King of Swords 6-54
Chapter: 6
There is only one way to be a pure master of sword law. This is to allow your body to become absolutely soaked with death.
Death is always in the body at all times, but happier people are able to let it live only in their skin, or on the surface of their eyelids. They may easily wash it off from time to time and carry on with their lives.
When I tell my students to shave their heads, partly it is so they cannot rid themselves of death so easily. Those who do not bathe in death regularly will forget it is there, and that is a very stupid thing to do when swords are involved.
– Meti Ten Ryo
Welp that’s gonna give me nightmares
YIKES.
No Reasonable Offers Refused, Preem Pillar, is not just a fantastic sales pitch.
Oogh I see why Incubus got to be such a powerful demiurge… Atleast I’m sure this is Incubus.
Nah, this is just a coincidental look-alike. He will never appear in the story again after this scene and will have no bearing on anything whatsoever.
Doubt that
I’m a little confused by it, honestly. I thought Abaddon said that Incubus didn’t have a mentor? If that’s the case, I doubt this is going to last.
I covet a more precise bibliography, if you can produce one.
Add this to the list of reasons that Pree Incubus is *NOT* the student Meti takes him for.
A match made in hell.
…
I see her eyes there, well done.
BLOODLUST
…
Yes… both their eyes have turned blood red.
i…
live…
in…
their…
hearts…
I.
Also.
Live.
In.
Their.
Hearts.
It’s a time share.
NO U
Once, near the time of the last Conquering, I met a great sword saint, half dead, upon the side of an abandoned fortress. He was broken. Dying. I held his head steady. I cleaned his wounds, and shaved his beard. We both knew he was dying, but I needed him to be presentable if I was to sell his gilded carrion as a reliquary. As the razor touched his neck he told me:
“The Demiurges are no bloody barbers, you old fool!”
How prophetic.
Not only is that extraordinarily poor shaving technique – I do not believe that the scalp is supposed to come off with the hair – the imbecile has distracted everyone around him, disrupting the flow of commerce! Think of the bargains that had been struck, before you distracted everyone with your inferior mortal meat-blood. For shame, usurper!
Do you not recognize the deal that has been made, before your very eyes? Its import, and the price?
Indeed I do, the advertisement read
“Don’t end up a bloody mess – Visit preem Todd’s barbering emporium for a professional finish”
I hear his pies are also rather good
Preem Draco, hearing of your improved circumstances has indeed lifted my spirits, also one pallet of replacement photocopier paper. May your mercantile efforts be blessed with success.
Thank you, Preem Roadscum. My own spirits have never been higher, and by the next update of the holy webcomic I will have an appointment to have my circulatory system refilled with gold! Thank you for standing by my side, even in my decrepit state. Thanks to your friendship, I shall soon step from my elevator and into the world!
There’s a banker, here’s a thief
deals with one result in grief
the other will provide relief
What deals? That market was very much a shadow of its former self. Those traders who remain appear resigned to perhaps doing the occasional deal, but the vibrancy is gone. Even the desperation — the merchant’s first recourse in a downturn — has deserted the place, except for Meti’s new student.
Well, a sword makes a poor razor. He’s still got his scalp, and hair stubble, and about a billion cuts, which is why he looks like he just took a shower in an abattoir. Head wounds bleed like crazy.
I believe the page quote for Wielder of Names 2-30 is relevant:
“The power drawn from strength is mighty indeed. All men respect the sword.
Greater still is the power drawn from ultimate weakness. When a man has nothing to cling to, he has taken the first step to becoming Royalty”
-Words of Dyon, Knight Mendicant (est. third century post second-conquest)
“There is a power that commemorates and grieves, from whom nothing is taken, but who cannot be deceived. You might expect to be able to crush him in your hand, into bird-bone fragments.”
–The Invocation of the Ivory Dove
CUT US INTO NEW SHAPES
Ha. I was right.
Its quite like this card game where one player is the emperor and the other the slave. The emperor can kill any card in the game while the slave can kill none. However the slave can kill the emperor because he has no use for money and has nothing to lose, meaning he can win.
