King of Swords 9-110
Chapter: 9
“The first movement: close the gate. Only those that challenge it will pass.
The second movement: bar the gate. Only those with the strength to break the bar will pass – even then, their strength will be worn.
The third, and superior movement: become the gate. The only way through is to destroy you utterly.”
– Tireless Horse Manual
Look out! She’s gone tsundere!
Somebody was watching “Kung Fu Hustle”, and liked what he saw with the Buddha’s Hand.
*She
I think they meant Abbadon.
“I-it’s not like I like you or anything, p-preem baka!”
I can’t believe we’re about to see 83 White Chain.
I lolled, good sir.
could we, in the year of our lord 2020, not? i’m not even talking about how this inane ‘good sir’ rubbish assumes everyone online is a man, just how utterly, embarrassingly unfunny it is. my wife left me to join a polycule with three actual circus performers, and that was less of a clownfuck than this. just, stop. we should be well beyond this dweeb none as a society
Well put, fine Gentleman.
Excellently stated, noble mister.
Phenomenally phrased, milord
Bruhly bruhed bruh.
Are you okay dude?
Username checks out
could we, in the year of our lord 2020, not? i’m not even talking about how this inane ‘good sir’ rubbish assumes everyone online is a man, just how utterly, embarrassingly unfunny it is. my wife left me to join a polycule with three actual circus performers, and that was less of a clownfuck than this. just, stop. we should be well beyond this dweeb none as a society
In such a pointless way, too. “Surrender to me?” This whole thing is a power play between a rigid but caring person and a passionate but caring person. I fear White thinks Allicio is here to win Solomon’s Empire, not just to release Zaid. I fear there’s no way back for her.
I fear she will banish Cio. While her mask may be reassembled, it would not be a minor endeavor.
I fear her shell will be broken. While a new, more fitting form may be wrought for her, it would not be a small change.
I fear Solomon will claim the Key. While tyrants fall every day, gods tend to rise ever so slightly with a just the most trivial of advantages.
I hope I am wrong. I fear I’m right. I see there’s so little room for mistakes…
I like that an Angel, a living embodiment of Service thinks it knows how to Rule. Also when sketchy assholes drag you away from all of your friends to talk to you in private and tear you down, then tell you your friends are unworthy and you should completely change your perspective on them, maybe question their motives.
I mean really what does White Chain want Allison to do? She’s been training her to be an Angel, but Angels never Ruled anything, and those they served were never as ordered as them. If the Angels way was going to work against the Demiurges, it probably would have happened before now.
Also totally seems like coughing angel is talking at cross purposes with White Chain, and She’s misunderstanding him. He keeps saying things like “Wait” and trying to get her attention.
White Chain believes that it is Zaid’s place to Rule, and Allison’s to serve.
This is just White Chain being jealous of her disciple surpassing him, that’s all.
You need to work on that hatred, White Chain. Softness kills indeed. Tiranny is the way to sucess. Much like you’re doing now.
Take heart, child — the story will not end here.
PFFFF
Well White Chain has got her there. It seems pretty straightforward the only way Ali can prove her ambition to free the world from the demiurges isn’t going to turn it even more shit is to actually make it work. Which of course would be ridiculous if she can’t even beat White Chain. So, whoever wins is more right.
I loathe this world where might makes right, with power inequalities so cosmic no checks and balances can exist. I think Alison does too, she shows a lot of a human’s basic impulse to democracy, reacting instinctively against unfairness, heck, she went on this mission just to try and help someone she barely cares about, just because no one else would. Now, to do that it seems she must become a benevolent dictator, and it seems she has no problem with that. Probably she realizes it would at least leave Heaven better than she found it.
Anyway, I love this comic.
I believe the trick to all of this is to have the most powerful being act according to the will of a government, rather than be the will of the government.
Like if Solomon were to step down and continue enforcing laws that are set without his input, his worlds would be much better off.
It would help, but separation of powers has little true meaning when everybody knows Solomon could kick the planet into the sun if they piss him off enough.
Analogously, in Allison’s Earth multiple world leaders have the power to cause a nuclear apocalypse but that doesn’t make the checks and balances in place meaningless.
