“Trust me,” said a devil. –Will the lady paladin make her will-save? (Did she take an archetype that forfeited Divine Grace? …toss that d20, dumpling….)
There was an awkward panel where they got stuck, and then fell off, and then Alison had to put them back on, but it ruined the dramatic flow so the author didn’t show it. At least that’s how I always interpret things like that.
You haven’t figured out that everything’s a lie yet? This is only the question of which lie is conveniently the truth at that time, the glasses or the horns on the mask.
It’s like one of those computer case covers—the chin pops out and then the face (and horns) slide down. They just skipped the frame where she had her face down by her chest. 🙂
That’s my interpretation, too, but the necklace seems like it’s kind of getting in the way. What’s it doing?? Is it part of the mask somehow?? It has an eye??
Actually it would be cool if the glasses shattered, given that Cio’s glasses shatter a lot. Maybe Abaddon could keep that in mind while editing. I was doing a full readthrough some days ago and noticed he’s fixed many of the problems in the old pages, such as the assymetrical lift Swoledave did of that block of stone.
I think it’s also a reference to Berserk, with the eye pendant that Griffith carried around which ends up being significant. I forget what it was called.
edit: Actually, it was seen the first time we saw Cio, back in book 1, part 3-40, though she doesn’t always wear it. I’d post a link but this comment system likes to eat posts with links in them.
(Hail, El-Ahrairah! May silflay be yours with little struggle.)
The mask was light as lover’s touch, and drew forth breathy cries
Its straps were tight as true love’s chains, and then there were the eyes:
You cannot quite see through them, though they both are open wide
For the world about sings plaintive sounds about the world inside
Wear the mask! It’s secrets carry strange and potent gifts
Feel the mask! Its power thrills as your heart behind it shifts
Accept the mask! Rebuild the reservoir you thought was drained
Become the mask! Conjoined your strength will soon be unconstrained
“We” are the corset bursting,
Eight armed, Four faced, Four legged
Fire-spitting Fusion, Ali-Choath.
Taste our Eight Flaming Palms.
See your entrails go flying from the caress of our
“Paper-Smashes-Foes-Through-Cusinart-Blender-Attack”
Delight in our “Flailing Foot Flashes Through Fortresses” Scissor Kicks.
Reel backward through Upteen Dimensions when We Smite Thee with
“Rock Noggin meets your Soggy Cranium and You Achieve Orbit Strike.”
Chortle with Mirth as we banter,
Cower in Wonder at the Frightful Unleashed Potential before You.
Sweat with Fear as we paint the arena in Black Flames.
Breaks ? Oh Brakes !
No, there are no brakes on this Hellion !
Beware, beware, and beware !
Allison, “Will I get to know you better ?”
Cio, “Oh Tha Shall INDEED !”
If you prepare the two beforehand, perhaps? There are no (surviving) records of such, but… White Chain’s Flame has grown darker lately, and they seek CHANGE, of all things. Cio, a Dark Flame, seeks stability.
The times, they are a-changin’.
Do you think that perhaps all three – human, devil and angel – will fuse into one being before the end of our tale? Is Al-Yis-Un’s destiny to become a little Yis-Un by incorporating a piece of every flame into one person?
I believe we have some examples in the guardians/jailers of Himself. Though I hesitate to revisit the depravity of the pit, the knowledge there contained may be relevant.
At this rate, I won’t just be fabulously wealthy, I’ll be even wealthier than I was as a regional manager at the Bank of the Grand Dragon, and back then my estate encompassed galaxies!
When this game is done and I take home my prize money, I’ll fill my veins with PLATINUM blood, and turn an entire planet into a rotating palace! And then my authority will be so great that my command of the Pimp Hand will be godlike!
We didn’t see an additional mask on Preem Nand though and it appeared to be the same gold face as the other gate guardians we saw in another scene, though those were seen from a distance.
Then again, that was early in the comic and Abbadon was still figuring out how he wanted the devils to work.
Utterly hardcore and *so* KSBD. I was expecting a spontaneous vegas-style marriage, where the vows were a pact and Cio gets to sip delicately at Allison’s soul for the rest of their lives. This is vasterly better. Wonder if Allison *knows* what she’s being offered?
