See, that’s what White Chain is telling him, but angels can be mistaken. What if Solomon’s flaw isn’t a refusal to accept that he can be bested, but his refusal to accept that the the system he set up is itself failing?
He holds this tournament every year to find a successor so he can devote even more time to training, so as to finally rise above the other six demiurges as the new conquering king. But as it stands, the pattern of tournaments will continue until Jagganoth, the one person Solomon absolutely knows can beat him, is ready to come knocking, and Jagganoth has no intention of preserving what Solomon has built.
I think angels are allowed to be mistaken, they just can’t Lie without breaking themselves. Though even that only seems to crack the armor, as I don’t think White Chain’s true body bears a scar over her eye.
Wait, there is a better question. Did Solomon broke Whitechain’s old “body” or did she somehow tell a lie which was so great that her whole “body” crumbled?
I think her stone shell was just pulverized by Solomon. What we saw was will of spirit that transcended her stone form, and why she went from Divine Fire to flesh.
Not every year, but every thousand Turns, which is a little more than three years.
I’m even surprised it’s that often, given the size of the stadium and the need to rebuilt it every time. And for an apparently immortal demiurge like Salami, three years is nothing. He must be quite eager to give up that crown.
I don’t think she could have anyway. The ghost form taken during the pass before becoming flesh shouldn’t have been able to even interact with him. And it was very clear white chain had given up any hope of actually winning, even as she threw that last .
His Key is no longer glowing. Highlighted with Allison’s glowing in that last panel. White Chain has it, with a new body forming upon it. No doubt that forehead marking is gonna have a key soon.
I don’t think so. Look at the last page, before he and WC collided. His Key looked exactly hte same it does now. I think it reacts to his mood. Normally he’s extremely proud and confident, with a glowint Key and huge atum. But now he looks… sad, deflated, even lost. No proud glow or atum.
I dunno. In the previous pages, they are glowing outwards from the center. This one has a highlight – it is still glossy! – but does not appear to be casting its *own* light, as it has previously.
Not sure of the meaning, but I see what Radiant is saying.
He hasn’t looked around at her, yet he seems “aware” of her . . . like he is aware of her present condition.
If he DOESN’T know what has happened, why isn’t he looking to see what happened?
Zoss had the key and gave it up, and that’s represented by him having a *hole* in his head. We can clearly still see something inside of Solomon’s head, so I believe he still has his. Though Maya presumably used to have a key and doesn’t have the head-hole so I dunno lol
All the characters who have keys seem to be in an ever-changing state of glow, with max glow being represented by a halo. Probably something to do with Will and manifesting power.
She struck him in his right cheek. The obvious bruise is a clear sign of a strike.
She has already gained more than he could have given her. Elevation. Promotion from mere angel incarnated into fused ash – into a human, capable of achiving god-level status – a god herself, instead of a servant/vassal thereof.
I’m glad she didn’t kill him. He simply needed a touch of humility. He will be the better leader now because of it.
The look on Dave’s face is profound disappointment apparently. I guess that by bruising him, White Chain came closer than anyone has in centuries, but was ultimately unsuccessful.
If she’d spilled his blood, she’d have “won,” Solomon would’ve been honor-bound to stay true to his word, or at the very least he’d have an excuse to do so.
As it stands, the point of White Chain’s battle isn’t cheapened. It wasn’t about winning, and it wasn’t about Solomon, it was about her.
Meanwhile Solomon now has to actually face some reality and make a decision. He’s not bound by his word since no drop of blood was spilled, but it’s abundantly clear someone actually got through and landed a solid hit on him, possibly the first one since his ascension.
So now what? What does that mean to him when it doesn’t follow his neatly outlaid plan and he has to actually decide what to do next?
From their perspective it must be confusing. One moment they see White Chain laying on the ground and Solomon David throwng his bracelets in the air like he did before killing all those other contestants. The next moment, he’s standing in a different place, White Chain is nowhere to be seen and there’s an unknown woman in the ring. Confusing. Not to mention that Solomon David’s pose isn’t the expected ‘I won!’ but rather a confused ‘WTF?’
