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

Chapter two!


While Killy gambles with devils, White Chain and 6 Juggernaut Coldsteel The Hegeheg sit down atop one of the recovering Prime Angels to talk over tea. 69 Rolley takes Sinners 1-4 out for some exercise, while 404 Polley and Sinners 5-9 guard their stuff.

Looks like White Chain can drink tea in this state after all. I guess its spirit tea, served in spirit cups. It may or may not get the drinker spirit pregnant.

6 Juggernaut tells White Chain (who he addresses as "deviant." I guess the leader of the Kill All Humans faction wouldn't be any more kindly disposed toward a human-corrupted angel) a part of King Zoss' story that she hadn't known before. After destroying most of the prime angels' buses, Zoss managed to cripple the avatar of 1 Metatron, the angel known as "God's scribe," without totally disabling it. Somehow, he forced the wounded 1 Metatron to tell him things. Things including the names of all 777,777 children of Yis and Un and those of the worlds each of them created.

This implies that angels can't voluntarily abandon their avatars. Or, if they can, then it's at least a lengthy process that they can't do quickly enough to escape interrogation. Or maybe Zoss just used a spell or something to prevent 1 Metatron from doing that.

So, Zoss learned the names and details of each of the satellite universes, and he used that knowledge to create the Gates and the other 777,776 keys to go with them. However, what he never told any of his demiurge followers or devil minions was that he secretly made one extra. A master key. Capable of opening and closing any of the gates, and transporting its bearer to and from any of the worlds.

Why he didn't use this to shut everything down when the multiversal war started, I'm not sure. Perhaps he feared that his rebellious generals and nobles would realize what he'd done and turn their combined forces on him in a fight not even he could win. But anyway, he kept the master key for himself. At least, until now.

So that's the master key Killy's got in her skull. Makes sense. Zoss couldn't have expected her to do that much with just one of the "ordinary" keys of kings, when the enemy already has thousands of those.

So, what does 6 Juggernaut want? While he'd be happy if White Chain were to join the Thorn Knights (and promises to arrange a shiny, spiky new avatar for her ASAP if she does), the main reason he's talking to her is because he wants a specific thing done. Namely, he wants her to help Killy get to Zaid. 6 Juggernaut believes that fulfilling the prophecy of Zoss' successor, at least partway, will create an opportunity for the Thorn Knights to wipe out Throne's human infestation. Or, perhaps even wipe out all humans everywhere. One or the other. Probably the latter, given that his name includes the words "scour the universe." It looks like 6 Juggernaut is under the same misconception as the Seven, regarding who the chosen one actually is.

Also, he clarifies that the Thorn Knights who captured Zaid were not doing a contract for Mottom. Which wouldn't make any sense at all, if indeed the Thorns knew what they were dealing with here. Rather, Mottom's own vapras intercepted the Thorn Knights as they returned and took the prisoner from them. The surviving Thorns tried to flee Mottom's agents, and ended up crossing into THE JAGGANATH BITCH's territory, where they were made short work of. So, those spike angels were originally going to bring Zaid and the master key to Thorn HQ.

I'm still trying to figure out where Zoss is supposed to have been for all these thousands of years since the war. And why a handful of angelic mooks in itty bitty spike-synths were able to kill the guy who once singlehandly took out a squad of archangels in buses.

6 Juggernaut brings White Chain into a little cavern formed by the silent, recovering spirit forms of some prime angels. Are they not able to move or speak at all, for some reason? Just totally silent and still in concentration as they prepare themselves for new avatars? Anyway, in a little cavern formed by their unmoving wings and tentacles, there are a bunch of thorn knights standing over a prisoner. It's another, more garishly colored, female-humanoid looking angel. One that identifies herself as someone we've already met.

It's that fallen angel mercenary who pimpdemon hired in volume 1. Whatsername. I guess she's a fellow deviant, albeit one with more flexible morals. Maybe she actually meant "sisterbrother" in an endearing rather than mocking way, given her own self-visualization?

I don't quite understand everything she's saying here, but it seems like there's something that you can threaten even a disembodied angel with. Her spirit form looks injured by Thorn Knight weapons, so...I guess angels actually can be harmed? Can they be killed for real? I don't think so, based on what 2 Michael said about humans being "the only true mortals," but there's apparently something that can still happen to them.

Anyway, before White Chain's eyes, 6 Juggernaut picks up 69 Rolley and starts savagely beating the prisoner with him, while screaming the words "Metatron lives." And then a pair of the giant wings overshadowing the scene pull themselves apart to reveal the truth of that statement.

So, Zoss never quite destroyed 1 Metatron's bus, even though he left it with four flat tires and a missing battery. At a guess, Metatron made him swear not to in exchange for the names he divulged. That way, instead of spending thousands of years asleep or whatever the hell the other prime angels are doing while they prepare for resleeving, he could stay conscious. And he surreptitiously founded the Thorn Knights as a secret leader, with 6 Juggernaut acting as figurehead.

