solomon is really trying to find a successor…why has he never taught anyone Ki Rata?
Alas, Solomon’s hands turned to swords the moment he splattered his master. There’s no coming back from that, not ever. As we saw with Mottom, even the Lords of the Multiverse are slaves. However, we’ve learned that the shape of freedom is that of a continuous cutting motion.
Many in these comments have pointed out that while White Chain’s words may be true, this cannot be the first time Solomon has encountered something insightful enough to say them. I understand this point, but I have a similar, but distinct question:
What *is* White Chain’s plan? They smile in the tenth way, which of course is the smile of someone that has already killed you and is merely waiting for your body to acknowledge their victory. But what are they smiling at? Do they simply intend to die proving their point? Do they intend to sacrifice themselves? Krayu Mat was only enough to draw even with Allicio, who I cannot imagine could stand up to the Emperor. Destroying themselves and letting their core explode? Meti stood at ground zero of such a blast, and it only badly wounded her – I am not convinced that it would even harm Solomon David. (And in any case, he has been alive for a very long time, surely he is not so stupid as to forget that angels explode when you kill them.)
Is this merely an act of will? That of proving that they are free, and that they have the right to choose how they die? The prophecy showed us that the Rising King would be accompanied by two stars, one dark and one bright. But for how long?
Given what VG has been saying and the way Solomon is almost allegorically chiselling away her body, I’d put odds on White Chain miraculously surviving the destruction of her armour without being banished (even if only temporarily) and blindsiding Solomon with Yisun’s Open Palm, which I don’t think we’ve seen yet and is supposed to be unbeatable. That, or YOP is a kamikaze move and she pulls it on him before she’s destroyed.
Either way she draws blood, which is something Solomon never intended to actually happen, causing him to lose his cool and show his hypocrisy to his subjects. White Chain gets banished or forced into reincarnation (hence why Abby says we won’t like the end of this book). Then Gog starts eating everyone, or WC’s detonation destroys the arena, or Jagganoth crashes the party or something else Bad happens that lets Allison and the others get away.
Isn’t Ovid’s Palm (what she used in KoS 9-110. I think the alt text says what it is, but it doesn’t want to show on mobile) the unbeatable technique? Though it doesn’t look like WC was trying to contain Alicio with it, just smack them backwards.
The alt text says Ovis’ Palm, yes, but it’s not the “unbeatable move” named in the Manual of Hands and Feet, no. Empty Palms style seems to have a lot of different Palm techniques, unsurprisingly.
Note how our sister is still only in casual sparring form. Her ring still not unwound, her haste not woken. Calm is she, as she is mighty, giving the false king every chance to reconsider before his stubborn downfall.
11 Teach the Truth But Gently, yes, and she has also baited Solomon into standing way too close to her, with his arms not only behind his back but also out of reach of her. Any of her 4 arms and legs can quickly reach him, and he only has 2 legs to block them with.
In his pride he has made the contest too easy. One does not need to be his equal in order to draw a single drop of blood. In addition, in all these years of no one getting close to winning, he has grown inattentive to danger.
No? Solomon keeps his deals. He made a pact with the others and he’s sticking with it. It may seem futile, you can say that peace causes stagnation or whatever, but Solomon is practicing and preaching correctly.
Solomon David is constantly looking for a replacement not because he’s trapped, but because he wants to have built an empire that can survive without him. Something greater than even him. He is no prisoner of his own making, he is an aspirant of GREATNESS.
The concept of a firm ruler who people love is anathema to you but the rule of law is necessary for a functioning society. Out of the entire multiverse, his empire is the best place to live. Unlike the other bearers, he has risen into something even greater and this is shown is his rippling muscles and healthy form, where the rest are famished and disgusting.
Praise the bearer of the word Diamond!
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His hands are behind his back, but his heart is in her mouth.
He smiles because he believes himself happy.
She smiles because he’s such a joke.
She said see you later, boy. He wasn’t good enough for her.
Oh my. The memories.
That song was awful and the singer always came across like an asshole who was making fun of her boyfriend’s high school crush because she wasn’t interested in him when they where in high school.
The whole thing just raises some troubling questions.
Why is she so intimidated by his ex, that there is an actual song about it?
Why is he so hung up on this snobbish preppy girl that all his future girlfriends have to hear about her?
Why is it acceptable for the lower classes to sing and dance for the entertainment of the upper classes, but not to romance them?
Can anyone enlighten in which way one’s sister is smiling. One has little experience in this regard obviously.
It is a particularly ROYAL smile.
To wit, a cutting one.
Some blades cut from within.
One does like this, it is very apt. One shall hazard then that a particularly Royal smile, with a side order of mockery (not sure one’s siter is pitying of the tyrant) is mayhap likely also of the 7th way. You shall all have an extra petit-four for high tea.
I think he is mocking him, and feels pitty for him. The smile reinforces what he told him about being a prisioner
Not sure if Black Chain deliberately uses pronouns opposite to what White Chain’s friends do, or if just coincidence.
Smiling in the 7th way perhaps.
A futile remark. Any order is a prison, you just accept it willingly or not.
If you are ignorant of the prison you made yourself, for yourself, can it be willingly accepted?
It’s not a prison unless someone else has put you there against your will.
— Her argument is laden with logical-fallacies and semantic sophistry.
Wrong. If someone else has not put you in there, that means you are not being punished…
…but you still are imprisoned. A prison will always be a prison, regardless of the authorship of your captivity.
