Chapter 10

* Original Title
* Volume Title

**Chapter 10** is the tenth chapter of the *Dead Mount Death Play* manga.

## Synopsis

While the Corpse God summons bone blades against Lemmings, Inspector Tsubaki Iwanome does a double take. He asks Clarissa Kuraki if she also saw something "weird" floating by the chandelier, but she suggests he simply had too much to drink.

In a flashback to the Other World, a certain necromancer asks a ten-year-old human boy—the Corpse God before he became the 'Corpse God'—if he is shocked that his parents sold him. She says that he now belongs to her as property of the imperial army, and that she will have him become a necromancer as well.

Using magic to create a tower of bones, she continues that as a necromancer, he will be free to move through the empire as he pleases. Furthermore, he will likely live a far longer life than he expects.

In the present, the Corpse God—"Polka"—seizes Lemmings with a large skeletal hand to keep him from moving. With a second skeletal hand, he snatches Misaki Sakimiya from Lemmings' clutches.

It only takes a few seconds for Lemmings to smash through the bony hand, and he immediately resumes pursuing Misaki. The Corpse God is surprised that Lemmings can see them in the darkness, since he lacks the magic to sense living things. Aside from Lemmings and Corpse God, the only other person who "perfectly understands" the overhead battle is the present but unidentified individual known as "The Grim Reaper."

Lemmings catches up to Misaki and breaks the bony fingers holding her, causing her to drop onto the floor. Drawing in close, he asks a question which only she can hear; she hesitates, and then refuses to answer on the grounds that she will "get in trouble."

After a pause, Lemmings turns his head in the direction of "Polka"—who experiences a visceral feeling of death not unlike to what he experienced with Shagrua Lugrid. Misaki grabs Lemmings before he can approach "Polka," claiming that he is a "good boy" unrelated to the subject at hand.

She whispers something into Lemmings' bandaged ear, and asks him if he is satisfied. Then, she attempts to paralyze Lemmings by biting his hand—but, as she cannot bite through the bandages, she stabs a fork into his right thigh instead.

The fork still has a trace of Misaki's saliva on it, which is enough to dizzy Lemmings but too small a quantity to fully paralyze him. However, the delay has bought "Polka" enough time to compose himself and prepare his magic, and a humongous skeleton reaches its right hand over the second floor's guardrail and toward Lemmings at high speed. What happens next is not depicted.

In the aftermath of the incident, Iwanome surveys the damaged Youtoukorou and laments that he and the rest of the police were utterly ignored. Kōzaburō Arase, bloody and working out a kink in his right shoulder, remarks that they were under-prepared and that they ought not to make the same mistake next time.

Clarissa finds this a bit extreme, but Iwanome agrees: next time, they will not visit unarmed. He adds that they now at least know there is someone capable of holding his own against Lemmings—though he tells Arase that he is not implying they will cooperate with a troublemaker. Instead, they will use *all* of them.

Misaki and Corpse God get into contact with Takumi Kuruya as they exit the building, relating to him their encounters with the cops and Lemmings. The Corpse God thanks Misaki for protecting him, since it looked like she had to tell Lemmings a secret to do so, but she tells him not to worry; had she not divulged the secret, Clarissa or someone else could have found themselves in Lemmings' cross-hairs instead. Besides—Corpse God saved her, so at this point the two of them are practically manga rivals.

The Corpse God thinks back to his old rival Shagrua and the monstrous skeletal body with which he fought him. His current body now is comparatively far more frail—to the point where he does not know whether or not it could have survived against a direct attack from Lemmings—and he reaches two conclusions: that he cannot protect anyone as he is now; and that he has been naive.

Deciding that he must carefully consider who he is in this new world, he asks if Misaki, Takumi, and the real Polka Shinoyama will consider teaching him about this world and about themselves. He has come to a realization: he does not need peace if accepting it means abandoning the children who have smiled with him.

Meanwhile, Lemmings heads for and enters a skyscraper with Shinoyama Security offices within. When he enters the office of a young bespectacled man, the man comments on how rare it is for Lemmings to "take his time" like he has now.

Lemmings quietly informs him that Jinba has been killed, news that the young man takes little interest in. He then adds he will decide his next job based on what the latest intelligence has to offer, referring to Lemmings as "Nezu."

Elsewhere, in response to Takumi's inquiry into the immense amount of magic "Polka" used, "Polka" explains that he replenished enough magic from the "vengeful spirits" surrounding "that monster" that he even has some to spare.

Back in the study, "Lemmings" rubs at his right shoulder. The young man attempts to interpret the gesture's meaning, with Lemmings seeming to indicate he feels the air around him has lightened—and then Lemmings catches a glimpse of what appears to be a formal family photograph on the young man's monitor.

Looming forward, he points to Polka Shinoyama standing at the family's fringes.