(Yes, I know this is more about love and trust and support and shared survival than entrapment and feeding. But: Abaddon said “devils just don’t know when to stop”.)
Also, congrats on subverting the trope “seductive monster wants to eat your face” to “seductive devil’s face wants to eat the rest of you”.
64 Perfect Slices Under Black Moonlight In A Heartbeat
So Cio’s whole being is her mask, and her body is a projection that rapidly starts to chip away when “unlinked”. Unlike that other devil whose mask was used to turn the unbound Vladok into Princess? Was that maskless devil a previous human/devil bind that never separated or something?
In Vladoks case, they broke the bind willingly, thus shattered their own mask, becoming a maskless devil/pure hot black flame. Here, the mask is still intact.
Yeah, Princess’s mask was supposed to be used by another devil, thus them making the ‘my mask’ comment. I don’t think that devil was maskless, but their mask did look worn. I think they were just transferring to a new one.
Recall that at the time all the characters were in Throne. The demons at the bar were there in their actual black flame forms. Here, they’re on one of the worlds of the 777,777 universes where they presumably cannot be corporeal without a Mask (much as Angels cannot be corporeal without Shells).
Hang on a second. I just realised this potentially means:
a/ letting Yabalchoath loose with the full power of the Old King’s key at her fingertips, and/or
b/ putting said key under the auspices of Himself, if he decides this would be good time to call in that favour he’s owed (and sooner or later he will call it in).
A massive temptation for two of my favourite devils. Something stronger than popcorn may be warranted.
Will Cio and Allison’s use of a dangerous and forbidden fusion technique give them the power needed to triumph in Solomon’s deadly tournament?
Find out in the next exciting episode of Kill Six Billion Demons Z…
Kindly consider,
Cio’s suggestion brings to mind tales of a wanderer in a green tunic who wore masks in a doomed world…I can only hope that Al-YISUN, will bring down the moon upon her foes. It would also be reminiscent of that Sailor Moon cartoon she is so fond of, yes?
It would appear we have similar taste in comics, friend. I would debate the order in which you put those three, but this is probably not the right place~
In the final panel it appears that Cio’s body is beginning to disintegrate. There are chunks missing from her two outstretched fingers and her ears, which seem to be the bits floating in the air. So Cio is putting her entire being into her face mask that she is offering to Allison.
So for every time Allison has given the reigns to someone else it all lead to her having to take them back in the end … but I’d love for this to be a weird permanent girlfriends-cohabitation-in-the-same-body thing. The comic isn’t strange enough yet.
If all of what Cio is, is now in her mask and Allison will get willingly possesed by it then who is the one who uses who, does Cio take control of Alli body and use her power fully, or it’s Alli who will get a power-up from devil power side as long she has the mask on?
You know what, this can turn perfectly into crying drama where Gog-Agog or Salomon will break Allison Cio’s mask and killing her for real with a solid punch or just ripping it off? Can you truly kill a devil or she will get reborn somewhere else?
I honestly don’t expect any happy ending for Cio here seeing this move she pulled out and what enemies they have to match.
Somebody called it in the previous panel by saying Cio needed ‘soul food’, to a degree. The caption if you mouse over this panel reads “the most direct way possible a devil may feed”. This may not be the goal on Cio’s part, but it relates in some way. I think the implication from the caption is that Cio is placing herself in danger by doing this, so Allison will likely take control of her powers, or alternatively, Cio is taking the bigger risk by focusing all that seems to be her essence into her mask itself, a physical object.
From my understanding of reincarnation, destruction of the mask may not mean explicit death for Cio, but rather the loss of who she is, even if the flame that is ‘Cio’ might reincarnate and be bound in another mask and with another name. We saw as much with the re-binding of Vladok as Princess…, though it begs the question, if a new mask were forged, and used to bind the same pure Black Flame with the same names, would the resulting Devil be a continuation of the previous Devil’s mind?
