CHAPTER 28 - "ENEMY AT THE GATES PART 3"
Ciel Phantomhive watched as the Reaper called Ronald Knox attacked the monstrous monstrosity Ironstadt repeatedly with his Deathscythe, which by all accounts looked more like it could mow grass than maim and injure. But the shock of what had had happened to Sebastian stabbed at him like a knife in the heart.
He had watched as Ironstadt had suddenly mutated even further when Sebastian had torn the monster's "human" head off, springing three other separate serpentine heads in its wake. Then with a massive hand, it captured Sebastian and devoured him, ripping him to pieces, and swallowing them.
He didn't think it was possible for a demon - and the one who had saved him from death itself at the hands of the Inner Circle - could die! It never even fathomed him that Sebastian, a supernatural entity, could die! He had not only been his butler, but his confidant and his companion, and most of all his savior when he thought the entire world had forsaken him after the deaths of his parents and when he had brought to the Inner Circle to be sacrificed for their evil intentions.
Sebastian had bred him to be strong, taught him the ways of the world, educated him with the dignity and social grace that he would need to live once more, alone, a child among adults. Initially he had felt scared, but with Sebastian, that fear faded, and with him he was never alone. Sebastian had said he would be with him until the end, which meant when everyone whom he sought for transgressions against his family were punished. When that time came, Sebastian would devour his soul.
But now he was gone.
Sebastian had told Lukas after retrieving the bullet Mathu Kelvin had shot him with, that no conventional weapon could kill him. But Ironstadt was not conventional. He was a massive, supernatural entity, with the dark power of a Hope Diamond shard, and fueled by his anger and hatred of his enemies.
And Sebastian had fought valiantly!
Uncharacteristically, Ciel dropped to his knees. "No, he cant be! Sebastian can't be dead!"
Lukas ran to his side. "Brother?"
Ciel shoved him away, and his eyes began to water, yet another uncharacteristic reaction. "You were suppose to stay with me until the end!" he shouted loudly. "SEBASTIAN! YOU LIAR!"
Lukas knew immediately that Ciel and Sebastian's relationship, as he suspected, ranged to a far deeper level than just butler and master, indeed even the covenant. Ciel had indeed cared for Sebastian deeply and now all the emotion of being abandoned once more spilled out. Ciel had been so strong psychologically when they first "met", but now he was reacting like a normal twelve year old boy when someone he "loved" had been ripped away from him. Sebastian's death was like losing his parents all over again.
"SEBASTIAN!" Ciel cried out, his eyes red with crying, his cheeks soaked with tears.
Lukas looked at Ciel's right eye and was taken back. "But, brother - your eye. It still has…"
"Yes, my lord?" a muffled voice sounded from the belly of Ironstadt. His voice seemed to be inhibited inside the monster's stomach, however it was absolutely clear to the both of them, as if their covenants gave each boy a clear mental connection to the demon, even with the Reaper Knox's Deathscythe making so much noise as he attempted to incapacitate the monster.
Ciel's eyes went wide, his mouth agape. He looked at Lukas, then back at the monster. "Sebastian…?"
"I'll be with you in a moment, my lord…" the voice sounded again. "Now, where is it? Ah, there…"
Ronald Knox leapt off the monster and turned off his Deathscythe when Ironstadt stopped fighting against him. Ironstadt seemed more concerned with what was happening inside his body than outside now. Knox's attacks were doing next to nothing anyhow. The giant regenerated almost instantaneously after every cutting of his flesh. And Knox had had been having a difficult time avoiding the snake heads to attack anyway.
A strange gurgling sounded from inside the belly of Ironstadt that seemed the echo the surrounding area, and the monster moaned in great discomfort as his stomach began to distend every so slightly, then more and more, until it was round like a pregnant woman.
And indeed, if Knox was right, the monster was about to give birth - to a 140 pound demon!
Flesh was ripped, cartilage was torn, organs exploded, and bones snapped, as Sebastian burst forth out of Ironstadt's stomach, covered in blood, gore and intestines. He flipped in the air and landed with the grace of an acrobat, although his butler attire was much to be desired. He was completely crimson red.
Sebastian looked himself up and down. "How undignified. But my task was successful."
Ciel got to his feet, quickly rubbing his face clean with a sleeve. "What task?"
Sebastian looked at Ciel and seemed to see the red in his eyes from crying. "Why, my lord. How touching. You really do care-"
"Shut-up!" Ciel snapped. "Now, what task do you speak of that you had us witness such a grotesque display of you being ripped apart and devoured by Ironstadt? Tell me now!"
Sebastian smiled. "Of course." But first he used an internal heat and burnt the blood and remains from Ironstadt off him to restore his proper butler attire appearance until it and him were spotless.
