Chapter 74

Chapter 74 is the seventy-fourth chapter of the Dead Mount Death Play manga.

Official Blurb
Hidden connections and true identities are revealed as Civil and Corpse God confront each other.

Short Summary
In a flashback to the Other World, a silhouetted figure binds Rizdilusia Redrazhalf name using a curse, having outwitted Easlies Swordfrail.

In the present, Corpse God demands that Civil A. Sabaramond return his little brother to him. Civil, now realizing where the real Polka's spirit lies, nevertheless once more invites this non-Polka to be his ally—and moreover join his organization. Corpse God refuses and asks if Civil is familiar with Arius Sabaramond; Civil is, in name that is, for Arius is the one who abandon him on Earth.

Having taken advantage of Civil's propensity for talking, Corpse God invokes a spell that has skeletons rising from the floor whilst skeletal hands entrap Civil between them. Civil, recognizing this to be necromancy, deduces that 'Polka' must be Corpse God: the Byandy Empire's fourth-rank.

Meanwhile, Taipei, Soara Habaki, Lulu (bearing the real Polka), and Kochou Eightport make their respective ways to the Abandoned Building. Kochou is the first to arrive—and she does so moments before Civil drives Corpse God through and out a third-story window.

Fire-breathing Bug observes this—vowing to burn Shinjuku should the two destroy it—as they do Tsubaki Iwanome and members of Comps-3 approaching them outside a certain frowzy-on-the-inside building. Iwanome asks if Fire-breathing Bug is willing to hear out his questions.

Synopsis
A silhouetted feminine figure, her body billowing like her long hair, approaches an undead Corpse God and addresses him as Rizdilusia Redrazhalf, son of Canomuchelin Redrazhalf. Pleased at having "finally outwitted" Easlies Swordfrail, the figure proceeds to bind Corpse God's name via a "curse hidden behind the poison of decay."
 * Flashback

"Now," she adds, "let us add a postscript to your destiny."


 * Present

Corpse God, thinking back to when he cast his 'rebirth' / 'reincarnation' spell in Chapter 1, recalls the one condition that was decided upon in that moment: that he would possess the corpse of someone of his own race. The prospect of that condition having come to link him to his own mother, news of whom he never heard in the wake of his father selling him to the Empire, is a staggering one—as is the implication of what Polka Shinoyama must be to him. Corpse God had kept his distance from Polka and his memories out of perhaps respect or guilt, but now...

Wiping his eyes, Corpse God smiles and vows to have "another proper face-to-face talk" with his host. Privately, he wonders whether Polka can see ghosts after all, something Corpse God assumed could not be the case due to Polka's fear of them. He wonders whether their mother also talk Polka all manner of subjects like she did him.

In a flashback to a forest, a toddler-sized Rizdilusia clings to his mother's dress as butterfly-resembling Elementals flutter about them. Canomuchelin assures Rizdilusia that he is in no danger, for these Elementals are merely drawn to his Elemental Eye—an eye which lets him see Elementals, unlike many other elementalists, and therefore makes him "very rare and precious."

Emboldened with newfound resolve, Corpse God demands that Civil A. Sabaramond return his friend, his little brother Polka to him. This demand takes Civil all the more aback, as the body before him is clearly that of Polka Shinoyama—but it dawns at him that the same might not be said for the body's soul. A remark that Lulu once made now resurfaces in his mind—her remark that the Elementals only had interest for the shark plush, not the human—and so too dawns the idea that that Polka's soul might just be in the shark.

On a street elsewhere, Polka—presently clasped between Lulu's hands—wonders whether anyone else can see the hovering stone above Lulu's head. Lulu informs Soara Habaki that the Great Elemental is "enamored" with the shark plush. She cannot properly converse with Elementals like her ancestors so she cannot truly comprehend the Great Elemental's motives, but she does feel that the Elemental's voice is a gentle one, rather than adopting a warning tone. Soara supposes the situation is therefore fine, even if the unilateral way information flows between Lulu and Elementals is irritating; this cannot be helped, Lulu says, since she "only inherited a protective contract" from her mother. As a consequence, she does not know what form the Elemental takes.

Polka, who does know what form it takes, sweats nervously.

Takumi Kuruya asks if Corpse God is sure as to what he is doing; Takumi, at least, is not sure at all anymore as to what the last few minutes of Civil and Corpse God's exchange have been about. Sayo Shinoyama offers a surprisingly astute assessment of Civil's side of it: first, Civil sought to present proof that 'Polka' possessed awareness of the Other World. Second, he attempted to alienate 'Polka' from his companions by insinuating that only a fellow Other World affiliate like himself could hope to understand someone like Polka Shinoyama. Civil asks who Sayo is, to have aptly perceived all this, and Sayo nobly yet humbly credits the skills she has honed through watching innumerable shark movies.

Civil proceeds to ask for Corpse God's identity directly alongside a good reason as to why anyone who is not Polka might react the way Corpse God did to Kanon Shinoyama's name. The list that the organization seized included nobody like Corpse God, moreover, which leads Civil to wonder if Corpse God is known to a certain "meddlesome bat." What Civil does know is that Polka's non-Polkaness only makes him that much more a person of interest, what with Corpse God's likely affiliation with the Empire: so, Civil says, the two of them ought to ally and together exterminate Bug.

