King of Swords 8-81
“When Metia, the first human, crawled from the ash of Koss’ hearth, misbegotten as she was, she was so small, defenseless, and naked that the gods that found her took pity on her. Examining her closely, they found to their amazement that she bore the gift called Death and therefore was able to die, the first truly mortal being on the Wheel. This discovery would later yield great understanding among the gods and lead eventually to their self annihilation, but that is a story for another time. At the moment, they were astounded that a being so weak could exist at all, and therefore lavished her with many secret fires and gifts, so concerned they were with her safety. They first taught her the means of language, and finding secret things, and of making fire and finding food. But it was not long after that they resolved to teach her to defend herself.”
– Eight Hundred Manual
“OH SHE’S ROCKED!”
“Lo Kai looking for the finish!”
Extra points if he can finish her without drawing his sword.
Calling it now. Asshole Gandalf is going for the Key, which will backfire spectacularly but also force her to show it.
I do not remember this guy. Where was he last seen, and what was he up to?
He’s one of the Pursuers, the notably skilled group pursuing Allison and her key. Last seen with Maya and the other Pursuers when Solomon’s people were announcing the competition. Last time we saw him was when our main troop broke into Yre. The ship they stole to leave belonged to the Pursuers.
Sorry, that second time I meant to say last time Allison saw him.
Gah, I’m rereading and I messed up again, they didn’t STEAL the Pursuers’ ship, but the Pursuers did show up in a ship, and Allison did see them (whether they actually saw her is questionable, it was a big fight).
This is also good lore. Thank you for contribution; your award is in the delivery imp. Please do eat the worm.
🎶 If you chew without rhythm, it won’t attract the worm. 🎶
I didn’t expect a reference to that song here. It’s a good one.
Fantastically grown
Through the glyphosphere I roam
To make love to the devils of life, yeah,
and my girl…
I guess you just don’t understand
It’s beyond being peasant
As I drift off into the Void
I’m fighting
She’s a sweet blue-masked gal
But I’m gonna hold my cool
‘Cause Solomon rules
Yeah, so punch on baby, yeah
I don’t think it is going to happen, but it would be awesome if Allison gets beaten out of the tournament right there, and the rest of the arc actually follows White Chain.
Nobody punches a wizard in the face.
Well, i mean. It -happens-.
The thing is that usually one of the people involved is dead inside of sixty seconds. Vatra bones tend to be fragile, and vatra egos tend to be more so. We’re a predictable bunch when you get right down to it.
Teach the only being in existence that has something to lose… how to fight. I bet that worked out well for everyone involved.
It so much as says that we all killed ourselves, so this isn’t really our problem, is it?
Burn.
Our ascending monarch will quickly learns to, how does the saying go… “Don’t dish out what you can’t take.”
“We have Met the Enemy and She is Us.”
*headbutts the mirror*
*elsewhere nearby, a totally confused head appears awkwardly out of thin air*
*wow*
I am forever cursed to read any standalone *wow* in Owen Wilson’s voice
Wow…
Me too 😉
Oh man, the vividness of this scene when it popped into my head makes me want it to happen in the comic. It just gets funnier and funnier. Owen Wilson “wow” included.
VACUS NEEDLE PUNCTURES THE HEART OF THE UNREPENTANT
Look out, he’s got spaghetti!
todays episode: Old man says ” no you “
So that’s where the mirror was and what it does. Interesting.
Using those needles is probably a mistake though; he’s not facing an Aeon…
The needles certainly look like they’re doing something.
Probably blocking her chi or something to that effect.
Normal weapons don’t penetrate her body. Even a stab to an eye… so needles seem to do more than her own punch into face.
The Key of Kings grants Allison the technique known as the Head of John, meaning that her head is all but indestructible. The rest of her body is, comparatively, far squishier.
Ah, yes, the First Lesson of the Older Brother, as Communicated to the Younger Brother: Cessation of Self-Affliction.
A most erudite description of this common sibling interaction. It brought me pleasure to read. Thank you dear Father.