Sebastian opened his right hand and in the palm was the blue gem Ironstadt had used to amplify his dark powers; he presented it to Ciel. Ciel took it in thumb and forefinger of his left hand, gazing at it with wonder. It had the same stunning appearance as the Hope Diamond in his ring, sparkling with the Sun.
"You went inside him purposely to get the shard?" Lukas questioned dumbfounded.
Sebastian nodded. "It was the 'heart' of Ironstadt's power, albeit amplifying his own dark Reaper powers. But I foresee him no longer being a threat. Without it, he is nothing. Literally."
The three looked back at Ironstadt who had not moved. He looked to be a statue, held steady by his massive legs; the only thing holding him up. His three serpentine heads began to droop dead of all life, and soon the grotesque monster as Ironstadt began to lean slowly forward, his great girth forcing him to tip over; his guts blown out. With a thunderous crash, the giant mutant landed dead. The shard removed, his tissue no longer feeding off the dark energy of the Hope Diamond, his body then began to destablize, bubble and melt, until there was nothing left but a dark stain on the ground where he had once been, moisture evaporating into the sky.
Ronald Knox quickly "sucked up" Ironstadt's Reaper soul in his Deathscythe when it tried to escape.
Mathu Kevin shook his head in utter disbelief. "No…No!…No!" he cried out. "Brother!"
"One down," Sebastian said. "Two more to go."
"Well," Salem said, as he watched the LGR ball with William in the dark room. "It appears that we underestimated the demon, hmm? Perhaps it can be done."
William crossed his arms across his chest. "No, Salem. I was not concerned about Ironstadt," William said. "Knox could have handled him on his own. It is Mathu that worries me. He is extremely powerful in his own rite. In fact, his dark powers are immense."
"Worries you?" Salem was surprised. "I thought you said - "
William shook his head. "The main reason why I "punished" all those Reapers over the years for which there are now sympathizers for their cause is for the same reason we are witnessing now. They grew too powerful. I was ordered to strip them of their status and concoct a story so others believed they fell."
Salem chuckled. "By the High Council, indeed."
"Manipulating the human civilization on the island of Atlantis ten thousand years ago was just the catalyst for this Reaper. He also fell in love with another Reaper, which is forbidden. But he refused to heed to the council to cease their relationship. I was then appointed to strip them both of their Reaper status and send them adrift without body for all eternality, with his brother in tow soon after."
"And other Fallen Reapers? Are they all victims of the High Council's decree?"
William didn't reply, but then said, "I was given orders and I obeyed them." He then gave Salem a sideways glance, after fixing his glasses. "Need I remind you also -"
Salem waved him off. "Yes, yes, this is all confidential."
William returned his gaze to the ball. He knew he could trust Salem, but somehow, he wasn't entirely confident that this information might stay silent forever, and that could be unfortunate for all the entire stability of all Reaperdem under his watch.
He knew that there were eyes and ears everywhere.
The fury Mathu Kelvin felt engulfed every fiber of his being. He was angry, and more so of himself for wagering on a bet that cost him his brother - to a demon! And now, also, the diamond shard doused with dark cursed energy was in the hands of the Phantomhive brat protected by Sebastian Michaelis.
Savannah could obviously sense his emotions and tried to calm him, but it was not working. He was infuriated, and he grit his teeth unconsciously.
"Husband, let this go," she said. "Your brother is gone, I don't want the same of you."
"My dear," he started, a strange calm overcame him, "do you not have faith in me?"
She looked at him strange. "Of course I do. But what else is there to be done? Your brother was very powerful and Sebastian Michaelis defeated him and now his soul has been captured by the Reaper Knox."
He cupped her chin gently with hand, grinning. "Trust me, my dear. I will not be discredited by a filthy demon. There is still hope."
"We have these bodies, let it be at that."
He looked away from her, towards Michaels. "These bodies will decay in time. Our original bodies have no time limit. I will not leave without acquiring what we have dreamt about for ten thousand years. No matter the cost!"
"No matter the cost? Even your own life? My life?"
"The spirit never dies, merely the body. However, the life force of a spirit can be used to increase another, to give him greater power to destroy his enemies."
Savannah took a step back. "Increase another?"
He snapped a look back at her and grinned innately. Then grabbing her around the neck, he said, "Nothing personal, my dear. I do love you, but I need your power!"
He clutched a hand over her face and Savannah screamed in horrid pain as her spiritual power joined with his, her essence drained like electricity, fueling Mathu with a power beyond his brother's. When Savannah's body cease to be, he threw her down like common trash. He clenched his fists, and he could feel her power emanating with his, generating their love into a greater strength.