I see. It appears that Incubus was just a hairy tomato all along. Look at all that juice. If you blended him you’d be well on your way to one Hell of a Bloody Mary.
now, this makes you wonder what makes him hate her so much?
Maya is the one to whom Incubus directs his scorn. His feelings towards Meti are unknown.
Ah it’s truly a sad thing to see such long locks to be cut off from one so young, but it is expected given we long expected someone to lose their hair in this story. Still to see such beautiful thing destroyed to obtained the amazing power to subjugate the people of the wheel is another part of the divine paradox.
On the upside, Little!Incubus probably solved his lice problem.
To quote a charming sorcerer named Sindri Myr, “All power demands sacrifice… And pain. The universe rewards those willing to spill their life’s blood for the promise of power.”
Rewards them with useless power and acute blood loss. I’m not a fan of a deal where I get to make my own life miserable in exchange for making other people’s lives miserable or over. Nothing good comes of it, practically by definition.
Blood is Pain and Pain is Life
Preem Ocean observes the first rule of Sword Law. Recall, however, the second. The undefeated swordsman must be an -exceptional- fool.
Venerate the Lord of the Pit. Whose foolishness is supreme. And whose failure is all the more total for its presence.
Tests often serve a purpose beyond the immediate.
Remember well, the sword of maybe was given rusted and dull.
To shave your head truly one must dedicate yourself to care of the blade to bring a true edge from one so weathered.
Do not forget this lesson of sword law so hastily.
It is as the great teacher meti herself once said; a sword is a ugly, useless hunk of metal that can build nothing and must doom all who weild her to destroy orbe destroyed, by echoes of every cut made.
The first step in the path of the sword is to cast aside the sword and seize a brush.
It is always interesting to see how many there are who are willing to lay down their lives in the name of death and destruction.
I suppose there’s also something to be said about the “shave your head with a dull sword” prerequisite being good for weeding out those who lack commitment. If you cannot destroy your own vanity (and the integrity of your scalp), how can your master trust you aren’t just wasting her time?
On another note, she probably figures that a fool willing to do this to himself might as well be made into a warrior, so he can get himself killed faster. Sparing the normal folk of his idiocy. On the flipside, a person who balks at such an act might just be convinced that learning the blade is not worth it, and instead follow a less stupid vocation. Such as a noodle vendor.
Compare the last panel of this page and the previous page – no more snakey pointed teeth, cute button nose – Incuboy has suddenly turned from a horrific sharklet into a cutie pie!
Incuboy it is!
Well named o Fist-Of-Goo.
Cut yourself into a new shape. Fifteen percent off, up to twenty if you’re careless!
He looks so happy! Apparently, that doesn’t last.
And of course, this sets the stage for Maya to play catch-up.
And so two each get what they want.
For now.
Bargain accepted and made.
Royalty is to cut, of course.
bruh if you wanted a haircut, all you had to do is ask, smh
This little one has mastered the law of the fast. Given the choice of life giving sustenance, he chose the way of death. Subordinateing the physical and its passions to a greater end is a path to great spiritual power.
So… Meti and noodles are opposites. Death Dealer and Life Sustainer united in one slurpy feast? I like it!
“Yeah, I’ll teach the batshit crazy mutant kid. What could go wrong?”
*Internal Screams Intensify*
ABSOLUTE
OBEDIENCE
Inhaling like the fighter’s tricks
Connor doesn’t move too quick
I don’t want to buy your sticks
shorn of the earthly garment as bade
the seeker shall receive the sacrament of the blade
the first cut is the deepest and rends reality
slicing serendipity
Something tells me that Incubus is about to get the Zen Master trolling/reversal of expectation very soon.
The time for learning has begun. Let us see little Incubus’s progress with the blade, for whe know he has a throne but know not what path he followed
DECISIVE ACTION
that was very wholesome
and a lesson from life: the starving and the dying make good students.
