"woe!" exclaims nekrotzar from the balcony. "woe! woe!" respond the terrified people. he presents death prophecies such as "the bodies of men will be singed, and all will be turned into charr'd corpses, and shrink like shriveled heads!" his bass trumpet has been joined on the balcony by a little brass ensemble, which punctuates him with two new motifs. the people, several of whom have been disguised the whole time as audience members in opera clothes, beg for mercy. piet and astradamors, who have been looking for an excuse to drink, ask the prince of death to eat go-go's feast with them, a "right royal-looking restaurant." piet suggests "before we start to dine, i recommend a drop of wine." the pair, who, as his servants, are unafraid of nekrotzar, dance around playfully insulting him and encouraging him to drink wine. he does so, intoning "may these, the pressed out juices of my victims, serve to strengthen and sustain me before my necessary deed." the three dissolve into a grotesque dialogue, the timpani and orchestra hammering inscrutable off-beats. nekrotzar says only "up!" over and over again as he guzzles wine. finished drinking and utterly incapacitated, he rants and raves about his achievements. "demolished great kings and queens in scores / no one could escape my claws / socrates a poison chalice / nero a knife in his palace." the string music that played while he killed mescalina is reiterated. midnight draws near, but nekrotzar can't stand up. go-go emerges from hiding, is introduced to "tsar nekro" as "tsar go-go," and the four perform stripped-down comedy sketches accompanied by stripped-down music. nekrotzar tries to mount the rocking horse, commanding "in the name of the almighty, i smite the world to pieces." he retains only a shred of his formerly terrifying nature, but the end of the world is represented by a rough threnody in strings followed by swelling crecendos and decrescendos in the winds. the comet glows brightly and saturn falls out of its ring in the stage's brightly lit sky.