Kill Six Billion Demons II: “Wielder of Names” (part three)

Book 2 of 5, chapter 3 of 6. Two hundred million demons to kill in this post, let's go!


Killy and Cio are riding the latter's paper dragon off into the empty sky of the void toward Mottom's palace, leaving a large crowd of frustrated mercenaries in the devil village below. Killy is mad at Cio for not telling her about this sooner, but I'm going to take Cio's side on this one. There were people after them when she returned to her homeworld. She knew they wanted the thing in her head. She still had the thing in question when she used it to return to Throne-adjacent-space. It's not Cio's fault that the two of them have to flee, and her expectation that Killy would have thought this through on her own already is reasonable. That said, Killy's drunk off her ass, so I'm not going to judge her too harshly either.

As they fly over the ashy wasteland, Killy notices a procession traveling between a pair of active Gates below. Which gives Cio a chance to fill in a bit more worldbuilding.

The "walking" part is actually pretty interesting, come to think of it. We've yet to see a combustion engine in Throne, or even a steam engine for that matter. Only animal mounts, and the occasional magic construct like the Prime Angel buses or Cio's paper dragon. It doesn't seem like there'd be anything to prevent motor vehicles from working here, but no one is using them.

I'm starting to get the impression that our/Killy's earth is much more technologically advanced than most. Perhaps moreso than any of the conquered worlds. It makes sense; the demiurgi favor magic over technology, and seem to be the sorts who would dislike repeatable, reliable, powerful tools that can be built or used by anyone on principle, so I could see them discouraging mundane science. Still, it makes me wonder how many other post-industrial worlds there are in the setting, and what measures the Black Seven would take to ensure that their tech doesn't proliferate when/if they conquered such a world.

Anyway, Cio continues to explain a bit more about the nature of the pseudo-terrain below them. Creation is shaped like a wheel, with throne at the center and the ring of parallel universes hanging off from it on the "spokes" of the gods' voices. If life is fundamentally fire, then it produces a sort of ash. Said "ash" of the living Yisun - the one who is everything - formed this pseudo-desert with pseudo-gravity in the dimensional nothingness "under" the wheel, and the gates pass through here.

Cio then rambles on, monologuing about how part of her purview as a "fan fiction" writer is to write the history of the gates and roads connecting them that's more accessible, more readable, and more filled with sex and violence than the existing accounts. And, from there, kind of drifts to talking about her past.

That's about what I expected. Though of course, being a devil, Cio would have been spared being stripped for parts like many of Nand's human traffickees.

Unfortunately for Cio's lightlessly hot little devil soul, Killy had already passed out at some point in the lecture. So, Cio just sighs and steers the origami after Mottom's palace-ship, following it through one of the Gates.

Not sure how the palace is supposed to have fit through ahead of them. I guess it either uses the gate's dimensional vortex to propel itself through without physically passing between the columns, or if Mottom can just shrink it down to fit.

As they fly through the portal, the unconscious Killy is having an alcohol-laden dream in which she berates herself for being stupid and reckless and not nearly as brave as she tries to act. I get the feeling she does this to herself a lot. She halts the self-loathing midsentence when her dream is visited by David Bowie.

So, that's one of the two Black Kings who we didn't get to meet in the evil meeting room in volume one. Ziggy "Incubus" Stardust.

He tells Killy that she should stop pitying herself, because she chose this fantastic voyage, and fundamentally she wants it. He was watching her as she departed Throne and returned to it, not appearing to her until now for fear of blowing her mind, and he thinks she can accomplish great things if she follows her true ambitions. So, have faith in yourself and don't blow it Killy, it'll all be worthwhile.

Well, he seems helpful, at least for now. I doubt he'll remain so, though. This is probably just an attempt to gain Killy's trust so that he can sabotage her, or use her against the other six, or something like that. Regardless of his agenda, Incubus' ability to communicate through dreams from clear across the multiverse is seemingly unique, and it lends itself to some really devious strategic possibilities. It also calls attention to the fact that he didn't deign to tune in even remotely to Mottom's meeting, despite apparently being a master of remote communication. That makes his choice seem very deliberate. Even in the context of a world of gods and sorcerer-kings, this is not a being to take lightly.

When Killy awakens from her moonage daydream, Mottom's palace has stopped moving and is hovering in an alien sky. Cio has landed them on the surface below, and bids Killy welcome to the world of Mykos. It's not yet clear if Mykos is the name of the planet they're on, or the name of the entire universe that it exists in. Either way, Killy is given a look at what her own Earth has to look forward to should Mottom ever get around to opening its Gate.

Okay hold on a second though. Mottom took a personal liking to the local fruit, and somehow this drove her to reduce the entire region to a rotting wasteland? Even if she's the mummy equivalent of Snorlax, Tasmanian Devil, and Cookie Monster combined, and her hat eats three times as much as she does, this is not a sufficient explanation.