“I dreamt of the self-honing blade that has cut itself so fine, it pierces the world and thus becomes the world. It is self-honing because it constantly whets itself against itself. I dreamt of Death bearing this blade, or of something so closely allied with Death as to be its synonym, so that to separate them would require a knife sharper than sharpness. Death raised up that blade and said “I cut all and all I cut. Aiat.”
FOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL
WHO NEED THIS WEAKLING TEACHING WHEN YOU CAN LEARN DEMONICA MAGIC FROM ME!
AKU! THE SHAPESHIFTING MASTER OF DARKNESS! THE MASTER OF MASTERS!
AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Namely because, Lord Aku, you simply do not exist for a majority of the 777,777 Paths. Of course, for a fee, I can bring word of you- although you must accept the price of being known…
Do you accept?
*USES DARK MAGIC TO CREATE PLANET MADED ENTIERLY OF GOLD AND DIAMONDS*
OH YES, THATS IT!
I ORDER E X T R A T H I C C APPRENTICE!
SOON THOSE PATHETIC FOOLS WILL KNOW WHO IS MASTER OF ALL BEING
AHAHAHAHAHA
And the child takes his first step onto the path of Desire.
Little known fact: swords actually don’t make a “shiny” sound when removed from a scabbard as popularly portrayed in most media. The sound made is dull as it is the sound of metal rubbing against leather or wood.
While you may be right in most cases, if the top of the scabbard is a metal lining, one could create the classical shiny sound. Granted, it serves no use and wouldn’t be good for the edge of the blade.
I used to have a sword with a slightly twisted blade that always made that ring of metal freed from tension.
Maybe it only does that boring nonsense in our reality, and it works correctly in other worlds.
Despair and Desire are siblings, of course.
And so are Destruction, Destiny, Dream, Delirium, and Death.
More to the original point, Desire and Despair are -twins.- The others are Family.
Honestly, better haircut than Joshu.
This child seems to be quite the fool, I expect he will be quite adept at cutting. Ten Meti too seems to have recognized a fool, in this child. I’m interested in how Maya will react to their actions…
The To-Be King of Swords is, of course, wretched. For what use is there in being royalty of a nearly useless tool?
The Pact is Sealed.
Fullness to the bold, famine to the meek.
To Preem Halycan, I bestow the second knuckle of my right hand, or merely the mineral rites thereof.
May your observance and this gift of black glass bring you joy and prosperity before I harvest you.
My, Meti, what red eyes you have. Their bloodlust is matched only by your student.
amazing
Just wanted to say, this page looks amazing, the story and the art iz really fascinating, as well as the world building and the community that you are gathering around, even the fans are quite crazy, looking forward to see more of this
Welcome to the Speaking Hall of Yisun, young Demiurge.
Seek Heaven through violence.
Young Incubi… I hate to mention this given what you’ve just done but…
you missed a spot.
Meti seems satisfied with his performance… of course, she may just be toying with him. I fully see her as the kind of person who’s willing to dangle a kid’s heart’s desire in front of them, only to take it away and mock them.
Just how long ago was the Universal War? This clearly takes place before the supremacy of the Seven, does that make Maya centuries or millenia old? And still kicking strong, despite no longer having a key if the rumours about her are true.
THE SANCTIONED ACTION IS TO CUT.
REACH HEAVEN THROUGH VIOLENCE.
A minor point of anatomical contention: the knees of the emaciated do not shrink. Indeed the knee and its immediate cartilaginous environs endure even as the tissue around them wastes, creating quite a striking semblance of swelling at the joints.
For the record, I’ll throw my money in on “Meti’ll have none of this shit” and Incubus will be disappointed. I’m not sure why I think so, I just do.
See this is why I like guns. Gunslinger training doesn’t require you to shoot your own hair off.
You obviously had a bad teacher . . .
YOU, obviously, did not.
Anakin? Is that you?
>Maya’s name/title is “Maya Ten Meti”
>Meti’s name/title is “Meti Ten Ryo”
>This means Meti had a teacher named Ryo (another description confirms this)
>Ryo’s name/title is “Ryo Ten Ryam”
I’m really hoping this student-mentor naming scheme goes full circle, all the way back to Intra the literal “King of Swords”
One must wonder if this student would tire of her tutelage once he has seen the teacher’s path to its end.
