Steppenwolf leaves the gallery exhausted. He is surprised by the door labeled “HOW ONE KILLS FOR LOVE.” Immediately, he recalls his first dinner with Hermine and her statement that she would command him to kill her. Steppenwolf becomes desperate and attempts to rearrange his pieces on the chess board. The pieces in his pocket are gone, and a knife has replaced them. He glances in the mirror and sees the wolf grinning back at him. Hermine and Pablo have disappeared. He looks in the mirror again and the wolf is gone; Harry is there instead. Harry tells him that he is waiting for death; it is coming.
Steppenwolf hears Don Giovanni playing in the background. Mozart walks by and laughs. Steppenwolf follows him into one of the galleries where the last act of Don Giovanni is playing. Steppenwolf argues that Don Giovanni has never been surpassed, but Mozart laughs and claims otherwise. They observe a series of musicians, among them Brahms and Wagner, floating along in space. Mozart informs Steppenwolf that they are paying for their failings as musicians and for their sins. Steppenwolf argues that they are not responsible for “the fault of their time.” Mozart responds that the same is true for all men, whether it is their fault or not. Mozart laughs and tells Steppenwolf that he, too, will do penance for all his “superfluous books” and “rotten plagiarisings ill-gotten.” Steppenwolf becomes angry and grabs Mozart’s pigtail. They fly into space into the realm of the Immortals. Steppenwolf passes out.
He awakens in the hall. Harry is still in the mirror, but he has aged considerably. Steppenwolf remembers everything he has done throughout his life and decides that it is not enough. He destroys the mirror and searches for Hermine. She and Pablo have had sex and are lying on the floor asleep. Steppenwolf stabs her with the knife. Pablo wakes up, partially covers Hermine with the rug, and walks out of the room. Steppenwolf stares at Hermine’s body and her cool white skin. He hears music from “the cold that streamed from” her body. It reminds him of the Immortals.
Mozart enters the room and begins to repair a radio. Once finished, Handel’s Concerto Grosso in F Major begins to play. Steppenwolf is shocked and begs Mozart to stop. Instead, Mozart chastises Steppenwolf for his lack of vision. Even though the radio mutilates the sound of Handel, one who listens can still hear the divine in his music. According to Mozart, Steppenwolf has never really listened to anything. He has spent his life separating himself from everyone else—the bourgeoisie—and claiming superiority over them. He has taken everything seriously and that is his downfall.
Steppenwolf realizes that Mozart is right and admits it. He attempts to explain that he killed Hermine because of her request, but he suddenly realizes that this idea is false, too. He projected his own death wish onto Hermine and did not really listen to her or to anyone. He desires punishment—HARRY’S EXECUTION—and is immediately convicted of “insult[ing] the majesty of art [by] confound[ing] our beautiful picture gallery with so-called reality.” His sentence is temporary banishment from the Magic Theater and life. Mozart and the others laugh him out of court. Steppenwolf recognizes Pablo disguised as Mozart, and the game is over. Pablo picks up the dead Hermine, now a miniature chess piece, puts her in his pocket, and smokes a cigarette.
