KOS 9-108
Chapter: 9
Arhan was a mighty lord with powerful atum, born as he was during a storm from the kayb tree, fully grown and crowned in golden twine.
He was a sorcerer lord of some repute, and wielded many names of power. He had mastery over secret flame, animals, and deep water. His kingdoms were five and one, prosperous and orderly. He had a court of two hundred eunuch warriors, each clad in silvered mail and the equal of any army of earthly men.
Even he, Arhan the Unbreakable, stood aside for Angels.
– Song of Many
But… But, White Chain, that’s the only way to actually harnass the power of a key… You can’t hesitate, and you can’t hold back. All the ancient kings were actually idiots, sister. You have indeed made a mistake, but it’s in your own judgement of a Key Wielder.
And there is a reason only Zoss became King.
Kings are idiots with too much power and zero sense of responsibility. It is quite enough to make one an anti-monarchist.
The problem with being an anti-monarchist is that there are many monarchists about, and when they come in contact there is a mutual annihilation event. With entirely too much of an explosion and gamma radiation for the average bar to safely contain.
Except on the third moon of the seventh planed of Epsilon Eridani, where bars are usually made out of large quantities of lead. I hesitated to ask why when visiting…
To say nothing of the fact that Allicio there isn’t the one who just went off-mission.
Uh oh
The student must at last surpass the master.
Which, though, is which?
Ruling King and Conquering King, eleven, an inelegant number. Which of the ones is the more important? Could you ever tell if they switched places? I can and that is why you will need me.
hold on its fain but the other angle is saying “wait”, what’s this guy up to?
Probably advising White Chain not to fight Allicio alone, lest she get wrecked by the devilskin’s might
Our pot helmeted friend is here to convince White Chain that siding with the Thorns against the Rising King is wrong, except he just accidentally convinced her to switch back to the Thorns’ side against Alicio.
In case anyone else is confused, I think those are stone fragments hitting next to the spectators, not the fists themselves.
Giving what gets thrown around in the Ring of Power, it seems like taking a front row seat is taking your life into your own hands anyway.
I think the purple wall of flames which ring the arena and separate the arena from the stands is acting as a shield, protecting those people in the front rows from the flying debris
That looks about right. You can see the purple ripples around the stone fragments, same colour as the flames. They’re hitting a normally-invisible magic force field.
It’s like showing up for the Dark Tournament; you get one hell of a show, but run the risk of being blasted stray attacks or having your soul slurped up to power up one of the combatants.
And yeah, the debris is from the explosion of the pillar itself.
No, I’m pretty sure that force field was thrown up by Solomon to protect those bystanders because Allison messed up and would have just killed them otherwise.
Solomon is pushy and domineering, but he’s responsible and mature.
And I suspect the reason he holds this tournament is to lure in all the psychos and get them to kill each other off every now and then, so they don’t start wars and such. It’s a good way to get rid of murderers.
Ahhhh, I love White Chain so much 🙁
I can tell this is going to be intense for everyone involved, great work as usual, Abbadon !
“The circle is complete. The student is now the master…”
“Only a student of evil…”
Allison is currently wearing a demon such that it’s hard to figure out where one ends and the other begins so… if the shoe fits…?
So, Alicio will have to prove they’re the strongest in order to win the contest of strength? How ironic. No but the question is how can they? The narrative so far has been dead set on proving to Alison she’s not as strong as she thinks. And here’s me, still hoping she’s as invincible as she seems to think cause I thinkshe’s overdue to catch a break.
When you are a king, both action and inaction will destroy billions.
Once you finally grasp ahold of that kind of power, the question is no longer “Can I destroy this person?” but is this the person I want to destroy in this moment.
Some moments present a more painful choice than others.
See there that White Chain bares their crest. I fear that this fight could be very grisly indeed (and not to mention the emotional turmoil)….
Turn the mixture to combine
Pound the grains ’til dust is fine
Wait until the stars align
I’m not sure why this would make White Chain turn on her. She hasn’t hurt anyone in the audience, and the whole mask thing doesn’t seem to be any dark evil ritual as far as we know. Considering that…
A guess: White Chain doesn’t think either of them can beat the angel currently after them if faced one on one, and this is some sort of plan. Remember that not that far back White Chain was scolding Allison for fighting when an angel might be involved. So this might be some way for them to hopefully not get the heck pounded out of them by an opponent they couldn’t otherwise defeat.
But like… She’s clearly not making much of an effort to AVOID hitting people in the audience. There are clearly some close calls here, and I think White Chain is reacting to that.
Also, I don’t think White Chain knows anything of substance about the angel in front of them, especially because he hasn’t really said anything very specific yet.
If you look closely, the rocks seem to be stopped by a purple barrier before they even get near the crowd. I don’t think they’re in any danger.
Doesn’t mean they WOULDN’T be in danger if the shield were absent.
