King of Swords 9-127
“FIERCE HORSE SOUL
A peculiar internal style with very narrow application, and one almost solely focused on defensive techniques. Practiced by most angels, it is almost entirely focused on getting close enough to a foe to subdue him without harming him, with maximal speed, safety, and precision. The movement techniques in this style are very popular and often borrowed by other schools, such as the Unlimited Chariot Sprinting technique which, when practiced properly, allows running at incredible speed over long distances without tiring. The student of this school is taught to endure all kinds of harm, hardship, and exhaustion in the pursuit of his quarry, and in doing so develops a truly unique constitution, resiliency, and ability to channel internal force.
Though it is commonly perceived to have no offensive applications, a quirk of this school is that due to its energy conservation techniques, a trained master who has practiced them for an extremely long time is capable (or so I have heard) of unleashing attacks of staggering power, aimed at felling dangerous or impossible to subdue foes. Such an technique must be delivered at extremely close range and can take a phenomenal amount of concentration and cultivation of internal force. Only the oldest extant angels proficient in this style are said to be capable of this ‘ten thousand year evil-quelling fist’ style – those that have been alive for an age or more. If any of them truly exist and can be roused to action, it would be a most terrible sight indeed.”
-Manual of Hands and Feet
Wow…
ONE PUUUUUUNCH!
Ion cannot ready.
Firing…
Commencing primary ignition.
WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK WE ARE!!?
kaaaa
meeeeeee
HAAAAAAAAA
MEEEEEEEEEEEE
[DEATH]
I think you are experience points [happy grin]
“HADOKEN”
~ Black Mage
8 bit!
White Chain: This set of armor, used to seal in my immeasurable, irresistible power… has been broken.
Juggernaut Star: OK.
…and you will know my name is the LORD when I lay my vengeance upon thee!
In the movie, 10 Vigilant Gaze will be played by Samuel L. Jackson
I may be hijacking the first comment on the forum to say this, but… this becomes even more impressive when you understand just what exactly that angel just did.
First, that beam, which given the scaling is over fifty feet in diameter, is pure soul fire. If you have seen someone with a halo or a brow-fire, that is soul fire, albeit just the offgassing from stimulation of the inner flame by strong emotion, will, or some such. To have so much soul fire is a great feat by itself.
Second, that angel’s soul fire is tangible. This is not rare at all, among angels; in fact, even a Vapor Angel has the capability to manifest inside armor, and it only gets easier for the angel as more time passes since their last resurrection and their flame increasingly solidifies. This soul fire, however, is tangible *outside* the angel’s armor, which is an entirely different thing. And it is, in fact, so dense, that even the lightning-like backwash visible there will leave scars in the ground where rock has been scoured away like a scalpel scooping away flesh.
Third, that angel’s soul fire is controlled. Soul fire has a natural tendency to give off energy, and thus it frequently destabilizes itself. It’s part of the reason why ‘soul fire’ is the *only* term for such phenomena, no matter where you go; that it creates such a flame-like effect. Phenomena like lightning is the next step, where it is condensed and stable enough to not flame. But lightning is still crooked, as it fights against the world and redirects itself. This angel’s manifestation of soul flame is perfectly straight. And where Allicio’s Thirty Cubit Spear is no doubt still burning its’ way through outer space, the Great Chariot Cannon will have stopped itself after causing only minimal damage to the stadium wall.
Fourth is what that soul flame is doing. Fierce Horse Soul Style is defensive in nature, but that does not quite describe it. It is a matter of making your soul fire so dense and even inside yourself that when it impacts the world, it is the world that ripples. Or, that when other souls impact it, your soul does not even notice if the incoming soul is sufficiently weak. This Root Angel is doing the equivalent of shouting “I am this space” so loudly that the world believes it… without using the Red Art at all. He is, in fact, *being* that great column of soul fire he just punched Juggernaut Star with. And, most shockingly, he is being outside his armor without exploding, for just this moment.
It is as if a planet took its’ core and extruded half of it to deliver a blow. Think on that.
Holy crap! Excellent explanation!
That final planet analogy really hit home to me all you intended to convey. Nicely written!
nice
don’t really have anything awesome to say that fits
Juggernaut is always getting one-shotted by old people.
Technically they’re both equally old since they were created at the same time (I don’t think we know if Koss created them in batches or all at once), but I guess ‘oldest extant angels’ refers to the age of the current incarnation of that angel, and we don’t know the ages of VG’s and JS’s current incarnations, but VG is implied to be very ancient.
