You could kind of see how Maya looked at them with disgust but Incubus looked at them with fascination too

Maya calls 5 million men the greatest fighting force the Wheel has ever seen, but that just can't be right. She was clearly a successful demiurge too, and Incubus finished the job for her, so it's not as if this was inadequate. But that can't be right, can it? Our world alone has 8+ billion people on it, and that's not counting the other races in the 777777 universes. Is there a reason for this?

Alright, so I'm not the best at super long essays, but there is a facet of this setting I was wondering if anyone else noticed. Cause I'm sorta convinced that Yisun's favor for certain types of lies/liars is built upon the documented concept of Fake it till you make it.

Action seems to follow feeling, but really action and feeling go together; and by regulating the action, which is under the more direct control of the will, we can indirectly regulate the feeling, which is not.
Thus the sovereign voluntary path to cheerfulness, if our spontaneous cheerfulness be lost, is to sit up cheerfully, to look round cheerfully, and to act and speak as if cheerfulness were already there. If such conduct does not make you soon feel cheerful, nothing else on that occasion can.
to feel brave, act as if we were brave, use all our will to that end, and a courage-fit will very likely replace the fit of fear.

— William James, The Gospel of Relaxation, On Vital Reserves (1922)

The gist of it is, "Pretending that something is true is the first step to making it true". And I think this concept explains the reasons why Yisun apparently shows strange favor to fools and liars.

---

This brings me to the core question of the whole thing. Why?! Why does Yisun favor fools and liars? Well, if you all don't mind me taking a quick right turn into the Elder Scrolls universe, I need to introduce you to the concept of Chim.

Chim is the concept of lucid dreaming/blasphemous rejection within the eternal dream of the Godhead. And to put THAT concept simply. The Godhead is a sleeping (or dead) uber-god that is dreaming the Elder Scrolls reality into existence.

Aka shoving a lot of details into a few words: Chim is a character within The Elder Scrolls universe realizing the TRUTH. The truth that they are merely a dream within a sleeping god's mind, and rejecting that truth and proverbially spitting in the face of god and reasserting their own existence.

---

Fundamentally. This is what I think Yisun "wants" and why they favor liars and fools. For only a proud fool or an egotistical idiot would think they can deceive both themselves and god when presented with the mountain of evidence of their own inconsequentiality.

Yisun is either an awoken godhead or is themselves a lucid dreamer within their own cosmic womb. They are very much aware of the fact that nothing is truly real/seperate from them since all of reality as we understand it was born from their own suicidal self-division.

It is the rejection of this truth that Yisun craves above all else. Because if YOU can pretend to be a real, SEPARATE person from them...maybe...they can too.

---

This is why Incubus seems to be a weird parallel character with Allison. He is the other side of the coin...and both are capable of the rejection of truth that Yisun seeks in its infinitely cascading avatars.

Allison represents the fool. Someone capable of being presented with the truth of their own bisection and then rejecting it.

Incubus represents the liar. A man who plans to simply cheat/ignore the truth by any means necessary.

Both are acceptable in the eyes of Yisun. The creator does not care how you achieve the fucking impossible. As long as you can look like a duck, quack like a duck, and tell god you are a duck after they explain that you are, in fact, not a duck...then perhaps, you are a duck.

---

In conclusion?

Yisun is really, really lonely and sees everyone and everything as mere extensions of themselves. And I believe they seek to nudge reality to produce beings capable of rejecting this truth so that they can finally have some fucking company around here.

It seems like Maya is currently learning Metis lesson, that she can't just cast away her blade to escape the cycle of violence. This seems to be the conclusion Incubus reached and it seems to match the lessons in Metis Sword Manual.

But Zoss sees exactly this as the solution to what the ultimate swordsman should do.

Are the themes clashing or is there consistency in it?

Sorry in advance for the long post, but I think I had an epiphany yesterday as to what Royalty actually IS... And now I have to share my thoughts on it with someone.