If it were any other devil than Cio, Alison would be taking an insane risk and would be eaten entire by the end of the next page. Cio…appears to be attempting ahimsa (which is bizarre for a devil) and probably won’t harm Allison much. But Allison is utterly squicked by the whole devil-diet thing – remember how she went weak at the knees when she saw devils feeding in the pit? I suspect that if she puts the mask on she then knows what Cio knows, so she knows all the gory details and she freaks. Very hard to stay in denial when the true knowledge is melded into your mind.
Ah, but that cuts both ways…. Allison may learn about Cio’s terrible past, but Cio will probably notice Incubus lounging around inside her twisted mental hellscape.
Hrmm… Imagine when they finally also join with White Chain and form Voltr… errmm… well, you get the idea. The perfectly flawed, god-like machine of life, death, creation and destruction.
I can’t wait!
PS – holy crap, how much garbage do I have to click to prove I’m not a robot?? SOB…
One has to consider now how well Allison and Cio compliment each other’s talents: Allison providing the raw power and Cio contributing the cunning sagacity. A formidable combination, without a doubt!
Damn. I’ve just remembered that they are about to do this thing, that is more intimate than sex and more emotional than childbirth, *live on TV*. Privacy is not just dead, they burned its corpse already.
Yeah because a girl can’t have a try on relationship with another girl and it ALWAYS must be fanservice than something normal?
Don’t tell me you are one of these guys who think that a girl x girl relationship in comic must be fanservice, but a guy x girl one must be true love romance etc. bullshit?
You know, this isn’t really a comic about which one can usually say “shit just got weird”, because it’s always been weird—there’s no “just” about it. But man.
Additional thoughts, now that I got that horrible double entendre out of the way…
1. I posit that Cio’s mask (and its horns) pass through her glasses because the moment Cio detached it from her face, everything else about her became less real and more ‘stuff of chaos’ (pure black flame).
2. Cio and Al-yisun are alone on this pillar of the field. If Cio doesn’t do something, Solomon will probably require Al-yisun to fight her (after all, ‘There can be only one!’) So this trick with the mask solves several problems!
Ooh, good point. Does Cio even know about Incubus? I can’t remember.
Anyway, I’m hoping for a gorgeously malevolent magical-girl transformation scene in the next page!
Actually, I don’t think Allison is still an emissary of Incubus. She gave that up while in Yre. That’s why her super-healing power quit and Cio had to drag her out. Incubus is now only in her dreams and her memories. Maybe Cio will see that.
I and some others have mentioned it as well. I looked back and while the exact eye shape isn’t shown previously as it hasn’t been shown this detailed, it’s still the same horizontal pupils that we’ve seen before. On top of that, there’s some color change below the eyes. So, yes, Yabalchoath is starting to leak through.
This whole “I am not ready to be someone’s girlfriend/boyfriend because I don’t know who I am right now” reminds me an awful lot of myself a couple of years back.
Allison, all these meanings you attach to a label like that are things you do on your own. I dunno what you think being Girlfriend/Boyfriend means, but whatever it means is something you decide together with whomever you choose to have that relationship with.
And/or it might be commitment-issues, but I could be projecting on that one.
Thank you for some other informative website. The place else may just I get that kind of information written in such a perfect method? I have a venture that I am simply now running on, and I’ve been at the glance out for such info.
Brooooo
“Trust me,” said a devil. –Will the lady paladin make her will-save? (Did she take an archetype that forfeited Divine Grace? …toss that d20, dumpling….)
And…… it’s a 0. You fail so hard you broke the laws of physics.
It’s the quick way to shift multiple alignment steps.
Divine grace is worth less than dirt for things may grow in dirt. The possibilities have narrowed down to one option. CUT
I’ll take “statements loaded with innnuendo” for 400 Alex.
Hot Black Flame singles in your area!
There’ll probably be a scene transition in the next update, so that we don’t get to see Cio riding Allison’s face.
Oh heck no, I wanna see Allison transforming into Sailor Devil :p
Yeah, that’d move the whole work into another genre…
…How did the horns get through the glasses?
(◔_◔)
Magic. She’s a devil wizard who does magic. She has magic glasses that magicked themselves through her magic horns.