It definitely refers to the length of re-incarnation.
I believe Juggernaut is older- they are only on their 6th reincarnation, while Vigilant is on their 10th. Although, if Juggernaut’s 6th was particularly recent, while Vigilant’s was long ago, that may be moot. Angel time is weird. Either way, they’re both extremely old angels.
My interpretation is that Vigilant has been practicing “energy cultivation” for a very very long time, to the point where their body was clogged up with deeply settled dust.
While Juggs does have a lower incarnation number, we have no idea how long their current incarnations may have been extant. It could be that Vigilant was all het up early in this circling of the ring and re-incarnated a bunch of times early, then settled down and watched over the entrance to Koss’ forge for 80% of recorded time, while Juggs could well have spaced hers out more evenly, leading to this incarnation being much younger than his own.
The numbers, in and of themselves, don’t necessarily mean all that much, at this level.
Reviewing various images of 10VG’s astral form, I believe he is an igneous angel, but has moved further toward the crystal phase than 6JS.
That said, given his astral form and his armor, I would not be surprised to learn that VG developed the foundations of both Fierce Horse Soul, and Evil Crushing Fist.
The only aeons known to be crystal are 2 Michael and 1 Metatron (though I will defer to more knowledgeable angelologists than myself if they wish to venture he is plasma…). Juggernaut Star is known to be igneous, and although I do not recall seeing it defined anywhere, I think us all reasonable to assume that Vigilant Gaze is as well. Whether there are meaningful gradations of power between two igneous angels is yet to be seen. As this noodle supplier rightly points out, there is little of value to be gained by guessing around incarnation numbers. We simply do not know.
I think this contest may come down more to style than pure age. Clearly, Vigilant Gaze is a master of Fierce Horse Soul. Juggernaut Star is a master of Pattram Sword Hand. Should she have survived this initial attack – which I strongly suspect – Vigilant Gaze is now within arms-reach of a practitioner of one of if not the most brutally destructive styles whose body is covered in ash-armor spikes, when most practitioners are deadly with much frailer unadorned flesh. Will Vigilant Gaze be able to successfully defend against her onslaught long enough to quell her? Will Juggernaut Star’s armor be in good shape after such a tremendous opening blow?
I do not know, and may well be unable to appreciate the technicality of their battle, but I cannot wait to find out.
Blossoming Pree, One cannot profess to being an ologist on one’s kin, but should be happy to offer any insights if one is able.
One has no knowledge of any extant Plasma angels – as the youngest of our kin’s incarnations (plasma being ionised gas), there may even be none left, all now being Vapor (as one’s sister Delicious) or older.
One has previously seen confirmed in the Tumbler, of the Glyphosphere, that 2 Michael be Crystal, and Metatron 1 be Neutron. And that one’s kin do range through Plasma, Vapor, Liquid, Igneous solid, Crystal, and Neutron.
Regarding solid Aeon states, one has not encountered any Metamorphic nor Sedimentary siblings if such even exist, but one could venture that igneous solids do come in several forms. One would thus tend to concur with the Lord Un-Fel’s supposition of different ages of one’s Igneous kin.
Further, one would say that Basalt does rather chime with Juggernaut Star, and Granite be more apt for brother Vigilant. Granite is harder, with great strength in compression, and indeed it is more crystaline.
Of course we are all Aeons and immortal as such, and so also all the same age; we are all shards of that same harsh, cold, White Flame from mighty UN’s eye.
Wait, didn’t Juggernaut Star just reincarnate nary a second before Vigilant landed on them?
Shiny
Like a treasure from a sunken pirate wreck
Scrub the deck it’s so
AND DON’T COME BACK
Did they get back into their shell just in time to have it disintegrated. . .?
Juggernaut has already used up their angel-armor allotment for this age.
Lord Metatron will not be pleased.
They don’t hand out new armour just like that. They’ll want to know what you did withe the last one.
It will probably get taken out of their paycheck, too.
