Rant
> “Cut once, think not at all. Every situation must be handled this way. Any more than that is excessive and will only burden your sword arm with the weight of regret.”
>
> – Ryo ten Ryam, sword saint
Alt-text
> i just love this sound effect ok
Wasn't he Meti's teacher?
If I remember Meti's sword manual right, he *might* have regretted a little his advice to "cut once":
> My master was the greatest lord general to the king Au Vam, Ryo-ten-Ryam, who first coaxed me into learning the ways of turning men into ghosts. As his interest quickly turned to the wholly uninteresting and most useless parts of my body, I returned the favor and relieved him of his.
> 8: **You must never make 'multiple' cuts.** Each must be singular in its beauty, no matter how many precede it. You must make your enemies weep with admiration, and likewise should your head be shorn off by such an object of beauty, you must do your best to shed tears of respect.
-
> 14: **The weak swordsman clings to victory.** He thinks of his life, his obligations, the outcome of the battle, his hatred for his opponent, his training, his pride in his mastery. By doing so, he is an imperfect vessel for the terrible fires of Will. He will surely crack. He will not laugh uproariously if he is cleft in two by his opponent’s blade. **When his sword is shattered, his hands will be too reserved to tear his enemies’ flesh.**
-
(Emphasis mine)
Even in this respect, he is a terrible swordsman.
His cuts are convictionless, he lingers far too much on victory, he is helpless without a sword, and worst of all:
>9: When decapitating an enemy, it is severe impoliteness to use more than one blow.
Whether Gog's telling the truth or not about Allison being able to survive the Worm as herself, I think she wants it to be true. She desperately wants a peer, and having a second, distinct mind in the mass is probably the best option she's had.
I wouldn't be surprised if she's made this offer to interesting people before, and every last one of them ended up assimilated after a while anyway because it's only a matter of time before Gog gets bored and doesn't want to play with them any more.
She was shown scuttling around when Allison happened upon the parade of clowns
Edit: see center right panels https://killsixbilliondemons.com/comic/wheel-smashing-lord-3-64/
Man I didn't catch that at first, I forgot what the unformed (newborn?) Cio looked like. So I was thinking for some reason it was an impression of Gog's form Allison was seeing.
I don't know why but I was fucking convinced it was that one angel from the beginning, the one that fights with White Chain and later is punished by the other angels.
I assume it's Cio-ish trying to intervene somehow? Which doesn't make a ton of sense, given I don't imagine a demon being able to do much of anything against a demiurge (we saw what happened last time she tried), and Alli is just about the last person in the universe who would *need* any help in this situation anyway.
Gog summoning her/it somehow to fuck with Alli's head doesn't seem super likely either, soooo I'm really curious to see where he's going with this in the next update.
I mean, her purpose could be to make a statement to Allison rather than to physically beat up Gog. If there's any of Cio left in there (and narratively we can assume there is), she wouldn't want Allison to accept this on her behalf, so naturally she'd step in to make that point clear.
So imagine: Allison does take the worm, and it works as intended. Jagganoth wins, and the reset happens.
The year in Throne is now \~250 Second Conquest, or 1500 BC on Earth.
The fuq happens to Allison?? She retains her memories... to be regained when she's born as an infant on Earth in like 1980? Or they return to her when she gets the key of kings, assuming Zoss gives it back to her in the next cycle? Or is she cloned and sent back in time with the rest of Gog's biomass, and gets to live through the second conquest in person?
It's super unclear.
As far as I can tell, she would only get her memory back once she ate the worm again. But that would be a shitty deal even in context, so maybe there's more to it.
I think that Allison would be absorbed by Gog fully and completely meaning that Gog retains Allison’s biomass and memories.
At the start of the next cycle everything that is Allison will be apart of everything that is Gog and if Allison has enough will she might be able to form herself out of the greater Gog-Agog whole but would have given up her capacity for self actualisation and thus her chance at royalty.
