Kill6BillionDemons II: The Successor's coming will be followed by 108 burning threads

[wingnutx]

She ripped the artificial arm and leg off when rebuking Jadis.

Would someone remind me which part of the story Rayuba was in? I don't remember what they're talking about in the current strip.

I'm wondering why she had an artificial leg in the first place. She had both her legs at the end of Rayuba, when Jadis first showed up.

[tyckspoon]

I'm wondering why she had an artificial leg in the first place. She had both her legs at the end of Rayuba, when Jadis first showed up.

Next pages in the lead to the next book Jadis states Allison's injuries went necrotic and the leg required amputation because Allison's control of the Key wasn't sufficient to heal herself properly.

[Anarchic Fox]

Oh, I see! I was trying to remember when she had decapitated someone, but it happened off-panel.

[wingnutx]

Next pages in the lead to the next book Jadis states Allison's injuries went necrotic and the leg required amputation because Allison's control of the Key wasn't sufficient to heal herself properly.

Thank you.

[wingnutx]

Allison is a seriously hardcore negotiator.

[Rakaydos]

Allison is a seriously hardcore negotiator.

"Before you ask" does not cover after you ask.
Al-Yis-Un acknowledged the terrible thing it is to wield a weapon, and yet had purpose for asking anyway. And she was polite.

[Lurkmoar]

I know that the dichotomy of violence being terrible and destructive to both social fabric and the personal spiritual being versus violence is sure as hell awesome to look it has been addressed already...

Spoiler

Show

The teaser image of future Alison being happy about being Kill Six Billion Demons seems to point to the later over the former.

[wingnutx]

"Before you ask" does not cover after you ask.
Al-Yis-Un acknowledged the terrible thing it is to wield a weapon, and yet had purpose for asking anyway. And she was polite.

I was kidding.

[Thales]

I think Allison will prove unable to wield the Maybe Sword, or at least at anything near its potential. It's not her heartsblood, after all. Instead, she'll find a jagged shard that's too small to be much of a blade of her own: the last fragment of Cio's mask. (I'm sure Cio will eventually be resurrected, but not necessarily immediately.)

[lord_khaine]

The teaser image of future Alison being happy about being Kill Six Billion Demons seems to point to the later over the former.

We dont know what she was actually happy about.
Might as well just for being alive.

I'm sure Cio will eventually be resurrected, but not necessarily immediately.

Im uncertain if Cio can be resurrected. She "was" once already.
But didnt come back as the same person. So can it be said she was actually resurrected?

[Dragonus45]

Yea Cio is gone, although Allison in full power god mode deciding to just pull her out of the swirling chaos in an impossible feat of awesome is not off the table. But Cio coming back just randomly in some other way would feel cheap and really undermine the credibility of the story.

[Rynjin]

How close is this one to concluding? I was interested when I tried reading it a few years ago but the pacing week to week was not doing it for me.

(Also TBF I got kinda fed up with the random powerups too but I'm still interested in seeing the plot conclude with whatever cultivation-related bull**** it decides to go with.)

[Lurkmoar]

Author's family just had a baby. So, delays are to be expected.

At the current rate, I'd say three to four years barring unforeseen circumstances. As for the power-ups, it's following the grand tradition of Anime. At least it's not taking cues from Silver Age Superman.

[Rynjin]

Author's family just had a baby. So, delays are to be expected.

At the current rate, I'd say three to four years barring unforeseen circumstances.

Well, congrats to them!

As for the power-ups, it's following the grand tradition of Anime. At least it's not taking cues from Silver Age Superman.

Eh, no. K6B is not exceptionally like anime/manga, and is more like an illustrated xianxia novel or a manhwa, most notably Tower of God.

The difference is a matter of training and effort. Any half-decent shonen will require the main character to DO something to manifest a new level of power. The latter two mediums require quite a bit less; usually on the order of a "mental breakthrough" at most for the laziest of them. Surface level it's spiritualism; as you reach oneness with yourself and refine your purpose, the spirit grows. And the body is merely a vessel for the spirit, which may be wholly discarded at a certain stage of power. But usually it just comes off as "character got a bit sad, contrived revelation, character now beats up people who were whooping their ass a couple of chapters ago".

I checked out at the chapter where Cio and Allison suddenly did the fusion dance and could suddenly beat up the cool black dude for a reason that, if explained, I do not recall. It sure felt like it came out of nowhere.

