Re-written date: 7 / 2 / 2025
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Chapter 27: The Final Scene
With the purification quest completed, and the scene with the adventurer Mitsurugi shot in rapid succession thanks to prior planning, filming for KonoSuba had come down to the final, climactic sequence—the decisive battle against the Dullahan.
Knowing full well the importance of this scene, Edward had no intention of rushing into it. Instead, he sat down to carefully walk through the plot one last time.
According to the story, the Dullahan was set to return to the town gates. There, after delivering a monologue brimming with knightly pride, he would discover something utterly baffling: Darkness, whom he had placed under a death curse, was still very much alive.
What followed was chaos.
As he prepared to reissue the Death's Declaration, he would be thoroughly beaten down by Aqua. Her divine-tier holy magic would peel layers off his armor, and only the powerful set of cursed gear gifted by the Demon King would keep him from being purified on the spot.
Enraged and humiliated, the Dullahan would then summon an army of the undead in a desperate attempt to annihilate the entire newbie town.
But in a twist of fate, the undead—irresistibly drawn to the goddess exuding pure "aggro"—would swarm around Aqua like moths to flame. One well-timed Explosion from Megumin would obliterate them all in a single, glorious blast.
And with his minions gone, the Dullahan would descend onto the battlefield himself. Though he would cut down several adventurers, he'd eventually be locked into combat with a surprisingly energetic Darkness, who would stall him with unrelenting tenacity.
In the final stretch of the battle, the protagonist would uncover the Dullahan's weakness—water.
Thanks to Aqua's summoned "water reservoir," the villain's weak point would be thoroughly exposed. Then, in a dramatic finish, the protagonist would use his Steal skill to swipe the Dullahan's severed head and leave him wide open to Aqua's final purification spell.
A clean win.
The scene was certainly the hardest part of the film to shoot, no question. But if Edward could manage it with the right angles and pacing, most of the complicated bits could be smoothed out. Well—most of them.
There were, however, some challenges that couldn't be hand-waved away. Fortunately, this was a world where magic existed—and magic had a way of solving just about anything if you bent the rules far enough.
Which brought him to his only real collaborator in magical problem-solving.
Megumin was out—she only knew how to blow things up.
That left Viz, a former High Mage and now a full-fledged lich, as his go-to advisor.
At the moment, the cast and crew were lounging around the set, eating boxed lunches and chatting. Among them, blending in as if they were perfectly ordinary people, were the Headless Horseman and Viz themselves. There wasn't the slightest sense of unease.
Edward had, of course, informed his inner circle of the pair's true undead identities. But to folks like Lawrence and the recently recruited background extras, Viz and Belldia were nothing more than actors hired to "method act" by artificially imitating the undead's aura.
He had no intention of telling the whole truth. Most ordinary people couldn't handle the reality of talking, walking undead among them. Unless he trusted someone completely, Edward would continue to keep that secret locked away.
That said, even with Belldia's head literally detached from his body, none of the extras so much as batted an eye. After all, it was simply unthinkable that a real undead being would be sitting down to lunch and joking about the weather.
"Viz," Edward called, waving the lich over with a gesture.
She paused mid-conversation with Helena, mid-discussion about the Mage Tower, and turned toward him with a curious look. "Is something wrong?"
"I need to ask you something," Edward said, skipping any preamble. "Do you know a spell that can summon undead? It doesn't have to be anything fancy—just needs to be enough to get some numbers on-screen."
"Hmm… Summoning undead, is it?" Viz brought a finger to her lips thoughtfully. "Yes, I do know such spells, but they require a location thick with death energy. A graveyard, for instance, would work perfectly."
"A graveyard, huh…" Edward sighed. "That's going to be a problem. Breaking into a cemetery would definitely get us arrested. It's way too risky."
He immediately shut down any idea that required committing a crime. As far as the peaceful southern territory went, they were practically monster-free. Finding a random necromancer or horde of undead was completely out of the question.
