Utsurojuza

**Utsurojuza** (虚銃座 *Utsurojūza*), real name **Shula Zoozolozo Cramplamp Lampton** (シュラ・ゾーゾルッゾ・クランプランプ・ランプトン *Shura Zōzoruzzo Kuranpuranpu Ranputon*), is the former third-ranking Imperial Court Sorcerer of the Byandy Empire and—or once was—an 'Enemy of the world.' In the century-long wake of the empire's collapse, he has allied with the alchemist Pani Guldmarg.

## Appearance

Utsurojuza at a glance appears to be a slender, "androgynous, beautiful boy with facial tattoos" of blue hue. Though he is human, he has deviated from typical humans and is over one hundred years old.

His intricate attire consists of a white large-collared short cloak to which the lower half of a white robe appears to be attached by a belt, buckles, cords, and rings. A dark blue garment that may be a cuirass protects his torso, while he wears leg armor over blue trousers. As he is not a knight, he adorns himself in ornaments.

Each earlobe is pierced with a spiked ring; each ring has a long spike spanning its diameter. The spiked ring design is featured on the back of his short cloak. His ankles are also adorned with individual spike rings, though these rings lack a diameter-spanning spike.

## Chronology

### Pre-Collapse

Prior to joining the imperial court of the Byandy Empire, Utsurojuza make a living as a mundivagant "jack-of-all-trades" adventurer, delivering all manner of items—from drugs to krakens—on behalf of his hirers. His power and activities cause him to be constantly pursued, but fighting back only causes him to be deemed an enemy of the world. Emperor Framrodia Byandiraz nevertheless invites Utsurojuza to his court by suggesting that they can mutually use each other, which Utsurojuza finds amenable.

Utsurojuza rises through the ranks of the Imperial Court Sorcerers and allegedly peaks at the second-highest rank, later claiming that he abdicated it to Easlies Swordfrail. He has remained the third of rank and Easlies' rival ever since. It is rumored that Utsurojuza and Easlies have had a fight to the death that caused seven uninhabited islands offshore to disappear, though this has yet to be verified.

Utsurojuza, like his colleagues, is often utilized by the Empire on its manifold battlefields and military operations. On one occasion that sees Utsurojuza and military forces from the Empire and its allies dispatched to seize control of a fortress, Utsurojuza 'stores' his allies' forces and a corridor of dirt underneath the fortress within an alternate dimension, then releases those forces into the resulting tunnel. The soldiers emerge onto the overground and overtake the fortress.

When a man and woman sell their son Rizdilusia Redrazalf to the empire, Easlies accepts the boy as her necromancy apprentice. Utsurojuza befriends him despite his personal rivalry with Easlies and at some point teaches him the rare "Alternate Dimensional Storage" technique. Even Utsurojuza's opponents find Corpse God difficult to dislike, specifically the powerful Shasha, whom Utsurojuza makes an enemy of and expects he, Easlies, the military, and "that snob" Arius Sabaramond will have to fight; Shasha instead takes a shine to the 'adorable' apprentice and calls for a cease fire. Utsurojuza's shine to Rizdilusia is so great that he will 'posthumously' refer to Corpse God as his "cute little brother."

At some point after Rizdilusia gains fame as the Corpse God, his father stabs him with a poisoned, cursed blade that is intended to destroy his body beyond any hope of revival. Corpse God's body is dissolving by the time it is discovered in a cemetery.

Easlies purportedly pleads for Utsurojuza to ensure Corpse God survives. Utsurojuza successfully curbs the poison's spread and arrests the curse before it can devour Corpse God's brain-*cum*-'soul core' like it has all other tissue. Once this is done, he and Emperor Framrodia Byandiraz witness Easlies revive Corpse God in his own skeleton. She acts indifferent while informing Corpse God of what befell him, so Framrodia teasingly recalls how non-indifferent Easlies was when she acted to save him, much to Utsurojuza's amusement.

Utsurojuza is less amused when Easlies denies the emperor's claims, calling her the 'worst' and her out for failing to spare a comforting word for Corpse God. Framrodia suggests dropping the matter before kneeling to address Corpse God, whose feelings Easlies must interpret as Corpse God is not yet physically capable of voicing them. These feelings include worry that Framrodia might reject him now that he is Undead, and surprise that His Highness is treating him like usual. Framrodia offers Corpse God the advice and comfort that Easlies did not, assuring him that he and the empire will always be on Corpse God's side.

