Chapter 76

Chapter 76 is the seventy-sixth chapter of the Dead Mount Death Play manga.

Official Blurb
The true identities of Fire-breathing Bug and Corpse God are finally revealed, and an uninvited guest joins in—but which side are they on?

Short Summary
Not yet written.

Synopsis

 * Flashback

In a certain house on the outskirts of Shinjuku, two adults wearing hooded robes listen to the 'mutterings' of lisless children locked in a prison cell; these mutterings, one of the adults surmises, are that of a native children's song. Songs or sounds without magic can only achieve a certain level of hypnosis or brainwashing, he says, evidently lamenting how awry circumstances have rendered them unable to reproduce "the sirens' song here." This is, it appears, another reminder that any recreation of their hometown continues to be a "far-off dream."

As Bastard Children of Sabaramond, the two members and their 'siblings' must take up the gauntlet of the grand sorcerer who did not follow them to Earth—for now, however, the speaker believes their main priority should be the collection of Terran technology and thereupon transporting it to their homeworld. He remarks on how the organization's "allow[ing]" Redrazhalf alone to get away" was a shame before instructing his companion to erase all evidence, as it is in their interest not to overexcite the "bat" that has made the town its headquarters.

His companion douses the children in fuel and sets the cell ablaze. The ensuing blaze claims the inert children at the cell's front and advances until two children are left: a boy and girl with their backs to the wall and hands clasped, leaning into each other in a daze. Through the thicker haze of smoke pierces an umbrella and a musical voice that invites the children to use it. Emblazoned on the umbrella is the tocsin watch out for fires.


 * Present

The plain-shirted Fire-breathing Bug acknowledges Tsubaki Iwanome's success in deducing their identity—a success that the detective modestly calls the cumulation of the work of his predecessors—but poses the following question: How will the police prove their crimes? Iwanome acquiesces that doing so would be exceedingly difficult, but preventing Bug from committing more crimes is comparably a more attainable goal. Thus, he plans to charge Bug with the crime of aiding and abetting one Phantom Solitaire. As Iwanome now clarifies, he and his companions are the investigation unit dedicated to following Solitaire's trail.

From the wrong side of a ledge's guardrail, Civil A. Sabaramond drinks in the sight of a battered Shinjuku: there below him stands a stricken building with windows shattered; there to one side, looking past a plume of smoke, are people fleeing or felled by collateral damage; there to the other side, at the other end of the smoke, lies a vehicle engulfed in flames. Most of all, he marvels at the world so coveted by the sorcerers from the other side.

On the other side of the guardrail, four humanoid skeletons simultaneously reach for Civil from the depths of a spell. Regardless of whether they push him off or whether Civil topples backward to avoid their grasp, the skeletons follow either way, and more, and more still, a tangled horror of black magic and skulls unraveling mid-air in order to ensare him; Civil twists to unleash a blast of magic at the mass. Corpse God, maintaining his spell from the protective cradle of two giant skeletal hands, observes this to be a decidedly unearthly display of power: elemental sorcery that does not utilize any Elementals. Civil, as he lands upon a railroad guardrail, shouts his agreement that any monster who possesses such power ought not be on Earth.

Nevertheless, he thinks to himself, he has neither means nor desire to "go back." Not to his life as a free-yet-trapped specimen, he is sure, not when Corpse God—who now advances toward him on the street—pushed him metaphorically to freedom. Out loud, he tells Corpse God that the two of them ought to either return to that world or change this one, either way turning their backs on the world together just as Corpse God did once before. "Or... Should I call you... 'Emperor Slayer' Rizdilusia Redrazhalf?"

That Civil knows about that as well is news to Corpse God. Civil recalls how he reread and reread accounts of the Byandy Empire's main combat force as a child, utterly enamored with the 'fairy tale-esque' stories; with a magical burst of childlike excitement, he demands that Corpse God show him more powers from the 'other side of the sky'.