Walk into a cell and lock yourself there willingly. If you tell me it is not a prison, but a site of liberty, we’ll both know you are but lying to yourself out of desperation.
Life is a prison from which we all escape.
From one cell, to another.
White-chain is redefining the term on-the-fly to suit her argument. That is the essence of sophistry.
‘Prison’ is an old word with varied meanings from time or place. Declaring your own definition THE definition without considering them is dishonest.
I’m accusing you of sophistry.
One is imprisoned if they are confined or involuntarily held captive, and he has confined himself psychologically in a delusion of self control. He doesn’t want his ego stroked, he needs it, just as an example.
Those that speak of “fallacies” are universally misguided.
Classical logic is a tool primarily for self-deceit.
The issue is not with the misuse (fallacies) but with the use, as one can “prove” anything at all, unless one looks to the soundness.
And classical logical arguments are too simplistic to ever be sound in reality. Language is not the building blocks of reality. Words are too abstract and generalized to ever capture real truth.
And what White Chain is doing, is pin-pricking a hole in David’s self-deceit.
He will destroy her form for it, but she has already drawn that drop of blood. It’s just not the physical kind.
She pricks him, does he not bleed?
She’ll tickle him next.
If tha tickles him does him nae laugh?
Nay, he nae laugh. He might well fashion your lungs into immaculate origami giraffes, but I do not foresee the man’s laughter.
And the lack of a prick and resulting blood (double entendre?) is the whole reason for this debacle.
White-chain is redefining terms on-the-fly to suit her argument. That is the essence of sophistry.
Did you just refute Sophistry in an attempt to argue against someone disparaging Sophistry?
I’m actually not sure what you are trying to accomplish here.
I refuted the potential for soundness of classical logic and thereby pointed out the futility of fallacy-spotting.
Since logic is without uses, it’s pointless to guard it against misuse.
Fallacious arguments are worth as much as valid ones: Nothing.
Very well. Not a prison then.
A pit.
It is. But while it may not be strictly true, that doesn’t mean it can’t rhyme with truth, and be useful.
Solomon has arranged the tournament to flush out anyone with the ambition to surpass him, long before they are a real threat. Then he curb-stomps them, all the whole complaining no credible component exists. Well, no sh*t Sherlock. Maybe cultivate some?
The limits to his experience are of his own making.
Beware the Grand Enemy, who is called I, daring one.
She is always just a little faster on the draw than you.
Coincidentally (or not) that is Himself’s true name too. And all are well recommended to beware of Him. (Or Her. Gender is a matter of momentary preference to a devil.)
What then is the difference between a willing Prison (or a pit) and a Discipline? Both are a self-imposed limiting of options. What say ye?
Solomon is looking for a replacement, because he wants out. He, by his own words, wishes to leave and he, once again by his own words, says he can’t.
Discipline would be him ruling on in perpetuity without looking for someone to free him from his self imposed duty.
He is in prison.
Solomon is trapped by false beliefs and wants to escape. A Discipline requires a desire to remain. As when Alison showed humility before her master White Chain without any dimming of her key. Thank you MrSing for your insight.
Also to the above comments, I think Solomon enjoys the ‘idea’ of escaping, but he also tournament which he A: controls all the rules and B: changes them on a whim. Solomon enjoys the idea of escaping becuase it fits with the image he’s cultivated for himself of a philosopher king. When in actuality Sol’s using the same tools of every other autocrat and tyrant in history, hell the idea of abandoning the throne to pursue the path of Royalty isn’t even original. To make himself seem enlightened and powerful Sol’s just trying to saying he wants to emulate the most powerful wise man his subjects and rivals know, Zoss.
Finding a worthy successor is a noble goal to to put on like a sweet Gi but this tournament isn’t about that, its about the spectacle of seeming like both an even handed fair ruler while reinforcing the idea that no one can replace him.
He’s either a coward or someone whose putting machiavelli to shame.
At it’s most optimistic, a prison serves to teach you a lesson.
A discipline serves to teach you a lesson that you already know.
“Fate is not a cage except for those who fear it.”
The Universe is a Prison for a man who cannot abide in it.
I mean…not put to fine a point on it, but the corrosive and limiting nature of systems of oppression is a key thesis of K6BD. Om was an example of someone unwillingly trapped by a system they helped create. Solomon is a more willing participant in his the systems he’s created, but he’s trapped further by his relationships to the other demiurges and his own inflated self image. Like the main man Zoss said, “he who masters the wheel, cannot break it.” Solomon has made a world where he can only ever be a “king”.
If you love it, let it go.
Rejoice in disorder, then.
I do
Relinquish the illusion of control, and accept the unacceptable;
Some things are inevitable, and some of them are bad.
Beware, for when an angel smiles, they know what you are afraid to hear.
82 White Chain Born In Emptiness Returns To Call the Old Man Out
Here’s your Internet. Congratulations. You won it fair and square.
You had internets to spare and you gave a full one to this guy? I’m not opposed to giving one to Neva because that was tight. I’m really just surprised you had one. I thought they were all traded for cryptocurrency.
No amount of crypto-mining will ever earn you even one Internet.
Depending on how you mined it, you might even Lose one.
Or two.
To reiterate, Solomon is violent, not strong. He is so weak that in his violence he fails to realize his weakness. Strength is the power to choose, and Solomon hasn’t truly chosen, in quite some time.
Many who claim strength bear delusions. White Chain has taken blows to her body, but dealt a blow to Solomon’s ego.