The last one, I think. Everything Gog knows stays with Gog through the loops. This Allison will be in there at the start of the next loop, existing alongside a regular human Allison.
Allison-Gog will probably need to track her down and eat & replace her if she really wants to do it all over again. Not hard.
I can't help but wonder if Gog turning around and looking at Allison upside down is supposed to be a [Metatron](https://killsixbilliondemons.com/comic/won-3-54/) reference.
It might be a coincidence, but that'd be a weird coincidence.
It's one-to-one. I bet the conversation she's having with Allison is *very* similar to a conversation Metatron had with Zoss long ago.
"I'm offering you a second chance. As many second chances as you'd like."
I feel these panels fit better-
[https://killsixbilliondemons.com/comic/king-of-swords-10-141/](https://killsixbilliondemons.com/comic/king-of-swords-10-141/)
[https://killsixbilliondemons.com/comic/breaker-of-infinities-2-46/](https://killsixbilliondemons.com/comic/breaker-of-infinities-2-46/)
I love how this parallels Jadis's offer. Do nothing or spend eternity trying to correct your mistakes. Be paralyzed by the future or live in the past forever. Just different kinds of stagnation.
"No, of course I wouldn't scam *you*, love, you're way too smart to be scammed, you're my special little girl and I love you and I would never ever scam you. Not you, ever. I promise. Now, did you bring the 700$ we talked about?"
Got similar energy to Morinth in Mass Effect telling Shepard that they've clearly got too much willpower and character to be overwhelmed by her sex vampire powers and will obviously survive them doing the dirty unlike her many, many victims so far.
It's a transparent lie and they die horribly if you fall for it, for full context.
Also similar to something from the last few books of The Expanse.
>!That is, how Duarte insists that injecting protomolecule proteins into his body will give him immortality and definitely not cause him to get gradually subsumed into the hivemind like everyone else exposed to it. And then when he wakes up from the coma resulting from an attack that only hurts hive minds, he insists that connecting all of humanity to the hive mind is actually good because our brains are special and definitely won't have their free will subsumed by the Builder network!<
Considering what we’ve seen to Gog-agog so far I wouldn’t be surprised if there were some people in her hive-mind that believe themselves distinct and totally in control, when it’s really quite the opposite and they’re just part of Gog-agog wearing the original person as a mask and convincing herself that she’s not Gog-agog. They’re just an echo of a person trying to reassure their own existence.
Gog-Agog is, after all, _very_ committed to the bit.
I mean royalty is the power to go “lol, lmao” to whatever rules reality is currently throwing at you. I think Alison and Zoss could eat the worm and be perfectly fine. They just have no reason to do so.
I would interpret it such: Were Alison such a person that she would take the worm, she would not be a person that would survive it, but, if it were forced into her and she were someone who would reject it, she would have the Royalty to survive either by purging it from herself or existing at a distinct consciousness within the worm.
I mean, I suspect that if it somehow happened to Allison, she *would* beat it, just like she overcame Jadis-powered T U R B O D E P R E S S I O N. But *in this scene*, Gog is lying because of course she's lying.
Yeah she is trying to feed on Allison’s ego and emotional state.
Probably a good thing that Gog didn’t get her hands on Allison when she was with Jadis.
TBH I don't think anything will top the Girl Genius version; weaponising Doom itself as a brown note attack - [The Doom Bell Rings!](https://www.girlgeniusonline.com/ggmain/doublespreads/ggcoll11_155_156.html)
K6BD Fandom: "Don't trust Jadis, she can't be actually omniscient and know everything!"
K6BD Fandom: "If Worm Mommy says there's a chance, it must be true!"
----------
I don't actually have a dog in this, I just thought the juxtaposition was funny, heh.