"Indeed, love and hate - the two most powerful emotions in existence! I now use them!" His body began to glower with an electrical current, his eyes burning with an internal fire.
"You killed your wife?" Knox asked flabbergasted.
He snapped a look at Knox. "No, she is with me now." He put a hand to his chest. "Forever!" He grinned, showing his teeth, dancing electricity making them glow a bluish hue. "And I will use her Reaper power to destroy you all!"
He flicked a wrist and sent a hot blue lightning bolt from his hand at Knox.
Knox leapt out of the way, but his Deathscythe exploded from the impact. Debris showered everywhere.
"Hey! You know how long it took me to craft that?" Knox protested.
Mathu sent another bolt of lightning towards Knox, but Knox "winked out" of existence.
"Coward!"
He turned his attention back to the Phantomhive mansion and to Sebastian Michaels and the brats. They looked stunned at both his actions and his new power. But he was pleased he had surprised them. "As a wise author once wrote, dear boy…" directing his voice to Sebastian. "'All good things must come to an end!' And you, my friend, Michaelis, have reached it! You are not infinite and I will prove it!"
With a sharp snap of each hand, he sent a series of lightning strikes at his enemies.
Sebastian Michaelis grabbed both boys, one under each arm, and ran concentrically around him, staying just slightly ahead to avoid each strike, but Mathu knew the demon had been weakened with the fight with his brother, and it would only be a matter of time before his wrath would hit its mark!
A lightning strike sizzled the ground at Sebastian's feet just as he took a giant leap to the mansion rooftop with both boys in hand, he thought he had avoided it completely but part of the electricity strike had jumped and numbed his legs, and when he attempted to land safely, his legs gave out from beneath him, and he accidentally let go of the boys when he collapsed. Ciel and Lukas began to roll down the arched roof to the edge on the far side.
"Masters!" he called, reaching out to them, narrowly grabbing onto Lukas.
Lukas grabbed the edge of the roof with a hand and snatched onto Ciel when he failed to acquire a hand hold. Ciel dangled over a two story drop with only his brother's loose grip of the roof to keep him from certain death.
"Sebastian!" he demanded.
Sebastian shook off his momentary numbness and used his powers to levitate the boys back onto the roof safely. "I apologize, my lord's," he said. And he explained why. He then looked at the tail of his butler jacket; it had been singed by electricity. "Absolutely dreadful. This was an expensive jacket from Le Monsieur de Vêtements in France."
"I'll buy you another one," Ciel said quickly, prone more with concern with the situation they were in rather than fashion at the moment.
"Yes," Lukas concurred. "This is no time to be concerned with proper dress."
"With all due respect, my lord. I am one hell of a butler and I should always look the part…"
Sebastian's voice trailed off, as he saw strands of hair from each boy begin to stand straight up in the air. He had learned about this during an international exhibition he and his master attended just a few months back in Glasgow, Scotland on science, art and industry, a celebration of the Industrial Revolution. If enough "charge" is generated in the air with an electrical applied device, a by-product called "static electricity" is made. And if this was occurring…
His eyes widened when a thought suddenly came to mind, and Ciel asked, "What is it, Sebastian? Why are you looking so frightened?"
Sebastian snapped his attention around and Mathu Kelvin quickly appeared above the roof top, now completely electrified with strands of electricity dancing all about his outer body. He was no longer a Fallen Reaper possessing a human, he was something new - if it were even possible, and as it appeared it was - electricity incarnate!
"Michaels!" Mathu Kelvin's voice seemed to boom amplified by the electricity that now possessed him, his eyes, no longer human, burned with a fire so intense that flame erupted from the eye sockets.
Sebastian wondered why Kelvin's human body didn't erupt into flames with all that electricity coursing through his body, bombarding his tissues with heat, burning his nuclei cells and setting aflame his organs. But it was more than likely due to the Reaper's regenerative powers that promptly healed them.
"This is the end, Michaelis! You and these brats will die!"
"I thought you wanted your original body back?" Sebastian said.
"I found a new body - this one! And once I destroy you, I will return to the Reaperdum, and all those who harkin my call for the liberation from the tyranny, unjust anti-establishment of the High Council, will beckon to my side, and we will put forth a new leadership! My leadership! No one can stop me now!"
"That is not my fight. My only desire it to protect my masters. But if I must…" He turned to Ciel and Lukas for a moment. "My lord's, I will return to collect you shortly. Remain here."
"Sebastian? What do you think you're doing?" Ciel demanded.
"Insuring my own best interests," he said smiling, repeating what Ciel had said to Lukas about lying to Elizabeth when the truth of what Lukas had to her, knocking her unconscious prior, would not be told to her.
