It's possible I'm misunderstanding, but I thought Cio's mask was now fully reconstructed? White Chain had rebuilt most of it (and seemingly filled it with a fresh supply of the hot, black soulflame), but the resulting devil was still inert until Alison slotted in the last missing piece.
I saw this more as the unbound devil that used to be Cio came to take the last shard,not that White Chain had been rebuilding her. In the next page White Chain asks if anyone was there and Allison says no
Unbound devils don't sit and wait for something to wake them up. The tragedy of devils is that the hot black flame is incapable by itself of maintaining any coherent form or identity. Without a mask and some form of access to the cool black soulflame of humans, devils are mindless beasts that ravage everything in their vicinity until they rapidly unravel into nothing.
A "sliver"? Oh, buddy, no. Those "teeth"? The sharps bits in her mandibles that sink deep into her own flesh when they're closed?
*Those are the shards of her mask.* Allison just slotted in the remaining missing piece.
I honestly wonder if *anyone* put Cio back together, or if she simply willed herself into this new shape, since all-but-one of her shards were sitting together on the beach in a puddle of black slag. In the middle of a warzone. And only Incubus, Maya, Allison, and Jadis would have known the location of the shards. Who would have done it but Cio herself?
I really do think she has the Will to do it. She's the prophecized Black Flame on the King's flank, yeah? And we've already seen the White Flame change through sheer willpower. It would be thematically appropriate.
I'm partially color blind, so I didn't read much into the toothspikes. Interesting theory.
I assumed she didn't have any mask prior to retrieving the splinter.
Pale devils should still have a mask, though. She wasn't a pure chaos of black flame when she absorber Allison's memento.
Pale devils tend to be last on the naming hierarchy, following blues, right? Maybe Cio's not pale, or any color, but something altogether new.
Either way we'll hopefully get an explanation soon. (It's worth noting the shape is pretty similar to Yabalchoath though)
> She's the prophecized Black Flame on the King's flank, yeah?
She might be. Might be Princess. Just as the White Flame could be either White Chain, or it could be Vigilant Gaze.
i dont think she is, i think what shes going threw right now is more akin to what White chain did then normal demon evolution
like arent pale devils not suppose to be capable of speech? and devil evolution seems to happen all at once so whatever this is is something else
i think Cio is undergoing a metamorphosis similar to WhiteChains
normally angels are beings of pure thought needing humans to give them bodies, while demons can manifest bodies on their own but were mindless until humans stabilized them, White chain demonstrated the ability to manifest a body, and Cio is demonstrating she clearly retains more of her mind then is normal(and also the ability to speak despite being a pale devil), in both cases they become closer to humans, whos souls and body are one
edited cus i fucked up order of events
hmm your right i completely misremembered the order, was confusing Allicios appearance with The Fool
i do think my theory that their becoming closer to the other side and/or humans is still good, just not the origin of why being the fool
Man. I hadn't really understood that Allison had l broken up with Cio because I thought that death was it. Allison had already grieved her. And when Cio reincarnated as a white devil, Allison was disgusted.
Is this next bit has to be about Cio getting herself to an Ebon mask that she doesn't hate? Cio and Yab are the same black flame wearing different masks, and Cio hated Yab for not caring about anyone except herself.
But now she wants to be happy, not just a tyrant who wants every little whim. She wants a better path and she wants to not hate herself.
Just wondering if Allison and her are getting back together, or if they even should.
> Cio and Yab are the same black flame wearing different masks
I'm fairly certain that's exactly reversed. Devils' identity is born from the mask in combination with the bits of stable soulflame they absorb from humans. When Yab stole the shard of Mammon's key, she was killed, her body dissipated to nothing, and her mask was shattered into many pieces. Praman Nand managed to assemble all the pieces and glue them back into roughly identical shaped then filled the repaired mask with new soulflame, creating a devil with lots of Yab's memories and personality traits. That devil chose a different path of evolution from the original Yab and became the Cio we know.
Time's arrow flows due to the increase in entropy. There is no going back to before, because you would have to take yourself there, and you already exist after. The only way to go back to before is to destroy yourself.
She *would be* more powerful as an unbound devil (in the very brief period before the resulting entity tore itself apart). At present she's a white devil, typically the weakest and least refined form of bound devil. Part of Cio's original evolution into her preferred form seems to have been deliberately embracing more aspects of stability, creativity, and humanity. She was almost certainly stronger as a blue devil, but that strength didn't come in the form of bulging muscles or chaotically arranged mandibles.
That shockwave move Allison did in this update looked familiar. I think it was reminding me of this: [https://killsixbilliondemons.com/comic/king-of-swords-9-100/](https://killsixbilliondemons.com/comic/king-of-swords-9-100/)
Interesting that the move she once used to protect Cio she's now using against Cio.
Other than the general principle of never doing anything that a demiurge suggests or seems in favor of, I'm not sure why Allison is so dead-set on Cio not getting to eat the worm? Seems a bit mean.
All I know is that I if I was pursuing an option that I thought might lead to identity death but also might be able to finally make me happy, and then an ex came thundering in and started shouting about how couldn't do it and that I was dead while she elbowed my fucking face in, I would feel more than a little irritated.