I guess repairing 1 Metatron's avatar is beyond the thorn knights' abilities. Or maybe they secretly already have fixed it, and just left superficial cracks on the outside to trick anyone who manages to spy on them? 1 Metatron might just be waiting for the right moment to stand up and take his enemies by surprise.

If the latter, bringing the master key and what they thought was the chosen one to him might well be that perfect moment. Force Zaid to use the key to close all the gates, then lead the Thorn Knights in a surprise attack on the Seven while they're reeling from being cut off from their empires. After that, Metatron and Co could purge the 777,777 worlds of human life at their own pace to ensure that no more demiurgi will come into being. That sounds plausible, and would technically fulfill rather than attempt to defy the prophecy.

By the way, the last four pages have had a short story written in the text-blurbs about law enforcers becoming a threat to the law. I'll do an extra post right after this one about it, because it's both very good and seems to be foreshadowing a lot about the role the angel characters might play in the comic going forward.

Anyway, we cut away from the dramatic 1 Metatron reveal and return to Killy and her ebon devil opponent. He's suggested a game that they might play for the prizes they seek from one another.

Well, they ARE at a bar. Use what's around you, I guess. Of course, depending on what this ebon devil's avatar is made of, alcohol might not have any effect on him...although, wait, no, if they were immune they wouldn't bother having bars in the first place. Huh.

Back in Hell 71, Cutiepie and Honeybunch made their avatars out of a pool of human flesh and organs. If devils favor organic avatars in general, then that might make them susceptible to drugs. Yeah, that would explain this. These guys have all had their masks affixed to a biological medium. Maybe human parts, maybe something else. Anyway, they can get drunk.

Cio takes Killy aside and tells her she's even stupider than she thought, putting herself in a physical contest against the strongest and least-named kind of devil. However, Cio can salvage this with some sneaky application of her paper magic.

Cheating, she explains, is a deeply rooted diabolical tradition. This is a traditional devil bet Killy's agreed to, so she should respect their culture! Killy isn't sure about this, and tries to tell Cio as much.

And then, the best thing in the history of the comic book medium happens.

There are multiple pages of this as Killy and the ebon devil (now named as Vladok) drink round after round of dangerous-looking devil liquor brands one after the next. The devils singing about this contest, and about the diabolical way of life in general. I want to post the entire damned thing, all five and a half pages of it, but instead I'll encourage you all to bestow your clicks on a comic sequence that very much deserve them.

The drinking gets intense. In a low-energy dip in the singing, some of the devils among the chorus express growing sympathies for plucky underdog Killy. Cio expresses a little more than just sympathies.

I guess her interest in checking Killy for lesbian proclivities was more than just dedication to Cio's art. Hmm. Well, I can't say I ship it quite yet, but we'll see if they develop better chemistry once they've been adventuring together a little longer.

While we're focused in on the sidelines, a red devil who Cio seems to know and dislike approaches her.

I'm not sure how the verse in the left panel is supposed to be sung, in terms of who's saying what in which order. Anyway, the red guy is giving what seems to be a taunt, but I think might actually be a warning of the "heads up; people are after you" kind.

Oh, yeah, it's definitely a warning. Because, off on the edge of the shantytown, we see these two:

Cutiepie and Honeybunch have had their masks installed in some much cheaper and uglier avatar medium, it seems. Presumably as a punishment for failure. And it seems like they're looking to redeem themselves by recovering Cio. Killy had better win her contest quickly!

The red devil says "I thought I'd warn you, on a whim" in a way that suggests that he actually helped these two catch up to Cio, but is now warning her just to make it interesting. Yeah, these two have a complicated history. I want to say exes.

Killy and Zardok reach their tenth round. Zardok is getting impatient. Killy, however, returns his threatening verse with the musical equivalent of "I am not lefthanded," only better.

The under-the-comic blurb here, quoting a Mendicant Knight named Dyon from a few millennia ago, has this to say:

“Words of Dyon said:
“The power drawn from strength is mighty indeed. All men respect the sword.

Greater still is the power drawn from ultimate weakness. When a man has nothing to cling to, he has taken the first step to becoming Royalty.””

Weaponized weakness. Turning the fruits of Alison's self-loathing into part of Kill Six Billion Demons' power set.

This is a very silly scene, of course. But the themes it's getting at, of the first step along the path to enlightenment being recovery from rock bottom, are pretty poignant. Killy's willingness to abandon everything, her lack of value placed in either the life she had or on herself as a person, is part of what let her answer the hero's call. It's not a good way to exist, but its bad in a specific way that has opened a path to not only improvement, but greatness.

...

In the story of Gautama Buddha, the Buddha eventually rejected extreme self-denial in his path to enlightenment, but he was only able to see the problems with it and choose the right alternative after having already experienced it. I think this, and other stories like it, might have been part of the author's thematic inspiration for this arc.

...

After round ten, Vladok becomes too drunk to rhyme his words, and starts slurring incoherently while Killy remains conscious. Looks like she's won!