How does one bring division to water? The secret is that the answer isn’t force. The blow that cuts water kills angels, and breaks gods, and that blow is not delivered by fist or by sword.
I mean if asked, I would divide water by placing a dam in it. Or alternatively separate the water into to different vessels.
FSo can a break gods with a kettle?
Mayhap a teapot.
Especially a Celestial Teapot. Those things are lethal to delusions.
Oblique references to Russell’s teapot, noted and appreciated.
Probably. T’wouldn’t be the strangest method of death dealing I’ve seen in a fight like this.
Though more to Arkwright’s point… I think that we’re about to see what hubris looks like when lodged in the brain of a man who never learned what the Silent Voice tried to teach.
I’m on pins and needles at the edge of my seat, waiting to see what happens next. I just hope that Pree White Chain survives the process of drawing blood from this particularly pride swollen Diamond. . . . . .
I would suggest freezing water to shatter it.
Pretty sure 10 Vigilant Gaze demonstrated one way to divide water, landscapes, buildings, and so forth.
Myself, I’d simply freeze the water first and cut it when I saw fit, rather than trying to punch it as my days of foolhardy strength are long past and I am neither as foolish nor as strong as I used to be.
Electrolysis, that’s my preferred method of dividing water.
It’s amazing what you can achieve with a car battery and a set of jump leads.
In response to my comment a few may have missed that I have given the riddle of splitting water previously. I *believe* it was, rather auspiciously, during the “War of Teacups”, that I mentioned that my Teacher taught me that bringing division to water requires naught more than two cups.
The blow that cuts water, kills angels, and breaks gods, is not a blow delivered by raw force. Rather, it is the work of peaceable hands, and almost expressly requires that you put down your weapons and unclench your fists.
In the case of bringing division to water, teacups should be handled with care, for to clench your fist as though to strike while holding one could break it, and we with only two hands cannot hold both teacup and teapot, and also a weapon.
In the case of killing angels, breaking their body with a surplus of force does little to threaten their eternally blazing form. In the case of gods, doubtful any among us could muster the force requisite to break them, or else we would likely replace them, fools that we are and power alluring. With this in mind, one must consider a different tact.
The Lesson of Two Teacups, as my master always called it, is that not all problems can be solved with force, and many can be solved more expediently and easily with methods other than force. A gentle touch can answer that which bloodshed never will.
But we are fools and fools are many, and force is one among the few things fools will easily grasp.
A few gentle words can split the heavens where armies fail.
Beware the swordsman who carries no blade.
Thank you for explaining that. I must have missed your older comment, but I rather like this riddle and am glad to have seen it here.
Interesting thing to tack onto there about Solomon’s strength, or lack thereof. Zoss’ statement about strength beyond strength, to pass a flame to others, to make those around her to rise up to the challenges that have brought the wheel to stagnation, but Solomon on the other hand comments about how “it is an age of disorded and weak nations… People have forgotten fealty and tradition.”
I think that Solomon has failed to realise that as someone who controls a seventh of the wheel, the universes and the population, the current state of the world is his fault. He’s failed to build a world that can stand on its own, failed to inspire anyone, failed to allow strength to blossom, failed to bring peace, failed his entire world, a seventh of the wheel, and 111,111 universes.
Worse yet for Solomon is that he doesn’t even have the strength to admit he has made an error, and because of that he is now perpetually trapped in a prison built out of his own expectations for himself. To change now is to admit that he failed somewhere thousands of years ago, and he would rather wait tens of thousands more years for someone to come along who is strong enough to prove him right.
Solomon is strong.
He just mistakes that for something worth being.
Interesting. Something’s about to break and I don’t think it’s White Chain.
Gots un nagsome feelin us, thum’s pridesome noggin nae e’er acceptin Stoneyarse’s truthsayin, gonnae crush im unnerfoot an be fulfillin ‘is auspicious name. Then be shrugsome o thon ensuin nucularsplosion.
How many has the king seen look up at him not with fear or acceptance, but the smug satisfaction of victory?
Not many, I would wager.
Provocation…
Yeah, get him angry- I’m sure that won’t have ANY negative repercussions.
When angry just take deep breaths…
White Chain’s description certainly applies just as well to Mottom and the Gramd Dragon. Seems like a nice reusable aphorism!
The description also fits to Incubus and White Chain before she met Allison: Stay in your routine and think it is your freedom. Zoss, Jagganoth and Michael, similarly but different – they are still seeking but captivated by an unreachable goal.
Himself and Metatron are the only ones truly free!
It’s a universal condition resulting from the massive power imbalance in this world, and in fact the basic problem of all power imbalance: It makes people less free. The ones with the power to change that are going to have to decide if they want, well, power over everyone, or freedom for everyone. So I think it’s good to make them think about that choice.
I believe this is the third smile of white chain in the comic, I went back at the ‘first’ and re-read the whole thing to look for another instance (a clever ploy by the author to get me to re-read again).
Now it seems white chain has struck a blow against the Ego of the celestial emperor, I can see the blood forming under the bruise. So smile she should, though her job’s not yet done, not a single drop of blood will be drawn with a bruise.
Come now you teevats, you do not get be emperor without meeting a few smug bung-holes whose confidence your personal overachieving makes them think that trite prose and fully beaten horse lacking in functioning limpet systems is going to fold the next time a clone of the same doesn’t just trundle up and belch out more the acrimonious holier-than-thou drivel you have had to hear a thousand times from your so-called “fellows”.