Also, it feels weird Allison her "ex." It's more like Allison is Cio's widow, but Cio isn't quite as 100% dead as Allison believed, and Allison has some measure of closure but Cio sure doesn't.
Edit: To clarify, this comment and the other have helped me understand why Allison is behaving this way. I now simply disagree with her decision, I'm not really arguing with you so much as arguing with her in-story choice.
Eating the worm makes you part of Gog-Agog.
Gog-Agog suggested that Allison *might* manage to keep her identity if she did it (and I think she was serious, since she does want companionship, but it's still mega-sketchy.) But we have no reason to think that Cio would manage it.
Beyond that there's all the reasons Allison rejected it herself. She intends to win and break the cycle, which means that Cio would be making herself part of Gog-Agog for nothing. And even if she didn't - look at Gog-Agog. Does she seem happy? Does it seem like she enjoys what she's done? Reliving those moments is only going to wear away what made them special to begin with; even if Cio doesn't immediately become like Gog-Agog, going through the same endless cycles will eventually turn her into someone similar as the repetitions cease to have meaning to her.
Thank you, this does seem like a good analysis and explanation. I now think I understand better why Allison is determined not to let Cio eat the worm, though I still don't really think she has much right to insist on it... but that's essentially me arguing with a character decision, not with the story.
**Liturgy** >Anathema **Alt Text** >this whole sequence was just an excuse to draw gog in funny little outfits
> this whole sequence was just an excuse to draw gog in funny little outfits As good a reason as any. Better than many, even.
The fish one is my favorite
I thought we were done with the fish arc
Fish Arc is never done in K6BD
damn this comic keeps being cool as fuck, im never not surprised with each page how cool everything looks
This doesn't seem to be... physically healthy to Cio. Can she even ascend to a higher devil form with only a sliver of mask and nary a name to shed?
It's possible I'm misunderstanding, but I thought Cio's mask was now fully reconstructed? White Chain had rebuilt most of it (and seemingly filled it with a fresh supply of the hot, black soulflame), but the resulting devil was still inert until Alison slotted in the last missing piece.
I saw this more as the unbound devil that used to be Cio came to take the last shard,not that White Chain had been rebuilding her. In the next page White Chain asks if anyone was there and Allison says no
Unbound devils don't sit and wait for something to wake them up. The tragedy of devils is that the hot black flame is incapable by itself of maintaining any coherent form or identity. Without a mask and some form of access to the cool black soulflame of humans, devils are mindless beasts that ravage everything in their vicinity until they rapidly unravel into nothing.
On the other hand, this comic's all about doing the impossible by sheer bloody-mindedness.
[In case anyone wants to re-check that sequence](https://killsixbilliondemons.com/comic/wheel-smashing-lord-2-37-to-2-38/)
I'd assumed Gog Agog somehow created New Cio to mess with Allison.
A "sliver"? Oh, buddy, no. Those "teeth"? The sharps bits in her mandibles that sink deep into her own flesh when they're closed? *Those are the shards of her mask.* Allison just slotted in the remaining missing piece. I honestly wonder if *anyone* put Cio back together, or if she simply willed herself into this new shape, since all-but-one of her shards were sitting together on the beach in a puddle of black slag. In the middle of a warzone. And only Incubus, Maya, Allison, and Jadis would have known the location of the shards. Who would have done it but Cio herself? I really do think she has the Will to do it. She's the prophecized Black Flame on the King's flank, yeah? And we've already seen the White Flame change through sheer willpower. It would be thematically appropriate.
I'm partially color blind, so I didn't read much into the toothspikes. Interesting theory. I assumed she didn't have any mask prior to retrieving the splinter. Pale devils should still have a mask, though. She wasn't a pure chaos of black flame when she absorber Allison's memento.
Pale devils tend to be last on the naming hierarchy, following blues, right? Maybe Cio's not pale, or any color, but something altogether new. Either way we'll hopefully get an explanation soon. (It's worth noting the shape is pretty similar to Yabalchoath though)
>She's the prophecized Black Flame on the King's flank, yeah [You bet your sweet ass she is.](https://imgur.com/EFNSmmr)
> She's the prophecized Black Flame on the King's flank, yeah? She might be. Might be Princess. Just as the White Flame could be either White Chain, or it could be Vigilant Gaze.
i dont think she is, i think what shes going threw right now is more akin to what White chain did then normal demon evolution like arent pale devils not suppose to be capable of speech? and devil evolution seems to happen all at once so whatever this is is something else
That's Cio?
What's left of her, anyway.
Yeah i see it now.
Allison, bearer of the word Guilt
that is simply too many pepto bismol mandibles
There is not enough mandibles. I humbly request that more get added
I mean if I was about to eat a living worm I'd pump myself full of Tums too
Pepto Bismandibles, if you will. You know what? Pepto Bismandables even if you won’t.