Debatable.
Yes, but in modern warfare between the major powers of Earth everyone loses if it comes to open conflict. Simsalabim Dave can just fly to another dimension and start over if he wants.
It would still help. There is nothing new in Solomon’s empire–it runs on his idea of a perfect leader and he never dies or changes. Even if he was influencing the leader, they’re still changing periodically
Solomon’s empire is a lot like Leto II’s Golden Path in Dune, an age-long stasis that cannot last forever.
“Everything that has a beggning has an end, Neo.”, is what the Oracle would say to Leto and to Solomon. And get utterly crushed by both afterwards, of course.
Yeah, but anybody who’s willing to do that probably couldn’t acquire such power in the first place.
Yep. You can’t rise to the top if you obey. That’s the whole point of any system- make sure no one else competes against those who already won.
Not bad. Not bad at all. +1
Why the heck you think we have a “basic impulse of democracy”? The contrary might be more easily observed.
And this seems to value democracy as something of a “good” thing? Well, even with saying we don’t really live in democracies (but representative democracies, which suck), there seems to be not much higher moral value to democracies as you might, besides the illusion there is (which might be an end in itself).
I don’t understand about half of what you’re trying to say, but you can see that people value democracies by looking at the fact that we have them, in some respect. A democracy only lasts as long as most of its people wants it to.
And you can see that people tend to instinctively like democracy by looking at how we treat stories about underdogs, like this comic. It’s considered virtuous to use your power to uplift those with less power.
We have a basic impulse for community, and for individualism within it, which when combined results in Democracy. We also have basic impulses in regards to sex, food, and being watched, none of which are the best basis to form a government.
We like a Democracy, but that’s hard to model out over big groups, so it always ends up borked. We default to dictatorships and might makes right, when things get stressful, because those are simple, but we don’t like them as they are very stressful and encourage conflict. Like many herd creatures when things are peaceful we govern by quorum, but when things become dangerous we elect a champion by letting them take charge and submitting to their power. Sometimes we call them King.
I, uh, dunno White Chain. It seems like you’re the one acting rashly and jumping the gun here
Really, you need to calm down.
Oh, oh, OH. It took me a minute to realize something.
White Chain has almost certainly seen Devilskin warriors before. She has probably fought a few. Something Cio said on page 9-102 is suddenly becoming very relevant into White Chain’s thought process here.
Cio – “…Listen, Tha. Maybe there’s a way we can both stay in, and I can help you. But it’s dangerous, and en’t usually consensual. I need tha to trust me.”
Allison – “Ok.”
Cio – “Good. Tha needs to know – devils don’t just do this for everyone.”
Cio – “Put me on.”
Every bit of lore and text surrounding devilskin warriors outside of the comic itself has implied that a devilskin warrior is an adversarial affair. Either a powerful demon trying to overcome a human to devour their flame, or a powerful human abusing the trust of a devil.
It is very, very, VERY likely that White Chain does not understand that Cio is the one who offered this impromptu union out of a genuine desire to help Allison. White Chain has only seen her student and friend is abusing the trust and love of her other friend (Remember, White Chain and Cio Cioelle were on relatively friendly terms prior to the comic. Or at least as friendly as a devil and angel could ever be.) for a large enough burst of power to win this tournament against Chain’s own better judgement.
Throw that on top of the anger and disagreement that Chain and Allison have had recently, and Chain proclaiming Allison a Demiurge makes a lot of sense. Doubly so when one remembers that Juggernaut Star has been working for months to convert Chain to her line of thinking.
I think White Chain’s actions are very much in character for her, and while I don’t know if she’s aware of the nature of the Devilskin, she would act the same if she were.
As a very legal, good character (a peacekeeper, not a policeman) her path is the most straightforward one, to win power by training hard. That’s what she tried to instill on Allison, and that’s why she’s so hurt (probably) to see her student didn’t learn a thing and went to the big power price when it was presented to her, even if she does for moral reasons. Someone who accept powered offered to her so easily could not be a good sovereign.
