End of the Golden Witch

End of the Golden Witch is the fifth arc in and the first arc of. The story primarily follows Natsuhi Ushiromiya as she attempts to cover up for the sudden death of Kinzo Ushiromiya.

Introduction
Good morning. Please enjoy this new game by a new Game Master at your leisure.

However, the game has already reached a climax. The culprit has been cornered, and there's nothing left to do but await the final checkmate. But for that very reason,t here must be something for you to spot looking down on it from afar.

The difficulty is fairly easy. What could possibly deceive you after all this time...?

Plot
In the Golden Land, Battler Ushiromiya and Virgilia look over a soulless husk of Beatrice. As Beatrice lost the will to fight near the end of, she is unable to continue with the fifth game, and Lambdadelta decides to take her place as Game Master while Bernkastel takes the place of Battler as Lambdadelta's opponent. After a conversation with Virgilia and Ronove, Battler returns to the game and takes over from Bernkastel. The game advanced significantly in his absence however; the Game Board is already on its second day. On October 5, 1986, Kyrie, Rudolf, Battler, Eva, and Natsuhi Ushiromiya are among the only ones alive on Rokkenjima. A new character, Erika Furudo, announces that Natsuhi is the culprit.

Lambdadelta rewinds the game for Battler to observe. Some time before the family conference, Kinzo Ushiromiya passes away. Natsuhi is eager to begin the proceedings that Krauss has to undertake as the new head of the Ushiromiya family, however Krauss tells her that he had been using Kinzo's fortune as collateral in various investment schemes and the division of the inheritance would reveal this to the other siblings. Natsuhi retreats to Kinzo's study, where she speaks with Kinzo's lingering spirit as well as Beatrice herself. Kinzo wonders whether Krauss has the conviction to succeed him as Ushiromiya family head; Natsuhi proclaims her determination to help Krauss settle his debts and lead the family to new heights. Impressed by her resolve, Beatrice offers Natsuhi some of her magic to help her and Krauss succeed. After some thinking, Natsuhi asks her to revive Kinzo.

Natsuhi meets with Krauss and the servants; she proposes a plan to mask Kinzo's death by pretending he is in good health but more reclusive than ever. Then, after enough time has passed for Krauss to settle his debts, the family will announce Kinzo has suddenly disappeared.

On October 5, 1985, Kanon, Kinzo, and Natsuhi take a walk in the rose garden before the arrival of the other family members for the family conference. Lambdadelta interrupts the story at this point and asks Battler to explain Kinzo's presence despite his established death. Bernkastel tells Battler about Knox's Decalogue, a set of rules for mystery stories that can help Battler formulate coherent arguments against the Witch Side. Through this, Battler also learns that making anti-fantasy arguments injures Beatrice; the more successful he is in his game against Lambdadelta, the more Beatrice is hurt. At the end of the 1985 family conference, Natsuhi drinks tea with Beatrice. Bernkastel makes a point about Beatrice only appearing due to Lambdadelta's position as narrator of the story; by using the Red Truth, she causes the Beatrice in 1985 to disappear and Natsuhi is revealed to be drinking tea alone.

Before the 1986 family conference, Natsuhi learns that Krauss's business ventures are promising to pay off, however they will need more time to do so. Knowing that she'll have to feign Kinzo's presence for another conference, Natsuhi plans on enlisting only servants that know the truth of Kinzo's death for the duration of the conference. Unbeknownst to her, Hideyoshi Ushiromiya already suspects that Kinzo is dead. Collectively, the siblings decide to try and blackmail Krauss so that they don't lose out on any inheritance. Meanwhile, Natsuhi receives a call from an unknown man claiming to be her son. The man claims he will enact revenge on her during the family conference for something she did 19 years prior.

On October 4, 1986, Erika Furudo washes up on Rokkenjima, claiming to have fallen from a pleasure ship as a result of the typhoon surrounding the island. Bernkastel claims that Erika is piece of her own creation, meant to serve as the "detective" for the story. When Erika sees the witch's epitaph, she quickly deduces that it was meant to help determine the true successor to the Ushiromiya family. That night, Erika and Battler work together to solve the epitaph. Battler sees a silhouette of a man he believes is Kinzo and, following the silhouette's guidance, discovers the entrance to the underground VIP room. Battler tells the relatives about their discovery; this leads to a fight between the siblings. The fight continues as the family retreats to the parlor. At midnight, two concurrent events happen: the siblings in the parlor receive Beatrice's letter and Natsuhi is pulled away from a private conversation with Krauss for another phone call with the mysterious man claiming to be her son. The mysterious man instructs Natsuhi not to leave her room or take any more calls for the rest of the night. Meanwhile, Beatrice's letter contains the Head's Ring and declares Battler the official Head of the Ushiromiya family.

At 3:00AM, Battler leaves the parlor and returns to the guest house. Meanwhile, Natsuhi consults with Beatrice, Ronove, and Gaap, revealing that the motive behind the mysterious man is an incident which occurred 19 years prior; Natsuhi had trouble conceiving a child and was instructed to adopt a baby given to her by Kinzo. Three days afterwards, the baby and the servant carrying it fell from a cliff on Rokkenjima, leading to their deaths. Natsuhi believes that the baby had, in fact, survived and was the one behind the phone calls.

