WHEEL SMASHING LORD 1-11 to 1-12
Chapter: 1
“Listen, closely, pale worm. Our only goal here, and indeed, for the rest of your miserable life, is to learn the cut called Quelling the Breath of Man. It is the most superior sword technique in the Seven Cities and will win you every battle if done properly. You must resolutely study this cut. Your life, as mine, is no longer your own. You have now become a blade, and the hearts-hilt of this blade is held by his Grace, and when he swings it you will kill any number of men that he wills dead.”
– Gälde ten Bilong, sword god of the Lunar Kingdoms, to their student Ryam
Panel 8 is the multiverse’s best merch catalog ever! But how do I order from it?
Cut the space between you and the catalog and ride the primordial lightning. You can also use devil couriers, but the bribe can be expensive if you want the items whole and clean.
Ahh go on then
She just cut down a whole city? That’s a little inconsiderate.
That is not a pipe.
The sanctioned action is to Cut.
> Gälde ten Bilong, sword god of the Lunar Kingdoms, to their student Ryam
Nice
Maya ten Meti ten Ryo ten Ryam ten Gälde ten Bilong.
I love how there’s an unbroken lineage of all the swordmasters
Bilong taught Gälde, Gälde taught Ryam, Ryam taught Ryo, Ryo taught Meti, Meti taught Maya/Mathangi, Maya/Mathangi is now teaching Al-Yis-Un
There are keys in the equipment cache, but to what?
Also: “it’s how I found you”. Is one of the items a magitech Allison detector?
Allison (calmly): I IMPLORE YOU TO RECONSIDER
Maya: Mmmmm, okay.
I’m still holding out for Cio being alive somehow.
Ding, ding!
“Old friend”, right?
So we knew that Maya’s response to Allison’s challenge/taunt along the lines of “Show me the swordplay, if you’re really all that, which I doubt” would be…how shall we say…notable; but that slice was just freaking epic!
I love how in the first four panels the raindrops dancing around Allison’s head almost look like the classic “Whoa, shit!” lines of surprise used in many comics. I know they aren’t, ‘cos Maya has delineated droplets around her head too, but it’s kind of a hoot to look at them that way, as if Allison is thinking…well, “Whoa, shit! Impressive!”
Also, that collection of “some things” from Maya’s old friend (whose name may or may not rhyme with “Boss”)…I gotta think there’s some heavy mojo imbued in those items. Definitely responsibilities represented, as in the pipe.
But lookit that stuff! Keys, all sorts of knick-knacks of unknown power/importance, books or journals of who-knows-what, a compass or watch-like thing, a chewed up knife. Every item has a backstory.
Plus hey, an arm and a leg, a little reimbursement for what Allison has paid for her knowledge thus far. Why the hell not?
This is going to be fun. I just love the hell out of this whole thing.
Well, I didn’t mean to post that as a reply to your Cio post, but that’s where it landed. Oh well.
And hey, I hope we see some iteration of Cio again, too!
Consider: There is no such thing as a sword.
“‘The men call it Mightblade. Not mighty.’ He spoke slowly. ‘It might; it might not. *Might* not meaning potency, but potentiality. It is a bastardization of its true name. There was a time there were many weapons like this,’ he said. ‘Now, it is, I think, the only one left.
‘It is a Possible Sword.'”
– The Scar, 2002, China Miéville
I want a Conjectural Sword.
“When the clockwork is running, my arm and the sword mine possibilities. For every factual attack there are a thousand possibilities, nigh-sword ghosts, and all of them strike down together. When I switch on the sword, precision is the one thing I cannot afford. The more precise the strike the more constrained potentiality, the more wasted the Possible Sword. I must be an opportunist, not a planner. I must fight from the heart, not the mind”
I was coming to the comments to reference this very thing.
Felt like an “Obligated to say No” thing more than anyone else. Knew Allison would ask, but said it anyway because she Must.
oh twist my arm, why don’t you
There’s a fascinating contrast between Incubus and Maya.
Incubus cannot function in combat without a blade at hand. Maya, meanwhile, is a blade.
I guess Maya really was Meti’s true student.
The worthiest practice of the sword is reducing the number of those who use them.
Who do we think the old friend is?
A good while ago (‘m not trawling back looking for it) the idea was floated that Maya was acting as an agent/associate of Zoss, who perhaps even ducked out of demiurge-ness at Zoss’ request, following Allison to protect her, and just pretending to be drunk so as to be more easily incognito.
Now the drunk bit has patently not borne out, but Zoss being her old friend is certainly a maybe, given that that’s his arm of living wood in the bundle.
I’m still rooting for Zoss and Maya to be the ultimate power-couple.
Charavartin?
“Chakravartin” literally means “he who turns the wheel.”
Just in case you thought that the big lotus pose and lightshow back in the Pyramid was just a moment of adrenaline and rage – the last few pages are proving the Allison has, in fact, been paying attention and learning how this actually works.
ALICE TEN MATHANGA TN METI TEN RYAM TEN GÄLDE TEN BILONG
?
through the heartsblood blade, maya channels her whole essence into an impossibly sharp edge and wields impossible killing power. but allison’s weapon may be different. she wields the master key and possesses zoss’s bolts. applying maya’s technique to her spearpoints, allison could create something even more lethal. just as we saw aspected chaos’ strike open jagganoth’s defenses before, allison will smite chakravartin
I finally figured out that bunny-eared angel armor in the background reminds me of Appleseed.
Reminds me of the Possible Sword from the Bas-Lag setting.
Oh, I guess all the wine didn’t spill. She’s drinking something in that fourth panel.