*pushes official Bureaucrat’s Glasses up nose* WELL…
Being a mere mortal, Angelic bureaucracy is not exactly my area of EXPERTISE (angels are infamously tight-lipped when it comes to these sort of details), but I have heard RUMOURS of a fabled clause of the Holy Armor Redistribution Policy of the Order of Concordant Knights (presumably based on the original Armor Crafter’s Guild Policy Towards the Angelic Host, which I think had a similar clause), which outlined this exact sort of situation. Here’s my transcription, based on various different reports:
“And lo, if thy Holy Armor is Damaged to the point where it shall be no longer Functional, and the Order of Armor-Smiths cannot reasonably be expected to Repair said Armor, thy shall receive a Mark upon thy Permanent Record of Equipment Usage, and this Mark shall contain both the Name which was given to you by the Most Revered [got conflicting reports about which name is given here, so skipping that] and the current Date of the Wheel’s Turning. And though the great Keeper of Writ did speak truly, ‘If thy dost have more than Three (3) Marks bearing the same Millennium (1000 cycles) upon thy Permanent Record of Equipment Usage, the Wrath of our Requisitions Department will be most Terrible to Behold”, if thou hast less than Three (3) Marks bearing the same Millennium (1000 cycles) upon thy Permanent Record of Equipment Usage upon the time that thy new Holy Armor Request Form (Form Numeral LLXIV) is submitted, and if said Request Form explains the Honorable Circumstances under which said Armor was destroyed, no Reprimands shall be issued by our Holy Order.”
All clear to you? …No? *sigh* OK, basically the gist of it is that Angels follow a “three strikes” rule when it comes to getting your armor destroyed, and the strike get renewed every 1000 years. So dear ol’ Juggy is PROBABLY fine here, as long as he hasn’t gotten his armor wrecked since the last turn of the Millennium.
…and as long as the Thorn Knights didn’t radically change the policy for themselves, I guess. I don’t see WHY they would do that, but who even knows how those guys think.
There’s also reportedly the fact that no new angel armors have been made for something like 400 years over some sort of disagreement over something. I don’t remember the exact veracity of it, but anyways, the Thorns have their own source apparently, most likely Metatron.
And who or *what* is Metatron’s supplier? Inquiring minds want to know…
Blessed are the Teacup and Assorted Glazed Pottery Makers Guild. Most holy and blessed are they. IA!
Armor forging is the within the purview of the Peregrine Knights, but, as smjjames mentions, nothing has been forged in some time due to some internal strife.
So, does that mean there’s a faction of Peregrines allied with the Thorns? Or is Metatron powerful enough to magick entire uniforms outside of the void in which he resides? Or something else entirely?
I wouldn’t be surprised if Metatron had the ability to create them within the void and then teleported it outside, or maybe the Thorns other than Juggernaut Star just use those huge tuning fork portals.
A new shell was offered to White Chain and she saw it, but it’s not 100% clear if it was a projection/vision or if it was being formed right there. It certainly looks like it was being physically formed right there.
One is afraid that the ‘Teacups’ have been having a little bit of an internecine contretemps with The Empty Aeon Potteries Organised Trades Society. Severe shortage of Angel vessels being the main upshot (oh, and loss of life).
Why they couldn’t all just talk through their grievances, just sit down together with a nice cup o… Ah. Might be a bit of a sore point. Yes. I see. Erm. Yes, well, reach Heaven through violence and all that.
If only they knew that such passages from scripture are not to be taken literally, but rather might refer to almost any manufacturer of fine glazed pottery. A pity, that.
Well, obviously they’re not to be taken literally.
Splitter!
Jaganoth prob makes em
The Thorns assume that there is a provision for exception to every rule, in the event that
METATRON LIVES!
Actually, I expect Juggernaut to be standing completely unscathed when the energy of this attack dissipates. Call it a hunch.
h u s b a n d
*cough* y-yeah…that was pretty much my reaction too.
oh thank Zoss I thought I was the only one
This one hasn’t possessed loins in over three kalpa. And yet…
I had the same thought as well.
in measured, hundredweight and pennypound
when the Man comes around
For there shalt be Not but a Thousandweight of Fire
Burning hard, pure, and Cold
To the FAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACE
WITH THE NONSTOP POP POP N STAINLESS STEEL
I don’t know. I think Vigilant Gaze missed.
In panel 3, you can see a blur within the beam that appears to show Juggernaut star getting punched directly in the face.
Pretty hard to miss near-pointblank range with a radius that wide. Still, which target are you talking about? It’s plausible that Juggernaut Star zapped out of the shell before the blast hit (WC seems to have foreshadowed it earlier, but then again, they had distance and significantly more time to react) so, technically Vigilant Gaze could destroy the shell while still missing JS herself.