White Chain’s takes Umbridge with Alicio’s carelessness. It doesn’t matter if it all worked out NOW. The arena shields won’t be there to protect the innocent from Alison’s recklessness forever. Can the power of Royalty truly be trusted in the hands of such a person?
We have no indication if Alicio planned or did not plan for the shield to deal with the debris. You only have wild speculation and the thoughts of a character that constantly bounces back and forth between supporting and stopping Alision.
One, the objective state of affairs is irrelevant to this discussion. We’re making a point about why White Chain does what she does. Not whether she’s correct. We are explaining her reasoning.
Two, “bounces back and forth between supporting and stopping Alison” misses the point entirely. White Chain does not maintain loyalty to her friends, right or wrong. White Chain has *principles*; she supports or condemns Alison based on what White Chain believes Alison is doing right or wrong.
Notice in the fifth panel the spider webbing of the (visible here) force field. It has bee damaged by a blow previous, so the audience could really be in danger from the excesses of a reckless god.
I think that’s just the ceiling, which seems to be made of some kind of glass or crystal rather than pure blazing divine will. The latter is much sturdier stuff.
I am waiting for Allicio to become “Allice in Chains” or something…
“I believe them bones are me…”
what about alice cooper
Hrmm… Can she cut off her own head, live on stage? Hrmm…
“…I’m so scared your little head will come off in my hands.”
– Kill Six Billion Dollar Babies
Looks like the master will teach his pupil a last lesson. Time for action, not words
What does the geneva convention say about people who willingly show up to watch people kill each other for entertainment?
I believe they call them embedded journalists.
I don’t know if going home and saying to your brother: “Dude that was so sick when that demon ripped that alien apart using one hand! You had to be there!” really counts as journalism. But the law is a perplexing and confounding thing, so I might be wrong.
Allicio’s body language is so cute :3 And do love boiling stone under her feet, a nice touch.
P.S. Wise of me to save the Congratulating King immediately.
Boiling stone… hm, one is reminded of another demon infused being who slagged a city square and erected a lovely statue of herself in its place.
Webcomics are lovely.
Was that a reference to Ava and…
…her attack on Titian?
Yesh.
Allicio can just easily grab White Chain and ask her questions later.
You can’t have a story without master vs disciple real fight where the master is unhappy how power trippy other person became, right? Classic. Still Allicio is right here and White Chain should remeber for what they came here to do.
“always acting without thought of consequence, always seeking power without restraint”
in other words, Royalty
(moreover, only the worst sort of idiot strives to be king)
White Chain is so caught up in whether or not Allicio is bad because of their/her powers, but I’m still caught up in “big lady with cool design make huge explosions” feelings.
My lesbian brain is getting me weak everytime I look at Allicio. I wonder how they… ok that’s not appropriate for public comment section
To answer your unasked inappropriate comment, I think it’s just one continuous orgasmic Super F- ahhh I guess that might not be appropriate either…
To put it in sfw form I wonder how does their sense of touch work. Does Allicio share senses, as if Devil is extra layer of skin? Or do they have separate senses and Cio can feel outside and inside? And if that, how much can Allison feel through devil armour?
Praise the Ambitious Fool, for she is Aesma clothed in flesh
IT’S ON NOW
I wonder if the melding of Allison and Cio – as hot and epic as we all find it – may have unintended consequences of which White Chain is aware, but Allicio (or just Allison) is unaware. Allicio speaks with two voices in unison (note their speech bubbles), so there is still distinction between the two, but co-joining with anything or anyone in such a manner, while creating incredible power, must also carry equivalent risks. Power isn’t free, there’s always a cost.
Just waiting for 6 Juggernaut Star to crash the party…
White Chain immediately realizes that group infighting is a serious M I S T A K E
White Chain, no!!
(But also, yesssss)
A bottle of my best Sake on White Chain
Any takers?
If I were inclined to gamble, which I am not, I would place a small bet on this fight being interrupted by a stronger being.
I’m getting some Pearl vs Sugilite vibes here. It’s possible the power high Aliicio is experiencing is leading them to make decisions they’re going to regret. And when they’re holding the cosmic win button on their forehead, that’s a dangerous risk.
I want to go back to the days where I’d have found that sort of development exciting instead of predictable.
I think White Chain is going to hit our double-babe so hard that they separate back into their individual selves. But what will Cio be when that happens? Her body dissolved when it took off the mask, does she get another one?
Ah yes, The unbeatable attack that the empty palms is famous for. What was the name of it again?
Acting without thinking? Hm? Seeking power without restraint? Hm?
First of all, are those heavily intertwined with seeking power, as all practitioners of the Spiraling Drunken Fist know.
Secondly, how could one blame her? Hm? She is a human, after all, and the humans are notorious brainless-seekers of power, history repeatedly showed that, the prime example mentioned above me being Zoss.
White Chain shouldn’t have even considered the possibility of our human Allison seeking power slowly and, moreover, succeeding.
