Episode 21

**The Spirit** (精霊 *Seirei*) is the twenty-first episode of the *Dead Mount Death Play* anime.

## Official Blurb

A fight between a Shinoyama enforcer and Civil's bodyguard brings an abrupt end to the mysterious visitor's interview with the Corpse God. But will he really leave in peace? Meanwhile, Solitaire's latest scheme causes a stir.

## Synopsis

Since the *Weekly Dry* Chief Editor is too busy to participate, Kochou Eightport finds herself without a client for today's session. Just as she is wondering what to do, she notices Taipei looking at the Abandoned Building and asks if his interest lies with Phantom Solitaire or with the building's fortuneteller.

Taipei calls Takeru Shinoyama and says a tabloid reporter wants him to participate in a story she is writing about Polka Shinoyama. Takeru sees this as an opportunity to glean more information about Polka and instructs Taipei to "play along." To Eightport, the sensation she feels when she and Taipei enter the building is nothing more than an unusual chill; to Taipei, it is the sensation of "deep, dark death," not unlike that which he feels when in the presence of a complete ting-fu. A group of customers exit the building and Eightport is tempted to join them, but she resolves herself and follows Taipei upstairs.

Misaki Sakimiya informs Taipei that Polka and Xiaoyu Lei are busy working. Eightport asks if the two know each other and mentions the odd chill. Taipei looks around the corner and, upon spotting Soara Habaki, immediately closes the distance, drives his palm into her side, and accuses her of being the person who attacked the Heilei personnel and stole their phones. Soara assumes Taipei is said personnel's boss and refuses Civil's offer of help.

An external camera is trained on two of the corridor's windows. Bao, who is able to view its live feed from her phone, witnesses Taipei attack Soara and notifies Takeru of the situation. Takeru asks if she is certain that Soara is the phone thief; she replies that Taipei has likely smelled the Heilei's perfume on Soara, which means Soara has been in extremely close promixity to one or more Heilei. As for why Taipei chose to attack Soara now, Bao guesses his excuse will be 'eliminating a plausible threat to Sayo Shinoyama,' but that his real reason is that he saw an opportunity to fight someone strong.

The sound of Soara and Taipei's fight reaches Sayo and Takumi Kuruya in the common area. Xiaoyu, wondering "what the hell" Taipei is doing, urges Sayo to stay in her room until the danger passes. Corpse God, thinking along similar lines as far as Takumi is concerned, exits the divination room and tells Misaki to escort Eightport out of the building. Civil A. Sabaramond privately wonders if Misaki is another Shinoyama bodyguard, given her composure, then checks his phone when it vibrates. He whispers a question in Lulu's ear.

Eightport manages to snap a photograph of the scene a second before Civil uses magic to blow Taipei several feet away from him. Corpse God is reminded uncannily of Arius Sabaramond.

Flashback
As Arius entreats with a lightning elemental in the Other World, Easlies Swordfrail explains to Corpse God that he is stealing its mana since he cannot communicate with it. People who do this are called Elemental Eaters, though those whose bodies cannot withstand the stolen power risk being burned, imploded, or some other manner of grisly demise. She drily adds that Arius is in no such risk.

Easlies' description of him is too "sordid," interjects Arius, who clarifies that he neither steals nor eats the power of spirits, he merely borrows it. He remarks that Corpse God is blessed to have the love of numerous spirits (and a misanthropic witch), for which he envies him, and advises Corpse God to return such love to "many people and numerous skies."

Love is the one thing Arius cannot master, he admits, so all he can do is "pine for the world." He conjures a magic circle that sears a brilliant gold color.

Present
Civil tosses Corpse God a jewelled necklace as "compensation for any trouble" as he prepares to take his leave. As Corpse God protests, Taipei flings a throwing knife at Civil—but it buries itself in Soara's abdomen instead, Soara having acted as a human shield. She yanks the knife out and remarks that Civil's attack ought to have "wrecked" a few of Taipei's organs, though she is hardly one to talk: the knife wound seals itself for everyone to see.

Corpse God wonders if Soara underwent the same treatment as the assassins of Byandy Empire. Civil admits that he should not have let Corpse God see any of that, though Corpse God appears awfully composed considering the circumstances. Too late does Corpse God remember his False Face spell is still active; he claims that his experience reading strangers' fates has jaded him. Civil leaves via autodefenestration and Soara, holding Lulu, follows.

