Chapter 52

Chapter 52 is the fifty-second chapter of the Dead Mount Death Play manga.

Official Blurb
The full story of Xiaoyu's past reveals his connection to the most fearsome adversary yet! And secrets regarding the Corpse God's world are uncovered that not even he's aware of...

Synopsis
Xiaoyu Lei recalls his first mission for the Lei Family: an 'easy' job that entailed dispatching the surviving terrorists who had threatened the Heilei nearly ten years ago. However, upon arriving at the targeted building, he had discovered the small-time terrorists had already been slaughtered by Momoya Agakura and his older sisters Majiri and Kana. Xiaoyu had attempted and failed to cut Majiri's throat; admiring his ruthlessness, Majiri suggested he let the Agakuras adopt him. Then, she had severed his arms and legs and offered to return them should he take her up on the adoption offer.

In the present, Takumi Kuruya struggles to process the fact this so-called Majiri Agakura woman has cut through Xiaoyu's right arm. Majiri meanwhile once again invites Xiaoyu to join the Agakuras and take revenge on the Heileis, but Xiaoyu swears allegiance to the Shinoyamas as he attempts to kick her. Majiri catches his knee, but she is more irritated by the news the Shinoyamas saved Xiaoyu first than anything else.

On the floor, despite his terribly injured state, Momoya laughs weakly at his sister's rejection. Majiri compliments Xiaoyu on the 'number' he inflicted on Momoya, but Momoya clarifies the one who injured him was the girl right above Majiri's head. Misaki Sakimiya thus swings her prybar at Majiri's face—a prybar that Majiri catches with her teeth. When Majiri swipes her hand at Misaki, Misaki dodges by separating her torso from her hips in a flurry of bats. Though this takes Majiri aback, she returns the prybary to Misaki without hesitating.

After Majiri has Misaki introduce herself, she suggests Misaki take on the Agakura name. Takumi questions the ludicrousness of the conversation; struggling to sit up, Momoya laugh-coughs that Majiri can never keep her focus on a single person—then, he coughs up blood. The sisters realize that their younger brother will die untended if they do not take action: thus, Kana—the sister in a hood—seizes Momoya using a thin white cable while Dahlia—the sister with a braid—fends Misaki off. Dahlia catches Momoya's weapon once Kana catches Momoya.

Majiri declares the entire encounter a draw, offers an apology for breaking Xiaoyu's prosthetic, and notes she will be seeing Misaki later. Takumi questions whether they should be letting the Agakuras go once the siblings leave, but Xiaoyu's leg is out of commission from the earlier kick...and Misaki has a feeling Majiri may be even stronger compared to when Corpse God impaled Misaki through the stomach.

With several Fire-Breathing Bugs still posing an imminent danger in and around the meeting room, Tsubaki Iwanome urges Habaki to stand: once the air clears and visibility is restored, they will be doomed. Habaki is too hellbent on survival and fear over Bug somehow knowing his face to listen, mumbling to himself about how he may as well act up now—and in the second Iwanome notices an empty powder sachet at Habaki's side, Habaki slams his palm into Iwanome's face and propels him back through the smoke with preternatural strength.

Kōzaburō Arase catches Iwanome with his free arm (his other hand holding the fire extinguisher), while Habaki stands, influenced by the drug in mind and body as he utters the words, "In this world...there is no color anymore. Yes. Before long...he will bore a hole." Concluding Habaki is 'tripping', Arase wonders—between Habaki and the Bugs—which enemy they should tackle first.

Over in the Torture Building, Corpse God and Sayo Shinoyama contemplate the thunderstorm pelting the world outside. Although Corpse God had the impression that 'elementals' had only a weak presence in this world, he now supposes "the density of lightning spirits" seems to be similar between both worlds. Sayo asks if he can make a pact with these spirits to use their magic, but he explains he is not an elemental master: it would be suicide, he says, if anyone other than an expert attempted to directly absorb lightning spirits' magic—though, he does know of a handful of skilled sorcerers (Such as his master) capable of such a feat.

A lightning bolt cracks across the rainy night sky elsewhere in the city, over the high-rise buildings and a rooftop where an androgynous figure is indulging in nature. As electricity crackles around their body, they remark in an unknown language that the elementals of this land are "quite tasty." On the rooftop proper below, from the shelter of a maintenance room or stairwell entrance, two people regard him: a muscular woman and, behind her, a small child. The woman irritably shouts she cannot hear the figure—whom she calls "boss"—over the thunder, and so the "boss" floats down to the roof to protest that everything is "just such fun!"

As the "boss" sees it, everyone in this city "seems to be taking action of one kind or another for us" like troublesome insects. What is more, they would never have dreamed hands like the ones from the rooftop incident would appear in such a remote island country and can only speculate as to the hands' origins. Perhaps something "forced over from the side of the hole"—or a whim by "the destructive wyvern Ordom."

The child questions whether their companion should be displaying the mark on their back so cavalierly, but the figure sees no point in hiding it anymore in the wake of that magician's actions. Spreading their arms wide—proudly displaying the original simplified mark of Byandy Empire on their robe—the figure declares they will have to track 'him' (Corpse God) down posthaste to give 'him' a proper welcoming; after all, it will be the first time the figure has ever greeted a guest from their very own hometown.

Trivia

 * This chapter confirms that while Majiri was the Agakura who personally de-limbed Xiaoyu, Momoya and Kana were indeed present when the encounter occurred, thus explaining why Xiaoyu and Momoya mutually recognized her. It is not clear whether Dahlia was also present. Moreover, Momoya's "...close to ten years" quip in the present indicates Xiaoyu must have been approximately nine or ten years old at the time.
 * In concurrence with this chapter's release, Ryohgo Narita wrote in a tweet of bonus trivia that Momoya is the youngest of the four siblings shown in the chapter; he also emphasized the family has more members.

Referbacks

 * To Xiaoyu's debut mission and his averted t'ing-fu fate, as first detailed in Chapter 22.
 * Corpse God previously mentioned fire and wind spirits (elementals) in Chapter 20.
 * To the invisible hands incident on the Torture Building's rooftop, c.f. Chapter 34 and immediate succeeding chapters.