In my opinion, that would just prove White Chain’s shortsightedness. Allison and Cio have put tons of effort in their relationship to get to the point it is now.
Considering such power undeserved only goes to show she knows nothing of relationships.
I bet it’s difficult for angels to understand relationships, being in some ways far more solitary beings than devils or humans.
The real tragedy here is that, knowing Alison, she’s going to get pissed and actually fight White Chain. Something Cio might not want to do. It might actually become a case of exactly what White Chain assumes it to be.
Invaluable observations, Thinkers. While White Chain hasn’t shown any specific reaction to the devilskin ritual as if it was abusive, a soon-coming reveal of this as her motive will not surprise me at all.
And while I fear that Allicio will be swayed to fight her, we have yet to see if she is really being hurt at all, or stays durable as she seemed before, absorbing the highly kinetic and pyrotechnical but necessarily Powerful attacks of White Chain, so there is hope in me.
What exciting events!
… from that point of view about this conflict, the devil really is in the detail.
Mind that in this case it is literally the opposite.
The Detail is in the Devil.
Maybe everyone is in this for the wrong reasons.
of course they are. but royalty is the act of cutting
Everyone’s behaving pridefully here. From Solomon David to Allison and White Chain.
Hubris before a fall. There’s going to be a lot of falls.
Except Salami Dave and Gog Agog. They’re there for all the best reasons. Kicking ass, taking names, and providing color commentary.
White Chain didn’t even say the prayer first….
Except Salami Dave and Gog Agog. They’re there for all the best reasons. Kicking ass, taking names, and providing color commentary.
Abbadon, the word “of” is repeated in the fifth panel. Second word balloon, right before “Ruiners of Heaven”.
Have you ever been close enough to an angel in a state of raged so great, as to hear them stutter while trying to get out the words of condemnation? Few who have stood so close survive the experience.
She’s not exactly wrong.
You wanted a King, White Chain, not a pawn.
Do not ask for Aesma when you want a river stone for you to shape.
A King is as harmless as a Pawn, being distinguished primarily by their ability to retreat and their need to remain alive. What White Chain got was a Queen.
At the end of the game, all the pieces go back in the same box.
‘Demiurge.’
There exists no greater insult.
Second only to “Your sourdough is bland.”
“Your vibes are rancid”
Panel six: “vibe check!”
Insult: An attempt to forcibly apply a mask to another to their detriment.
Responses: Let it slip off, Wear it with pride, Redefine it to your liking.
“Your garden is overgrown and your cucumbers are soft!
“and your zucchini are stunted.”
Sounds like White Chain needs a reality adjustment. Would be nice if Allicio can knock some sense into’em, literally or figuratively. This whole construct they keep playing at is ridiculous. >:p
I couldn’t stop noticing how White Chain shows every sigh of being fed up with her student. She knows she is beyond teaching, and that she cannot be helped by her usual methods. “I have failed my duty as a concordant knight”, she says. “No more lessons”, she says.
But “We’re (…) going home” she also says. White Chains maybe has accepted defeat as Allison’s teacher, but their story together has not ended yet.
Or maybe I am reading too much into things, but I think it’s a heartwarming detail.
White Chain’s head-flame and flaming eyes don’t normally leak out of their helmet quite so much, do they ?
Does this mean they’re REALLY ANNOYED this time ?
If Ovis’ palm has 3 gates, and White Chain has closed the 3rd gate, the 3 eyes might symbolize each gate.
Also means Allicio can’t get out without killing White Chain.
Wrong. She could surrender. It would simultaneously prove White Chain wrong and accomplish her mission. The largest danger in it is that Solomon would smell a rat and attempt to immediately verify the status of his captive.
I see five eyes in the (coincidentially) fifth panel though.
Either way, for the eyes to manifest, that’s some powerful rage that’s being barely contained by the armor.
FIVE FINGER BUDDHA PALM DENIES ADVERSARIES!
The vine chokes the root, the blossom steals the sun from the leaf. No plant flourishes when its branchings compete against themselves.
I fear to look at the dreadful act of pruning that threatens to come next.