Corpse God at once presumes 'Bug' is Fire-breathing Bug, much to Civil's pleasure—though Civil hopes Corpse God is not about to reveal he is in cahoots with the Bug. Before Corpse God shall reveal his identity proper, he has one final question of his own: does Civil know Arius Sabaramond? Civil presses his hands together with alacrity, curious if the two are acquaintances, and replies he is somewhat of a 'bastard child' to Arius; he has never met the man.

On the pavement running alongside a brightly lit city street, Taipei tells Takeru Shinoyama via cell phone that he will soon reach the Abandoned Building. Takeru informs Taipei that the woman he scuffled with previously is also en route to the building, with another member of the trio in her company. By way of precaution, Takeru plans to send another person to guard Sayo and the rest; Taipei is to handle the two trio members as he pleases.

Point blank, Civil invites Corpse God to join his organization. Point blank, Corpse God refuses. His desire for a peaceful life will undoubtedly clash with whatever Civil's desire is; frankly, he would choose Phantom Solitaire over Civil in a heartbeat. Civil, affecting a rueful smile, says that if Corpse God is rebuffing him at all because of Habaki's antics, Corpse God ought to know that Habaki was acting on his own. The deflective nature of this comment is apparent, for Corpse God steadfastly replies, "...Arius didn't flee from his responsibilities as a ruler."

The smile falls from Civil's face. Corpse God, it seems, knows Arius well after all. As Civil slowly rises, he expresses irritation that Corpse God evidently has higher regard for Arius than he does him—here his smile returns, as eerie as his eyes—for the one who abandoned him on Earth. Where Misaki Sakimiya and Xiaoyu Lei respectively tense and shudder at Civil's aura, Corpse God retains his calm. Civil's demeanor grows all the more inauspicious as Civil declares his willingness to force Corpse God to be his ally if necessary; of course, Corpse God by all means should do the same to him, i.e. force out of Civil any answer for which Corpse God has a question. Show me your powers, Civil demands, ''if you are not Polka Shinoyama.

Corpse God this time accepts Civil's invitation—for the spell he has been invoking while Civil has been "yapping" at length is more than ready to be utilized.

Two large skeletal hands clap Civil between them, whereupon a humanoid skeleton of ordinary size writhes out of the floor to clutch Civil's ankle. More skeletons emerge by Takumi's desk—Takumi drawing up his legs, Xiaoyu anxious with realization—and still two more slowly rear upright as Corpse God's vanguards. Civil, dumbfounded, processes the appearance of bones at a rapid pace. Bones are not the domain of elemental or general sorcery but that of necromancy, if his otherworld texts hold true, and when it comes to the imperial necromancers... Easlies is the one that Civil thinks of first, but she is unlikely. Of the three powerful necromancers close to Arius, the one to whom Polka's attitude and words can best be compared is... "...the fourth-rank," Civil says, face alight with intensity that crackles forth and outward as he all but shouts, "Are you Corpse God!?"

On the street below, Kochou Eightport nervously ponders the scope of the situation within which she is now thoroughly involved. She reminds herself that the situation's potentially 'huge' scope is tantamount to a huge 'scoop'; so, she shall sally forth and land herself an exclusive—no, she will!

In the same moment Kochou's celebratory fist punches the air, Civil and Corpse God smash through a third-story window—the former's hands either grasping or in grasping distance of Corpse God's body.

On a rooftop, a familiar raincoat-wearing Bug acknowledges that the confrontation has begun, then mulls over how the confrontation shall be settled. Should 'they' risk destroying Shinjuku, Bug will join them in burning Shinjuku to the ground; Bug will "place [their own] will into that girl"—Lulu, walking down the streets below—

—and thence go to the "bug's nest that [they] should burn down," Bug finishes, and elsewhere, by a certain house, a throng of T-shirted umbrella-carrying Bugs are approached by Danjō Tozawa, Ranmaru Yatsu, Kōzaburō Arase, and their leader Tsubaki Iwanome.

Iwanome flashes his police badge and asks if Fire-breathing Bug would not mind being asked a few questions.

Trivia

 * Kanon's name: The English release of this chapter spells Kanon's otherworld name as Kanomshellian, whereas this chapter's English release spells her name as Canomuchelin. Both this and the previous chapter's spelling of her last name, Redrazhalf, differ from the surname's spelling in its Chapter 70 debut; there, the name lacks the 'h'.
 * Izliz vs. Easlies: This time, "Izliz Swordflail" is the spelling used for Izliz / Easlies Swordfrail / Swordflail in the English release.

Referbacks

 * When Corpse God first invoked his reincarnation spell, the English edition specifically used the language "fallen kinsman" to describe the corpse that he intended to possess. This chapter casts the word 'kinsman' in a new light; evidently, 'kinsman' was meant in the literal sense of a *male relative*.
 * Lulu's comment about the Elementals' lack of interest in the 'human' Polka in favor of the plus occurs in Chapter 67.