Or perhaps, Rather than Transcending stone, she has taken on the finest of stones, From the one who Bears the Concept of DIAMOND. Even the smallest piece cut off by the Jeweler’s chisel, is still a diamond.
Indeed. Given Vigilant Gaze’s commentary before hand, and the hope he was expressing for change, I don’t think what White Chain has become is JUST human. She’s become something new.
She presumably still has an angel’s cold white atum, rather than the usual hot black human atum. That, I would think, is a large difference. This is 83 White Chain Born in Emptiness Returns to Subdue Evil; if her soul and body are now one, as for a human, I doubt she will have an 84th incarnation.
It’s not that they can’t, it’s that they’re unwilling to even try, though 2 Michael appeared to entertain the idea at one point. One particular ambitious devil stole a piece of a key once, and servants are plenty capable of using them (Mammon, several individuals from past scenes including a goblin). There’s no in-universe reason why angels can’t use one of those keys if they wanted to.
I hesitate to mention this, because I’ve long since lost the reference. Regardless…
I recall reading at one point that angels can bear keys, but they cannot activate (“mantle”) them. Furthermore, the rationale given for this, as I recall, was that their origin in the white fire of the Void prevents them from mustering the ambition (the “Want”) that the keys respond to.
Take this with a grain of salt. I’d rate this as a theory than Word-of-God hard-fact. Consider:
Koss forged humans and devils from black flame, which makes ambition a simple task for them. Servants are, like angels, also creatures forged from white flame, but we do have examples of Servant key-wielders*. Ergo, an angel might theoretically be able to mantle a key, but the passion required is antithetical to the mindsets of most angels we’ve seen thus far.
So yes, it’s not impossible for an angel to Want to use a key, but it is exceedingly unlikely for an angel to Want in the first place. Then again, transfiguration and superluminal combat are also pretty unlikely, so it’s anyone’s game at this point.
* Mammon is noted to have been an aberration among his family.
it isn’t a direct comment on the matter, but angels cannot fully accept the mantle of Royalty primarily because they believe that they cannot, which amounts to being unable to. it may be thus with the keys.
Well…the entire theme of this comic is about “change”. I think the only reason an angel has never wielded a key is because they THOUGHT they could not and thought the rules said they couldn’t.
I wonder why angels crack up upon lying. Is it because, for someone made of the cold white flame, lying is creating a division in one’s self? Which manifests as a crack–a division in their shell?
Whereas for someone of the hot black flame, lying (the red art) is making something new/different outside of them? So it doesn’t crack them up, merely changes the nature of something that exists?
What happens when an angel says something they THINK is true–but maybe is “false” to everyone around them? Or, what happens when an angel is insane? Won’t they believe every thing they utter is completely true, no matter how bonkers to others it is? And thus be able to talk/act as if it is true, because they think it is?
Won’t them proclaiming their truth shape the universe, too? Like White Chain proclaiming her truth has shaped a new body for herself?
Anyway, my point here is that if an angel fully believed they could wield a key, I bet they could. An angel’s belief that this is true–that they could wield a key–would basically make it true. They would not be consciously lying.
Especially since the keys were made out of something from an angel, from Metatron. It seems logical another angel could wield such a thing.
The danger, I think, is that the angel wearing the key might end up in some sort of mental fight with Metatron for the domination of their individual “truth”. Perhaps a non-angel has a better time grappling with that, due to their non-angellic nature…
Well, angels are well known to be born of the White Flame, essence of That Which is Not. Yet as all know, a Lie is the telling of That Which is Not, and is one of the most holy actions. Perhaps the cracking from the telling of a lie is from the breaking through of an angel’s true nature, a painful thing but necessary for actual growth.
He felt pain on his cheek, he put his hand up to touch it, and it came back empty. His expression when he saw White Chain get up in spite of his Time Stop was actually one of joy, which changed to great seriousness in the next second. I wonder if, for a moment, he wasn’t hoping White Chain WOULD succeed in drawing a drop of blood. Perhaps he’s more aware of his own cage than we thought?
