Chapter 66

Chapter 66 is the sixty-sixth chapter of the Dead Mount Death Play manga.

Official Blurb
Civil's show of power brings a certain someone to mind for the Corpse God.

Short Summary
A flashback to the Other World establishes that Arius Sabaramond was an Elemental Eater. In the present, Taipei flings a stiletto at Civil A. Sabaramond in a last-ditch attempt to keep him from leaving. Soara Habaki intercepts the blade, but her resulting stomach wound heals itself once the weapon is extracted. Civil, Soara, and Lulu thus make their exits, leaving Corpse God jewelry as compensation for damages. When the three regroup on the street, Civil shows his companions a new deepfake video that has superimposed Higuro's voice and face over those of idol Ryouma Kannagi: "Higuro" inculpates the Bastard Children of Sabaramond as the organization that shot at Phantom Solitaire after infiltrating the police, and reveals that Fire-breathing Bug has been burning the Bastard Children's allies. "Higuro" invites anyone with information to share it in the video's comments. With the name Sabaramond already trending on Japanese Twittia, Civil and Soara agree that the organization's "geezers" will not take such abrupt limelight well.

Soara wonders whether Civil made the right decision in giving Corpse God his "rainy day" jewelry stash, but Civil stands by it; after all, the jewelry was intended to cover the cost of what Lulu holds in her hands: the Polka Shinoyama shark plush. In this exchange of jewelry and plush, Civil opines, Corpse God is the one who "lost out big."

Concurrent with the above events, Corpse God and Takumi Kuruya have retired to the communal area to discuss Civil's potential affiliation with the Bastard Children of Sabaramond, and the more-than-potential similarities Corpse God sees between Civil and Arius Sabaramond. The conservation skids to a halt once Corpse God realizes Polka has been kidnapped.

Synopsis

 * Flashback

In a flashback to a forest clearing in the Other World, Easlies Swordfrail instructs Corpse God—then still a human—to closely observe Arius Sabaramond's absorption of a Lightning Elemental. When the massive bolt directly strikes Arius, he welcomes its electric currents with an outstretched palm. Easlies explains that Arius, as an Elemental Eater—someone unable to communicate with Elementals—instead "[forces magic] out of them" which he pours into his own body instead, leaving the Elemental to naturally recharge its energy over time. However, she adds, to Corpse God's consternation, practitioners unable to "handle" the stolen magic are bodily contorted, ruptured, fried, and in some cases even burst-and-boiled. That Arius has not suffered such consequences, she supposes, is a sign he is a "first-class thief."

In response to Easlies' insolent word choice, uttered before multiple onlookers no less, Arius lightly chuckles and politely objects to her villainous framing of his actions: he is borrowing, not stealing, the Elementals' magic. Turning a smile toward Corpse God, Arius remarks that he envies him—Corpse God who is loved by many, by the likes of spirits and even the misanthropic witch Easlies. (Here, Easlies tells Corpse God to "pay him no mind. He speaks nonsense."). Then he turns that smile toward a gigantic entity towering over the trees, its multiple tendrils snapping back and forth; out loud, he hopes that corpse God returns that love in kind, and in the same breath unleashes a spate of magic that vanquishes the entity and carves a gargantuan crater in its wake. As Corpse God leans back, cowed, Arius laments that he personally cannot grasp love, and can only "pine for the world" in its stead.

With Taipei prone on the floor, Civil tosses Corpse God some jewelry as damage compensation and prepares to leave. Corpse God barely has a moment to politely refuse when a gust at his side startles him: Taipei has sent a stiletto whistling toward Civil, though Soara Habaki physically intervenes—in time for the stiletto to pierce her abdomen instead. Taipei tsks that he 'missed'; Soara tsks that she was 'careless'. Without regard for her own organs, she withdraws the blade from her stomach and remarks that some of Taipei's organs "must be thrashed" after the blast Civil unleashed. Civil is meanwhile cheerful that he suffered neither their injuries, though Soara treats hers as a matter-of-fact consequence of being his bodyguard. She tosses the blade to the ground, but Corpse God and Taipei's shocked eyes are fixed on Soara's stomach gash as it seals itself shut. Corpse God is certain, beyond doubt, that Soara must have undergone the same treatment as that which the Imperial Assassination Unit underwent.
 * Present

Civil's comment that Corpse God seems to be "taking it all rather in stride" reminds Corpse God that his "false face" spell is still in effect, so he hastily claims that such tumults are commonplace in his private life. Supposing that Mikoto Saimyouji's assessment was indeed correct, Civil slides open the nearest window sash, says he shall not cause Corpse God any further trouble—not here, he murmurs—and tells Soara to take charge of Lulu before he leaps out of the third-story window, much to Corpse God's shock. Soara scoops up Lulu and departs without further ado.

As silence engulfs the corridor, Takumi Kuruya cracks open the communal area's door to ask if the trouble has passed. Corpse God glances back at Taipei, still crouched with his right hand over his stomach, and responds that it seems to have. Takumi follows his gaze and asks if Taipei is 'okay'; ushering Takumi back into the communal area, Corpse God replies "probably not" but "more importantly, I have something I need to tell you."

Taipei is left alone in silence, in pain, and to wonder what manner of attack was that unearthly one he just endured. He is not left to his thoughts for long, for his cell phone vibrates. He uncurls his hand from his stomach to check the device.