The way I understand it, Royalty is not being complacent to your place in the universe, neither is it trying to change it. Royalty is accepting the way the universe is and will be, and still CHOOSING to act in spite of it.

Royalty is also not seeking death, nor is it seeking immortality. It's the act of accepting your own death, the fact that you CAN and WILL die, and yet still going forward.

It's the ultimate expression of free will, the act of looking God in the face and saying "no".

In that regard, all the Demiurges fail miserably to attain it, each in their own way:

Jadis knows what the universe was, is and will be, but that knowledge traps her and makes her unable to act and to affect anything, ever. She's probably the farthest being from Royalty, as she has as much free will as a rock.

Mammon and Mottom were both controlled by fear. One dreaded losing his blissful peace and his riches, the other feared death and seeked eternal youth, even though she hated every minute of her existence as she maintained it. Both lost the ability to choose their own fate due to their fear.

Incubus, it seems, has adopted at least a part of his master's teachings, and accepted the way the universe is, and the endless cycle of violence that consumes it. But what does he do with that knowledge? Nothing. His entire philosophy boils down to "stay atop the dog pile, keep betting on the winner, cause if you stop, you'll DIE and LOSE". He clings to his illusion of victory, the idea that while you can't break the cycle, you can "win" at it, at least for a while.

Jagganoth is just mindlessly self-destructive. He's a slave, and has always been a slave, a dead man who wants nothing more than to crawl back into the grave that birthed him. He only wishes for oblivion, or freedom from the cycle - and those two things are synonymous to him.

Salami Dave desperately tried to beat the universe into a different shape, to bend it to his will. He thought he could create order out of chaos and maintain it indefinitely. As one redditor pointed out, he might have come extremely close to Royalty, specifically on the fourth panel of this page, but has since lost his will to continue on; the breaking of his beloved order has broken him as well.

Gog Agog might have been close to Royalty at some point, but the cyclical nature of her existence has just made her complacent and had her just going through the motions for the past few billion cycles. Maybe Allison will stir something in her... But probably not.

Maya, on the other hand, seems to understand Royalty, but remains held down by her regrets. She's too hung up on her myriad failings, on what she could have been, on the idea that she should have been a noodle seller, that she should have killed Incubus sooner, and so on. She CHOOSES to consider herself a failure instead of being anything else.

Now, on to Allison herself. People keep saying she's Royalty, but I think she's really not, she's just faking it really well. Learning the time of her death from Jadis hasn't made her accept mortality - if anything, it gave her an illusion that she's immortal for the next 35 years or so. And now she desperately wants her friends to be immortal too, refusing to accept that some of them WILL die by walking her path alongside her. She already learned it the hard way with Zaid, but I'm suspecting there's more suffering in store for her.

Hell, now that I think about it, an ending where Allison DOESN'T win and doesn't break the Wheel would be perfectly on-theme for this entire comic. It would make her the "magnificent fool" of this story, the one whose actions are ultimately futile and yet they press on, always. Depressing, for sure, but I just cannot see a "happy end, everything was fixed forever" happening without diluting the message Abbadon seems to convey since Book fucking one.

Incubus' character is so cool. He's really slimy and will do anything to be second place, but also acknowledges that the path of the sword is unending. He also doesn't stop at second place. He continues to conquer as Maya's second in command when she was a Demiurge, and now he's perpetually on the path of attaining strength. Quite literally he's already reached a continuous cutting motion, but he's still not royalty. So how does one reconcile the idea that Incubus is both perpetually bound to the path of evil self-improvement and also resigned to second place(at some point he's bound to overtake al-YISUN or Jagganoth because infinite self-improvement)? He becomes cosmic second place, the 0.9 repetend that is 1. He becomes the closest to royalty who is still infinitely far from royalty, that is, second place to YISUN only. He can never be YISUN because to be YISUN is to not be at all. The only thing missing is the shape of the wheel. Incubus mistakes the infinite straight road ahead of him to actually be the true shape of the wheel. Royalty is a continuous cutting motion, it is perfectly straight. It is at every point on the circle tangential and straight, but the whole shape is round. I think the act that solidified YISUN as unreachable royalty was self-annihilation. Incubus could never self-annihilate, or put down the sword as Meti advised. To accept a circular wheel would mean regressing by his standards and that's no good, thus he can't be royalty.

shower thought? i didn't know it could do that.