The Empire's eventual collapse is swift and ubiquitous across the imperial realm, from the rebellions of the annexed principalities at its edges to the destruction of its capital heart, where a hole swallows the entire imperial army sans one unit and concomitant earthquakes wreck infrastructure and buildings, including the palace. Within its crumbling walls, Easlies remarks that "it's as Utsurojuza said," which indicates that Utsurojuza may have foreseen the collapse.

It is around the time of the collapse that a faction of the Byandy Empire and the Geldwood church jointly open an interplanetary hole to Earth. This hole is hinted to be (related to) the literal hole within the capital walls, both by Pani's explicit insinuation and Easlies' decision to prevent the hole from being reopened by guarding the capital ruins.

### Post-Collapse

Utsurojuza lives out the next one hundred years by modifying his human body with magic and meanwhile allies with Pani Guldmarg, a scientist increasingly interested in the interplanetary link between this world and other planets. Pani has been, like Corpse God will be, designated an 'Enemy of the world.' It is for this latter reason that Geldwood eventually sends its star knight Shagura Lugrid to vanquish Corpse God with Recuria Lofilardo and holy battalions acting as support. Shagrua initially appears victorious; however, when he inexplicably accosts several Geldwood higher-ups several days later and flees the Kingdom of Nyanild, Geldwood announces that Corpse God has possessed his body and calls for his interception.

Pani knows this to be false, for she has ascertained that Corpse God's soul is alive on Earth and tells Utsurojuza as much alongside an explanation about this planet and Earth's interplanetary link, Geldwood and an imperial faction's joint effort to open that link one hundred years ago. She is unsympathetic to Utsurojuza's struggle to absorb all this information, at one point outright insulting Utsurojuza's intelligence. Meanwhile, she manages to trace Shagura's precense to the Abandoned Peninsula. Although she cannot be sure that Geldwood knows the truth about Corpse God, she presumes that Geldwood will at least share her capacity to detect Shagrua—and it is evident that Geldwood is searching for him already. Thus does she send Utsurojuza on a search for Shagrua's ally Recuria, whom he is to escort to a port where the Aerial Studio is anchored in the capital of the Republic of Zurodakka.

Utsurojuza locates Recuria and her companions in an abandoned village within the borderlands between Nyanild and the Abandoned Peninsula, where Recuria is essentially singlehandedly fending off a Geldwood ambush led by Lord Domdaal. Since Recuria is fighting admirably, Utsurojuza contents himself to be a passive spectator and only considers 'storing' Recuria with a spell when it looks as if she might die. Once Domdaal declares he will blame Recuria's death on Corpse God-via-Shagrua Lugrid, however, Utsurojuza conjures a stream that washes Domdaal's soldiers—and the village's buildings—into the valley; Recuria protects her comrades with a force field. Without revealing himself, Utsurojuza demands that Domdaal cease his disparagements, for these, he explains to Recuria, and not necessarily his own business with her, are what incited him to intervene; Recuria had fought so well that she did not need his assistance heretofore.

Utsurojuza finally reveals himself and calls Domdaal fortunate that it was not Easlies who overheard him, for Easlies would have likely prolonged Domdaal's imminent death. This death is mercifally instantaneous: Utsurojua manifests a black pit that ejects Domdaal's organs from Domdaal's body, which collapses in its own viscera. Utsurojuza remarks that, despite Pani's instructions for him to avoid "messing up" any third parties, Radiall's "pet" might nevertheless eat what soldiers survived the downstream fall.

Recuria cautiously thanks him for saving her life and the two exchange introductions, with Utsurojuza identifying himself as an envoy from Pani and by his former imperial court position. The fight leaves Recuria so exhausted that she sleeps uninterrupted for three days and nights, during which time her accompanying priest soldiers are relinquished to the care of a Zurodakkan hospital. Utsurojuza escorts Recuria once she wakes to the Republic of Zurodakka, killing aggressive magical beasts along the way by 'storing' their blood and organs.