Maybe Cio means that some other, more favored, world in Mottom's empire has a huge appetite for Mykosian fruit, and she overharvested it for their benefit. Or the natives resisted her attempts to appropriate their forests, and this devastation was a punitive measure. Or maybe it's just that her liking of the fruit means that her ship spends a lot of time here, and that stuff raining off the sides of it is toxic waste that eventually poisoned the area. Not sure. Hopefully we'll get an explanation, even if said explanation is just "Cio was being poetic."

...also, Cio says that she's personally been here before, and that this area was still forested and populated by wagon-tribes at the time. Given what we know about devils, I think it can be inferred that Cio was present at the opening of this world's gate, and participated in its conquest by Mottom's forces. She may have just been there to document the event for her fanfic history purposes, but still. Might that be regret in her downcast eyes as she lights up her pipe in those bottom corner panels, rather than mere wistfulness?

Anyway, Cio then starts trying to discourage Killy from proceeding hence. I wonder why she even brought her here, then? Just to illustrate how callous and uncaring Mottom is, so that Killy will drop the idea of trying to appeal to her for help? That's probably it. Unfortunately, it's not working.

Cio gibbers some colorful diabolical insults at Killy's back as the human marches toward the dismal town over which Mottom's palace floats. Killy tells her that she doesn't care what Cio thinks. She still doesn't trust her "I want to write your legend" story, and she still doesn't think she's any kind of hero no matter what her or the ghost of (though to be fair, she has no way of knowing that that's who it is) King Zoss says. She wants to free Zaid, and she wants the thing out of her head. Cio insists that Mottom will just cut her head in half to get the Key and not lift a finger to help with Zaid, and that they should reeeaaally go back to Throne and just do some detective work to find out where he is.

It's funny, since well...Mottom is literally the person who is holding Zaid, not that either of them know that.

Killy asks Cio one more time to please, in that case, just remove the key herself as White Chain tried to arrange before. Unfortunately, Cio says, she just no longer possesses the power necessary to do that. Guess she lost that along with her black mask, regardless of whether or not her current one is actually blue rather than green or gold. She can't though. So, Killy goes on ahead, and Cio just watches dejectedly.

As Killy approaches the town, she's treated to some quality Weird Fantasy Dystopia sights and sounds.

Hold on...the fruit in the baskets being carried in the leftmost panel are blue. Not vibrant and glowing like the bulbous fungi that are all over the place, but similar color and size. I wonder if those blue shoots ARE the fruit plant that Mottom so favors? A decomposer that feeds on the decay of other plants? That would kind of make sense, though it still begs the question of who she could be feeding them to that would require this quantity.

As Killy avoids the gruesome colonialist practices going on around her and moves a little away from the beaten path, she's startled by a lone native woman who emerges from hiding. The woman is startled back again, though, when she sees the Key in Killy's head, identifying it as a "star of the masters." I like how there are a million human names for the Keys. Really gives the impression that there are whole planets' worth of human cultures who have had to cope with demiurgic conquest in their own ways.

Upon being reminded of the association between Keys and demiurgi, Killy tries to use her own to will herself up to the palace. Nope. That's not what those things do. Or, well, maybe they also CAN do that, but if so it's both not their main purpose and not a user-friendly feature that Killy can use untrained. Still got to find another way up.

As she turns back to the native woman, the latter starts begging Killy not to report her.

Apparently, the tribute Mottom collects during her regular visits to Mykos include one hundred local girls. I'm not sure if "local" is referring to the entire planet, or just this particular part of it; in the latter case the total number of women collected per tribute could be in the thousands. Anyway, these women allegedly become part of Mottom's entourage and palace staff, getting to see the multiverse with their goddess as the palace-ship cycles from world to world in her empire. It's supposed to be a great honor. However, this girl, who names herself as Nyave, got cold feet on her way to be part of the tribute. The way the presiding officials treated her and the other girls didn't seem like they were bound for honored positions at all, and Nyave knew that no tribute girl is ever seen by her family or friends again, so she snuck away from the group. The white cowled cloak she's wearing is the uniform given to the conscripted girls.

I'm not sure what Mottom would need for so damned many girls. Even if she was hornier than she is hungry, that's just way too many for such purposes. Maybe she serves them marinated in fruit juice to her immense personal devil army or something.

Anyway, Killy decides that its time to A New Hope this shit.

She finds her way to the group, whose overseer beats her across the face with a heavy fan for dilly-dallying. But, she buys it, and that's what's important. Fortunately, the other tribute girls seem to represent a number of Mykosian ethnicities, so Killy's pale skin and blond hair being just about the chromatic opposite of Nyave doesn't give her away.

Also, Mykos is apparently home to multiple species as well as ethnic groups.

I thought that insectoid creature in the third panel above was part of the escorting staff or something, but no, she's dressed like a tribute and her body language (as best I can interpret it) suggests she's part of their group.