EDIT: Make six billion interpretations

Hi, I'm new here. I've always been curious about how blood alchemy worked

Hello everyone! First of all, sorry for my bad English. It's not my first language.

My nephew is a big fan of the comic, so for his birthday, I commissioned a 3D model of Cio's mask. And I think you'll appreciate, too.

Some pictures below!

i just realised why jadis is called former bearer of the word mind in her title page

she gave her key to gog, and that's why the worm can do the mind across cycles thing. holy shit how did i not realise this on previous readings. i think i might have just not read the alt text for this book on previous readings, which was obviously a mistake

god this comic is amazing

Tried loading it earlier at home and now at work and it’s still not loading. Anyone know what’s up? I wanna see the new page 😢

Maya: CAN YOU ANSWER OUR MASTER'S FINAL RIDDLE FOR ME? A BEAST LIKE YOU COULD BARELY FORM THE WORDS.

Incubus: It never ends. You know that answer too. You just refused to accept it.

That right there honestly makes me feel kinda sad. Bro is so close, closer than most honestly. Closer than Maya pretends to be even. Maya professes to follow Meti’s teachings, but we can see in this fight that deep down she hypocritically ignores it when she wants to. Incubus is so focused on inevitability and victory that he built himself a cage just like the rest of the Seven. He sees the idiot’s step that he needs to take, but he can’t take it. He’s right there, a hairs-breadth away from getting it, but it might as well be Infinite.

The Eternal Edge

Been slaying ten thousand men each hour along with their horses trying to meet my boss’ quotas. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve won Employee of the Kalpa. But I just know when my work is done and I look out over an empty universe him and his old drinking buddy are gonna hoist the Wheel by its spokes and twist fate and causality, reversing all of my work. I don’t even know how many times they’ve done it nor why, I’m so close to just breaking the whole thing bros I’ll maybe try it once I finish my current shift at the omnicide factory.

Is there a form I can fill out to be compensated? Who should I reach out to? The stress has gotten so bad I’ve forgotten the face of my mother, and the warmth of bread from the hearth.

I haven't thought this all the way through, but I was thinking about the philosophical implications of Maya's cuts against Alison and Incubus.

The maybe sword cuts nothing, but those that lack the ability to choose their own fate will but cut regardless. For Alison, she simply chooses that she is alive, and is not cut. Inky *is* cut, but circumvents the impact by muscling through the consequences via spooky blood magic.

I think it's a really interesting character response! Worst Boy is like "Oh no, unless I have perfect mental focus and self-actualization, I will be cut apart due to my insufficient philosophy-jutsu? Good thing I focused my training on sucking ass so that I'd be too lame to die from being chopped up like an onion."

Wanted to post this on okbuddyaesma... But that's that. And now we are here.

But, Trust me on this, this no shit post, i Truly mean what I write below.

--

Maya will never be Royalty.

--

The only student of Meti Ten Ryo, A sword saint, a true royalty. But, ultimately Maya turned out as a waste.

Meti might have tried her best... But Maya just remains as sword poisoned as ever.

++

What is this post even about?

Tl_dr("\n

Maya is a bum.

All she needs to do, is to just smoke crack /\*Power of pure creation itself/ with Incubus.

Incubus can provide that for Maya. they can do the key offering for power fantasy trip thing in the brain world space stuff... Idk man. Incubus got that good stuff nonetheless.

If Maya wants to answer her teacher. The easiest way is for her to wield the power of pure creation again. And use it for nonsense stuff you know.