Really; give the emperor a few more panels to fold; A battle of wits and words is just exciting as trading fleshy flakes and sweat particles.
I doubt Solomon will fold. Egos tend to be fragile things, and an entire personal built on ego is precariously placed indeed. Solomon probably hardened his ego to be as diamond to compensate for this, but such hard things are brittle and their failure tends to be sudden and catastrophic. He has already shown stress cracks, revealing he grows weary of his mantle which has only grown heavier over the centuries. A dire warning. This bout may be the final straw, the last grain of rice. He will not fold. He will shatter.
The being who must declare to all who see them that they are indeed the King is in fact nothing of the sort. This observation goes double for those who must use great displays of violence to garner attention in the first place.
A true King attracts attention and followers through the strength of their passion, their vision of a grander life for their people, their desire to live the dreams of their nation.
Have we so quickly forgotten that he is the kind of Emperor to shuck his fine robes and send an over-worked crew of laborers home in order to get his own hands dirty?
Although, true, he made a show of that, too…
Yeah, that was all about his ego. It had nothing to do with true compassion for the laborers. He was playing the part of the benevolent ruler, which he’s been doing for centuries.
“Though you toil and bleed and break your bodies at my command, and must work to build a grand stage upon which I may demonstrate my greatness to the world once again, on this day I come to impress upon you a single truth:
I can, if I so choose, do the full measure of this work myself. I can do so without even the first drop of sweat dampening my brow. And although today, in this place, I choose to do this, tomorrow I will not.
Tomorrow, by my orders, you will resume your meaningless labor. Tomorrow, by my actions, you will have but one thought in your mind: the Emperor could do this himself. But he will not.”
Thats a very dramatic way to put it, and I feel like its quite spot on. I imagine he does want to appear as a benevolent ruler, but for some of his audience I suppose he would want to send that message. The entire Tournament itself is meant to show how pointless fighting him would be, how unassailable he is, why wouldn’t the process of its construction be used to illustrate that too?
And therein lies the flaw of Solomon David. So eager to show, to prove, to demonstrate. So eager to put himself on such a high pedestal. But when one is so high up, tell me:
How does one get down?
He is a slave to the image he has cultivated. He desires to walk the Path of Royalty, but it is so far away from him now. And by his own hands. His pride has raised him to his lofty position.
And it is there that he has met his downfall.
Solomon was taught Ki Rata, he did not invent it, though he seems to want others to believe it was merely he who achieved his goals. He lies. He had help, he had teachers, he was a student.
If Solomon was altruistic in his goal to find equals, he would train some.
Kiddin hisself be Salami in’t it, nae never wantin nonesuch equal. Oblitered ‘is masters so’s thums couldnae train none other neither, just fer starters.
The final revelation of the Conquering King! And it only took her 82 lifetimes, rather than the infinite recursions that have driven Juggernaut and Metatron completely mad, to get there.
Is it truly power, one has to wonder, if it will crumble the moment you loosen your grip or glance away? Is it truly order if the absence of one figure will cause it all to scatter?
The monks of Ki Rata knew this. They knew the cost of their power was that it could never be used, lest they become tyrants in the name of fleeting order, of fragile authority. They knew that such might could never be unleashed, even in the defense of others, for once you break the rules for a good reason it’s only a matter of time before they are broken for bad ones.
They chose to lock Ki Rata away with their agency, only using it to prevent anyone else from gaining this power and becoming a tyrant. And now Solomon may finally start to realize that in breaking the rules, he has himself been locked into violence and denied the enlightenment he seeks, lest his false power shatter under his own hand.
The cost of ultimate power is that it can never be used. The cost of gaining ultimate authority is that you can never be free of the responsibility it brings. The cost of being the best is that you must never allow yourself to be at ease, lest someone else claim the title when you least expect it. The only winning move, indeed, is not to play.
In hindsight, the guy REALLY shouldn’t have napped during that part of the training.
And yet tyrants came anyways, and families died, and suns were stolen, planets froze. He saw that the inaction of the monks may have not spawned ki rata trained marauders, but the end result was the same.
No, Solomon’s mistake is that while pledging to seek a replacement to ensure the peace and safety of his people he never thought to foster one, or empower the citizens so they would need no one defender against the rest of the demiurges.
I wonder what an entire empire of ki rata trained citizens could accomplish. If your first instinct is to say, ‘Their own destruction’ then maybe you agree more with Solomon’s actions than you think.
Would it be an Empire though ? With every citizen capable of using Ki Rata, would there be the kind of hierarchy structures that are typical of an Empire ? With no central figure, there would be no cult-of-personality, so would you have an Empire ? or would it be something else ?
It would be the Wild West. Cut me off while driving? I’m following you and Ki Rata-ing you when you stop. Did I brush against you as we passed on the sidewalk and you found it rude? You Ki Rata me for my lack of respect. It’s the ridiculous solution to the second amendment – give everyone a nuclear weapon and hope somehow peace results.
Indeed they came, and the result was the same no matter what. This is a fact, and I did not intend it to be in defense of the monks; I apologize if my words indicated as much.
I meant it more as… what is that clever human proverb? When all one has is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail? Both the monks and Solomon were trapped by the same power in different ways; the monks through their unwillingness to use it even as worlds died, and Solomon through his inability to do anything BUT use it. As you said, he was so caught up in his own strength that he never thought of fostering a replacement, nor establishing a system he was not in the center of. Why would someone else with the same level of power and influence be any different? Even with the best of intentions, could loosing the might of Ki Rata upon the wheel be anything but devastating?