[tyckspoon]

The difference is a matter of training and effort. Any half-decent shonen will require the main character to DO something to manifest a new level of power. The latter two mediums require quite a bit less; usually on the order of a "mental breakthrough" at most for the laziest of them. Surface level it's spiritualism; as you reach oneness with yourself and refine your purpose, the spirit grows. And the body is merely a vessel for the spirit, which may be wholly discarded at a certain stage of power. But usually it just comes off as "character got a bit sad, contrived revelation, character now beats up people who were whooping their ass a couple of chapters ago".

I checked out at the chapter where Cio and Allison suddenly did the fusion dance and could suddenly beat up the cool black dude for a reason that, if explained, I do not recall. It sure felt like it came out of nowhere.

K6BD's thing has kind of always explicitly been that Allison is holding Real Ultimate Power and just isn't self-confident/enough of an egomaniacal lunatic to actually use it, tho. That's what getting stuck with the master key meant - all of her training and advancement has been to try to learn to access it deliberately instead of only in moments when her emotions were extreme enough to bust through her "I'm not good enough/too afraid to act/not strong enough to do this" blocks.

The fusion thing is what happens when somebody is crazy enough to try to wear a demon's mask. Normally it results in an ego clash, which the demon -generally- wins, and basically turns into a possession where the demon gets to use the idiot's body for whatever they want until the idiot burns out. Cio and Allison are able to make it work as a partnership, at least long enough for that fight. (Also it doesn't matter in the end, because "This isn't even my final form!" shenanigans are just not how victories are achieved in this universe.)

[Rynjin]

K6BD's thing has kind of always explicitly been that Allison is holding Real Ultimate Power and just isn't self-confident/enough of an egomaniacal lunatic to actually use it, tho. That's what getting stuck with the master key meant - all of her training and advancement has been to try to learn to access it deliberately instead of only in moments when her emotions were extreme enough to bust through her "I'm not good enough/too afraid to act/not strong enough to do this" blocks.

Right, the Master Key is a MacGuffin that acts as a catalyst for the exact cultivation tropes I was referring to. There's nothing inherently wrong with this, and I like that it's an interesting twist on the genre. Just pointing out the actual genre/medium it hews closest to, as K6BD follows most of these tropes 1:1. Even the vague sci-fi bent it has is not uncommon in this genre.

The fusion thing is what happens when somebody is crazy enough to try to wear a demon's mask. Normally it results in an ego clash, which the demon -generally- wins, and basically turns into a possession where the demon gets to use the idiot's body for whatever they want until the idiot burns out. Cio and Allison are able to make it work as a partnership, at least long enough for that fight. (Also it doesn't matter in the end, because "This isn't even my final form!" shenanigans are just not how victories are achieved in this universe.)

Ahhhh, so there is actually an explanation. I don't mind that then.

[Pax1138]

Plus there is actual training now and again, once Alison gets her ass kicked enough that she decides she maybe should try and learn things properly.

And supposedly this very last, we mean it this time, no really, Chapter has just started (start of last chapter was supposed to be the final chapter, but it got too long, so it underwent mitosis like a YA movie adaptation). (Also, I know I don't mind, because I like this world and story and want to see more of it before we have to go.)

[Rynjin]

If you don't mind losing the very nice art, and want a story to give you similar feels in between chapters, you could try novels of the genre. I think...95% of them are the absolute worst kind of garbage, but there are some gems in there.

I recently read Defiance of the Fall which is quite good. The writing starts a bit rough (not in storytelling which is actually fine from the start but in actual mechanics; there's a lot of perspective and tense disagreement in the early chapters) but it improves pretty quickly.

Looking forward to catching up on this when it ends. I have a couple of webcomics I'm "banking" at the moment (Stand Still. Stay Silent. is the other one...which after a quick check, HAS actually concluded as of this time last year. Huh.).

[Rydiro]

Plus there is actual training now and again, once Alison gets her ass kicked enough that she decides she maybe should try and learn things properly.

Unfotunately, Allison learned just the most basic thing about magic from cio. Would have liked to see a bit more about how it works and how its different from fist-magic and sword-magic.

[wingnutx]

Maya was STACKED.

[Rydiro]

Did anyone get from context, what the question is?

[Gez]

Did anyone get from context, what the question is?

My guess would be something along the line of, "and then?"...