Am I correct? Hm?
And now, back to the booze.
#teamwhitechain
Is it too much to ask for Aliicio to just “One Punch Man” White Chain (ideally non-lethally, but it seems like Angel types can respawn later, so…) and deal with the consequences later? Feels like every time she gets some forward momentum, someone pumps the breaks. >:T
You want unbraked Aesma? (O_o)
Does anyone else get the impression, given the coughing angel’s little “…wait.” bubble, that he’s actually trying to shame White Chain about her whole gender thing? And/or becoming “too human” in general, against what angels are ‘expected’ to be. But instead, White Chain is interpreting this as being shamed for giving support to Allison? Hence White Chain seemingly jumping to conclusions and deciding to fight Allison after all…
Granted, maybe I’m jumping to conclusions myself. Will have to wait and see what the next pages bring us!
And that’s how she loses her eye
Why do I hear boss music?
“Sudden omnious music heard across arena, nondescript participants panicking.” – The leek
I wonder if the angels are going to both attack her, or whether that would be considered Bad Form.
I mean, it’d be two on two, right?
Well, it’s a good thing I bet on both of them! What joy! I think this means… I’ve won! Yes! I’ve won the prize money! I’m fabulously wealthy again! At long last! I actually can’t believe this all went according to plan.
Well, Headhunters, you’re all about to be wealthy as well. Alchemical salts beyond your wildest dreams, and as many skulls as you can crush, it’s all yours! A planet for each of you, and upon its northern pole a rotating palace! As for me, I’m going to buy my way back into the Bank of the Grand Dragon and make the Bank of the Degraded Thief into a subsidiary of it. Perhaps I can be a Regional Manager again too.
I love how small White Chain looks in that last panel.
Hrmm… I love how “Bruce Lee” White Chain looks!
I’m suddenly reminded how Cio tried to kill Allison, injuring her rather badly as a prelude to creating a more perfect union between them. Could it be that White Chain is about to do something similar? It would be agony to watch it happen, but if it led to the ultimate human/demon/angel triumvirate, it might just be worth it. Have mercy on us, Abbadon!
Never does the cycle of birth and death tire me more than when a student and teacher come to blows because the teacher failed to listen.
While I understand White Chain’s concerns and frustrations with Alison, it’d be nice if they didn’t have these moments when they are in the middle of getting something important done. Timing is something this whole squad kinda sucks at, yeah?
You said it.
“Even he, Arhan the Unbreakable, stood aside for Angels.”
Somehow, that doesn’t make me all that optimistic about Allicio’s chances…
Alicio is clearly unbalanced. Half human (ideally, chaos and order in balance), half demon (pure chaos). There is an obvious solution, however:
A THREE-WAY!
Three-way fusion, that is. Get White Chain in there for maximum fusion power!
But Humans are not a balance of Order and Chaos. They are of the hot black flame, same as Devils. The only difference being that Devils are the destroyers, while humanity are simply the precievers (and inheritors). Both Allison and Cio posses black souls.
Angels on the other side are of the cold white flame. They are energy incarnate shrouded in stone, who only exist to preserve what is/was/will be. To merge an Angel and a Devil together would be to put matter and antimatter in the same space – the resulting contact would utterly destroy both and likely everything around them.
Devilskin warriors likely only work because Devils and Humans are so similar. The devil gets access to our deep well of hidden power (only made possible due to our greatest gift: mortality) while the Human gains a shield to protect their fragile hearts from destruction.
Humans are of the warm black flame, not the hot one. Their nature has the seed of chaos, but is not chaotic itself. (Similarly, servants are not angels, being of the cool white flame instead of the cold one.)
Ah yes. I thought this might happen.
*grabs popcorn*
“His kingdoms were five and one”; invariably the supporters of what must be considered an angelic aristocracy make statements of this sort. His kingdoms were six. The dull, literalist language is left to us who are opposed to the angels, as though the poetry of their speech in some way supports their rights. Why not say that he, Arhan (until the angels deposed him) ruled six provinces, one of which was weakly ruled or not firmly attached to the union? Because it would be unbeautiful to say it that way. This is how the angels, self-proclaimed holders of the truth and envoys of Yisun, trivialise their opposition. To describe a situation in the best way we know how, the best way we mere beings have to share information between us with greatest clarity and least chance of miscommunication, is unfortunately unbeautiful: because the circumstances we are describing are unbeautiful. We don’t deny beauty, it simply isn’t omnipresent. Under the tone the angels adopt, all that isn’t beautiful is simply lost in translation – Arhan’s real situation is reduced to a poetic statement in which everything not suited for assimilation into the grand melodrama vanishes between the lines. Devils for parliament! At least they have more in common with us than the angelic pretenders.
Finally. White Chain has badly needed her goals and ideals realigned.
A few right hooks and a boot to the face should work nicely.