He is. Its the whole point of this tournament after all. He wants to leave, to go on a journey, but his pride won’t allow him to abandon his empire, not without someone that is his equal(or very close at least) to take his place.
I’m surprised at how many people seem utterly unable to grasp this concept.
The look on his face, was it fear? Or merely disbelief? But when he sees no blood it is clear that he feels dismay. While she may not have won his battle, she has won her war.
It doesn’t matter if she struck blood here or not. That was only what David wanted and it is not White Chain has lost the fight or anything. I think everyone except David at this point can say that the fight doesn’t matter anymore.
The fact that there is no blood is actually worse for him, since he is now completely irrelevant.
That was round one. There is always another round – if, that is, White Chain wishes to continue. She may well believe she has made her point in a manner quite sufficient.
He’ll surely notice the strange new naked girl kneeling next to his bracelets, the only other person on the dais. Seeing she has an angel’s atum flame may then also help his realisation.
Mr Diamond appears to me to be a man who has strived to do what he believes is for the best for those under his rule. His achievements from what little of them I have seen, seem to have provided greater benefit and less suffering for his subjects than those of other worlds, my own included. No doubt this has involved some… firmness of hand and equally doubtless things are not perfect but his intentions appear to be for the good and he has not made a bad job of things under the circumstances.
Let us hope that he does not now succumb to baser instincts but takes this opportunity to shine magnanimously. It would be nice to see some good to come from all of this.
Interesting situation! WC landed a blow but didn’t draw blood: Dave can weasel out of giving up his crown on a technicality, but it’ll undermine his cult of personality of an untouchable god king. Will sitting on the throne feel sweet to him anymore, when he can see even a sliver of doubt in the eyes of his subjects?
It looks like it was cauterized. Like you can see a line ‘gash’, and it looks distinctly different than a bruise. Feels purposefully drawn like that, as if White Chain’s angelic fire sealed the wound shut the moment it was made.
47 Trigram Star, by Cosmic Fire, Sunders the Wheel of Doubt
That may even be intentional on WC’s part, as nothing I’ve seen so far would indicate that she even wants his throne. If it is indeed a gash that was cauterized, she will have proven that she can defeat Solomon, all the while denying him the fruits of his defeat.
The reward for drawing blood is for the winner to “have whatever he so wishes”. That never necessarily meant his throne, though that is an obvious choice and that, or even his key, is perhaps what he wanted them to demand.
Gotta know the etiquette of the golden bracelets. Do they get disposed of once they hit the ground? Does he break the hands of the servant that picks them up as punishment for acknowledging they fell in the first place?
Since everything he does is perfect, that must mean the law of gold armbands changed as soon as they hit the ground.
Sister White Chain may not have drawn blood, but my did she still knock the stuffing out of him. Befuddled enough that he could not even think to collect his bracelets in ki-rata time.
Nobody “ended the time stop”, Ki Rata is a breathing technique that lets him move so fast everything else was motionless in comparison. The reason why things are moving now is because he no longer maintains it, likely due to his loss of concentration.
Between the two of them it’s unclear if Solomon is not too shaken to re-enter Ki Rata and if what mastery White chain has over her new body would allow her to use, or counter, the style effectively.
Oh man, I don’t know if that was a drop of blood.
Fire, friend. It cauterizes as it cuts–it would seem our heroes have lost by a technicality.
What are you talking about? There was no fire. He’s not bleeding because she just wasn’t strong enough.
I believe they are referring to the literal fire angels are constructed of.
Which is definitely what hit him. It’d be just like Solomon to deny the result he clearly wants because it didn’t fit the rules.
Does he want the results, though? His sin is pride. Could he ever accept that he had lost, unless circumstances undeniably prove it to him?
That’s a bruise, not a cauterized cut.
I wonder if that still counts. Internal bleeding is still bleeding.