So, back to my earlier question about what a "human" is. I guess the insectoid lady might be some breed of servant rather than human, but I somehow don't think so. So, is Mykos home to do separate species of "human," one of them being much further from the multiversal norm than the other? Not sure. I kind of hope so. It feels like a waste to have 777,777 universes peopled by nothing but Homo sapiens.

So, Killy is taken away with the rest of the harvest and boarded onto a shuttle for transport to the palace-ship. Watching from hiding, Nyave makes the same assessment that I did at the end of volume one.

From there, we cut to White Chain Born In Emptiness Returns to Tell Everyone About The Fucked Up Experience She Just Had At Thorn Knight HQ. There are a bunch of disembodied angels milling around outside of the Concordant Knights' base, who greet White Chain when she comes back. They're a little worried about her, though; not only is her spirit form covered in injuries, but she's gone a dark, almost devilish-looking, hue, as if her very fiery essence has been clouded or dimmed. When asked what the hell the thornies did to her, she simply declares that "Metatron lives."

420 Lamassu Whose Head Is An Ophan and the others are skeptical. As far as anyone knew, the Thorn Knights believe that Metatron will return as their leader when he resumes wakefulness, not that he already is conscious and leading them.

Just hearing 1 Metatron's voice fucked White Chain up something fierce. Like-a-spark-to-the-fire sort of thing, I guess. It seems that not all "Prime Angels" are on the same level, given that 1 Metatron's power appears to dwarf even 2 Michael's.

Metatron's overwhelming voice promised White Chain a brand new Thorn Knight avatar, stronger than his old one and even customized to be sort of femme looking if that's what it takes to get her onboard. White Chain refused, and got roughed up by 6 Juggernaut Star and Co for her trouble. The twist came with the appearance of 2 Michael. Apparently, Michael can leave his avatar and come back to it at will. Also, people technically-not-spoilered me on the prefix number coming from how many times they've been beaten in spirit form and recovered (see below), rather than how many synths they've gone through, so thanks for that assholes. Anyway, Michael outside of his suit looks a bit like Unsounded's Lady Ilganyag.

Michael and Metatron recently made a secret pact. Michael still isn't too enthusiastic about the whole genocide-the-humans deal, but (as we easily could have guessed) he's not too repulsed by it to work closely with the Thorn Knights and their secret leader. And, okay, finally, a partial explanation for what I didn't get about angelic death and rebirth.

So...when you beat up an angel's spirit form enough, it turns into stone for a really long time, during which its dead to the world. After however many hundreds or thousands of years, it unfreezes and can be given a new avatar. They can leave or reenter these avatars...um...not quite at will? And disabling the avatar a certain way lets the angel exit unharmed, but doing it another way like Zoss did makes them petrify immediately upon avatar destruction? Is it just a matter of how hard you hit the avatar, and how suddenly? Or maybe its just down to how magical the attack in question was?

Anyway, I'm not totally clear on how this works, but I'm pretty sure that the author made it more complicated than it needs to be.

Anyway, Michael told White Chain that the trial and execution routine was just a piece of theater for the benefit of the other Concordant Knights. Really, he arranged the pickup by Juggernaut Star for White Chain as soon as she left the building himself. Michael and Metatron both have some zany plan cooked up that will somehow use the fulfillment of the prophecy to...revive Yisun? Something like that. Anyway, they both seem to think that Zaid is actually Kill Six Billion Demons and Allison is just some rando who Zoss gave the Key to in order to hide it.

Man, what a twist it will be if everyone turns out to be right and it actually was Zaid all along lol.

Anyway, Michael and Metatron wanted White Chain to insinuate herself back into Killy's company and do her best to ensure that her quest succeeds. Unite Zaid and the master key, and then recover both as per the Thorn Knights' initial attempt. Also, Michael instructed White Chain to kill Killy if need be.

White Chain refused, and took off. Juggernaut Star offered to beat her into stone, but Michael told him to let her go; she'll change her mind, he's sure of it.

So, that brings us back to the present. White Chain finishes her account, and most of the angels just plain don't believe her, declaring that she's obviously been badly beaten by the Thorn Knights and probably hallucinated. The scene is strongly, probably deliberately, reminiscent of Killy's return to the sorority house in volume one. Sorority angels. Sounds like a porno. It quickly becomes clear that another reason they aren't taking White Chain seriously is because of her corrupted, human-like appearance, which pisses White Chain off something fierce when she realizes it.

Lamassu Whose Head Is An Ophan tries to get the others to cut it out, but it doesn't help much. Lamassu is a good guy.

"Not racist but," New Weird Edition.

Finally White Chain gets sick of how useless and milquetoast apathetic the Concordants are, and decides to take Michael up on this mission just because its better than doing nothing.

The parallel with Killy, pretending to go along with the bad guys' plan and wearing their uniform to do so, is pretty obvious. It remains to be seen if Cio is also undercover; if so, her motives are likely to throw a major monkey wrench into Killy's efforts.


That's chapter three done. Three more to go in the volume.