Heh. Reels em in milad.
‘Twas excellently baited, indeed.
So the next page will show the spiky one just standing there dusting off her sharp little epaulets?
Or just standing there all put out since they just lost another shell with no hope of recovery.
Just another fallen angel, wings burned away to bubs and what is left wreathed and consumed in hellfire.
TALLY HO!!!
Now the fecal material will hit the oscillating cooling blades.
No more horsin’ around
Everyone within range of that blast better hoof it outta the way
Ol’ Viggy Gaze is ’bout to put the Speaker for the Thorns out to pasture
Thankfully, Evil Crushing Fist techniques have pretty severe damage dropoff outside of melee range.
It’s the Chi equivalent of a sawn-off shotgun.
Though, coming from an angel who Abbadon himself has routinely remarked is among the most powerful in existence, It’s more like a sawn-off punt gun.
“Sawn-off punt gun” is wonderfully paradoxical. 🙂
It’s more like a sawn-off Paris gun.
Which I once dealt with, and do not recommend facing head-on. The soot gets everywhere.
This is exactly the sort of thing that should bring additional customers next Tournament! Let’s hope I get the drink contract again…
Bitta Salami baksheesh see it finesome again, sure us. Nae let thon wandrin Turtle paper pusher near tha’s books tho!
White Chain, Allison, and Cio were standing riiight… about… oh.
Oopsie.
Going from KoS 9-124, they’re behind and above Vigilant Gaze. We have no clue as to where Cio is at though.
“Skadoosh.”
HEHEHEHEHEHEHE
Tch. Such a foolish display from such a powerful warrior. Sister 6 Juggernaut Star Scours the universe, of all Thorn Knights should know that when opponent is charging what is very obviously an energy beam, in the words of the mighty woodwind warrior, you DOOOOOOOODGE!
“If any of them truly exist and can be roused to action, it would be a most terrible sight indeed.”
See above.
DIOS MIO
MADRE DEL AMOR HERMOSO
¡Golpe del cuerpo sagrado de luz sagrada!
¡ALMA DEL CABALLO FEROZ!
¡PUÑO QUE APLASTA EL MAL!
¡CAÑÓN DEL GRAN CARRO!
La verdad es que los nombres de estas técnicas suenan genial en castellano xDDD
¿Cuál?, burbujacerebro.
Been a long time since I’ve seen a Great Chariot Cannon of such magnitude. Few are the beings who could endure such a bold stroke. I fear that our thorny Sister is not one of them…
I predict that that she will still be standing, but smoking, with all the spikes melted downward.
As smooth as a piece of sea glass…
Is that how you get from Igneous to Crystal?
Mightisome swelterheat an squashinmost.
Also glowing somewhat. That’s got to be an ionization shock there, full of plasma (see also THOOOOM). Lots of crunchy radiation.
The most forbidden snack!
OH SNAP
GRAMPA GAZE GOT _GAME_
This isn’t another fakeout, right?
Vigilant Gaze is mighty, and shows why he was once trusted to keep watch at the threshold of Koss’ forge. His wroth is truly terrible to behold. Those quick to presume that the Speaker for Thorns will be felled by this one stroke, though…I worry that they discount her at their peril.
What is certain, though, is that those who paid for a front row seat at this tournament have more than gotten their money’s worth for the show, provided they make it out alive.
Indeed.
This one assures you no harm shall befall the bystanders on account of their esteemed brother. However, they can offer no such assurances for the Demiurges lurking in the wings.
I have no worry that your brother Vigilant Gaze would be reckless enough to cause them harm, Immortal Smoke. Your sister Juggernaut Star, however, causes me worry regardless of circumstance. I dare not hazard a guess at what the intervention of any of the three keybearers could cause.
AAH! So you did notice they have to rebuild the place every time. I hope they aren’t the kind to impose the Bob’s Country Bunker drink rule.
What? They want one to pay for all the tea one drank? One thought it was complementary.
Did he miss the target?
Pretty hard to miss near-pointblank range with a radius that wide. Still, which target are you talking about? It’s plausible that Juggernaut Star zapped out of the shell before the blast hit (WC seems to have foreshadowed it earlier, but then again, they had distance and significantly more time to react) so, technically Vigilant Gaze could destroy the shell while still missing JS herself.