Once safely within the Republic's borders, Utsurojuza makes camp with extravagant aplomb: he removes trees to make a clearing, procures a fully-equipped cooking facility and climate-controlled tent "out of thin air," and slaughters beasts for dinner. He tells Recuria stories about his past while filleting the meat, frivolity fading into sobriety when he ruefully speculates that Corpse God might have had a different fate had he—Utsurojuza—never abdicated his rank to Easlies. He refrains from answering Recuria's question as to whether he hates her and Geldwood for vanquishing Corpse God, but freely admits that he does not know why Pani wishes to meet Recuria.

A brilliant light floods the forest clearing courtesy of the Aerial Studio, floating high in the night sky. Utsurojuza and Recuria board the smaller flying boat that parks near them and thence carries them back to the studio, where Utsurojuza asks Pani why she has fetched them rather than wait at the agreed-upon meeting point. "Some things came up," Pani replies, before refocusing on befriending Recuria. Utsurojuza expresses mild surprise when Pani discloses to her the "top-secret" information that Corpse God's soul has migrated to Earth.

Pani proceeds to give Recuria the same context she gave Utsurojuza about the interplanetary link and Shagrua's whereabouts, albeit without casting aspersions as to Recuria's intelligence. Shagrua, she posits, is poised to become involved in a power struggle over the hole in the capital. Utsurojuza occasionally apologizes to Recuria on Pani's behalf out of apparent exasperation with her demeanor, characterizing Pani as someone socially maladjusted on account of her long life and few friends.

## Abilities

As indicated by his membership alone among the Imperial Court Sorcerers, rank notwithstanding, Utsurojuza is so formidable as to be considered equivalent in power to the imperial army's most formidable military units, and to be considered capable of besting entire armies of lesser countries.

Utsurojuza has mastered a magical technique called "Alternate Dimensional Storage" that allows one to store any substance in another dimension. Geldwood has deemed such 'space-adjusting type spells' as lost sorcery, and indeed few masters of the art remain, so often have they been targeted for assassination by their own and foreign governments on account of the magic's immense potential: for instance, such a master could, as Utsurojuza himself has done, 'store' and covertly transport an entire military force as a much more covert Trojan Horse, to borrow a Terra Mater term. One could alternatively 'store' the oxygen within a defined space. Included among Utsurojuza's stored items are a mansion, lodge, tent, table, utensils, and portable, fully-functional cooking facilities.

## Trivia

* Where the English edition simply uses 'Utsurojuza', the French edition has literally translated Utsurojuza as "Barbette vide." *Utsuro* (虚) as an adjective can mean 'hollow', while *jūza* (銃座) means 'gun mount', a device that holds and supports a gun or turret. Thus, 'Utsurojuza' may mean something to the effect of "hollow gun mount" or "hollow turret."
* Chapter 56's English translation spells Utsurojuza's title as 'Utsorojuza.' Since 'Utsurojuza' has and remains the standard spelling used, ignoring a single appearance of 'Utsuro Juuza,' it seems that this was merely a typo and not a new spelling variant.
* Although Chapter 56 marks Utsurojuza's illustrated debut in the manga, his first public illustration was via his character sheet that Shinta Fujimoto uploaded to Twitter.
* Utsurojuza frequently refers to Izliz by the epithet "old hag."

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 *Dead Mount Death Play* (Manga): Volume 4, Episode 4.
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 @shint424. (2020, July). デッドマウント・デスプレイ キャラ表⑦ (単行本小説より) #DMDP 次にくるマンガ大賞にエントリーしているのでよろしければ投票よろしくお願いします！期限は7月3日の11時まで！http://tsugimanga.jp #次にくるマンガ大賞 [Tweet]. https://twitter.com/shint424/status/1278240360494329856. Accessed July 1, 2020.
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 *Dead Mount Death Play* (Manga): Volume 6, Episode 6.
4. ↑ *Dead Mount Death Play* (Manga): Volume 3, Episode 3.
5. ↑ *Dead Mount Death Play* (Manga): Chapter 56.
6. ↑ *Dead Mount Death Play* (Manga): Volume 4, Chapter 31.
7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 *Dead Mount Death Play* (Manga): Volume 7, Episode 7.
8. ↑ *Dead Mount Death Play* (Manga): Volume 5, Episode 5.