Oh? Are we to now speak of True Natures? Of giving people new names? That will not go well for her, I think — indeed she has failed her Duty, but the depth and breadth of that failure goes far deeper than being slightly less than inflexible to one student.
Classically, all that separates angels from devils is their loyalty and belief. Not in their words, not in their actions, but in their hearts. Having lost those, all it takes then is a trigger incident to allow the form to snap into place around the nature it no longer fits.
Allison has named devils before.
The classic interpretation of devils and angels does not apply here. Angels and Devils are very, VERY different entities in this multiverse.
Devils are of the hot black flame of want. They consume and destroy all around them. They are the cast of flames from when Koss and Aesma crafted the inheritors, formless and banished to the void.
Angels are of the cool white flame of not. They were constructed as attendents to the gods, forever bound to the void outside creation. They are undying, unending constructs that maintain order. It was not until after Throne fell that they took on the stone forms you see them hold today outside of the void. This is good, for their very essence burns the world around them unless contained. They are constructs created by Kross.
Servants are of the cool white flame of not. They were built to maintain throne and the creation, where the angels could not reach. They do not age, but they can die. They were forged by Kross, but it is implied that Aesma helped in their creation.
Humans are of the hot black flame of want. They are the precievers created by Aesma, and her greatest mistake. They are the only inheritors with the gift of mortality, and the gods took pity on the first human, so small and fragile was she. As such, she was taught how to fight so that she and her kind might survive despite their fragile mortality.
Angels are not given new names. While they can be banished, like devils, to the void they maintain their names and consciousness between reincarnations. Upon death and reincarnation an angel increments their number. 82 White Chain Born in Emptiness Returns to Subdue Evil is the 81st reincarnation of our beloved angel. Should they (though angels seem to prefer a non-gendered “he”) be banished, they will return in time in a similar form to what they held previously.. (though there is implication that angels are capable of change, even if they themselves do not believe it.)
The differences between Angels and Devils are very extreme. They are in no way alike regardless. A servant (such as a dragon or goblin) is closer to an angel than a devil is, and a devil is far closer to a human in composition.
All that in it’s way may be well and true to a degree though I doubt humans are what you espouse them to be.
For simpler minds I purport that Angels and devils are not the embodiment Good and Evil as depicted in classical literature.
More they are the embodiment of Law and Chaos, neither is good nor evil in and of themselves.
It is that Chaos more easily falls into the pits of sin.
Though when Law falls the reverberations are felt much farther and deeper for tyranny is Law taken to the extreme without justice or compassion.
As for Humans, they are a melding of both with the freedom/burden of mortality. They are in their nature creatures of chaos, run by their emotions, yet also creatures of law striving for stability and justice in their lives.
There is a certainty in the rusting metal involving himself in this fight, and I do not thing he will agree with White Chain.
“Demiurge” says the traitor, says the Thorn Knight
By nature I abhor you and your court, yet I am not so prideful that I will not acknowledge a truth when spoken plainly.
Jealousy is a bitch
I can see the way White Chain hates them intermingle,
But I think he’s just mad cause he’s single
83 White Chain Beaten the angelic bullshit out of her.
If an angel can truly experience regret, White Chain is about to feel enough to create an entirely new plane of existence with theirs.
I’m pretty sure the story intends on White Chain winning or at least her forcing Allison to have an epiphany but frankly I hope “Allicio” kicks White Chain’s teeth in.
I am so sick of White Chain’s bulls***
Allison and Cio just resolved their major character conflicts for the book. Allison upheld the Trigram Mantra and made up with Cio. White Chain, on the other hand, is clearly under the influence of Metatron and 2 Michael.
The angel knows not Royalty when she sees it. She has become one of the six billion demons in her own self-deception.
The self-deception of this Aeon is obviously limiting and will lead to pain when it is un-done.
The Self-deception of true Royalty is a great cutting of the self that re-writes the cosmos and is liberating.
What is the essential difference between these two? Let us ponder.
Every student must answer the oldest riddle shared by the fighting arts before they can become the master.
“What did the five fingers say to the face?”
82 White Chain, You are going to lose Your body privilege (again)