Source material: Kill Six Billion Demons: King of Swords: page 10-146 through book 5 cover
Blogged: November 23, 2020
Alright, let’s do this one more time. It’s time for the last K6BD post and the penultimate Patreon Bonus under the current setup!
It’s time for White Chain to hopefully find a way to wipe at least a little of the smugness off Solomon’s face! There’s also the matter of getting Zaid and the rest of the group safely out.
Allison is supposed to sit this one out and trust in White Chain to fight for herself… I think she’s going to struggle to follow that advice, but ultimately succeed, as it’s the next step on her path to becoming a better King than Zoss ever was.
Let’s dive into it!
If that’s the case, it’s definitely going to be hard to sit out. Allison isn’t the kind of character who easily lets others sacrifice themselves, especially when it’s for little to no gain.
So maybe this is going to be about Allison finally rejecting a piece of Zoss’ advice?
Ooh, that’s a fun twist on the prayer.
Especially because it’s not clear whether she’s not asking for forgiveness because she believes a) she doesn’t deserve it, b) she wouldn’t get it, or c) she doesn’t need it given who her opponent is.
White Chain: “JUST FUCKIN’ WATCH THIS SHIT”
Aesma: “IT’S GONNA BE SO WICKED COOL”
What did she notice? Something about the stance?
[alt text]
There’s a little progression with how White Chain has said the prayer each time in the comic. I hope this won’t be the last time.
I need to pay closer attention to that when I do my reread.
A fitting name for an attack being used against a Demiurge.
That panel on the left reminds me so much of a fight in a manga a friend got me into recently, called SHY. It’s a superhero story, and in it, there’s this one guy (a sympathetic sociopath based on David Bowie) who controls the flow of battle around him, mostly to make it so nothing actually hits him. Which is why in a training match, he has a similar win condition for his opponent as Solomon’s “draw blood”: One hit landed on the face and his opponent wins.
How much of this complimenting is genuine, and how much of it is so he can be like “you’re so good! I, of course, am better”?
[alt text]
I’ve basically learned that you can put two, maybe three really good fights in a 150-175 page book so I guess this is one of them
Sounds reasonable.
Okay, so Cio is the one having trouble staying out of it.
Hi there, Gaze. Where did you come from?
I believe the term is giant woman.
I love Allison’s indignation at angels and their lack of manners. 😛
(…the luckiest, up to the test when things go wrong…)
Ahh, the power of character development is on her side.
I’ve got a song for this. (Though it has spoilers for the climax of Steven Universe: The Movie.)
[alt text]
Angels, despite their size and their armored shell being extremely heavy, can move incredibly quietly when they need to. This incredible agility was purportedly granted to them by the god Koss in order to better apprehend evildoers, but angels most often use it to try and not disturb people when walking up and down stairs and on wood floors.
So what you’re saying is they’re tigers with civility.
Trans-cendent. Hah, I see what you did there.
(Butt.)
Solomon seems to take great pleasure in turning whatever style his opponent chooses and turning it back against them, as if to say “anything you can do, I can do better”. I wonder if there might not be a way to use that tendency against him. It notably makes the style of his counterattacks predictable, so you can prepare an intercept that makes use of the weaknesses of the style you just attacked with.
[alt text]
In my head 10 Vigilant Gaze sounds a lot like Brian Blessed
You know what, that tracks. I hear him a lot like how I remember Brian Blessed’s voice too.
It’s like I talked about briefly last time. By putting on this challenge, he a) creates the illusion that he’s a ruler who will let others take over legally if they have what it takes, making him look more benevolent, b) quells thoughts of revolution by way of giving the would-be revolutionaries a legitimate path to a violent takeover, and c) gets rid of those would-be revolutionaries.
Sticks and stones don’t do much, but words may very well be the way to draw blood.
I think to a large degree, dealing with the Demiurges has been about shattering their illusions of themselves.
Mottom? Thought she could live gluttonously forever off the tree that her husband had become. These days I think she actually has access to other trees producing the fruit (after rereading an earlier bit and realizing she seemed to make the same kind of tree out of that one guy who displeased her), so she’s not as fucked over by Allison’s actions as I thought she was when it happened, but still. She was holding onto her youth and that one tree in particular, and Allison’s actions were a harsh reminder that those things could be taken away.
Mammon, or more accurately his high priest or whatever their title was, thought he could stay in his little bubble forever, sealed away from the world. Allison ruined this illusion by pissing off Mottom to the point where she crashed her palace right into that bubble, bringing the world inside.
Solomon’s illusion is one of his own grandeur, that he is better than everyone, an untouchable well of power. White Chain, through very specific words, may be able to break through that illusion. Though it is a hard one to get through just with words.
[alt text]
This might actually be the second time White Chain has actually smiled in the comic.
Huh.
Well, at least she doesn’t have to be riding Shrek to do it.
…I swear there is context to that one.
You forgot to account for who’s been teaching her.
Having two suns shining on you doesn’t help you when the rain starts falling.
Although can you imagine the rainbows this planet would have?