Assuming that the danger has passed, Takumi opens the door to the common room and lets Corpse God in. Taipei is left stunned on the floor, clutching the spot on his body that Civil hit. His phone rings while he is wondering what exactly Civil did to him, for he has never before felt such an attack as that.

Corpse God tells Takumi that Civil probably belongs to the Bastard Children of Sabaramond; not only does Civil physically resemble Arius, he uses magic in the exact same way Arius did. Before Corpse God can continue his train of thought, he notices that his shoulders are bereft of their usual shark plush.

Some streets away, Civil apologizes to a cranky Soara for intervening in her fight and says he had, in the moment, felt he no longer needed to conceal his identity. He reminds Soara that his passport contains his full name, which means that Japan has an official record identifying Civil as a Sabaramond, which means that the Bastard elders are likely going to panic when they see *this*.

In the video that Civil shows his companions, Higuro—dressed as an idol, clutching a microphone—asks his audience if they have ever heard of Fire-breathing Bug's foes Bastard Children of Sabaramond, aka "bad guys" who have infiltrated the police and attempted to kill the Phantom Solitaire. He asks that anyone who knows the truth about the Bastards leave a comment on "Solitaire TV," the YouTube channel hosting this video.

On the set of *The Shark Six*, the upcoming sixth installment of *The Sharkborg from Hell* movie franchise, Ryouma Kannagi watches the video and says it is using footage from one of his concerts. Someone has swapped out Kannagi's face and voice with those of another man; in other words, the video is a deepfake. Kannagi wonders who the man is—"Solitaire's son?"—and what Sabaramond means. He is not the only one; the word is already trending on Twittia.

Soara says the "geezers" at HQ must be already throwing a fit. She questions whether giving Corpse God jewelry was really a good idea. It was not a good *deal*, Civil replies. Not for Corpse God, that is.

Corpse God pulls off his hood and peers inside it for Polka, though he knows he will not find him. Polka, he informs Takumi, has been kidnapped.

Takeru is not nearly as unhappy with the fight's outcome as Taipei is, since their side now knows what their enemy looks like.

Lulu questions whether stealing the fortuneteller's shark plush was really a good idea. Civil reminds her of their exchange in the corridor, during the fight; he had asked her which person most interested the Elemental, and she had answered that it kept calling out to the shark plush. Civil says that a sorcerer from "the homeland" might be using it to control Polka, so he wants to examine it up close. If it *truly* links to the "other side of the sky," however, then Fire-breathing Bug will probably try to incinerate it. The three of them must be on their guard.

Takumi wonders what motivated Civil to steal Polka. Corpse God says that Civil did not seem to realize just what he stole; for now, he is keeping a *literal* eye on Civil's group via one of his tripodal eyeballs. Any potential discussion of mounting a rescue is postponed when Taipei and Eightport enter the common room, the latter immediately apologizing for having brought a man like Taipei to the building n the first place.

Instead of explaining why he attacked Soara, Taipei asks Corpse God if he can divine her and her companions' identities. He, Eightport, Misaki, and Corpse God retire to the divination room, where Taipei puts a call with Takeru on speaker. Takeru offers "Polka" an excuse for Taipei's earlier behavior and reiterates Taipei's request about divining the three assailants' identities. Then, he warns Polka about a "bizarre video" that Solitaire has uploaded.

Solitaire projects said video onto a wall for Higuro's viewing 'pleasure.' When asked for his thoughts, Higuro asks why Solitaire chose to make the video look the way it does. To give the Whoozawhatsits of Sabaramond quite a shock, replies Solitaire.

"I'll bet. And what else?"

"Do you mean to say," replies Solitaire, flabbergasted, "you need *another* reason?"

Higuro screams with frustration. What is *wrong* with this guy? He recovers his composure rather swiftly for someone who has not screamed like that since preschool and muses that he will need plastic surgery when he goes on the run.

Aha, Solitaire exclaims, so Higuro *is* a Whatchamacallit of Sabaramond! Higuro doubts that they would consider an errand boy like him a member. He is so low on the totem pole that he does not even know why Fire-breathing Bug has spent a century targeting people affiliated with Sabaramond. On that note, he takes the opportunity to ask the perpetrator themselves.

While peeling an apple for Momoya Agakura, who is bedridden on account of his injuries, Majiri watches the deepfake video and remarks that the recent developments feel "so sudden" despite having smoldered over the course of the past century. She speculates that Bug has realized that "the best revenge is roundabout, by pulling someone down from behind."