I have fallen into similar trappings as Solomon myself on occasion, being so focused on perfection that my true goals lie forgotten. Rather than having an empire of Ki Rata masters, each struggling with the weight of that power, would it not be better to foster citizens and leaders who are imperfect but retain their agency, their willingness to concede and collaborate for the good of many? Who are weak, but fight against great power and terrible perfection anyway, simply because people are suffering and someone must act?
The unfortunate reality they find themselves in is there are 6 other beasts at the borders, and the realistic assumption is if Solomon steps down without leaving behind some equivalently devastating deterrent, no matter how finely principled and successful at the higher ideals of society building his former subjects are they will be wiped out or subjugated.
Even worse since survival right now depends on at least some nominal cooperation with at least 5 of those beasts against the six.
White Chain seems to imply that the moral thing would be to let things get messy and the chips fall where they may, because at least then there is the chance for history to move forward. One though seeks to undo creation. I guess an eventual new creation would count as history moving forward, but I do not fault the citizens of the now if they preferred not to sacrifice themselves en masse for someone else’s idealism and an unknown world’s possible benefit.
“Is it truly power, one has to wonder, if it will crumble the moment you loosen your grip or glance away? Is it truly order if the absence of one figure will cause it all to scatter?”
It quite literally is. Solomon’s glorious empire was formed, sustained, and stabilized by his power, it is a byproduct of his existence and operates in accordance to his will. Naturally, it breaks down when separated from him, just as a machine ceases to function when deprived of its battery.
You’re describing omnipotence not mere power.
The majority of people here very clearly furiously wracking their brains trying to fabricate sage insights to put in the comments but, predictably, achieve the opposite effect every time.
White Chain’s plan was to make him bleed emotionally all along!
Diamond cannot be scratched, but it is easily crushed.
It’s also quite combustible, being all carbon like coal.
Ahh, yes. The often referenced Mic-drop cut. Can often come out of nowhere.
Haven’t we come too far to have Solomon crumble – or even be distracted – by someone saying he has a big ego? White Chain is likely not the first person to say so. That smile of hers says she knows something we don’t.
Un happysome martyr at peace wi thumself, efter many a long kalpa.
“Why don’t you just put the whole world in a bottle, Superman?”
Very good.
Alright, did some googling. Yeah this very good
Missed notice: When did WC stop speaking by using precise literal wording (like can not and you are) and start using contractions (like can’t and you’re)? Was it recently? Who did the corrupting?
I guess you can’t room with two demons and a barista for one year without some of it rubbing off on you.
Yes she does sound a bit like Alison there. What a neat role reversal.
I read back a bit. WC has been using contractions for ages, but mainly in informal conversation. Official Angel Business gets the formal grammar. Now, she’s engaged in the most important fight of her existence, and her words are relaxed, almost intimate.
Would you not be relaxed, knowing your opponent defeated themselves long before the battle began?
Cheers, master.
Two things: Thing the first, typo in panel 4 balloon 4 “I not wish to destroy…”
Thing the second, White chain reminds me of Incubus here, all wicked smiles and words that wound more than fists.
A cruel smile burns
Embers of white fire blazing
Laughing she strikes first
The shire horse, not coloured dun
isn’t meant to play for fun
But smiling softly as you’ve won
The tournament is grinding on
But good King David’s smile is gone
Why the long face, Solomon?
If children aren’t allowed to grow
Blame not the seed but them that sow
Best cut all clean with a right quick mow
Our humble wax head seems to be gathering quite the group of bards, all eager to ply their trade.. It makes me wonder if this is the purpose for which it was cast, or just a happy accident.
I personally am really hoping in the next book, Allison will make it into the Tower of Zoss, and the rhyming wax head will get a cameo, sitting on a shelf in there.
I believe White Chain is speaking from experience when talking about building a prison for ones self and being proud of it.
and that is (part of) why it had to be her.
I fucking love this Comment!!!!!!!
It is a fair proposition, the only way to beat him is to kill him, and if you kill him you get to become king and make the rules.
What else is there to discuss?
No. The rules of the game are that you win if you draw even one drop of his blood. Killing him would be overkill.
LITERALLY.
White Chain Smile Count: 2
Somehow the last panel looks less like White Chain’s armor form and more like her void form. I don’t know what it is, but I like it. She looks like herself.
The “blood”(?) splatter is also vaguely reminiscent of her freckles.
Even an emperor should stop and worry when his supposedly beaten opponent starts to smile.
Strange that Solomon seeks strength in a place he has ensured will only produce weakness and mediocrity.
White Chain misses precisely one piece of the puzzle that is Diamond.
Yes, the empire is a prison, and yes, its warden-prisoner has built it for himself. But it was not for that purpose it was constructed.
Behold, my lovelies, a temple built by a god, for the adoration of the thing that created him. Vast and merciless, shining and pitiful, hollow and magnificent is this cathedral, the work of billions of human lives. Its keepers keep it free of rats, its priests keep it free of the unfaithful. It is a boulder dropped onto the ruber-sheet of the universe, a great gravitational well that consumes those who trespass near it, that they, too, might know and marvel at its terrible weight.
All to venerate the pain of a man who died when his wife and children were taken from him.