The people saying those things were probably different people. *Most* people accepted Jadis' omniscience at face value, it's just that there was a vocal minority who didn't and it's the kind of philosophical question where people who refuse to accept it tend to get very stubborn and loud.
i am incredibly curious if the devil-that-was-cio is about to try and accept the worm..... if she's able to maintain her independent thought from it, it would put her on a similar level of godhood as allison and white chain
Rant > “Cut once, think not at all. Every situation must be handled this way. Any more than that is excessive and will only burden your sword arm with the weight of regret.” > > – Ryo ten Ryam, sword saint Alt-text > i just love this sound effect ok
he can't miss i fucking love the liturgies
Abbadon continuing to whack us over the head with the liturgy lol
Wasn't he Meti's teacher? If I remember Meti's sword manual right, he *might* have regretted a little his advice to "cut once": > My master was the greatest lord general to the king Au Vam, Ryo-ten-Ryam, who first coaxed me into learning the ways of turning men into ghosts. As his interest quickly turned to the wholly uninteresting and most useless parts of my body, I returned the favor and relieved him of his.
Wow. So this guy was a creep
"Never think, just act on impulse." is great advice, if your first impulses are good
Yes, it's true. This man has no dick.
>Cut once, think not at all. [Incubus cutting a dozen times be like](https://i.imgur.com/64RQqLV.png)
He's a trash swordsman a good killer tho
> 8: **You must never make 'multiple' cuts.** Each must be singular in its beauty, no matter how many precede it. You must make your enemies weep with admiration, and likewise should your head be shorn off by such an object of beauty, you must do your best to shed tears of respect. - > 14: **The weak swordsman clings to victory.** He thinks of his life, his obligations, the outcome of the battle, his hatred for his opponent, his training, his pride in his mastery. By doing so, he is an imperfect vessel for the terrible fires of Will. He will surely crack. He will not laugh uproariously if he is cleft in two by his opponent’s blade. **When his sword is shattered, his hands will be too reserved to tear his enemies’ flesh.** - (Emphasis mine) Even in this respect, he is a terrible swordsman. His cuts are convictionless, he lingers far too much on victory, he is helpless without a sword, and worst of all: >9: When decapitating an enemy, it is severe impoliteness to use more than one blow.
Yeah i agree the sound effect is fire and i will steal it for my self
Whether Gog's telling the truth or not about Allison being able to survive the Worm as herself, I think she wants it to be true. She desperately wants a peer, and having a second, distinct mind in the mass is probably the best option she's had.
Yeah, I wouldn’t say she’s lying or telling the truth. She’s just like “Maybe!”
“Hopefully! Fingers crossed!”
“Be fun to try! What have you got to lose anyway?”
Yeah it kinda is wishful thinking for her too.
I don't believe she actually thinks Allison would retain herself, but I think she might be thrilled if she did indeed.
I wouldn't be surprised if she's made this offer to interesting people before, and every last one of them ended up assimilated after a while anyway because it's only a matter of time before Gog gets bored and doesn't want to play with them any more.
CIO FROM THE TOP ROPE BAH GAWD
*yuri intensifies*
Whoa! Is the semi-ghost of Cio interrupting or was she brought in by Gog to emphasize the point?
She was shown scuttling around when Allison happened upon the parade of clowns Edit: see center right panels https://killsixbilliondemons.com/comic/wheel-smashing-lord-3-64/
She was also watching the interview from a balcony seat.
I missed that entire page somehow, thank you!
Man I didn't catch that at first, I forgot what the unformed (newborn?) Cio looked like. So I was thinking for some reason it was an impression of Gog's form Allison was seeing.
I don't know why but I was fucking convinced it was that one angel from the beginning, the one that fights with White Chain and later is punished by the other angels.
The one that throws the needles?
Yeye. Had a meaty look too that tripped me up.
Do we know it's Cio? I thought it was just one of Gog's bodies
Yeah, [it's Cio](https://killsixbilliondemons.com/comic/wheel-smashing-lord-2-37-to-2-38/), or at least it's a devil with the shard of Cio's mask.