At 7:00AM on October 5, 1986, Battler is woken by an alarm clock. He finds the bodies of George, Jessica, Maria, and Rosa, all of whom had their neck sliced open. Meanwhile, Kanon and Kumasawa find the body of Genji Ronoue in the servant waiting room. Notably, the door to the servant waiting room was taped shut with a small piece of tape, which broke after Kanon opened the door. Natsuhi receives a call from the mysterious man, revealing that he has kidnapped Krauss. The mysterious man instructs Natsuhi to conceal the fact that Krauss is alive and go into a specific closet at 1PM that day.

The family convenes in the parlor to discuss what to do next. Kyrie and Erika surmise that there should be a sixth corpse if the deaths are tied to the epitaph. They have two possible options: Krauss or Kinzo as neither have been seen. Natsuhi, who hasn't seen Jessica's body yet, leaves for the guest house to see her daughter's face (though she is actually doing this to draw attention away from the family trying to get into Kinzo's study). The rest of the family follows her. When they arrive at the guest house, they find that the bodies of George, Jessica, Maria, and Rosa have all disappeared. Soon after, they find Genji's corpse has vanished as well. Eager to check on Kinzo's condition, the family collects a ladder from the boiler room and breaks into Kinzo's study through his window.

When the family enters Kinzo's study, they find it empty. The siblings begin to pressure Natsuhi about the possibility that Kinzo had been dead for some time already and she was hiding this fact. Eva brings up evidence to prove that Natsuhi is lying about having seen Kinzo the previous night at 11PM. This leads to an extended fight in the Meta-World pitting Erika and her pieces, Dlanor A. Knox, Gertrude, Cornelia, Chiester 410, Chiester 45, and Chiester 00 against Beatrice and her pieces, the Seven Sisters of Purgatory, Battler, and Kinzo. Beatrice and Battler ultimately demonstrate that Kinzo could have escaped the closed room of the study by leaving through the window when Natsuhi wasn't looking, defeating Erika and Dlanor. Concurrently, the Battler in the real world demonstrates Natsuhi's potential innocence by jumping out of the study window himself.

During a break from the game between Bernkastel and Lambdadelta, Dlanor visits Battler and Virgilia in the Golden Land and confides in them that she suspects Bernkastel and Lambdadelta are conspiring towards some joint goal. She evidences this by determining that she could have defeated Battler during the fight in Kinzo's study but her trump card was rendered unusable by Lambdadelta. In 1986, Natsuhi leaves the parlor and goes to the closet as instructed by the mysterious man. While inside the closet, Hideyoshi enters the room the closet is in. Natsuhi watches him cry over the loss of his son. Soon after, Hideyoshi is killed by an unseen assailant. The rest of the family finds his body and Eva decides that the group should take his body to the parlor. Natsuhi manages to escape from the room unseen after the family leaves but is found by Erika Furudo while climbing the stairs to her bedroom. Erika tells her about Hideyoshi's death and asks her to join the family in the parlor.

In the Meta-World, Erika calls an assembly at the Court of Illusions, causing Lambdadelta to formally end the fifth game. Erika accuses Natsuhi of being the culprit; she eliminates the possibility of it being anyone else through the use of various seals and by calling upon Bernkastel to use the Red Truth. Battler is unable to prove that Natsuhi is innocent and is killed by Dlanor.

In 1986, Erika convinces the family that Natsuhi is guilty. Natsuhi breaks down, believing this to be the ultimate goal of the mysterious man who has been calling her, and confesses to the murder of the baby and servant 19 years prior.

The Ushiromiya Family

 * Kinzo Ushiromiya
 * Krauss Ushiromiya
 * Natsuhi Ushiromiya
 * Eva Ushiromiya
 * Hideyoshi Ushiromiya
 * Rudolf Ushiromiya
 * Kyrie Ushiromiya
 * Rosa Ushiromiya
 * Jessica Ushiromiya
 * George Ushiromiya
 * Battler Ushiromiya
 * Maria Ushiromiya
 * Ange Ushiromiya (mentioned)

Servants

 * Genji Ronoue
 * Toshiro Gohda
 * Chiyo Kumasawa
 * Shannon
 * Kanon

Witches and Demons

 * Beatrice
 * Virgilia
 * Lambdadelta
 * Bernkastel
 * Ronove
 * Gaap
 * Lucifer
 * Leviathan
 * Satan
 * Belphegor
 * Mammon
 * Beelzebub
 * Asmodeus
 * Dlanor A. Knox
 * Gertrude
 * Cornelia
 * Chiester 410
 * Chiester 45
 * Chiester 00

Other

 * Terumasa Nanjo
 * Erika Furudo (first appearance)
 * The man from 19 years ago

Deaths and Disappearances
All deaths and disappearances are listed only as they are told in  and apply only for the individual arc, not the overall series.

Deaths

 * George Ushiromiya, had his neck sliced open on October 5, 1986 as part of the first twilight.
 * Jessica Ushiromiya, had her neck sliced open on October 5, 1986 as part of the first twilight.
 * Maria Ushiromiya, had her neck sliced open on October 5, 1986 as part of the first twilight.
 * Rosa Ushiromiya, had her neck sliced open on October 5, 1986 as part of the first twilight.
 * Genji Ronoue, had his neck sliced open on October 5, 1986 as part of the first twilight.
 * Krauss Ushiromiya, killed some time after a phone call to Natsuhi on October 5, 1986 as part of the first twilight.
 * Hideyoshi Ushiromiya, stabbed in the back with a stake on October 5, 1986 as part of the second twilight.