And with that, the two fell into thoughtful silence.
"…So we really might have to cut the undead army scene after all?" Edward muttered reluctantly. "That'll break the flow of the story…"
He winced. Of all things to lose, the undead army scene was a major set piece—cutting it would punch a hole right through the film's momentum.
But without a graveyard or a convenient mass of corpses lying around… what other options did they have?
While he could manage the holy spells against undead, the Steal skill, and even water-based magic through his own abilities as a Grand Mage, necromancy was one field he had absolutely no grasp on.
And with that, the idea of summoning an undead army seemed doomed to be scrapped—a disappointing but seemingly inevitable compromise, especially considering how tight the filming schedule had become. There just wasn't room to let a minor issue derail the entire final scene.
But just as Edward was about to accept defeat, Viz—who had previously claimed she couldn't help—suddenly spoke up.
"Sir Durin… if you really need undead, I might have another way."
Edward blinked. "Another way?"
"Yes. Summoning physical undead takes a lot of preparation… including, well, grave robbing," she said with an apologetic smile. "But if you're okay with spirits instead of solid corpses, I can summon as many as you want using advanced necromancy. As long as you don't mind that they're not exactly rational."
Edward's eyes lit up with hope. "Can they actually be seen? If they're invisible, there's no point in summoning them for the camera."
"Don't worry. Even to normal people, they appear as faint shadowy figures. That's exactly how most people imagine spirits look, anyway. Unless it's some lunatic necromancer trying to start a plague, most undead aren't those hideous zombies you see in stories. They're generally elegant and efficient."
Edward grinned.
That little roadblock for tomorrow's shoot? Cleared.
After confirming the technical details with Viz and discussing logistics with the crew, he made sure to drop by the recently recruited extras—leaving behind a few subtle mind-enhancing enchantments just in case.
Then, standing in the center of the rest area with his usual authoritative tone, he declared, "Alright, that's it for today! Go home and rest up. Tomorrow, we will shoot the final scene. Don't forget to go over your lines tonight—this is the big one!"
The cast fell momentarily silent.
Not just the main actors, but even the production crew looked visibly disappointed. Over the course of these strange, chaotic, utterly unprecedented days of filming, they'd all come to genuinely enjoy being a part of this bizarre project.
There was something uniquely special about it—something that made them want the story to go on.
Even Winry, who'd been running logistics like a machine, looked a little downcast.
Edward noticed immediately.
Sighing, he reached out and gave her head a gentle pat. "Come on now. Did I ever say this ends with the final scene?"
"Huh…?" she blinked.
"Sure, this'll be the last shoot for now. But if this movie gets the reaction I'm hoping for, then launching a full TV version would only be natural. Heck, if we're lucky, we might even go for two whole seasons back-to-back!"
"Really?!"
Though most people had no idea what he meant by "TV version" or "seasons," the energy behind his words was more than enough.
At once, a wave of relief passed through the group. With hearts a little lighter and morale renewed, the cast and crew began to disperse—heading off to rest, memorize lines, or finish their meals.
Even Belldia and Viz, inspired by the excitement, strolled off toward their temporary home in Nosrick City with content expressions on their undead faces.
Edward, meanwhile, stayed behind for a moment, gazing at the emptying camp.
"…We really ought to set up a permanent studio or something soon," he muttered, rubbing his chin. "Running all over the place is killing our time."
Still murmuring to himself, he flipped open the script that he'd edited more times than he could count. With a quiet breath, he reviewed the final scene once more, mentally rehearsing tomorrow's flow of events.
This was going to be the culmination of everything. His first film. His first dream.
And he only had one shot.
He didn't have the confidence to direct a horde of adventurers through multiple takes. If something went wrong, or if they realized it was all scripted, their performances might completely fall apart.
It all came down to experience. Edward was still green when it came to directing, and he knew it.
But then again…
In a world like this—one with no camera tech, no actors, no film history—who wouldn't be inexperienced?