Chapter 56

Chapter 56 is the fifty-sixth chapter of the Dead Mount Death Play manga.

Official Blurb
Habaki's words seem to trigger something in the Corpse God...

Synopsis
In a flashback to the Other World, a young, human Corpse God stands clasping an envelope in a cemetery. At a voice calling out his real name behind him, he turns and sees his father approaching in a Geldwood cloak, worn and soiled compared to Corpse God's fine sorcerer's robes. After remarking on Corpse God's standoffish countenance, the man says he called Corpse God to this place to ask him for some money, having heard Corpse God became a "big shot" necromancer under "Wandering Balcony."

The man admits he used his "old lady's" name to send the letter, knowing Corpse God would not have come if he knew the sender was him, but nevertheless, Corpse God should be thanking him for his current high station in life—for his father was the one who raised him and introduced him to the Byandy imperial court. At Corpse God's glare, he reminds his son he still needs to feed Corpse God's mother and little sisters. Corpse God hesitates, grits his teeth, then procures his wallet—and his father stabs him in the back.

Keeping the blade buried in his son's body, the man says some people from Nyanild offered him more drugs in exchange for Corpse God's death—here, he withdraws the blade, and Corpse God collapses to the ground—so his son should blame those fellows, not him. He adds that Corpse God's mother and younger brothers and sisters all fetched a decent price; Corpse God should be thankful that their family has proven this useful.

On Earth, while Corpse God tortures Habaki's soul, that memory co-mingles with Habaki's memory of lying to his daughter. Fragments of both flow through Miyabi Hosorogi, who, upon realizing whose memories these are and deducing Corpse God must be projecting his anger toward his father toward Habaki, silently exclaims that Corpse God is going on a rampage despite claiming he is composed. In fact, Corpse God seems too calm for someone out of control. Hosorogi can only wonder just what is driving him.

In another flashback to the Other World, Easlies Swordfrail stares down at Corpse God's mask and clothes—which lie crumpled over a circular spell—and says a curse was used to dissolve Corpse God's body with the intent of destroying it beyond the possibility of revival. She suspects the curse was the design of a corrupt Geldwood holy woman. Moreover, she can tell an attempt was made to destroy Corpse God's soul—but she did not raise his soul to be fragile.

Before her, Corpse God—as a living skeleton—kneels in the center of a spell, clutching his jarred brain to his rib cage. Easlies continues that there should be no "second time," for Corpse God ought to bring a bodyguard with him to any future family visitations; of course, she only happened to revive him this time on a 'whim'. Off to the side, the Byandy Empire's boy-emperor—with Utsurojuza beside him—interjects that he is sure he recalls Easlies saying with relief that she was fortunate to have made Corpse God's brain his 'soul core'. Easlies denies this, but the boy-emperor asks if he is 'also' misremembering Easlies pleading for Utsurojuza's help.

Utsurojuza grins, having been the one who curbed the blade's poison and the curse before the latter ate Corpse God's brain. Nevertheless, Easlies insists the boy-emperor needs to have his head checked. Where the boy-emperor only laughs at the idea of Easlies calling the emperor 'crazy', Utsurojuza complains that Easlies is "the worst—critical of her insulting the emperor and having nothing comforting to say for her apprentice—and asks if Corpse God does not agree.

Still smiling, the boy-emperor kneels in front of Corpse God to say that, while his own head is "unstable and coming to a boil," he is not 'crazy'. He adds that this entire situation arose because Corpse God had to go and get himself stabbed, addressing Corpse God as 'friend'. Corpse God attempts to respond, though Easlies—explaining Corpse God needs time before he can produce voice from bone—swiftly interprets on his behalf: she says Corpse God is surprised the boy-emperor is treating him as he always does, having feared his friend would sever their friendship upon seeing him as an Undead. The boy-emperor harrumphs that Corpse God is not giving "someone enough credit"—and by someone he means Corpse God, here addressing Corpse God with his real name. He warns Corpse God not to seek revenge against his father, for a lowlife such as he would not be worth the bother. In lieu of Corpse God's family, the boy-emperor and the empire itself will always be on his side.

In the present, Lisa Kuraki and her companion can only watch while gelatinous eyeball masses chew at Habaki's suspended body. Corpse God recalls how Lisa and Shagrua Lugrid respectively compared and contrasted him to the personification of Death: Clarissa had serenely declared Corpse God is the sole person who can perform the Grim Reaper's duties in this world, whereas Shagrua had shouted that Corpse God must not dare act as if he is the Grim Reaper. He further recalls his actions in the 'human knots' incident, and his vengeful slaughter of the Geldwood soldiers after they murdered his found family.

As he raises his right hand toward Habaki, a magic spell crackling in front of his fingertips, he says gods do not play games; for Habaki to play with people's lives because of his emotions, he concludes, makes Habaki as immature as Corpse God. His hand tenses—and another hand clamps down on his outthrust arm.

At Corpse God's side, the boy-emperor's spirit reminds him yet again that he has no reason to "sully [himself] with this lowlife." The Corpse God, his memory of his revival still fresh, replies, "...I don't remember...summoning you here...your highness..."

Trivia

 * Corpse God's real name is censored with five black dots every time it is uttered.
 * This chapter marks Utsurojuza's official illustrated debut in the manga, though his first publicized illustration was in an earlier character sheet uploaded to Shinta Fujimoto's Twitter account.
 * The English translation of this chapter spells 'Utsurojuza' as 'Utsorojuza', despite having used the spelling 'Utsurojuza' (and on one occasion, 'Utsuro Juuza') in previous chapters.

Referbacks

 * To Shagrua's condemnation of Corpse God in Chapter 1.