See, that’s what White Chain is telling him, but angels can be mistaken. What if Solomon’s flaw isn’t a refusal to accept that he can be bested, but his refusal to accept that the the system he set up is itself failing?
He holds this tournament every year to find a successor so he can devote even more time to training, so as to finally rise above the other six demiurges as the new conquering king. But as it stands, the pattern of tournaments will continue until Jagganoth, the one person Solomon absolutely knows can beat him, is ready to come knocking, and Jagganoth has no intention of preserving what Solomon has built.
I think angels are allowed to be mistaken, they just can’t Lie without breaking themselves. Though even that only seems to crack the armor, as I don’t think White Chain’s true body bears a scar over her eye.
Wait, there is a better question. Did Solomon broke Whitechain’s old “body” or did she somehow tell a lie which was so great that her whole “body” crumbled?
I think her stone shell was just pulverized by Solomon. What we saw was will of spirit that transcended her stone form, and why she went from Divine Fire to flesh.
Not every year, but every thousand Turns, which is a little more than three years.
I’m even surprised it’s that often, given the size of the stadium and the need to rebuilt it every time. And for an apparently immortal demiurge like Salami, three years is nothing. He must be quite eager to give up that crown.
She was strong enough to bruise him. She did not make him bleed purposefully, so she wouldn’t participate in his system
I don’t think she could have anyway. The ghost form taken during the pass before becoming flesh shouldn’t have been able to even interact with him. And it was very clear white chain had given up any hope of actually winning, even as she threw that last .
Also blunt vs edged damage.
Doesn’t matter.
She wasn’t playing to win his game, and she’s certainly won hers.
This.
Let old Timotheus yield the prize,
Or both divide the crown;
He raised a mortal to the skies,
She drew an angel down!
— “Alexander’s Feast” by John Dryden
This one sees what is there.
Winner winner chicken dinner
Absolutely it was.
His Key is no longer glowing. Highlighted with Allison’s glowing in that last panel. White Chain has it, with a new body forming upon it. No doubt that forehead marking is gonna have a key soon.
I concur. The light of his key is gone. We have always seen him display it. His pride must be wounded…
… if not his power itself.
But he still seems disappointed.
I don’t think so. Look at the last page, before he and WC collided. His Key looked exactly hte same it does now. I think it reacts to his mood. Normally he’s extremely proud and confident, with a glowint Key and huge atum. But now he looks… sad, deflated, even lost. No proud glow or atum.
I dunno. In the previous pages, they are glowing outwards from the center. This one has a highlight – it is still glossy! – but does not appear to be casting its *own* light, as it has previously.
Not sure of the meaning, but I see what Radiant is saying.
He hasn’t looked around at her, yet he seems “aware” of her . . . like he is aware of her present condition.
If he DOESN’T know what has happened, why isn’t he looking to see what happened?
Zoss had the key and gave it up, and that’s represented by him having a *hole* in his head. We can clearly still see something inside of Solomon’s head, so I believe he still has his. Though Maya presumably used to have a key and doesn’t have the head-hole so I dunno lol
All the characters who have keys seem to be in an ever-changing state of glow, with max glow being represented by a halo. Probably something to do with Will and manifesting power.
Her master had a key but maya failed to kill the cruel boy who was her friend. Remember the lesson with the rat?
A bruise is a bleed under the kin.
^skin, dammit!
Given by our skin and blister.
She struck him in his right cheek. The obvious bruise is a clear sign of a strike.
She has already gained more than he could have given her. Elevation. Promotion from mere angel incarnated into fused ash – into a human, capable of achiving god-level status – a god herself, instead of a servant/vassal thereof.
I’m glad she didn’t kill him. He simply needed a touch of humility. He will be the better leader now because of it.
Or a worse one. His pride has been wounded. That could make him more dangerous.
Nah, he clearly wants someone to beat him. Hence the drop of blood. He needs someone on his level to take his place.
She clearly hurt him. Three words. Sonic the Hedgehog.