Corpse God informs Takumi he believes that his last client is a member of the Bastard Children of Sabaramond—the organization that Fire-breathing Bug seemed fixated on. Seeing the client's face in the corridor as he did brought back memories of someone else—someone whose magical technique Civil's own resembled too much for Civil himself to be a stranger: that someone, Corpse God says, was Arius Sabaramond. He stops his train of thought abruptly, eyes widening, and turns to look behind him.

Meanwhile, at the base of the stairs, Kochou Eightport struggles in Misaki Sakimiya's arms and timorously pleads to be let back to "that crazy commotion"—at the very least to ensure that Polka, a minor, is all right. Misaki, undeterred, continues holding Eightport in place. Still, now that the din has ceased, she wonders if the situation has settled.

Soara, having once more reunited herself—and Lulu—with Civil on Shinjuku's streets, asks Civil why he took such lengths to intervene in the fight when he could have left Taipei to her; she had only "just gotten warmed up." Civil apologizes that he had 'figured' it was fine for him to cease hiding his power and then hands Soara his passport, pointing his surname upon it as 'Sabaramond'—the name "someone gave to an organization without my permission." Then he holds out his smartphone to show Soara and Lulu a video, remarking that the "geezers in the organization...are gonna go wild after they discover this."

The video footage appears to be concert footage: a man with Higuro's face and voice, clad in a trendy jacket, shirt, and spotlight-reflecting trousers, jovially asks his audience if they have heard of the Bastard Children of Sabaramond. Aiming a finger gun at the camera, he explains that the Bastards were the people who shot at Phantom Solitaire via police infiltration; moreover, Fire-breathing Bug's targets, he declares, performing a high kick for emphasis, are said to be the Bastard Children's allies. With a final showman's leap, the words SOLITAIRE TV! overlaid beneath him, "Higuro" invites anyone with relevant information to share it in the comments of the "Solitaire TV!" channel.

Pop idol Ryouma Kannagi, currently on set for the upcoming Sharkborg film -The Shark Six-, looks up from the smartphone he holds to tell his director that this footage is 'totally' from his concert. Behind Kannagi, a man holds back a crowd of admiring women; behind the director, a crowd of crewmen hoist a large Sharkborg animatronic or puppet into the air. Impervious to their noisy, chaotic surroundings, Kannagi opines that the fact he does not recognize the face or voice in the footage is "soooo weird." His director explains that the video is a 'deepfake', meaning that the recorded person—in this case, Kannagi—has been superimposed with the likeness of another. A crew member wonders whether Solitaire is responsible for the deepfake, causing Kannagi's nearby agent to shriek vows of vengeance against the troublemaker, but Kannagi is more curious as to who the 'swapped in' person is. Solitaire's son? As he glances at his phone, he is taken aback to discover that 'Sabaramond' is "already trending" in Japanese Twittia, taking the number three spot with 12,218 tweets and climbing.

Back on Shinjuku's streets, Soara grimaces at the footage and agrees that "the old farts at HQ" can easily be imaged as "freaking out" over such footage. Civil laughs that his immigration registration "links it back to us too," though Soara is not quite so blasé; she wonders whether it was smart for Civil to bequeath the jewels he was saving as a "rainy-day fund" to the fortuneteller. Civil is confident he made the right decision; in fact, the fortuneteller ought to be realizing any moment now that he has "lost out big" in the exchange.

Corpse God stares at the empty spot on his shoulder where Polka Shinoyama should be and exclaims, "I knew it... He's gone!" He nevertheless takes off his cowl to check its interior while Takumi clues in to the situation; confronted by a distinct lack of shark plush in his cowl, Corpse God sighs with the assurance he can at least still detect "the thread to his soul," but for now, it seems clear that Polka has been kidnapped.

Lulu, hands occupied, diffidently asks Civil whether it is "really okay...to just take this." Civil replies that the jewels were meant to cover this cost as well, though, should Corpse God pursue him as if he is a thief, he will look forward to such an encounter. Reaching out his hand to the shark plush cradled in Lulu's arms, he taps Polka's snout and quips, "Right?"

Trivia

 * This chapter marks another reversal in the consistent inconsistency of the Izliz vs. Easlies spellings. Here, Arius uses "Izliz" when addressing her; however, she is addressed as "Easlies" by the child emperor in her last appearance in Chapter 57.
 * The utilization of a large shark animatronic/prop for a filmset also occurs in the 2002 arc of the Baccano! light novel series, an unrelated work by Dead Mount Death Play author Ryohgo Narita.

Referbacks

 * Corpse God cast the "false face" spell in Chapter 63.
 * To Civil and Saimyouji's conversation in Chapter 62.
 * To the failed attempt on Solitaire's life in Chapter 26.
 * Ryouma Kannagi and The Shark Six installment were concurrently previously mentioned by Sayo Shinoyama in Chapter 36, a chapter in which the Bastard Children and Arius Sabaramond were also discussed. However, the individual Chapter 36 release spells Ryouma's family name as Kannagiri, not Kannagi. It remains to be seen which version Yen Press will use in the upcoming Volume 5 edition of that chapter.
 * The illustration of the Imperial Assassination Unit appears to be a cropped version of their debut depiction in Chapter 2.