THE FIRST TABLET
When in the height heaven was not named,
And the Earth beneath did not yet bear a name,
And the primeval Apsu, who begat them,
And Chaos, Tiamut, the mother of them both
Their waters were mingled together,
And no field was formed, no marsh was to be seen;
When of the gods none had been called into Being,
And none bore a Name, and no Destinies were ordained;
Then were Created the gods in the midst of heaven,
Lahmu and Lahamu were called into Being…
Ages increased,…
Then Ansar and Kisar were Created, and over them….
Long were the days, then there came forth…..
Anu, their son,…
Ansar and Anu…
And the god Anu…
Nudimmud, whom his fathers, his begetters…..
Abounding in all wisdom,…’
He was exceeding strong…
He had no rival –
Thus were established and were… the great gods.
– Excerpt from the Enuma Elish,
~ The Babylonian Epic of Creation
Can someone explain to me why White Chain is coughing, grunting and wheezing?
Perhaps dust from crumbling repair-plaster? Vigilant Gaze blamed accumulated dust for his hacking cough some pages ago.
420 Blaze it now with angel scented faaaieeree
That’s a lot of reincarnations.
Keeps getting smoked.
You try getting high when your entire family is made out of no-nonsense cops.
As much as I love WC doing this, because of how important it is to her character development, I highly doubt this SD’s first time being called out like that. This won’t be the thing that breaks him.
Agreed. It’s not the first time he’s hearing platitudes from someone whose face he’s stepping on, and it won’t be the last. Only a sore loser tries to get philosophical when they’re beaten.
Yeah but … how many angels has he fought? Bet she’s the first. She’s not the usual, frothy-mouthed maniac thrown up by the Ring of Power.
The start of the revolution is being televised. The thing that breaks Solomon will be a video tape. He will watch this scene again and again; he won’t be able to stop himself. WC’s truths will etch him like acid.
I see white chain is attempting a variant of Talk No Jutsu. A risky style but quite strong, mayhaps Solomon should rip out his own ears to counter it.
White Chain: “Maybe winners are the real losers?”
Salami Dave: “Nah I’m pretty sure that winners are the real winners.” STOMP
Solomon wants to hand his empire off to some one else so he can “pursue the path of true royalty” but refuses to relinquish his throne till some one can accomplish a near impossible task of combat prowess. It doesn’t matter how fit they’d actually be, they just have to “beat” him. Solomon has set up a situation where he can only get what he wants if he loses. He could of course at anytime just relinquish his throne, but then either his empire would collapse meaning he failed his people again or it wouldn’t meaning he wasn’t as important as he thought and his cruelties where meaningless. Neither of those things are acceptable to him.
Thing is, Solomon never intended to give away his crown. All of this is just a giant play to serve his vanity. He’s not there to find a successor, he’s there to show off that he can’t be beaten.
really, if solomon wanted a true heir, he would raise and train one. he’s so paradigm locked into his successor doing almost exactly what he did that he can’t see such a simple solution… or he chooses not to.
Solomon was not raised to be royalty. A true heir, by what is surely his logic, would be able to make the same claim.
That said, if the people have forgotten fealty and tradition, perhaps mortality is the culprit.
It’s hard for the people to remember anything when they are being kept in a prison by a man who refuses to cut it – a king who refuses to be royalty.
“I not wish to destroy”
Solomon’s losing it :p
And White Chain wins with just a word. For a word can be more mighty than the fist or the greatest sword.
she has such a delightful smile!
Savage, too.
Get his ass.
T H E _ T O W E R
Every single frame is so intense. And that smile is incomparable :3
White Chain sees clearly. Because of this, ultimately she holds the greater power.
This really is ‘Large Black Man Publicly Pounds Blue Clay Girl’ => that white plaster oozing out her mouth tells the whole deal.
Oh ho! Goading and manipulation. Somebody’s been talking to devils.
Hey, I’m not YISUN, but I do’t think the built-his-own-prison is what is burning him. Yes, he’s built it, but don’t forget that White Chain points out no one has come close to beating him during his rule. What REALLY CHAFES at Solomon is that by failing to produce an equal (or a better) from his nation or sons, he has failed as a leader. The wheel turns… the rim doesn’t just end up at the beginning, but a wheel drives its own hub to drive progress. Like the Olympics, each generation strives to be better than the last. Solomon has failed at this, in his monumental prison, garbed in his beautiful bureaucracy of sons unfit to be heirs, and he thinks he’s the only one wise enough to notice.
That counts as a cut.
Solomon and White Chain are so very similar at times, and yet only one has made the choice to be free of the system they are in. No piece, no matter how highly placed, is free from the machine.
YES WHITE CHAIN BE LIKE IT WAS MY PLAN ALL ALONG TO GET KICKED IN THE DICK
“Consider one of life’s original situations: that of a hide and seek game. What a thrill to be hidden while someone’s looking for you, what a delightful fright to be found, but what a panic when, because you are too well hidden, the others give up looking for you after a while and leave. If you hide too well, the others forget you. You are forced to come out on your own when they don’t want you anymore. That is hard to take. It’s like turning too fine a phrase, so subtle that you are reduced to explaining it. Nothing is sadder than having to beg for existence and returning naked among the others. Therefore, it’s better not to know how to play too well; it’s better to know how to let others unmask you and to endure the rule of the game. Not too fast, not too late.” -jean baudrillard
Solo man dave ur a tryhard and nobody wants to play with u anymore
This fits the entire comic. All the gods killed everyone else and now are stuck together in the same game of chicken that no one can break
I really didn’t know angels can spit.