[Lurkmoar]

Wasn't Pyrrhus hit with this rhetorical line of questioning? Or am I thinking Alexander?

[sihnfahl]

My guess would be something along the line of, "and then?"...

Yes. Slashing. Controlling. Killing their way to the top... only to ... what?

Always watching your back for someone trying to backstab you? No family? In the end, the empire will break apart, either from someone killing her, or from her dying of old age.

And the cycle repeats, and she be just a chapter in history, one of a long line of fighters and conquerors, to be followed by another conqueror. All her works... done. No family. No LIFE to really enjoy to show for it.

[Dragonus45]

I mean, the question was probably the one she just asked Alison. What do you think about death.

[Eldan]

Hm... I'm not convinced? Like, early chapters Allison has not thought about death, sure. But this Allison just recently lost a lot of friends and a lover. And saw a multiversal war wipe out cities and worlds. And then spent months lying around in a depressive state, thinking about it all.

[InvisibleBison]

I don't think Maya is going to tell Allison what Meti's question was until she's confident it won't break Allison the same way it broke her.

[Gez]

That question about death is certainly Mathangi's catchphrase, it's her very first words in the comic. Does she obsess over this question because it's The Question? Maybe, but that seems a bit weird to me.

So what do we know about The Question?
https://killsixbilliondemons.com/com...-1-13-to-1-14/

• It's the right question to ask, instead of "how do I beat the BBEG ?"
• This question ruined Maya, emphasis hers.

https://killsixbilliondemons.com/com...-1-15-to-1-17/

• Meti's entire point is that wanting to rule the universe is stupid and that Maya would have been happier staying a noodle seller. Meti also made no mystery of how much contempt she had for wannabe lords of the universe.
• The Question was asked in response to Maya claiming she "would have the world itself".
• Maya started arguing back at Meti, so The Question is one that can be answered with arguing.
• When Maya realized the true weight of the Question, she abandoned her title, her army, and became a peasant, and was happy until Inky caught up with her.

For all these reasons, I don't think "what do you think about death" is The Question. It just doesn't fit.

[Rakaydos]

That question about death is certainly Mathangi's catchphrase, it's her very first words in the comic. Does she obsess over this question because it's The Question? Maybe, but that seems a bit weird to me.

So what do we know about The Question?
https://killsixbilliondemons.com/com...-1-13-to-1-14/

• It's the right question to ask, instead of "how do I beat the BBEG ?"
• This question ruined Maya, emphasis hers.

https://killsixbilliondemons.com/com...-1-15-to-1-17/

• Meti's entire point is that wanting to rule the universe is stupid and that Maya would have been happier staying a noodle seller. Meti also made no mystery of how much contempt she had for wannabe lords of the universe.
• The Question was asked in response to Maya claiming she "would have the world itself".
• Maya started arguing back at Meti, so The Question is one that can be answered with arguing.
• When Maya realized the true weight of the Question, she abandoned her title, her army, and became a peasant, and was happy until Inky caught up with her.

For all these reasons, I don't think "what do you think about death" is The Question. It just doesn't fit.

But "And then what?" does fit. "What good is an empire if you gave away your life to take it?"

Mottom tried to give allison her empire. Solomon was trying to find someone "worthy". Dreams of empire turn to ashes when the empire is yours seems to be a theme in this comic.

[halfeye]

That question about death is certainly Mathangi's catchphrase, it's her very first words in the comic. Does she obsess over this question because it's The Question? Maybe, but that seems a bit weird to me.

So what do we know about The Question?
https://killsixbilliondemons.com/com...-1-13-to-1-14/

• It's the right question to ask, instead of "how do I beat the BBEG ?"
• This question ruined Maya, emphasis hers.

https://killsixbilliondemons.com/com...-1-15-to-1-17/

• Meti's entire point is that wanting to rule the universe is stupid and that Maya would have been happier staying a noodle seller. Meti also made no mystery of how much contempt she had for wannabe lords of the universe.
• The Question was asked in response to Maya claiming she "would have the world itself".
• Maya started arguing back at Meti, so The Question is one that can be answered with arguing.
• When Maya realized the true weight of the Question, she abandoned her title, her army, and became a peasant, and was happy until Inky caught up with her.

For all these reasons, I don't think "what do you think about death" is The Question. It just doesn't fit.

How about "Are you happy?"