And so as the rain starts falling, things finally get serious.
[alt text]
this is part of solomon’s ‘serious series’ ‘serious punch’ attacks coming up
Seriously.
This feint would probably work better if he hadn’t already seen this tactic in practice against Allicio, but it’s still really cool.
[alt text]
Improvisation is not typically an angel tactic but White Chain’s learned from the best
I know right? 😀 I love when the master ends up learning things from the student too.
I suppose it’s not, strictly speaking, a “feint” when she’s got enough power in her to keep both bodies active at the same time.
That’s also a marked difference from the tactic she employed against Allicio, which was largely a “play dead” approach.
You’re telling me Solomon has been doing Concentration checks amidst all this?
I believe the appropriate sound effect is actually “ora” but sure, “dom” works.
Is Solomon capable of pulling a Marquis, going underground to escape this and popping up elsewhere?
[alt text]
This technique was invented on the spot by White Chain and would rarely, if ever, be used again by any Angel
Shame, that, ’cause it’s pretty awesome.
yeet
I wonder if he could attack the String. What would happen if that were somehow severed?
Having fun, are we?
[forgot the alt text, will catch up on it after the next page]
I’d like to note that he brought up dust while I was absently thinking about how His Dark Materials would apply to the thing about severing the String.
That cutoff does not bode well.
So, um. 84?
[alt text, previous page]
God King
Very descriptive.
[alt text, this page]
The pressurized air from flicking a single finger using Ki Rata is enough to decapitate a man in the best of circumstances. Fortunately White Chain is made out of stone and smokeless fire so we hope she’ll be alright.
We’ll see.
Actually, maybe that’s his illusion. The idea that men like him do need to exist.
[alt text]
don’t worry guys i think she’s got this
Yeah, everything’s coming up White Chain here!
So which one of them crashed through the roof first, going upwards? ‘Cause that could count as a ring-out.
“oh please.”
Yeah. Sorry, Solomon, you’re not the center of her world, you’re just a symbol of everything she fights against.
[alt text]
Fallen Angel
Hah!
And there they go. I knew Allison wasn’t going to take that sitting down.
Do we get Allicio in this?
Oh? You’re approaching her?
One final empty palm?
[alt text]
Did it start raining just so we could do a cool effect on these pages? Absolutely.
Well, yes. It’s not exactly the subtlest of writer tricks, but it’s certainly tried and true.
Well that’s a face of nightmares. I need it as an emote.
…
okay woah. So I kept scrolling and the page just wouldn’t end and then it was just too wonderful to stop and it just wouldn’t end until it got even more awesome okay so um.
Just.
All of this.
This is the most awesome fist bump of all time.
[alt text]
Thanks for reading!
…
So that just happened. Solomon and White Chain punched each other so hard her soul came out of its shell and manifested into a human body, completing her transition in more ways than one.
APOTHEOSIS, the page title says. It’s an interesting form of it, in that the word usually refers to a human becoming divine, while this is a literal angel becoming a human. But that’s the thing, isn’t it? Divine does not preclude human from White Chain’s perspective, and this transformation is still portrayed as a thing of beauty, of coming into one’s own, rather than as a fall from grace.
So, uh. Did Solomon catch that this happened behind him?
Oh shit, she landed the hit in the process!
I love how Allison and Cio are all threatening but Gaze is just standing there, with his helmet situation making his one eye look half-lidded.
[alt text]
The amount of wild speculation about this fight has been absolutely incredible
Hah, I can imagine. Though I highly doubt any of it called “White Chain fist bumps her way into humanity” as the outcome.
Not as interested in talking to her anymore?
That one hit seems to have knocked him a bit off kilter, emotionally.
“Wait, I have boobs now?”
Queen 83 White Chain Born in Darkness Returns to Subdue Evil of Rayuba. Long live the Queen!
Gog-Agog laughs like Goofy.
“Even if they’re wrong.”? Because no blood was drawn? Because Solomon can still erase White Chain from her now more human existence?
[alt text]
Gog Agog can be a lot smarter than she looks when she wants to. She has more brain cells than all the other demiurges by a couple million times over, she just usually only uses about three.
Hah!
This is the most sinister support of democracy I’ve ever seen.
Also I was half expecting “the mass is me“.
Huh. He’s actually admitting defeat, by the looks of it.
[alt text]
h o n k
Abbadon is a Homestuck. Abbadon knows exactly how this makes the rest of us feel.
“Here, now that you have stuff to hide.”
It comes as a bit of a surprise, but it’s her. For the first time in her life, it’s her.
[alt text]
We’re almost at the end of this book!
And with it, the end of my K6BD blogging. It’s been a fun journey.
She improvised her way into a new body. Not a bad feat.
It’s the power of fist bumps, I tell ya.
It seems this is less outright “you’re human now” and more “you’ve unlocked a secret final form that looks human”.
Who cares about “possible”? She’s here isn’t she?
[no alt text]
Everyone’s an idiot from time to time. It’s how you deal with the fallout that really shows who you are.
Perfection is overrated, as Solomon just learned.