Behold, Meti, the words that can smash skulls.
Solomon David is well aware of the prison of “duty” that he has put himself in, because he cannot free himself of it. White Chain thinks that she is wise for realizing it, but her wisdom is not something new. All of the demiurges have prisons of their own design, all of them have trapped themselves into visions of what royalty is.
They realize this, and this is why each is seeking escape in their own way. Solomon wants to be defeated, but his pride cannot let him give up. Mottom wants to be replaced, but her greed for continued life keeps her trapped.
The Buddhist philosophy is strong here. None are at Nirvana – they are stuck in the cycle. Break the wheel.
Honestly I’m just here for the Hotdogs. Apparently the ones sold in his arena are the best in the Multiverse.
Be careful with the Devil Mustard. It has been the death of many a hero.
I thank my creation that I am no hero then!
As I have said a few pages ago – if you cannot hurt his body then hurt his pride as it is more fragile. And it is not the fragility of a thin, little glass container but of a balloon that was pumped up as much as it could stand over the ages of his rule.
It will not crack but it may explode.
Ah, White Chain! We do so love the fierceness the newly disillusioned feel when confronted by the tenets of their former faith. “Come,” they say. “I was as you are, and now I am Free, and you can be Free too if you just…See the laws you have chosen to bind yourself with are unjust, and walk away from them!” Girl’s got that mighty Just Came Out Energy and we LOVE it.
Also, be careful who you stomp on barefoot, sirrah! In your anger, your own strength is certainly enough to drive a nail through your very sole!
Solomon is probably a direct descendant of Meti, so would Metia and Maya and even Mottom. We haven’t even seen Maya in the tournament yet. I can’t help but wonder if this fight is just a Master testing her Student. Ki Rata would have been one of the fighting styles taught to Meti by the Gods and Angels, and passed down to King David. These two probably know each-other from the time of the Universal Wars, and even before that. WC did say they know eachother before the duel began.
Uh… no, Solomon has already been shown in comic flashbacks to have learnt Ki Rata from the Monks of the Silent Voice that refused to save Rayuba from demiurge Yemmod. Just because he has dark skin does not make him related to either Meti or Maya – since all Rayubans were dark skinned, and we’ve met similarly tan people from other worlds (eg, Nyave)
Rayuba isn’t Mayas homeworld anyway, it’s the unnamed world where Incubus has his throne (well, the one he apparently took from her at some point). They are definitely contemporaries though, possibly separated by a couple decades since Mayas training began before the war got under full swing and Solomon started at some point after it began.
We’ve also seen darker skinned people in Throne itself.
Awwwwe yeeeeeah
White-Chain exposing Salamis Chains O_O.
Now Salmon, show me how you remove those chains.
I know that expression of Solomon’s well, for I have worn it myself many times. It is not consideration for one’s opponents or their words – it is growing boredom as you realize that despite everything, they’re nothing novel.
Indeed! I am saddened by the many here who are celebrating White Chain’s words for striking at a weak point of the emperor. A swollen pride such as his will not crumple at mere words like these, and it does seem far-fetched to assume no one has seen the farce for what it is and called him on it.
But such ego is paradoxical, for it is both unyielding and fragile. Undeniable proof would send all this crashing down. Let’s see how long it will take for this to happen.
We should remember that for Emperors, Angels, Gods and Mathematicians, an analogy is the utmost form of offense. They imply that the listener is not capable of understanding the statement if the interlocutor simply said it, so instead of saying that Bearer of the Word Diamond created the tournament to cope with the fact that God Emperor of the Celestial Empire does not know what goal to pursue, she said the prisoner analogy instead to increase the Pain afflicted upon Solomon David’s heart.
For these Enlightened Beings, it like giving someone a “‘subject’ for dumbs” kind of book instead of answering questions.
I just want them to make out. Please, just give me this one thing.
Now that would be an unexpected plot twist xD
Words can cut deeper than any knife
White Chain’s eye’s in the last panel…. exquisite.
“I wasted five hours of hard fighting and a hundred and fifty of my best men bringing it down. Then it exploded.”
– General Yross of the Yellow Moon Brood, on fighting angels
And the first real strike is made… *TINK!*
I’m really liking the way White Chain’s face looks in some of these panels. Almost relaxed, and definitely confident. It’s kinda hot tbh.
I kinda feel like there’s a better point that White Chain could be making here: Solomon clearly doesn’t actually intend to find someone who can beat him, because if he truly believed in his “law of kings,” he would surrender his empire to Jagganoth, who is literally indestructible and said to be powerful enough that he could feasibly take on the other six demiurges by himself. Even if Solomon thought he could beat Jagganoth – and even if he actually could – his “duty” would demand that he test their power to validate that belief. But he’s never done that, for some reason.
More importantly, if Solomon is really trying to find a successor…why has he never taught anyone Ki Rata?
I feel I was right! This does not yet prove it, but her true weapon in this fight is her own weakness.
It is a dangerous and tricky armament, but sometimes it is the only tool one has.
If she should get out from beneath his foot–but then refuse to strike back, refuse to attack at all–
How *could* he respond?
Alas, Solomon’s hands turned to swords the moment he splattered his master. There’s no coming back from that, not ever. As we saw with Mottom, even the Lords of the Multiverse are slaves. However, we’ve learned that the shape of freedom is that of a continuous cutting motion.
You hold the world, you hold yourself.