There was an awkward panel where they got stuck, and then fell off, and then Alison had to put them back on, but it ruined the dramatic flow so the author didn’t show it. At least that’s how I always interpret things like that.
This explanation is best explanation.
Ahh so this is what English teachers meant when they said read between the lines
You haven’t figured out that everything’s a lie yet? This is only the question of which lie is conveniently the truth at that time, the glasses or the horns on the mask.
It’s like one of those computer case covers—the chin pops out and then the face (and horns) slide down. They just skipped the frame where she had her face down by her chest. 🙂
That’s my interpretation, too, but the necklace seems like it’s kind of getting in the way. What’s it doing?? Is it part of the mask somehow?? It has an eye??
Clearly they’re the kind of glasses with a magnetic nose strip, so they can pop apart and go back together.
She slipped it over then took off the mask.
Actually it would be cool if the glasses shattered, given that Cio’s glasses shatter a lot. Maybe Abaddon could keep that in mind while editing. I was doing a full readthrough some days ago and noticed he’s fixed many of the problems in the old pages, such as the assymetrical lift Swoledave did of that block of stone.
mmmmmmmmm I’m a little worried about this what with the accent coming back…….
She tends to do that when stressed, and this is a pretty dang stressful situation.
Just like any other girlfriend; So concerned about how she doesn’t have her face on…
Whoa.
wait.. WHAT?!
The Rite of the Murdered Heir, Preem Threadbreaker.
I say don’t you know. You say you don’t know. I say: put me on.
Bravo, mad sir, bravo!
I think Yabalchoath is starting to show up a little, though that eye style is different from Yabalchoath I think.
Also, third eye or something in that crystal that is shattering on the final panel.
Her pendant swung up and smashed into the forehead of the mask.
I’m not sure if the mask or the pendant or both broke. What is that thing made of, Ovis’ glass?
Whatever that hole is in, the eye looking out belongs to the Pure Hot Black Flame.
Looks to me like it’s something coming from within the gem, which appears to have been hollow.
Nah, Unfie’s got it, I think. As you remove a demon mask, the host shape begins to unmake itself, and the truth of Chaos beneath slithers through.
… Eyes Do Not Belong Here is a Chaos mainstay sign, after all.
I think it’s also a reference to Berserk, with the eye pendant that Griffith carried around which ends up being significant. I forget what it was called.
I think this is the first time we’ve seen her with that pendant though…. not sure.
edit: Actually, it was seen the first time we saw Cio, back in book 1, part 3-40, though she doesn’t always wear it. I’d post a link but this comment system likes to eat posts with links in them.
“Come into my parlor” said the Spider to the Fly. “Wear my mask” said the Demon, her voice so sweet and sly.
(Hail, El-Ahrairah! May silflay be yours with little struggle.)
The mask was light as lover’s touch, and drew forth breathy cries
Its straps were tight as true love’s chains, and then there were the eyes:
You cannot quite see through them, though they both are open wide
For the world about sings plaintive sounds about the world inside
Wear the mask! It’s secrets carry strange and potent gifts
Feel the mask! Its power thrills as your heart behind it shifts
Accept the mask! Rebuild the reservoir you thought was drained
Become the mask! Conjoined your strength will soon be unconstrained
Good fortune and fortification to thy will.
合体
GATTAI!
WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK WE ARE?!
underrated comment
That’d work better if Cio was red, but if she were, she wouldn’t be Cio.
Still good.
WICKED !
“We” are the corset bursting,
Eight armed, Four faced, Four legged
Fire-spitting Fusion, Ali-Choath.
Taste our Eight Flaming Palms.
See your entrails go flying from the caress of our
“Paper-Smashes-Foes-Through-Cusinart-Blender-Attack”
Delight in our “Flailing Foot Flashes Through Fortresses” Scissor Kicks.
Reel backward through Upteen Dimensions when We Smite Thee with
“Rock Noggin meets your Soggy Cranium and You Achieve Orbit Strike.”
Chortle with Mirth as we banter,
Cower in Wonder at the Frightful Unleashed Potential before You.