But...Vladok turns out to be a sore loser. Perhaps the alcohol is making him a sorer one than he'd normally be. Perhaps not. Anyway, it turns out that devils actually can break their magical contracts, though not without cost.

By refusing to honor a sacred pact, Vladok breaks his mask and loses his individuality. He's not even really a devil anymore, or won't be for long at least. His avatar begins to fall apart as he reverts to the raw primality of the hungry black flame. But it'll take a little while for him to revert completely, and in that time he's going to kill the puny mortal who dared humiliate him.

During the song, the devils said that they all want to become ebons. However, the very unbound-ness that makes ebon devils so powerful also makes them the closest to oblivion. The height of diabolical power and freedom is living right on the knife's edge of ultimate loss of self.

And he was willing to give up all that, all of his everything, rather than bring her to the stupid palace.

Vladok did not have the best sense of priorities. The alcohol also probably didn't help.

Before the thrashing, mutating mass of flesh and escaping black fire can strike Killy, those human "magisters" who she talked to before the drinking contest intervene. They shoot these magitech laser things at the monster that used to be Vladok, which holds it off long enough for Killy to grab a mask off of a random red devil in the audience (erm...isn't that just going to cause the same problem all over again? Or did she just grab an extra mask out of his hand? The visuals are really unclear) and recklessly charges the beast to stuff the new mask into its mass. The magisters tell Killy that she must now give the devil a name to bind it to this new mask. And, in the name of the moon, Vapra Usagi of House Omega Kappa Phi does just that.

On one hand, problem solved.

On the other, the entity who could have flown Killy up to Mottom's palace no longer exists, having been replaced by another puny little blue devil like all the others in the crowd. So, Killy is back to square one, only more knowledgeable about devils and way, way drunker than she was before.

To make matters worse, the magisters are asking a lot more questions now. A vapra couldn't possibly be ignorant enough about devils to need someone else to prompt her to name one during masking. And yet, that is most definitely a Key of Kings in her head. They demand to know who she is. And also, when musing over who besides a vapra or demiurge could possibly have a key, accidentally let slip something that Cio didn't want Killy to know.

The only one to have stolen a key in living memory was an exceptionally powerful ebon devil. And we've just seen a process by which an ebon devil can be demoted to a lowly blue. Well, Cio has my moral support in getting her powers back! Hopefully she'll soon have Killy's as well.

Also, Cio confirms that that red devil actually is her ex boyfriend. Haha.

For now though, the magisters are getting pushy. More importantly, Cutie and Honey have pushed most of their way through the crowd and are closing in fast. While Killy pukes up ten devil-fetuses (to the stunned disbelief of Cio, who just now realizes that Killy never actually used the paper totem she gave her), Cio puts on her "coat of arms" that does exactly what it says on the tin.

So that's why she had fewer arms in this volume than in the previous one. It's a magic item.

Just as Team CutieHoney are about to catch up to them, Cio uses her many hands to put together an origami wyvern that she and Killy fly away on.

I guess that coat generates infinite paper to go with the extra limbs.

More importantly though, this means that Cio actually *could* have flown Killy up to the palace earlier. I don't get the impression that most of the other devils could have done that.

There was also that time that she used those paper soldiers to fend off a small army of thugs. Some of whom looked to be devilish as well. None of them used similarly powerful abilities back at her.

And we know she was an ebon at some time in the past.

...can devils make themselves look like weaker forms of devil? Thinking about it, it seems like all it would require would be a minor illusion or something to make the mask look a different color. We know from Vladok's example that more powerful devils can compress their avatars into denser forms that look smaller and less intimidating. So, unless there's some mystical rule that prevents devils from obscuring the color of their masks, she could totally still be an ebon masquerading as a blue. Or, if she has fallen at least somewhat since her glory days, maybe she's just one step below that (I think yellow was the second strongest. She could have just been demoted to yellow and be pretending to have gotten hit much harder).

But yeah. Cio is either not actually a blue devil, or she has some other source of power that most devils don't have access to.

...I wonder if Cutie and Honey are actually even a threat to her at all, on their own. They both appear to be white devils, which are supposed to be the weakests, and they didn't exactly impress in their battle with White Chain. With all the bullshit her paper powers can do, I'm pretty sure Cio could deal with them handily.

Yeah, she's playing a long con. On whom, I'm not sure. Someone though. She and 1 Metatron are employing similar strategies for luring their enemies into a false sense of security.

However powerful Cio actually is, though, there might be troubles not even she can handle long before they make it to the Dread Headdress. A large group of assorted thugs and mercenaries are watching from across the void desert as Cio's recognizable paper-construct flies toward the palace.

Yeah, all those people who were after the key in the hell-71 sequence are still after it. I have a feeling we're going to get at least a few combat encounters out of these guys over the next volume or two.

Speaking of combat and the material to come, its notable that Cio is actually flying herself and Killy toward Mottom's palace. She was adamant that Killy wasn't strong enough to face her, before. It seems that after seeing Killy's performance against Vladok, Cio's changed her mind.


That's the end of the chapter. There are four more in this volume.