Chapter 57

Chapter 57 is the fifty-seventh chapter of the Dead Mount Death Play manga.

Official Blurb
The Corpse God comes face-to-face with an old friend…

Synopsis
As rain beats ceaselessly over Shinjuku's rooftops, Lisa Kuraki's companion wonders who the the spirit beside Corpse God might be. The spirit—that of Byandy Empire's deceased child emperor—notices Polka Shinoyama peeking at him from Corpse God's hoodie; he gives Polka a grin.

On a street in the vicinity, the lightning sorcerer stops in his tracks. Lulu—the child accompanying him—asks if something is the matter; he replies he simply had a strange feeling, glancing back in the direction from which the trio came. Soara Habaki asks if they should head back, but the sorcerer—walking forward once more—advises against this, saying the police are "bound to show up" given that a "certain someone" destroyed the adjacent building's scaffolding within three minutes. If the Japanese police were able to corner someone not "completely incompetent" like Habaki, the sorcerer supposes they must be formidable.

Over in the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department's Headquarters, Tsubaki Iwanome briefs Comps-3 on the situation and adds that none of them will likely be going home for a while. He then apologizes for dragging everyone into his 'mess', but Kōzaburō Arase opines that the problem is no longer his alone—though he does think Iwanome was too emotionally invested in the Miyabi Hosorogi imbroglio.

One Comps-3 member point out that Phantom Solitaire's involvement makes the matter a Comps-3 matter by default. Ranmaru Yatsu—approaching the group with Danjō Tozawa, both damp from the rain—voices his agreement, adding that the case will only grow now that 'the media' has noticed the Habaki issue. After Tozawa chimes in that Iwanome should keep a low profile, Yatsu apologizes; neither of them were able to catch Habaki. Iwanome says he at least wants to catch Habaki before he can do something like escape overseas; however, he advises them all to be on guard, since they know little of Habaki's organization.

Unbeknownst to Comps-3, Habaki's spirit is currently suspended aloft by chains, itself pierced by multiple stakes. Before him stands Corpse God and the child emperor, whom Corpse God says he did not summon. The child emperor cheerfully retorts that he "shook off his restraints" a century ago—though he remarks that emerging was 'tough work'—and says it is Corpse God's turn to yield. With a silent wave of Corpse God's hand, the stakes and other summoned entities that were torturing Habaki collapse into shadow.

The child emperor suggests Corpse God relax, saying that he himself will be gone soon since he emerged without Corpse God's permission, but he nevertheless exclaims it was 'splendid' he was able to remember the words from "this side" thanks to Corpse God. Upon noticing the two women behind him, he affords them another smile and wave; he continues on to say that 'this world' seems like fun, full of rubberneckers—but here Corpse God tries to interrupt with "...I'm sorry, but—", apparently uncomfortable or otherwise ill at ease with what is happening. The emperor assures him he will wait patiently until Corpse God's heart "wishes it so."

The two old friends turn away from each other. Lisa asks Corpse God who the spirit is; Corpse God answers he is an old friend from the Other World, or perhaps from some Beyond. Either he or the child emperor affirms they are 'rather good friends', though perhaps this is not a sureness in 'this world'. As the child emperor approaches Habaki, flaunting magic with a smile and flourish, he declares he and Corpse God are themselves whether alive or dead.

In a flashback to the Other World, the child emperor leads the undead Corpse God down a long flight of stairs. He remarks that, although he told Corpse God to keep his mind off revenge, he never urged him to become a saint. When they arrive at a dungeon door, he amends that there is no need for Corpse God to dirty his hand over trivial matters—and inside the dungeon is one such trivial matter: the grotesque form of Corpse God's father, his body elongated in centipede-like fashion, possessing additional limbs. His exposed spine and ribs protrude, hunched, from his robes; his intestines rot outside him.

Before his father stand Utsurojuza and Easlies Swordfrail, ignoring the man's pleas for them to stop. When the child emperor calls Easlies' name, Easlies summons multiple hands to rip at Corpse God's father's flesh; over the man's cries, Utsurojuza protests that he and Easlies were against Corpse God seeing this—he wanted to simply "do away" with such a "poor excuse of a father" until there was not a trace left.

The child emperor cuts off Corpse God's father's pleas for forgiveness by stabbing his sword into the man's body. Declaring that his duty is to take on the people's "dirty work," he tells Corpse God there is thus no need for his dear friend to debase himself.

In the present, the child emperor launches multiple large gears into the air; the gears, seven in total, grind Habaki's spirit between them. What is left of Habaki splashes to the ground. Where the child emperor admires his handiwork, the Corpse God merely says that such "conceited thinking" is what caused His Highness' assassination. His old friend replies "...maybe so" before dissipating with a cheerful grin.

Elsewhere on Shinjuku's streets, the weather sorcerer tells Lulu "he's disappeared" and supposes he will have to "start tomorrow." His mind turns to Shinjuku's troublemakers: between Fire-Breathing Bug and his "comrade from back home," he must deliberate over whom he should prioritize first.

Back on the rooftop, Lisa advises her companion not to concern herself with matters of another world. At this moment, other matters are being attended to in this world: Misaki Sakimiya, Takumi Kuruya, and a disarmed Xiaoyu Lei return to Sayo Shinoyama; Iwanome leads another talk on the Habaki case; Solitaire schemes; and the Agakara sisters carry their injured brother to safety. As all this is taking place, Corpse God muses to his absent friend that his wish remains the same: a wish for a peaceful world, one where the emperor need not dirty his hands. Therefore, he must enter an even deeper place: "Into the shadows of that world...that are blending into this one."

Referbacks

 * To Chapter 2; when the chlld emperor says he broke free of his restraint a century prior, the accompanying illustration is from Chapter 2, when the Corpse God took his revenge on the Geldwood soldiers.