Sweat with Fear as we paint the arena in Black Flames.
Breaks ? Oh Brakes !
No, there are no brakes on this Hellion !
Beware, beware, and beware !
Allison, “Will I get to know you better ?”
Cio, “Oh Tha Shall INDEED !”
👏👏👏
Alloys are often stronger than pure elements. Combine the One Power with the heat of the pit and something wonderful and terrible may rise.
Forgive me for any potential sacrilege, Oh Azrael, but this raises an important. question. Can the white flame combine in any similar manner?
Can the Aeons and Servants combine?
It has not been done in all the ages. Cold flame and Hot flame together; unstable at best.
If you prepare the two beforehand, perhaps? There are no (surviving) records of such, but… White Chain’s Flame has grown darker lately, and they seek CHANGE, of all things. Cio, a Dark Flame, seeks stability.
The times, they are a-changin’.
I assume it would be rather like mixing matter and antimatter. An act of simultaneous annihilation and creation. Probably very mystical.
And explosive.
With Allison in the middle. Flanked by the white and black flame.
The threesome to end the wheel!
Do you think that perhaps all three – human, devil and angel – will fuse into one being before the end of our tale? Is Al-Yis-Un’s destiny to become a little Yis-Un by incorporating a piece of every flame into one person?
Allison is dilithium? 😛
…and Alison wonders how she should ask Cio whether she needs to turn the mask around first…
ah shiet.
Well, considering that we have established Alison’s *checks notes* ‘insatiable lust for devil flesh’, this should be a breeze!
This is not usually consensual for which party?
The mortal. It’s… quite unpleasant. I would not recommend it for most, but there can be advantages.
I believe we have some examples in the guardians/jailers of Himself. Though I hesitate to revisit the depravity of the pit, the knowledge there contained may be relevant.
FUSION…HAH!
HUH… HEEEEEH… HUAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!
– Link, Majora’s Mask
Cio, is the really the time to be trying to get Alison inside you?
Or, rather, to try and get onto Allison xD
A devil’s mask contains the whole of their identity, and so to put it on another is to give all they are to that entity, for good or ill.
Yes. It would be really sweet if it wasn’t so scary.
But really, isn’t that true of all love?
Yabalchoath’s eyes stare from the mask, as the crystal smashes on her forehead.
And Cio’s erstwhile body chips and drips and evaporates away.
This ties back to something we saw near the beginning of this story.
Are you thinking of Preem Nand, the sphinx, or his weird servants that possess those faceless women?
Well, this is sure exciting.
LET’S GO! DOUBLE PRIZE MONEY!
At this rate, I won’t just be fabulously wealthy, I’ll be even wealthier than I was as a regional manager at the Bank of the Grand Dragon, and back then my estate encompassed galaxies!
When this game is done and I take home my prize money, I’ll fill my veins with PLATINUM blood, and turn an entire planet into a rotating palace! And then my authority will be so great that my command of the Pimp Hand will be godlike!
Holy shit
That last panel is so boss!
Also, soooo intrigued/excited for thiiiiisssss
Detailed. Personal. More. Personifying. Daring. Trusting. Giving. Taking.
Dangerous? Frightening? Attractive? Intimate?
Woman, Devil, Lover, Fighter, Woman, Adventurer, Protagonist.
Release.
The serial one word poet.
I burn, I dance, I sleep
The one who awakens at dawn,
is it still the same me?
I know that you were hoping
for the Cage to be opened
The fever is t’revolten
i would like to take this post… down
wearing your girlfriend* as a facial accessory
*to brutally crush one’s enemies, no less
Truly, the best of times
Oh my gods.
So THAT was the deal with Cio’s husband and the whole “possessed guardian” thing we’ve been scratching our heads about.
Exactly.
Yet you have an astonishing self-possession (aww, what a pun!). I was scrolling down to the end of the comments section to enter just this:
“Oh fuck”.
Nothing more to say, really.
We didn’t see an additional mask on Preem Nand though and it appeared to be the same gold face as the other gate guardians we saw in another scene, though those were seen from a distance.
Then again, that was early in the comic and Abbadon was still figuring out how he wanted the devils to work.