Meanwhile, Soara Habaki and Xiaoyu Lei's fight takes them hurtling over the edge of the building upon which it began. Soara's increasing adaptation to Xiaoyu's speed and moves is not lost on Xiaoyu, who, in the seconds he is falling, considers but decides against using the trump card that is his right hand; if he uses it and fails to neutralize her with one attack, he fears that she will manage to counter a second.

Soara, as she is rebounding against a chain fence, puzzles over how Xiaoyu has managed to parry her for this long given that he fights like the "big guy" she recently fought; more importantly, she wonders—narrowly avoiding Xiaoyu's kick to her head—how does Xiaoyu know her "go-to moves?" She launches into a counterattack that reminds Xiaoyu of the attacks of Rafa & Gufa, the dual-fanged tiger with which he has been training. Indeed, even her eyes seem more catlike—yet Xiaoyu believes he has more of a fighting chance against "a wild animal in the body of a human" than he does against Rafa & Gufa, and so he launches herself at her from a lamppost. Soara is not so "unreasonable" an opponent as Majiri Agakura or—

Lemmings, whose hand outthrusts toward Soara from the darkness.

Blood drips against a different stretch of pavement as Misaki Sakimiya lifts the vending machine under which she was crushed courtesy of the Great Elementals, whose intentions Lulu questions out loud. Misaki calls the 'vibe' of these supposed Great Elementals 'awesome', akin to that which one feels when one initiates an attack or "go[es] for the kill." By way of helpful follow-up, she introduces herself, says it is 'nice' to make Lulu's acquaintance, and politely asks if Lulu would mind handing over the plush in her possession. Lulu nervously says the plushie was entrusted to her protection, which Misaki accepts as matter-of-factly as she does the objects detaching themselves from their surroundings to gravitate toward her: signs, grates, decorative trees, and the same or a differing vending machine as that from earlier. The only path to saving the real Polka, it seems, is one she will have to forge through a swift amassing of literal obstacles.

Takumi Kuruya, monitoring all of the above chaos through his drones, wonders if their group will be able to secure control of small and big pictures alike—and, in the immediate moment, if there is anything that Corpse God can do. He pilots one drone nearer to Corpse God in anticipation, but is taken aback by Corpse God's portentous demeanor.

Corpse God concedes to Civil that both of them are "incompatible with this world." He assumes responsibility as a "foreign entity" for the fact that city-level Elemental threats and Civil "were called" here, and, in order to take responsibility, pledges to "end Civil here," give Polka his body back, and leave so that Shinjuku will find peace once more. Corpse God reminds Civil that this place is no fairy tale, Civil's texts notwithstanding, and warns Civil that he will regret ever challenging him. What Civil has challenged is no more, after all; 'Corpse God' as name and status both has, alongside two countries, long crumbled to history.

What Civil has challenged is an immortal soul long "used to playing the enemy of the world," Corpse God says, and, with his palms outstretched, calls forth still more skseletal soldiers to fight at his command.

Trivia

 * Sirens are monsters from Greek mythology who lured sailors to their rocky deaths through enchanting songs and music.

Referbacks

 * Fire-breathing Bug first sang 'Amefuri' in Chapter 17.
 * This chapter, post-flashback, picks up where Chapter 70 left off.
 * The precise location and translated dialogue during Civil's invocation of Corpse God's real name and "Emperor Slayer" epithet is a tad different in this chapter to their presentation in Chapter 70. In this chapter, Civil stands atop a guardrail; in Chapter 70, he is standing atop a traffic light.
 * In Chapter 70's English translation, 'Redrazhalf' is spelled 'Redrazalf', without the 'h'.
 * Xiaoyu's initial encounter with Rafa & Gufa, the dual-fanged tiger, took place in Chapter 60.
 * The flyer of Easlies Swordfrail that can be spotted in the young Civil's reading materials is the same flyer from Chapter 74.