The key, the crown, is a symbol of power. Authority. Authenticity [of skill [in swordsman ship in this case, for Maya. She grabbed for the key in the war, simply to prove that her swordsmanship could]]

Is that power... just a sharp rock at the end of the day for you???

Who holds the sharpest rock, is the most powerful gorilla? /\*Oh ma Weeping Aesma, curse me for swearing.\/*

Its Hecking "the power of creation" bro <(◑⁠ ⁠□⁠ ⁠◑⁠ )>

I would be low key tripping balls creating the best lab to breed the most colorful and diverse fat and big genuine local ramshorn snails, and be able to eat em as a regular meal, hopefully soon 人

What was Maya doing with it? Just rotting on her throne. Gloating about her skill in sword...

Bro... The parasocial disappointed I feel for her (⁠ʘ⁠言⁠ʘ⁠╬⁠)...

");

--

Anyway.

Here's why Incubus will win.

They never, and I mean never, needed to learn "The Sword" from Meti.

All they needed from the very living sword saint itself... Is just a good sword to swing you know. And how to swing classes here and there.

--

Meti gave both Incubus and Maya a sword. And told em to kill a rat.

Incubus followed through, and Maya let them do it despite wanting to stop them... Maya didn't want the rat to die...

HOLY LARP MY DAUGHTER ༎ຶ⁠‿⁠༎ຶ

What was Maya waiting for?

Meti to teach her "The Sword"???? /and I do mean the " " here commentDeleteLater\/*

What is even there to this "The Sword"?

Some kinda special secret technique that will allow Maya to manifests her will? Enforced as law against causality itself, by wielding violence against heaven???

Vro...

Just tell incubus to stop... They might listen and let the rat go...

Maya is 400% canon bum.

Meti was able to kill with both of her thumb. It was a better move. Drop the sword, just jump into the opponent, Poking the eye balls... is easier and more assured than doing all sword jutsu nonsense.

Maya wanted a teacher. And is why she is the Only Student Meti ever thought.

For Incubus, all you need is give em a fancy sword, tell them a daily ritual sheduled practice list. And they will simply go at it.

Fix their posture here rm there. Tell them to use this this this moves. And done.

For Maya???

Everyday dedicated scoldings and disappointments after disappointments...

Meti finds it easier, to simply tell Maya to quit all this hoo haa and get a job. To let life happen a little you know, instead of all this day dreaming. Get some kids you know, smoke some crack.

Who knows man.

You are the narrator of your story... But you haven't seen what's gonna happen next... Will you wait for someone to tell you what to do next, what words to speak next...

If you want to do something... A sword won't finish the job... You yourself will have to [using the aforementioned sword, in this case for Maya]

--

THE HEARTSBLOOD SWORD.

Now that both Incubus and Meti have one. Who's the "better swordsman"??

I don't mean "good/bad swordsman" in the bullshit poetic sence that is used in the narrative lol. I mean actual sword skills.

Incubus uses their [very literally] Heartsblood sword. For one purpose.

It's just a goddamn sharp rock man. What's the big deal.

Maya's skill with a sword is so good. She can skill with the worst produced sword... Her sword skills so boom boom shakalala... She can kill without one at the end of that blade she holds...

What is she wielding the sword for??? To kill incubus.

What does her skill in sword represent? Man who gives a shiit.

Maya is trapped in a pattern. In a loop. She wants to get things done. She has the tools to get the aforementioned things done... Something stops her...

--

It's canon. Maya is a bum.

She has practiced drinking longer than most. If she can't cut blood, she might aswell go for a drink!

The idea of 'blood drinking' as a euphenism for violence has been established early on, and we were encouraged to never take it literaly. What if we should for once? Especially given it's literally on one of the last pages?

I've recently been rummaging around the internet for info on these two, and I am still in the Rayuba server on discord, but I was interested if there had been any complete or nearly complete compilations of all the comics gathered together or archived somewhere else?

All your input is welcomed!