Woah.
I wasn’t expecting THAT.
(have fun riding your sorta-gf’s face Cio)
To toot my own horn and flatter my foresight, I knew this was coming the moment that Devils were explained as masks.
Utterly hardcore and *so* KSBD. I was expecting a spontaneous vegas-style marriage, where the vows were a pact and Cio gets to sip delicately at Allison’s soul for the rest of their lives. This is vasterly better. Wonder if Allison *knows* what she’s being offered?
(Yes, I know this is more about love and trust and support and shared survival than entrapment and feeding. But: Abaddon said “devils just don’t know when to stop”.)
Also, congrats on subverting the trope “seductive monster wants to eat your face” to “seductive devil’s face wants to eat the rest of you”.
It is, after all, a battle royal. Therefore every available tactic is deemed acceptable.
Ergo, the most asymmetrical of tactical options in a given competing suite will be the foundation for victory in such a contest setting.
Ohshit.
Things just got serious.
Hahaha… I was gonna comment they are about to get closer, but I did made an OC for KSBD rpg game that was human-wearing-pale-devil-as-armor
So Cio’s whole being is her mask, and her body is a projection that rapidly starts to chip away when “unlinked”. Unlike that other devil whose mask was used to turn the unbound Vladok into Princess? Was that maskless devil a previous human/devil bind that never separated or something?
In Vladoks case, they broke the bind willingly, thus shattered their own mask, becoming a maskless devil/pure hot black flame. Here, the mask is still intact.
Yeah, Princess’s mask was supposed to be used by another devil, thus them making the ‘my mask’ comment. I don’t think that devil was maskless, but their mask did look worn. I think they were just transferring to a new one.
I wonder how Cio will get her body back though….
Why does she need her own body back? Alison’s will work just fine.
Recall that at the time all the characters were in Throne. The demons at the bar were there in their actual black flame forms. Here, they’re on one of the worlds of the 777,777 universes where they presumably cannot be corporeal without a Mask (much as Angels cannot be corporeal without Shells).
Unholy moley!
Not gonna lie, that’s pretty sick.
Well, this is unexpected.
*grabs large stockpile of popcorn and prepares for rampant devilishness*
The epic never ceases to amaze.
You should sell a print of the last panel.
(Could we get a bigger version as a desktop or something?)
100% seconded. I would buy a print of the last panel in an instant.
Hang on a second. I just realised this potentially means:
a/ letting Yabalchoath loose with the full power of the Old King’s key at her fingertips, and/or
b/ putting said key under the auspices of Himself, if he decides this would be good time to call in that favour he’s owed (and sooner or later he will call it in).
A massive temptation for two of my favourite devils. Something stronger than popcorn may be warranted.
Will Cio and Allison’s use of a dangerous and forbidden fusion technique give them the power needed to triumph in Solomon’s deadly tournament?
Find out in the next exciting episode of Kill Six Billion Demons Z…
Who wants to start the betting pool that we’re about to get some version of Ybalison/Allichoath?
Kindly consider,
Cio’s suggestion brings to mind tales of a wanderer in a green tunic who wore masks in a doomed world…I can only hope that Al-YISUN, will bring down the moon upon her foes. It would also be reminiscent of that Sailor Moon cartoon she is so fond of, yes?
… in which she continues making the best of worst decisions.
Is it fusion time? It is fusion time!
Now I need to know how did she take out her horns through her glasses…
Wooow!
That panel just turned this into my favourite webcomic.
Juuuust a slick above SSSS and Unsounded, and miles above the rest.
…also, I want to film this so bad.
It would appear we have similar taste in comics, friend. I would debate the order in which you put those three, but this is probably not the right place~
First I swore. Then I squealed.
Then I wondered if she could somehow also don White Chain’s armor along with Cio’s mask to attain her true ultimate form.
In the final panel it appears that Cio’s body is beginning to disintegrate. There are chunks missing from her two outstretched fingers and her ears, which seem to be the bits floating in the air. So Cio is putting her entire being into her face mask that she is offering to Allison.