Remind me who is this fellow?
He was one of the first of the Pursuers. He showed up in the Hell where people started hunting for Allison’s Key.
More specifically, he’s Eris-Lo-Kai, a Vatra (sorcerer who worked with demons.)
ah damn, I forgot this isn’t disqus so I can’t post reaction pics XD
(spider-man punching spot.jpg lol)
Shouldn’t her fist be mirrored, with her thumb on the other side when Allison hits herself?
Nah because it’s coming at her as if she punched her own reflection. Look at how her fist passes into the mirror and it lines up.
Compare the image in the mirror with the image outside the mirror. In one, her thumb is on the side of her hand facing her head; in the other, it’s facing away.
It’s fuckin magic, man. A hand is going into the mirror, and a copy is shot out of thin air. Thumb placement is a minor detail missed in the Greater Lying of the Art.
Many find a sloppy lie to be more insulting than the truth.
Given that the truth is also a lie, there can be no excuse your your lie being lower quality than the truth.
YISUN’s lies often contain inconsistencies.
Just the other day I was asking him how we were even having a conversation, when we both already died.
She said, “One of us is a time traveling ghost of a god, and the other one always lies.”
Viddy the current arrangement of digits on both instances of Allison’s fist. On her extended arm her thumb points to her left, on the displaced arm the thumb points to Allison’s right. Given this information is would seem to imply that the mirror does not project a solidified reflection. Rather it generates a portal in which the object entering the mirror exits or is projected elsewhere with it’s orientation relative to the original subject and adjusted for the projected direction.
I made a long post about this on another forum. You are correct that the thumb direction in the mirror is inconsistent with what we see (neither mirror nor portal explain it). You can explain it away nicely if you think of the fist punching her as a magic copy.
Fighting is tough.
This is axiomatic.
Obviously you just have to punch even stronger to break the mirror from the force, duh.
Oooof, this guy is thinking with portals.
Now we need two mirrors set at just the right angles so the punch reinforces itself continually. Then, at just the right moment: LAZER FIST!!!
Or Fazer as some prefer.
Aah, pulling noodles out of his nose, that old trick.
What remained of the fight consisted of the wizard taunting, “Stop hitting yourself. Stop hitting yourself”, until Allison fled the arena in tears.
Heh heh heh!
Dammit you beat me to it; that was gonna be my comment.
I’m surprised Alison actually recognized Eris Lo-Kai. Their paths have crossed only three times so far, and each time the circumstances were not really such that she had a good chance to see him. The first time was in Hell 71, when that angel called ‘Delicious’ was dragging her around at high speed. Alison had maybe a few seconds to see Eris and Layla Brimstone before everybody started killing eachother. (In KSBD 4-60 you see Alison about to be beheaded by someone, who’s beheaded him/her/itself by Eris, therby inadvertantly saving Alison’s life.)
The second time they met was in Mottom’s palace. Eris was one of the pursuers she saw on a balcony. The only one she got a good look at that time was Maya.
Finally, they met when Alison and friends were trying to escape Mammon’s vault while the big battle between Mammon ad Mother Om took place. The pursuers crashed the place and immediately got caught up in the battle. It’s debateble if Alison even saw them, since she was almost unconsious at the time. And that was at least a year ago! If she remembered anyone of the pursuers I would have expected it to be Maya, or maybe that huge golden baby, not some old guy with a mirror and sword.
True her encounters were brief, but they were followed by extreme amounts of violence which has been shown to be remarkably good at fixing memories into skulls. Indeed many find it extremely difficult to forget such encounters. Combined with the highly distinctive appearances of her assorted Pursuers, it’s perfectly reasonable that Allison would remember Eris Lo-Kai.
Yeah and also… Eris Low-Key is straight up the first pursuer. He’s the one who drew everyone’s attention to himself and went ‘I’m the one taking her key, try me if you think you fucking can.’ If she was gonna remember anyone from that fight itd PROBABLY be her.