Apart from it.
Many in these comments have pointed out that while White Chain’s words may be true, this cannot be the first time Solomon has encountered something insightful enough to say them. I understand this point, but I have a similar, but distinct question:
What *is* White Chain’s plan? They smile in the tenth way, which of course is the smile of someone that has already killed you and is merely waiting for your body to acknowledge their victory. But what are they smiling at? Do they simply intend to die proving their point? Do they intend to sacrifice themselves? Krayu Mat was only enough to draw even with Allicio, who I cannot imagine could stand up to the Emperor. Destroying themselves and letting their core explode? Meti stood at ground zero of such a blast, and it only badly wounded her – I am not convinced that it would even harm Solomon David. (And in any case, he has been alive for a very long time, surely he is not so stupid as to forget that angels explode when you kill them.)
Is this merely an act of will? That of proving that they are free, and that they have the right to choose how they die? The prophecy showed us that the Rising King would be accompanied by two stars, one dark and one bright. But for how long?
Given what VG has been saying and the way Solomon is almost allegorically chiselling away her body, I’d put odds on White Chain miraculously surviving the destruction of her armour without being banished (even if only temporarily) and blindsiding Solomon with Yisun’s Open Palm, which I don’t think we’ve seen yet and is supposed to be unbeatable. That, or YOP is a kamikaze move and she pulls it on him before she’s destroyed.
Either way she draws blood, which is something Solomon never intended to actually happen, causing him to lose his cool and show his hypocrisy to his subjects. White Chain gets banished or forced into reincarnation (hence why Abby says we won’t like the end of this book). Then Gog starts eating everyone, or WC’s detonation destroys the arena, or Jagganoth crashes the party or something else Bad happens that lets Allison and the others get away.
Isn’t Ovid’s Palm (what she used in KoS 9-110. I think the alt text says what it is, but it doesn’t want to show on mobile) the unbeatable technique? Though it doesn’t look like WC was trying to contain Alicio with it, just smack them backwards.
The alt text says Ovis’ Palm, yes, but it’s not the “unbeatable move” named in the Manual of Hands and Feet, no. Empty Palms style seems to have a lot of different Palm techniques, unsurprisingly.
She’s truly broken her programming.
But I don’t think He ever will. I actually mildly pity him. Just a little.
Note how our sister is still only in casual sparring form. Her ring still not unwound, her haste not woken. Calm is she, as she is mighty, giving the false king every chance to reconsider before his stubborn downfall.
Warsmith, regarding the core explosion, she doesn’t need to win, she only needs to draw a single drop of blood.
11 Teach the Truth But Gently, yes, and she has also baited Solomon into standing way too close to her, with his arms not only behind his back but also out of reach of her. Any of her 4 arms and legs can quickly reach him, and he only has 2 legs to block them with.
That face…that grin is utterly human. So much so that it seems almost to have been borrowed wholesale from Alison.
Mentoring still works in both directions, it would seem. Excellent.
In his pride he has made the contest too easy. One does not need to be his equal in order to draw a single drop of blood. In addition, in all these years of no one getting close to winning, he has grown inattentive to danger.
Isnt that bullshit? The red god is supposed to kick his ass if he were to fight him
Well that makes his supposed power that much more terrifying.
Another comment said it best. If he really practiced what he preached, would he not fight Jagganoth for the Crown and Throne?
The Proud are the most subtle cowards.
No? Solomon keeps his deals. He made a pact with the others and he’s sticking with it. It may seem futile, you can say that peace causes stagnation or whatever, but Solomon is practicing and preaching correctly.
Quick, White Chain! Keep him talking and carefully draw a drop of blood from his leg by scratching it with with your toenail while he’s distracted!
Compare Solomon’s position to that of HIMSELF, who is also in a prison of his own making.
oh my lord her face in that last panel. that dialogue. cut deeper why don’t you white chain!!!
Ah , White Chain is so cool , but this is where she dies , don’t she ? 🙁
Actually my comment was meant for general thread. Whoops.
Sticks and stones may break your bones,
But words can pierce your very soul.
Belief is a powerful thing.
Belief can convince the yolk that should the shell crumble, then it cannot exist.
But what if the yolk were to believe otherwise?
Solomon David is constantly looking for a replacement not because he’s trapped, but because he wants to have built an empire that can survive without him. Something greater than even him. He is no prisoner of his own making, he is an aspirant of GREATNESS.
The concept of a firm ruler who people love is anathema to you but the rule of law is necessary for a functioning society. Out of the entire multiverse, his empire is the best place to live. Unlike the other bearers, he has risen into something even greater and this is shown is his rippling muscles and healthy form, where the rest are famished and disgusting.
Praise the bearer of the word Diamond!
So, no update today then?
The day isn’t over yet, so, it could happen. Abbadon doesn’t have a particular time that he releases the comic page as far as I can tell.
I thought updates were on Fridays? Maybe I’m messing up my timezones, though, EU here. Either way, looks like it’s here now, so it’s all good.
“This battle was never about flesh. it was about belief.”
And so the question arises: what’s his social defense score?
I have been fortunate to be blessed with the story of here Preem Angel, and as honor and veneration I have carved her words into my humble tome.
(I referenced, and cited!, her words in the last panel for an essay :v
Actually the third. She smiles when the buss is on time.
The sanctioned action is to cut. A word can be very sharp indeed.
OOOOOOHHHH
White Chain can smile sardonically. Praise!
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