The look on Dave’s face is profound disappointment apparently. I guess that by bruising him, White Chain came closer than anyone has in centuries, but was ultimately unsuccessful.
Pictured above this comment: a lot of lovely nerds. ♡
It wasn’t, which makes for the far better story.
If she’d spilled his blood, she’d have “won,” Solomon would’ve been honor-bound to stay true to his word, or at the very least he’d have an excuse to do so.
As it stands, the point of White Chain’s battle isn’t cheapened. It wasn’t about winning, and it wasn’t about Solomon, it was about her.
Meanwhile Solomon now has to actually face some reality and make a decision. He’s not bound by his word since no drop of blood was spilled, but it’s abundantly clear someone actually got through and landed a solid hit on him, possibly the first one since his ascension.
So now what? What does that mean to him when it doesn’t follow his neatly outlaid plan and he has to actually decide what to do next?
We’ll see
Another good Cio face for the Cio face pile.
EVERY Cio face is a good face!
So you’re saying Dogfriend’s not wrong…
I’m saying that I want to collect the 36 best Cio faces and make a Tarocchi deck out of them.
Plus Cio is back wearing her usual clothing, not the servant’s costume forced on her earlier.
And she’s got her flying paper servants at the ready! I would NOT mess with the trio in the last panel!
But I think the fight is over.
For a single second
The king had fallen
Falling and free at at last.
Woe to him, who cannot fall.
So now he can die and retire from the story?
“People think goodness comes after the fall
But they do not realize
That goodness is only achieved
through the fall.”
He almost seems disappointed that there was no blood…
his cage was almost broken
alas,maybe in a better age
nary a drop…
There is no blood in this broth, but the finest of marrow. Get your bowl today!
-It’s a “sure bet” you’ll love your bowl!
If Solomon said he bled, he bled. His word is law. Presumably now her flesh is stronger than stone.
Also, Nobody noticed White Chain? And I really wanna see White Cio.
Hold on! Has he even seen!?
The collapsed structure shields her, and their fight occurred in the space between seconds.
White Chain just transcended across the arena in a fraction of a second. Alison and the others are understandably confused.
From their perspective it must be confusing. One moment they see White Chain laying on the ground and Solomon David throwng his bracelets in the air like he did before killing all those other contestants. The next moment, he’s standing in a different place, White Chain is nowhere to be seen and there’s an unknown woman in the ring. Confusing. Not to mention that Solomon David’s pose isn’t the expected ‘I won!’ but rather a confused ‘WTF?’
Or perhaps, Rather than Transcending stone, she has taken on the finest of stones, From the one who Bears the Concept of DIAMOND. Even the smallest piece cut off by the Jeweler’s chisel, is still a diamond.
Hmmm. A bruise isn’t quite drawn blood, not out of the skin anyway.
Well I was wrong about him missing an arm and bleeding.
Even if not blood, it’s certainly the closest anyone has come to it. He will want to explore fruther.
She’s till in the ring! Match isn’t over yet! Also angels can’t wield the stones, but humans can, Alison needs to share that bling.
Aeons can’t normally use the keys, but nothing about what WC has become is normal.
Indeed. Given Vigilant Gaze’s commentary before hand, and the hope he was expressing for change, I don’t think what White Chain has become is JUST human. She’s become something new.
She presumably still has an angel’s cold white atum, rather than the usual hot black human atum. That, I would think, is a large difference. This is 83 White Chain Born in Emptiness Returns to Subdue Evil; if her soul and body are now one, as for a human, I doubt she will have an 84th incarnation.
It’s not that they can’t, it’s that they’re unwilling to even try, though 2 Michael appeared to entertain the idea at one point. One particular ambitious devil stole a piece of a key once, and servants are plenty capable of using them (Mammon, several individuals from past scenes including a goblin). There’s no in-universe reason why angels can’t use one of those keys if they wanted to.
