Episode 03

**The Necromancer** (死霊術士 *Shiryōjutsushi*) is the third episode of the *Dead Mount Death Play* anime.

## Official Blurb

Polka is settling into his new life when a man arrives begging Misaki to save him from gangsters. Polka sends her with him, but the job isn't what it seems. Meanwhile, other factions in Shinjuku investigate Polka's role in the fire.

## Short Summary

Takumi and Misaki help Corpse God move into the Torture Building, which entails unpacking boxes of items courtesy of Lisa Kuraki—including stacks of books about Earth—and setting up a computer for Takumi.

Corpse God and Takumi discuss the former's cover story for Polka's family, Corpse God's speculation that his world and this world are somehow one world, and Corpse God's intent to investigate the client who commissioned Polka's murder since Lisa is sworn to secrecy. Takumi then learns that Polka's soul possesses the malfunctioning drone and is perturbed by how Corpse God treats souls as his toys.

A man drops by to ask for "Zaki's" help in dealing with hitmen who are after him. That night, he leads Misaki into an ambush instead and shoots her when she defeats multiple grown men. She revives and attacks another wave of men until Corpse God acts on behalf of the infants whose souls haunt the man: two great skeletal hands erupt from the Earth and mold the remaining men into a human knot.

Two men who escaped the scene run to an armory; Lemmings kills them.

In the aftermath, Misaki marvels at her lack of bullet holes while Takumi reevaluates Corpse God's values. Later, the three order pizza and talk about Misaki being a Zombie. Corpse God reaffirms that he believes his world and this world is connected.

Lisa pauses her late-night *fun* with Koruto Ichinose and Izuna Ajishiro to answer a call from an unhappy client. She disputes the client's insistence that Polka is a mere high schooler, insinuates that the client lied about that from the start, and declares their business relationship on hold.

A pair of patrol officers arrive at the ambush site to investigate reported gunshots. When Lemmings shatters the human knot with a single punch, the officers come running and discuss men whose limbs are impossibly twined and intertwined.

In Youtoukorou's external stairwell, Kōzaburō Arase begs the mercy of three bouncers for whom he can only offer a deep bow. How could he have predicted one beer would cost ¥60,000? Then he knocks the men senseless.

Inside the bar, Tsubaki acts drunk in a bid to extract information from Urai on the Shakuzawa Building fire and Clarissa, since he had come specifically to see her. He is told she has taken the late-night shift, which is unusual, and he is all the more chagrined when duty calls—meaning he and Arase cannot wait until Clarissa's shift starts.

Upon arriving at the Human Knot scene with Arase, Iwanome admits that he was called with good reason: this sort of troublemaking is his team's specialty.

## Synopsis

While Takumi and several skeletons carry boxes into a common room of the Torture Building, Misaki Sakimiya avidly watches a clip from TGT news channel's live broadcast of yesterday's Shakuzawa Building fire.

Opening credits.
Corpse God takes a break from directing the skeletons to flip through an encyclopedia about whales and dolphins, one of the many heavy books the skeletons unpacked. Takumi asks Misaki if "hanging out" with her killer is not bothering her. On the contrary: she is still riding the thrill of being killed.

Having long accepted that Misaki has a "screw loose," Takumi remarks that he did not know Clarissa owned the Torture Building before setting down another box down. Corpse God makes a point to thank him for his help despite the inconvenience, aware that he is only providing it on Lisa's orders. "To be frank," Corpse God says, his attention back on the encyclopedia, "I know almost nothing about this world."

One inconvenience of helping Corpse God is having to commute to the Torture Building.
"Are you seriously going to live *here*?" Takumi blurts, as much out of personal discomfort as out of incredulity, since there must be better options. What about the family of Corpse God's host?

Corpse God says that he contacted Polka's family to say he is spending summer vacation on a "journey of self-discovery." Beyond that, though, he is at a loss; he knows little about Polka's relatives besides their names. Language extraction? That was easy. Language is an engrained skill of repetition. Memory retrieval? The older the memory is, the harder it is to recover.

Not to mention, Polka's final moments are so intense that all other memories have taken a backseat.

Takumi muses about Corpse God's otherworldy origins as he starts assembling a monitor stand. Another world. It must exist, he concedes, recalling the sight of those monster skeletons, but even after seeing them, he finds it all difficult to take in.

Corpse God, however, is still unconvinced that *he* is in another world because of their similarities. The whales depicted with scientific authority in this encyclopedia are beasts of legend in his world.

Of far more import to Corpse God than this world's similarities to his own is what this world lacks—specifically, that it lacks Geldwood. He briefly explains how Geldwood was an abominable cult that tried to kill him when he lived as the skeleton Misaki and Takumi saw before, under the moniker... He takes a moment to consider what it would be in Japanese. "Cadaver Spirit?" No, he amends, the "Corpse God."

Misaki deems the sobriquet exceptionally cool. Takumi is unimpressed by it and her opinion. She returns to watching the skeletons clean.

Without Geldwood, the prospect of a peaceful life truly is within reach. Corpse God simply needs to "talk down" the person who put a price on Polka's life. Neither Takumi nor Misaki knows the client's identity. Lisa does—but she refused to divulge it when Corpse God asked, and as recompense is letting him use this floor of the building.

Corpse God says he will investigate on his own rather than force the information from Lisa, which he will do as a last resort. She *did* agree to refuse any more contracts on his life, after all.

"And you *believed* her?" Takumi asks, incredulous. He points out other assassin intermediaries will have no compunctions accepting such contracts, though he supposes very few people exist who could kill Corpse God. "Except Lemmings, maybe."

Despite Corpse God's curiosity, he does not elaborate, moving instead to fire up his assembled workstation. While he waits, he poses Corpse God the same sort of question he had Misaki: Does Corpse God *actually* not mind fraternizing with his killer?

Misaki did not kill *him*, Corpse God replies, shrugging, and Polka asks him to forgive her.

Takumi gapes. Polka's ghost spoke to him?

Corpse God points to a drone hovering near the ceiling. Behold: Polka. This is the drone that Takumi had lost control of, and it drifts down into Corpse God's hands. Corpse God explains Polka's soul was still in Polka's body when Corpse God reincarnated, so he had to imbue it into the nearest vessel he could find. He asks if Takumi minds Polka using the drone until Corpse God finds something else for Polka to possess.

For once, that sort of concern is the furthest thing from Takumi's mind. The way Corpse God talks about switching souls, he might as well be talking about switching out doll's clothes.

It is too apt an analogy for Corpse God to deny, so he agrees instead: "I won't deny it. Human lives are like toys or dolls to me."

*Rest of the synopsis is in progress.*

## Adaptation Notes

### Adapted From

* Chapter 4
* Chapter 5

### Changes

* The sex scene involving Clarissa and Izuna Ajijō was changed to Clarissa receiving a massage from her instead.