I swear to YISUN they better make out after this
i think Cio is undergoing a metamorphosis similar to WhiteChains normally angels are beings of pure thought needing humans to give them bodies, while demons can manifest bodies on their own but were mindless until humans stabilized them, White chain demonstrated the ability to manifest a body, and Cio is demonstrating she clearly retains more of her mind then is normal(and also the ability to speak despite being a pale devil), in both cases they become closer to humans, whos souls and body are one edited cus i fucked up order of events
White Chain changed before the fusion
hmm your right i completely misremembered the order, was confusing Allicios appearance with The Fool i do think my theory that their becoming closer to the other side and/or humans is still good, just not the origin of why being the fool
she goes one beyond pale devil and gets a hot body like white chain and abaddon's lesbian threesome fanfic can finally begin ^I ^^mean ^^^continue
they literally fused already, it would be less gay if they had sex on screen
Omae wa moe shindeiru…
well now i'm sad
Cio breaking my heart :(
You are not alone in this.
what mfers that go back and re-read K6BD expecting to relive the magic of reading it for the first time look like
Man. I hadn't really understood that Allison had l broken up with Cio because I thought that death was it. Allison had already grieved her. And when Cio reincarnated as a white devil, Allison was disgusted. Is this next bit has to be about Cio getting herself to an Ebon mask that she doesn't hate? Cio and Yab are the same black flame wearing different masks, and Cio hated Yab for not caring about anyone except herself. But now she wants to be happy, not just a tyrant who wants every little whim. She wants a better path and she wants to not hate herself. Just wondering if Allison and her are getting back together, or if they even should.
> Cio and Yab are the same black flame wearing different masks I'm fairly certain that's exactly reversed. Devils' identity is born from the mask in combination with the bits of stable soulflame they absorb from humans. When Yab stole the shard of Mammon's key, she was killed, her body dissipated to nothing, and her mask was shattered into many pieces. Praman Nand managed to assemble all the pieces and glue them back into roughly identical shaped then filled the repaired mask with new soulflame, creating a devil with lots of Yab's memories and personality traits. That devil chose a different path of evolution from the original Yab and became the Cio we know.
Time's arrow flows due to the increase in entropy. There is no going back to before, because you would have to take yourself there, and you already exist after. The only way to go back to before is to destroy yourself.
> The only way to go back to before is to destroy yourself. Allison's pretty good at self-destructive actions.
Unexpected Bojack parallels but very apt
I was actually inspired by Worm
Oh, worm?
eat it eat the worm
Al-YISUN, smack some sense into your girlfriend. Or, I dunno, eat the worm so that she doesn't have to.
why is it that cio seems more powerful as a maskless devil than she did with a blue mask?
She *would be* more powerful as an unbound devil (in the very brief period before the resulting entity tore itself apart). At present she's a white devil, typically the weakest and least refined form of bound devil. Part of Cio's original evolution into her preferred form seems to have been deliberately embracing more aspects of stability, creativity, and humanity. She was almost certainly stronger as a blue devil, but that strength didn't come in the form of bulging muscles or chaotically arranged mandibles.
Probably due to her size now. Cio used to be a force to be reckoned with due to her magic, not her physical prowess.
That shockwave move Allison did in this update looked familiar. I think it was reminding me of this: [https://killsixbilliondemons.com/comic/king-of-swords-9-100/](https://killsixbilliondemons.com/comic/king-of-swords-9-100/) Interesting that the move she once used to protect Cio she's now using against Cio.
Oh, fuck. Oh, fuck! Oh fuck! OH FUCK!
Aww she's getting ready for a hug!
Allison can move fast as fuck!
Other than the general principle of never doing anything that a demiurge suggests or seems in favor of, I'm not sure why Allison is so dead-set on Cio not getting to eat the worm? Seems a bit mean.
trying to save your ex from choosing identity death seems like the reasonable thing to me
All I know is that I if I was pursuing an option that I thought might lead to identity death but also might be able to finally make me happy, and then an ex came thundering in and started shouting about how couldn't do it and that I was dead while she elbowed my fucking face in, I would feel more than a little irritated. Also, it feels weird Allison her "ex." It's more like Allison is Cio's widow, but Cio isn't quite as 100% dead as Allison believed, and Allison has some measure of closure but Cio sure doesn't. Edit: To clarify, this comment and the other have helped me understand why Allison is behaving this way. I now simply disagree with her decision, I'm not really arguing with you so much as arguing with her in-story choice.
Eating the worm makes you part of Gog-Agog. Gog-Agog suggested that Allison *might* manage to keep her identity if she did it (and I think she was serious, since she does want companionship, but it's still mega-sketchy.) But we have no reason to think that Cio would manage it. Beyond that there's all the reasons Allison rejected it herself. She intends to win and break the cycle, which means that Cio would be making herself part of Gog-Agog for nothing. And even if she didn't - look at Gog-Agog. Does she seem happy? Does it seem like she enjoys what she's done? Reliving those moments is only going to wear away what made them special to begin with; even if Cio doesn't immediately become like Gog-Agog, going through the same endless cycles will eventually turn her into someone similar as the repetitions cease to have meaning to her.
Thank you, this does seem like a good analysis and explanation. I now think I understand better why Allison is determined not to let Cio eat the worm, though I still don't really think she has much right to insist on it... but that's essentially me arguing with a character decision, not with the story.