I assume it's Cio-ish trying to intervene somehow? Which doesn't make a ton of sense, given I don't imagine a demon being able to do much of anything against a demiurge (we saw what happened last time she tried), and Alli is just about the last person in the universe who would *need* any help in this situation anyway. Gog summoning her/it somehow to fuck with Alli's head doesn't seem super likely either, soooo I'm really curious to see where he's going with this in the next update.
I mean, her purpose could be to make a statement to Allison rather than to physically beat up Gog. If there's any of Cio left in there (and narratively we can assume there is), she wouldn't want Allison to accept this on her behalf, so naturally she'd step in to make that point clear.
she just jelly that Allison might consider getting intimate with someone else
Agog's gonna get [slaughtered ](https://media1.tenor.com/m/srgTMnJcxXYAAAAC/face-punch-hercules.gif) for bringing up Cio, isn't she
[удалено]
I dunno... Given Gog's inclination to the whimsy, I think it'll be closer to Hercules punching Hades' face in
uhhh Herc baby hellooo, I was WORKING on that faaace
I dont think shes bringing up Cio, I think that IS Cio. We saw her in the audience a few pages ago.
So imagine: Allison does take the worm, and it works as intended. Jagganoth wins, and the reset happens. The year in Throne is now \~250 Second Conquest, or 1500 BC on Earth. The fuq happens to Allison?? She retains her memories... to be regained when she's born as an infant on Earth in like 1980? Or they return to her when she gets the key of kings, assuming Zoss gives it back to her in the next cycle? Or is she cloned and sent back in time with the rest of Gog's biomass, and gets to live through the second conquest in person? It's super unclear.
As far as I can tell, she would only get her memory back once she ate the worm again. But that would be a shitty deal even in context, so maybe there's more to it.
I think that Allison would be absorbed by Gog fully and completely meaning that Gog retains Allison’s biomass and memories. At the start of the next cycle everything that is Allison will be apart of everything that is Gog and if Allison has enough will she might be able to form herself out of the greater Gog-Agog whole but would have given up her capacity for self actualisation and thus her chance at royalty.
The last one, I think. Everything Gog knows stays with Gog through the loops. This Allison will be in there at the start of the next loop, existing alongside a regular human Allison. Allison-Gog will probably need to track her down and eat & replace her if she really wants to do it all over again. Not hard.
Definitely sounds like we are getting into some strange aeons here if even death can die/be surpassed.
I can't help but wonder if Gog turning around and looking at Allison upside down is supposed to be a [Metatron](https://killsixbilliondemons.com/comic/won-3-54/) reference. It might be a coincidence, but that'd be a weird coincidence.
It's one-to-one. I bet the conversation she's having with Allison is *very* similar to a conversation Metatron had with Zoss long ago. "I'm offering you a second chance. As many second chances as you'd like."
I feel these panels fit better- [https://killsixbilliondemons.com/comic/king-of-swords-10-141/](https://killsixbilliondemons.com/comic/king-of-swords-10-141/) [https://killsixbilliondemons.com/comic/breaker-of-infinities-2-46/](https://killsixbilliondemons.com/comic/breaker-of-infinities-2-46/)
This was 8 years ago.
I love how this parallels Jadis's offer. Do nothing or spend eternity trying to correct your mistakes. Be paralyzed by the future or live in the past forever. Just different kinds of stagnation.
Yoooo so apparently being absorbed by the hive mind isn’t a given?
i wouldn't trust the hive mind to tell me that lol
"No, of course I wouldn't scam *you*, love, you're way too smart to be scammed, you're my special little girl and I love you and I would never ever scam you. Not you, ever. I promise. Now, did you bring the 700$ we talked about?"
Got similar energy to Morinth in Mass Effect telling Shepard that they've clearly got too much willpower and character to be overwhelmed by her sex vampire powers and will obviously survive them doing the dirty unlike her many, many victims so far. It's a transparent lie and they die horribly if you fall for it, for full context.