You know this is incubus because the pinky toe checks out and no other reason.
oh, wig
I just thought of something wild!
Incubus is said to not have earned his title. But… what does that even mean? Nadia killed her husband in his sleep and took his piece. Solomon betrayed his masters before he got his. So betraying and murder are okay with the demiurges. So. What could Incubus have done? And how could he have taken his peice and not kill Maya in the process.
This is going to sound crazy, but what if this little boy isn’t Icubas. He’s Maya.
That’s right, I’m actually suggesting body swapping. Unless I’ve overlooked something, we never hear Maya and Incubus called by name in these flashbacks. When Maya introduces herself, she says that Meti is her “master”, not her “aunt”, which seems to just be a common way of addressing an elder.
I’m picturing that this tiny child shows his commintment and becomes Meti’s student. The buff warrior here did not, but watches Meti train the child. Perhaps they even became friends. They both join the middle army, but the pale child rises through the ranks and eventually, gains a key. The warrior, jealous and thirsty for power, tricks the pale king to switch their minds, resulting in the Incubus and Maya that we know. But Maya still knows how to fight, while Incubus is just a cheat hiding behind his followers.
It’s also good to remember that Incubus’ abilities involves manipulating of the mind to bring out the strongest traits… for a little while anyway.
It’s probably not true, but it makes for some interesting fanfic material.
That… has potential, but I can’t imagine Abbadon taking the strip’s plotting quite that far around the bend.
I think it might be the other way around – Incubus is seen as not having earned his key because he DIDN’T kill/screw over anyone to get it. My theory is that Maya will be the one to gain her key through slaughtering other Demiurges, but she will willingly abdicate and hand it over to Incubus for whatever reason.
On the other hand, Mammon got his key peacefully too, but the other members of the Seven aren’t particularly contemptuous of him. However, he did work hard (and killed his family) to get the wealth necessary to buy his key, so maybe it’s still seen as “earned” even though it wasn’t DIRECTLY seized by violence.
So, basically, to have ‘earned’ your key you have to have been a bastard who murders their family and friends?
On another note: how horrible must Incubus’ life have been that he is willing to mutilate himself to become the apprentice of someone who was quite content to watch him starve to death? I hope she at least is going to train him and not kick him out with some scathing comment.
Also, maybe we’re going to see why he seems to love to give people shortcuts to their dreams in the full knowledge itwill come back to haunt hem?
I think it’s more like, the rest of the Seven got their keys through lots of work or high risk, and proved their strength PRIOR to getting their key, Incubus (in this theory) was just lucky and happened to be in the right place at the right time.
You’d be surprised how starvation can cause you to not only lick the hand that constantly beats you just in the hopes that it tosses you some scraps, but also make sure it has something to beat so it carries on giving you scraps.
Mammon only bought his first key. He’s a killer like all the rest.
Mammon got his first key personally, but slew to get the other 777,776. Source- I asked Abbadon on discord a few months ago.
@xiberok 111,110, yo
Lol, you right
>> Incubus is said to not have earned his title.
>> But… what does that even mean?
Do the math. In a melee of 111,111 participants, all one HAS to do is not die, thus winning. Let the badasses do your work for you…
Incubus’ key was Math’s and she left it and her throne to him, is what the story hints at.
Fascinating. The layers of your story telling really are quite beautiful, the way you manipulate expectations.
Hats off. Really.
In the third panel you can almost see him gathering his courage (or desperation) while thinking: ‘This is going to hurt so much but it’s my only chance!’ Superb drawing!
For some damned reason, I read that in Midoriya’s voice.
AHA
So THIS is the badass hair cutting sequence that was prophesized!
AL-YS-UN only freed herself from the weight.
This Fool has weighed himself down with death.
I feel, for this one, the cost will be far greater than just their locks.
It’s been well over a week since this page was posted… the next update should be huge!
Here is one student that isn’t afraid of being cut.
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