The only question is: Will Allison be able to take her off?
I suspect that white chain will be needed
So for every time Allison has given the reigns to someone else it all lead to her having to take them back in the end … but I’d love for this to be a weird permanent girlfriends-cohabitation-in-the-same-body thing. The comic isn’t strange enough yet.
Given Allison’s “lust for devil flesh”, such a fusion would be fertile grounds for self-stimulation, neh?
FUSION DANCE!
If all of what Cio is, is now in her mask and Allison will get willingly possesed by it then who is the one who uses who, does Cio take control of Alli body and use her power fully, or it’s Alli who will get a power-up from devil power side as long she has the mask on?
You know what, this can turn perfectly into crying drama where Gog-Agog or Salomon will break Allison Cio’s mask and killing her for real with a solid punch or just ripping it off? Can you truly kill a devil or she will get reborn somewhere else?
I honestly don’t expect any happy ending for Cio here seeing this move she pulled out and what enemies they have to match.
Cio in her previous incarnation did get her mask shattered. That’s how Yab became Cio, when Yab’s hubby rebuilt the mask.
Not to mention Princess!
Somebody called it in the previous panel by saying Cio needed ‘soul food’, to a degree. The caption if you mouse over this panel reads “the most direct way possible a devil may feed”. This may not be the goal on Cio’s part, but it relates in some way. I think the implication from the caption is that Cio is placing herself in danger by doing this, so Allison will likely take control of her powers, or alternatively, Cio is taking the bigger risk by focusing all that seems to be her essence into her mask itself, a physical object.
From my understanding of reincarnation, destruction of the mask may not mean explicit death for Cio, but rather the loss of who she is, even if the flame that is ‘Cio’ might reincarnate and be bound in another mask and with another name. We saw as much with the re-binding of Vladok as Princess…, though it begs the question, if a new mask were forged, and used to bind the same pure Black Flame with the same names, would the resulting Devil be a continuation of the previous Devil’s mind?
If it were any other devil than Cio, Alison would be taking an insane risk and would be eaten entire by the end of the next page. Cio…appears to be attempting ahimsa (which is bizarre for a devil) and probably won’t harm Allison much. But Allison is utterly squicked by the whole devil-diet thing – remember how she went weak at the knees when she saw devils feeding in the pit? I suspect that if she puts the mask on she then knows what Cio knows, so she knows all the gory details and she freaks. Very hard to stay in denial when the true knowledge is melded into your mind.
Ah, but that cuts both ways…. Allison may learn about Cio’s terrible past, but Cio will probably notice Incubus lounging around inside her twisted mental hellscape.
Sorry. This mind is occupied (flick of finger) Out you go!
Hrmm… Imagine when they finally also join with White Chain and form Voltr… errmm… well, you get the idea. The perfectly flawed, god-like machine of life, death, creation and destruction.
I can’t wait!
PS – holy crap, how much garbage do I have to click to prove I’m not a robot?? SOB…
Hmmm, A Sentient 70 Super Cobra Jet Cougar Eliminator.
Are you sure you are not a Robot in Disguise(tm)?
Shhh… >.>
I mean “Hrmm…”!
<.<
Heh – "Select all images with cars" to prove I'm not a robot.
i have a powerful need for that last panel in high resolution with no text for my phone background 🤤
One has to consider now how well Allison and Cio compliment each other’s talents: Allison providing the raw power and Cio contributing the cunning sagacity. A formidable combination, without a doubt!
oh /shit/
‘Tha underestimates my predilection for young nubile human women’. Tha sardonic humour made I laugh uncontrolsomely. Tha trying to laugh I to death?
Damn. I’ve just remembered that they are about to do this thing, that is more intimate than sex and more emotional than childbirth, *live on TV*. Privacy is not just dead, they burned its corpse already.
If the whole encounter was broadcast, probably something like half the multiverse now ships them :P.
Half of the multiverse… doesn’t?
Damn, maybe Thanos actually did have a point.
First panel of the next page: Ssssssomebody stop me!
Holy shit that was unexpected!
Allison: I don’t know if I’m ready to be your girlfriend yet
Cio: Ok. Why don’t we just merge our souls instead?