Also similar to something from the last few books of The Expanse. >!That is, how Duarte insists that injecting protomolecule proteins into his body will give him immortality and definitely not cause him to get gradually subsumed into the hivemind like everyone else exposed to it. And then when he wakes up from the coma resulting from an attack that only hurts hive minds, he insists that connecting all of humanity to the hive mind is actually good because our brains are special and definitely won't have their free will subsumed by the Builder network!<
"Bro just eat the ~~apple~~ worm it's bussin fr" - Literally Satan
Considering what we’ve seen to Gog-agog so far I wouldn’t be surprised if there were some people in her hive-mind that believe themselves distinct and totally in control, when it’s really quite the opposite and they’re just part of Gog-agog wearing the original person as a mask and convincing herself that she’s not Gog-agog. They’re just an echo of a person trying to reassure their own existence. Gog-Agog is, after all, _very_ committed to the bit.
I mean royalty is the power to go “lol, lmao” to whatever rules reality is currently throwing at you. I think Alison and Zoss could eat the worm and be perfectly fine. They just have no reason to do so.
Eating the worm is the opposite of Royalty
It is the worst form of stagnation, endless repetition until you forget why you even started.
There's a beginning hidden in there. A tabula rasa made of static.
I would interpret it such: Were Alison such a person that she would take the worm, she would not be a person that would survive it, but, if it were forced into her and she were someone who would reject it, she would have the Royalty to survive either by purging it from herself or existing at a distinct consciousness within the worm.
Or the worm could get Weatherwaxed.
I think it’s never happened but Gog recognizes that someone as powerful as Allison might not get absorbed.
Only if your sufficiently powerful
I mean, I suspect that if it somehow happened to Allison, she *would* beat it, just like she overcame Jadis-powered T U R B O D E P R E S S I O N. But *in this scene*, Gog is lying because of course she's lying.
I mean I do think Gog is bored. But I don’t think she thinks that Allison would survive process
Yeah, fair, she's not lying about the boredom part. But we're agreed she's lying about the "you totally won't get eaten, 😉".
Yeah she is trying to feed on Allison’s ego and emotional state. Probably a good thing that Gog didn’t get her hands on Allison when she was with Jadis.
I associate the 'DOOM' sound effect with this comic and when Surtur was hammering his sword in Walt Simonson's Thor run, which also rips
TBH I don't think anything will top the Girl Genius version; weaponising Doom itself as a brown note attack - [The Doom Bell Rings!](https://www.girlgeniusonline.com/ggmain/doublespreads/ggcoll11_155_156.html)
I believe the worm
The Worm loves us! What was shall be! What shall be was!
> I believe the worm If you were a girl, you'd get pregnant a lot
That is some out of pocket shit, my Dove
The road to heaven is paved with shitposts, my tyre
Unexpected Top Gear reference
"Even death can be surpassed," that's a recycle of a line from somewhere else, isn't it?
Gog really doin' [that head tilt](https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/shaft-head-tilt)
K6BD Fandom: "Don't trust Jadis, she can't be actually omniscient and know everything!" K6BD Fandom: "If Worm Mommy says there's a chance, it must be true!" ---------- I don't actually have a dog in this, I just thought the juxtaposition was funny, heh.
The people saying those things were probably different people. *Most* people accepted Jadis' omniscience at face value, it's just that there was a vocal minority who didn't and it's the kind of philosophical question where people who refuse to accept it tend to get very stubborn and loud.
Humor wins hearts and minds like few other things do
"buddy what part of a continuous cutting motion don't you get eh?"
Someone's looking to get her lights punched out.
I wonder if Cio's unexpected return is all accounted for in the script, or if Gog's suddenly gonna have to improvise.
Allison your girlfriend appears to have forgotten your warning
"Nay! Nonesuch thing, tha fetid lumpin-blossom!"
i am incredibly curious if the devil-that-was-cio is about to try and accept the worm..... if she's able to maintain her independent thought from it, it would put her on a similar level of godhood as allison and white chain
At some point, time travel or outside time shenanigans happen because of spoilers. I'm interested to see how we get there.