True, but when he did that, Allison was still being carried away by Delicious several floors up. All she could have seen the moment they met was a witch armed with guns facing off with an old guy standing comfortably on the top of his sword. (Actually… that IS kind of hard to forget, I guess.)
Is it just me or is Eris’s skin a hell of a lot lighter than it was before? I’m not looking to screech “whitewashing” but its throwing me off.
He does appear lighter then previous appearances, but bear in mind he was shown in various dark and gloomy environments ,before, whereas now he illuminated by twin Suns and assorted mystic flames. A lighter appearance is likely due to this contrast.
???????
No , really , WTF ???
This guy had opportunity to just shut off portal , severing Allison hand and he NOT does that ? WHY ?
Also if he have ability to create portals just like that , he therefore could just create portal with exit side going through Allison neck , for instance , ending fight right then and there. And he not does that. WHY ?
Sorry to be rude , but it seems the possibilities and consequences of existence of such mirror were not really thought by author.
I mean , yes , retroactively there could be added explanations and usage rules that make it impossible to place exit portal inside solid matter or close portal when something solid passes through it. Or place exit side in vacuum of space. Or in lava.
But no restrictions stated , as of now , making this vatra very , very stupid . Like he have this mirror for so long and cant figure out most effective way of fighting with it. *sigh*
Again , sorry to be rude , but this just looks like guy using loaded working assault rifle as mace.
ps Why i even first asking this , this question should have been asked like in first 5 comments .
That’s assuming he can turn it on and off at whim. Presumably he can’t.
Did she put her head into the mirror?
No? Then the mirror can’t retroflect her neck.
Also, it’s a gorramn mirror, not a “portal”. It only makes the thing happen that shows in the mirror.
Look at Al’s hand in the mirror, hitting her mirrored face, that’s what the mirror makes to happen.
And look at Al’s hand left of the mirror , exiting from white-cyanish magical glow. Which is not portal. Were there solid object at that spot , where Allison hand exits from not portal , what would’ve happened to object? Not gonna be cut in half , no ?
And this exit area , which is not portal , cant be projected in more damaging to opponent point in space because ? Ah , yes , because you stated mirror cant do that.
Sure you can _assume_ it not possible. You can add some rules. But this is what _you_ assume , and rules _you_ stated. They not stated in story.
They should , but they not.
And your idea that the portal CAN be closed or the exit point controlled that way are somehow not assumptions? Maybe look into the fiction to infer how things in it work, instead of inventing how you want them to work then complain when the fiction doesn’t conform?
You’ve invented a fiction, but the world fails to comply.
And you blame the world!
How … incredibly amusing.
Yeah it seems as though it only portals to what reflects from it, and only that which passes through is portalled. So he can’t shut it off, in order to stop being portalled the thing inserted into the mirror must be withdrawn (like the arm of a person who has punched their self once their body reacts to that punch, and is sent flying away.) It is a *Reflective* weapon, and thus better for defense.
The mirror is a magical artifact that it does what it does and not what you would like it to do, that’s why.
Looks like she never faced a Vatra before or learned any tactics besides straight up facepunch. Attacking straight away rather than studying the opponent was her first mistake here.
If White Chain wasn’t who she was, I wouldn’t be surprised if she arranged with Gog Agog to have her face opponents with different tactics for a much needed lession in humility.
Al’s persisting problem is that she thinks she’s in a regular shonen punch-’em-up when in reality she’s in a JoJo-style puzzle battler where she needs to outwit her opponents instead of overpowering them.
So you’re saying she thinks she’s Goku/Naruto, when she should be fighting like Shikamaru?
“You can’t die? Enjoy living forever as a bunch of bloody chunks buried under a pile of boulders, at the bottom of a pit.”
Yes! If not further!
I’m talking full-on, balls-out, “How the Hell did you do that?!” Joestar BS levels!
Nope… it looks like the deceitful has the measure of that empty palm. Maybe you should have tried “Unembellished knee crushes the danglies!” >:=)>