Solitaire says that Fire-breathing Bug must be over one hundred years old if they have a century's worth of arson under their belt. Bug expresses denial. "We are no longer anywhere," they explain, describing themselves as mistakes, impurities, "those who should not be," bugs scorched onto this world just like the Bastards.

Given the challenge that is deducing the motives of people whose criminal record is over a century old, Iwanome—it can be inferred—has instructed his colleagues to look at all past cases that involve fire. His reasoning is that if fire is not Bug's weapon of choice out of pyromania, then it might be something relevant to whatever sparked Bug's vendetta. Kayakuya enters the room where Comps-3 is working and hands Iwanome a book that she thinks has the most viable incident yet. Iwanome puts down Miyabi Hosorogi's note to flip through the book. Jackpot.

Ranmaru Yatsu, over Iwanome's shoulder, reads that one hundred years ago, sixteen corpses were discovered in adjoining cells—at least half of whom were judged to be children, Iwanome adds, disgusted. Tozawa is surprised that he personally has never heard of the incident considering how devastating it. Iwanome asks everyone except for Arase to check whether the incident was covered by contemporary media. Arase, he says, will continue helping him track down Higuro. Arase, he sees, is in some distress, his hand to his face. When Iwanome asks what is the matter, Arase grins and grimaces in quick succession. This only alarms Iwanome more. Arase recovers swiftly, claims his emotions "got in a car crash," and turns his laptop toward Iwanome to show Iwanome the deepfake video.

Takumi, at his computer, experiences an emotion crash. He expects his emotions will not reboot for some time.

Corpse God watches the deepfake video on his phone per Takeru's warning. He wonders who the man in it is, whether Solitaire has not yet met "those three," and if Solitaire realizes that publicizing Sabaramond's name could backfire on him; if everyone knows the name, then surely Solitaire will have more trouble discerning who among them knows the name legitimately as opposed to learning it from his video. What on Earth is Solitaire's plan? (Nothing.)

Corpse God asks Takeru to give him three days to prepare with regard to the divination request. Takeru internally considers the possibility that Corpse God is buying time to investigate the three foreigners, or perhaps to negotiate a clandestine deal with them. Perhaps, he wonders, it has something to do with Polka's mother. He says he has no objections provided neither does the reporter listening in, who he understands wants to use Taipei for her story.

Eightport is startled to have been dragged into negotiations but, since she is convinced Solitaire and the Sabaramondians are tied to this building if not the Shinoyama family itself, says she also has no objections. Three days is three extra days to investigate, after all. She proposes that they all reconvene at 6:00 PM, three days from now. Takeru agrees, as does Corpse God, and orders Taipei to return so that his injuries can be treated. As soon as Takeru ends the call, he calls Bao and orders her to monitor Polka for the next three days. Then he orders Yomogi/Yochigi to investigate without the foreigners without engaging them, as it is vital he learn the foreigners' motives; it will make using them all the easier.

In an underground parking lot, the said foreigner trio find themselves surrounded by seedy-looking men. Civil calls this a rude welcome on top of what was a rudely abrupt summons and tells one of the slightly less seedy-looking men that he could have read Civil's email if he wanted Civil's opinion on "that silly video." The man is here to relay orders from the elders: leave the country and go into hiding immediately. If Civil refuses these orders...

A blond man aims his handgun at Civil. The first man says that none of them are so stupid as to try taking on Soara or Civil, but they cannot help a stray bullet hitting Civil's attendant. The blond shifts his aim. Lulu's worried warning that doing so is unsafe is a futile one: metal falls from the ceiling and crushes the blond dead. Civil calls the men fools as objects and rubble rise into the air and, when the first man asks if this is Civil's doing, seems surprised by their ignorance.

Misaki is meanwhile surprised that *her* trio is not already going to Polka's rescue. Corpse God says that they cannot risk mounting one carelessly, especially since the young girl is possessed by an elemental so powerful that it likely is capable of flattening Shinjuku,

Horrified, Lulu avoids watching the elemental wreak violence on the Bastards. Civil does not, though he does think the elders are cruel to have kept the existence of the elemental a secret from their own men, even though the elemental is the Bastards' trump card. Lulu pleads for the elemental to cease its slaughter, but it is not long before all the men are dead.

## Adapted From

* Chapter 65
* Chapter 66
* Chapter 67
* Chapter 68

## Trivia

* Civil's passport appears to be Greek, despite the letters' stylistic obfuscation. "Civil A. Sabaramond" appears to be written as ΣΗΦΥΛ ΟΙ. ΙΑΜΠΑΡΑΜΟΝΤΟ.