Allison: Yeah ok
Good way to find out if you want to be girlfriends.
The God of Plots has revealed it – a reason for the Allison-Cio relationship beyond fan service.
Yeah because a girl can’t have a try on relationship with another girl and it ALWAYS must be fanservice than something normal?
Don’t tell me you are one of these guys who think that a girl x girl relationship in comic must be fanservice, but a guy x girl one must be true love romance etc. bullshit?
Sure, give a being of pure id unfettered access to one of the master keys to the universe.
Poor Solomon. His “eternal” sand castle is about to get a good kick.
Specifically, a being of pure id who has already had access to this power once and we all know how THAT turned out.
…is nine-tenths of the law.
They’re fusing like Garnet
You know, this isn’t really a comic about which one can usually say “shit just got weird”, because it’s always been weird—there’s no “just” about it. But man.
Shit just got weird.
Also, I’m getting “Tha underestimates my predilection for young, nubile human women” tattooed on my back in Olde English font.
OH SHIT OH SHIT OH SHIT
Those who have seen your face
Draw back in fear
I am the mask you wear
It’s me they hear
Your spirit and my voice
In one combined
The Phantom of the Opera is there
Inside your mind
Somebody better start singing about their feelings because they are about to do a Crystal Gems style fusion. Complete with lesbians.
Of course, now all of the fanservice shipper types are thinking,
“…Okay, but wheeeeen will we see what Al-Yisun does to get her off?”
…Yes, in every sense of the phrase.
Additional thoughts, now that I got that horrible double entendre out of the way…
1. I posit that Cio’s mask (and its horns) pass through her glasses because the moment Cio detached it from her face, everything else about her became less real and more ‘stuff of chaos’ (pure black flame).
2. Cio and Al-yisun are alone on this pillar of the field. If Cio doesn’t do something, Solomon will probably require Al-yisun to fight her (after all, ‘There can be only one!’) So this trick with the mask solves several problems!
There is no “There can only be one” rule. Current battle royal rules are “Anyone still alive after 10 minutes move to the next round”.
as a writer of human/jinn fusion/psychoromance, consider me intrigued
getting Splatterhouse vibes here. . . only a lot gayer.
. . . which is a big plus, in my book!
I see people worrying about Allison seeing Cio’s true self and being repulsed by it, but you know what worries me?
Cio’s going to see Incubus.
Ooh, good point. Does Cio even know about Incubus? I can’t remember.
Anyway, I’m hoping for a gorgeously malevolent magical-girl transformation scene in the next page!
Actually, I don’t think Allison is still an emissary of Incubus. She gave that up while in Yre. That’s why her super-healing power quit and Cio had to drag her out. Incubus is now only in her dreams and her memories. Maybe Cio will see that.
He does still hang out in her head, like the guest who wouldn’t leave…
Is it just me or does Cio suddenly look more Yabalchoath-like in the last panel?
I and some others have mentioned it as well. I looked back and while the exact eye shape isn’t shown previously as it hasn’t been shown this detailed, it’s still the same horizontal pupils that we’ve seen before. On top of that, there’s some color change below the eyes. So, yes, Yabalchoath is starting to leak through.
“I think you’re wearing not enough clothes. Here, wear my face.”
This is twice in three panels that Cio has suddenly come onto Allison.
0_0′
This is crashing with Aha’s “Take on Me” in my head.
Put me on
Put on me
Do do do doooo.
Time for drastic measures? Time for action
I’VE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS
Have we ever seen Cio’s real face? Other than when she was Yabalchoath?
Depends on what you mean by ‘real’ I guess. Is it their unmasked pure black flame form? The mask their currently wearing?
This whole “I am not ready to be someone’s girlfriend/boyfriend because I don’t know who I am right now” reminds me an awful lot of myself a couple of years back.
Allison, all these meanings you attach to a label like that are things you do on your own. I dunno what you think being Girlfriend/Boyfriend means, but whatever it means is something you decide together with whomever you choose to have that relationship with.
And/or it might be commitment-issues, but I could be projecting on that one.
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