I hesitate to mention this, because I’ve long since lost the reference. Regardless…
I recall reading at one point that angels can bear keys, but they cannot activate (“mantle”) them. Furthermore, the rationale given for this, as I recall, was that their origin in the white fire of the Void prevents them from mustering the ambition (the “Want”) that the keys respond to.
Take this with a grain of salt. I’d rate this as a theory than Word-of-God hard-fact. Consider:
Koss forged humans and devils from black flame, which makes ambition a simple task for them. Servants are, like angels, also creatures forged from white flame, but we do have examples of Servant key-wielders*. Ergo, an angel might theoretically be able to mantle a key, but the passion required is antithetical to the mindsets of most angels we’ve seen thus far.
So yes, it’s not impossible for an angel to Want to use a key, but it is exceedingly unlikely for an angel to Want in the first place. Then again, transfiguration and superluminal combat are also pretty unlikely, so it’s anyone’s game at this point.
* Mammon is noted to have been an aberration among his family.
it isn’t a direct comment on the matter, but angels cannot fully accept the mantle of Royalty primarily because they believe that they cannot, which amounts to being unable to. it may be thus with the keys.
“Also angels can’t wield the stones”
Well…the entire theme of this comic is about “change”. I think the only reason an angel has never wielded a key is because they THOUGHT they could not and thought the rules said they couldn’t.
I wonder why angels crack up upon lying. Is it because, for someone made of the cold white flame, lying is creating a division in one’s self? Which manifests as a crack–a division in their shell?
Whereas for someone of the hot black flame, lying (the red art) is making something new/different outside of them? So it doesn’t crack them up, merely changes the nature of something that exists?
What happens when an angel says something they THINK is true–but maybe is “false” to everyone around them? Or, what happens when an angel is insane? Won’t they believe every thing they utter is completely true, no matter how bonkers to others it is? And thus be able to talk/act as if it is true, because they think it is?
Won’t them proclaiming their truth shape the universe, too? Like White Chain proclaiming her truth has shaped a new body for herself?
Anyway, my point here is that if an angel fully believed they could wield a key, I bet they could. An angel’s belief that this is true–that they could wield a key–would basically make it true. They would not be consciously lying.
Especially since the keys were made out of something from an angel, from Metatron. It seems logical another angel could wield such a thing.
The danger, I think, is that the angel wearing the key might end up in some sort of mental fight with Metatron for the domination of their individual “truth”. Perhaps a non-angel has a better time grappling with that, due to their non-angellic nature…
Well, angels are well known to be born of the White Flame, essence of That Which is Not. Yet as all know, a Lie is the telling of That Which is Not, and is one of the most holy actions. Perhaps the cracking from the telling of a lie is from the breaking through of an angel’s true nature, a painful thing but necessary for actual growth.
what’s that bigass stone what’s been dropped in panel 2?
There was a frame hanging over the arena, Solomon knocked it off when throwing white Chain out into the sky.
No “Perfect Kill” award for the Emperor this time….
Also, Cio ditched the outfit she obviously hated. Good for her! Never let the patriarchy force you to wear outfits.
I like to think she used the awesome power of the Red Art of Lying to the Face of God to turn that ugly thing into her paper soldiers.
Since the comments on the previous page were broken by the sheer awesome on display, this one is late.
“Destroy this temple, and I will raise it up in […] ONE PUNCH!”
The Diamond is bruised but not bloodied.
And yet his hopes appear to have been shattered nonetheless.
He felt pain on his cheek, he put his hand up to touch it, and it came back empty. His expression when he saw White Chain get up in spite of his Time Stop was actually one of joy, which changed to great seriousness in the next second. I wonder if, for a moment, he wasn’t hoping White Chain WOULD succeed in drawing a drop of blood. Perhaps he’s more aware of his own cage than we thought?
He is. Its the whole point of this tournament after all. He wants to leave, to go on a journey, but his pride won’t allow him to abandon his empire, not without someone that is his equal(or very close at least) to take his place.
I’m surprised at how many people seem utterly unable to grasp this concept.
Never accord to malevolence, that which could stem from stupidity.
