Sword Master - Tumblr Posts
Kill 6 Billion Demons goes so hard
And a significant part of that is the additional content written underneath most pages. What goes the hardest, though, of all of it, is Meti's Sword Manual.
Meti is the greatest swordmaster who ever lived (with one possible competitor) whose disdain for those seeking a violent life is supreme. She also claims one of her first true lessons was that, after an opponent had bested her fully in terms of technique and physical prowess, it's possible to reach the brains through the throat using your thumbs. Her response to her teacher getting handsy with her is to castrate him.
This kind of contradiction is common in K6BD and Meti embodies it perfectly. One of her lessons in her Sword Manual is that you should be a farmer instead, and that swords are ugly tools meant for an ugly purpose.
She also goes through how, in detail, one must be fully devoted exclusively to the present and the action of Cutting. No thought, no hesitation, no being anything other than a vessel for the Cut that you are executing at that very moment. In every way, she gives the impression of someone who, were you to assault her deep in her sleep with an army of the finest warriors, would cost you both your army and your life without losing significant rest.
Not only is there significant lessons in what brevity can manage to be found in reading these sections under the K6BD pages, it is also a masterclass in worldbuilding, and of a very difficult kind. Leaning into contradiction and paradox and still make things *make sense* is a significant achievement and those interested in learning these kinds of things should read it.
But this isn't about how K6BD is amazing, it's about how Meti goes harder than anyone else in a universe that trades the lives of entire worlds as a casual matter of course. And so to tide you over, here is the closing argument of Meti's Sword Manual:
4. Reach Heaven by violence.
The new Iron Fist 👊