Time to talk to him?
[alt text]
“Solitude is a terrible burden, made worse by the fact that you must carry it alone.” – Musko Reeve
A good quote for extroverts.
Sinking in that White Chain won?
Oh, hello there. Long time no see, eh?
Even if romantically Allison/Cio is where it’s at, these two still have a bond as the two dumbasses from Earth who got dragged into all this together. And presumably there was some connection there before things got to the bedroom.
[alt text]
the comic’s over! wow we found him lads, good job. thanks for reading, this is definitely for sure the final page
Mission complete!
…what’s with the brackets? Are they speaking another language, possibly without realizing it?
Ahahahaha
So all this time, Allison has been speaking one of the local languages without realizing it, even before White Chain gave her the temporary ability to understand some of the others.
Ahaha, Princess has found a mentor, whether he likes it or not.
And Nyave doesn’t seem to mind her girlfriend becoming less stonefaced.
[alt text]
In Cio’s defense, coming from someone who taught it as a second language for years, English is in fact a horrible bastard language.
The one thing English has going for it is vocabulary. Because it’s a collision of 2.5 or so languages, English has a high number of different words for each concept and a great degree of nuance between them, which makes it easier to convey things exactly the way you want.
This is excellent.
I suppose technically the reward promised wasn’t strictly to become ruler, but I still want to see them try to offer White Chain a throne.
Okay, that’s a trap if I ever heard one. Wise to ask leavetaking, Son of Battles.
[alt text]
We’re very close to through with this book, thanks for sticking with it so far!
Just one gloomy customer to deal with first.
This is a good, natural way to end this, but this democracy also may be what Gog-Agog has been after this whole time. After all, “the people” is in large part her. If she gets voting rights for everyone in her hivemind, she can essentially take over as a “democratically” self-elected oligarchy.
[alt text]
> Pose as a team because shit got real
This feels more like “> Pose as a team because the world is real” but I suppose that has to wait for the true ending.
(> GPI: Profoundly regard abdication.)
Well, hello there, Jadis. You’re unexpected.
That makes four Demiurges hanging around here.
Wait, what?
Is Jagganoth attacking, or something? We did need something to bring this story into its final act…
[alt text]
Alas, all good things must come to an end
In this case, the scene and the city of Rayuba?
That… would appear to be Jagganoth’s blade, yes.
Dammit, Coil.
Though I suppose if I’ve gotta blame a Worm character, it should be Behemoth.
The “evacuate the city” panel does have much the same vibe as the first appearance of the Endbringer sirens.
So, uh. How did our main cast survive this? Did they all?
Right, of course.
This reminds me of Steven Universe, and a particular moment in the distant past when Rose Quartz’s shield was only able to save herself and her closest friends from a devastating attack against the planet.
G’day, mate.
“–when kids like you should be burning in hell.”
Sans jokes aside, this is how I expected the sentence to end. Doesn’t make it any less of a great line, though.
[alt text]
Dead Man’s Reckoning
a.k.a. all hell breaks loose.
BREAKER OF INFINITIES
Allison looking awesome (and more bisexual than ever) with that new haircut and coat, all the Demiurges hanging out in the background in various states of war, Jadis being mysteriously out of her crystal and having a shadow copy, Gog-Agog being really peeved with this turn of events… yeah, this is how you build hype for a final book.
I expect the title relates back to Zoss’ claim that he wants Allison to break the cycle he created, but that’s likely not the only infinity that will be broken, by the Prince of Time or otherwise.
End of Kill Six Billion Demons: King of Swords
BEST. FIST BUMP. EVER.
And the rest of the fight was pretty good too.
I think that’s all that really needs to be said about this section.
The path forward:
I think what I’m going to do from here, with regards to K6BD, is reread books 1-4 on my own time, reading the bonus stuff below the pages and the early alt texts I skipped, stuff like that. I’ll be writing down anything particularly notable for a sort of “reread notes” post to be posted when I eventually get back to this cover page, alongside a retrospective on the story so far as a whole. This might take a while, so these posts will happen when they happen.
(You may notice I say I’ll reread to this cover page, not until I’m caught up. I do not, for the time being, intend on catching up on Breaker of Infinities on my own — I want to leave the option open for myself to maybe come back to it in a liveblogging capacity after it’s finished. I believe that’s a long time from now, though, so we’ll see what happens in the meantime.)
Meanwhile in the more immediate future, I’ll be removing the $30 tier from my Patreon (and try to work out a better layout for the tiers overall, come up with some rewards I can realistically do that people might actually want), and doing one last one-off Patreon Bonus for the K6BD patron in December. I will be playing a text adventure game an interactive fiction called Photopia. I have no idea what it’s actually about, but it should be fun.
And of course, Worm blogging will continue, hopefully at a higher pace than I’ve kept in a while. That’s the main purpose of ending the Patreon Bonuses in their current form — the switching back and forth between liveblogging materials just wasn’t working very well with my brain, throwing off any kind of momentum I could get.
So yeah! See you soon for more Worm and for Photopia!
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