They are not “unable” to grasp it, they are DETERMINED not to grasp it.
It’s raining. Blood very well could have been washed off.
I like that Solomon turned his back to his soldiers when he checked if he was bleeding. Prideful to the end.
The look on his face, was it fear? Or merely disbelief? But when he sees no blood it is clear that he feels dismay. While she may not have won his battle, she has won her war.
It doesn’t matter if she struck blood here or not. That was only what David wanted and it is not White Chain has lost the fight or anything. I think everyone except David at this point can say that the fight doesn’t matter anymore.
The fact that there is no blood is actually worse for him, since he is now completely irrelevant.
Disappointment. She came so close.
That was round one. There is always another round – if, that is, White Chain wishes to continue. She may well believe she has made her point in a manner quite sufficient.
She’s still in the ring. It’s not over yet.
The question is whether David has realised this or not, and whether his arrogance will cause him to forfeit by simply walking out the ring.
He’ll surely notice the strange new naked girl kneeling next to his bracelets, the only other person on the dais. Seeing she has an angel’s atum flame may then also help his realisation.
Wow the message of complex emotions shown on Salami’s face in just 3 panels is astounding man I LOVE this
Yeah, I don’t know exactly how much of what Solomon says is honest and how much is self-serving BS, but he looks actually disappointed here.
Mr Diamond appears to me to be a man who has strived to do what he believes is for the best for those under his rule. His achievements from what little of them I have seen, seem to have provided greater benefit and less suffering for his subjects than those of other worlds, my own included. No doubt this has involved some… firmness of hand and equally doubtless things are not perfect but his intentions appear to be for the good and he has not made a bad job of things under the circumstances.
Let us hope that he does not now succumb to baser instincts but takes this opportunity to shine magnanimously. It would be nice to see some good to come from all of this.
How to utterly defeat someone: cause their violence to be induced by them-self.
all that for a little blood?
Interesting situation! WC landed a blow but didn’t draw blood: Dave can weasel out of giving up his crown on a technicality, but it’ll undermine his cult of personality of an untouchable god king. Will sitting on the throne feel sweet to him anymore, when he can see even a sliver of doubt in the eyes of his subjects?
More than that, he knows he was disappointed to find no blood. He can no longer tell himself that his philosophy is not a prison to him.
He’s become so bound up in his ideal of what a man should be that he’s lost sight of who he wants to be.
Without Want, Royalty is beyond his grasp.
It looks like it was cauterized. Like you can see a line ‘gash’, and it looks distinctly different than a bruise. Feels purposefully drawn like that, as if White Chain’s angelic fire sealed the wound shut the moment it was made.
That may even be intentional on WC’s part, as nothing I’ve seen so far would indicate that she even wants his throne. If it is indeed a gash that was cauterized, she will have proven that she can defeat Solomon, all the while denying him the fruits of his defeat.
This. This interpretation pleases me and I hope to see it borne out.
The reward for drawing blood is for the winner to “have whatever he so wishes”. That never necessarily meant his throne, though that is an obvious choice and that, or even his key, is perhaps what he wanted them to demand.
Get ready for a SUURRPRISE!!!
Gotta know the etiquette of the golden bracelets. Do they get disposed of once they hit the ground? Does he break the hands of the servant that picks them up as punishment for acknowledging they fell in the first place?
Since everything he does is perfect, that must mean the law of gold armbands changed as soon as they hit the ground.
Sister White Chain may not have drawn blood, but my did she still knock the stuffing out of him. Befuddled enough that he could not even think to collect his bracelets in ki-rata time.
That may be because it wasn’t him that ended the timestop but White Chain?
Nobody “ended the time stop”, Ki Rata is a breathing technique that lets him move so fast everything else was motionless in comparison. The reason why things are moving now is because he no longer maintains it, likely due to his loss of concentration.
Between the two of them it’s unclear if Solomon is not too shaken to re-enter Ki Rata and if what mastery White chain has over her new body would allow her to use, or counter, the style effectively.