Sebastian stood on his feet and faced the electrified Reaper. "Time to end this, Reaper. I overheard you telling your wife that you would not leave until you acquired what you wanted. Alas, I declare the same, and you can not take what is mine!"
"And you will stop me?"
Sebastian smiled. "I will try…"
And he launched himself over the edge of the roof at Kelvin. They plummeted to the ground, landing with a thunderous boom, bolts of electricity soaring high into the sky from the impact. A large hole had been made.
Sebastian jumped out of the hole to his feet onto solid ground. But he knew what he had done would only give him a momentary reprieve. If the impact didn't hurt him, it most certainly didn't harm Kelvin in his new state of being.
And he was correct. Kelvin roared angrily and sparks of electricity shot out of the hole as one hand clamped the edge of it and then the other on the other side. He hauled himself out and climbed to his feet.
Kelvin laughed invincible. "Pathetic! There's no place to hide, demon. I can sense your darkness. It draws me to you. I feed off it, and it makes me stronger. Every time you attack me, I grow stronger!"
With a flick of a wrist, Kelvin sent a bolt of lightning at Sebastian. Sebastian leapt out of the way, but they were so close to the mansion it impacted the wall and destroyed a room, the bay window exploding inward and setting the furniture inside aflame.
Sebastian frowned, quickly swiping a hand to create a wind to douse the flames so they would not spread. But the damage had been done. "We just had that room refurbished," he said, sighing. "The young master had destroyed it during a temper tantrum."
"I heard that, Sebastian!" Lukas yelled down from the roof top.
"The truth, my lord, merely the truth," he replied, looking up, slightly amused.
"I suggest you worry less about your masters and focus on me!"
"Multi-tasking is the apex of a good butler." Sebastian briefly looked past Kelvin at the stone garden, he withheld a smile. "Shall we make another wager?"
"I am no longer interested in wagering, demon!"
Sebastian eyed Kelvin skeptically. "Philosophically speaking, humans bet on themselves every day whether they will live or die, and your "host" was a betting man. So I purpose a wager. If I win, I keep what is mine. And if you win, I will annul my covenants with my masters and join you in partnership, and together we will destroy the Reaperdem together. A contract, if you will."
The wager seemed to make Kelvin think for a moment, and Sebastian waxed philosophically, that it was probably the host's will that was making this Reaper stand back and contemplate about the deal. If there was one thing Sebastian knew about human's, it was a human can never change their innate, addictive nature. And Mathu Kelvin was a well renown gambler, it was his Achilles Heel.
"Well?"
"I don't trust you, demon. And that is what I and my host agree upon!"
Sebastian shrugged. "Very well. Then I believe the old fashion method will be the best form of valor here."
Choosing to run, he sprinted past Kelvin towards the stone garden, entering it. He was able to with a Triad he had unknowingly taken from his lord, Lukas's neck, when he had carried him and Ciel up to the roof top. When he his legs had collapsed under the numbness from the lightning attack from Kelvin and the boys began to roll down the arched roof, he had reached for them, only able to grab the Triad chain around Lukas's neck. He had slipped into his pocket to it give back to him later, but now it had proven useful.
He stood in the middle of the white stone square, an invisible spiritual barrier surrounding him.
"Do you forget, demon, that I also can pass through spiritual barriers?" Kelvin showed the Triad that hung around his neck untouched by the forces of electricity he generated throughout and about his outer body and he passed through the invisible barrier easily to stand on the white stone facing Sebastian. "Did you believe you could escape me in here? How utterly pathetic! And I was starting to have respect for you, fighting until the end."
Sebastian grinned. "That is something I remind my master almost on a daily bases, and I will continue to do so…until the very end."
He ran around the Reaper, and while doing so plucked the exposed Triad and chain from around Kelvin's neck, then escaped out of the barrier.
Kelvin attempted to follow, but the barrier stopped him in his tracks. He slammed his fists on it as if it were a solid wall, hammering with the force of a godly being. He even threw lightning bolts into the walls, but the spiritual barrier merely absorbed the electrical energy. The Reaper roared with rage.
"Right where you belong," Sebastian said, "like an animal caged," standing just beyond the barrier wall.
Kelvin gazed at him with a deep hatred. "This cage won't hold me long, Michaelis. There is always a way out of every spiritual barrier. That Reaper Knox knew about it when he broke Grell Sutcliff out at the Inner Circle's secret amphitheatre gathering place, and so do I. The Key Spell. Once it's called upon, the barrier shatters." Kelvin swiped his hand along the invisible barrier walls exposing the secret script keeping the barrier locked. "And it won't be long, for I know precisely what to look for." A broad smile crossed his face.
"Secret gathering place?" Sebastian mused momentarily. That was useful information to help forward his search for those who had done Ciel Phantomhive wrong and very helpful to speed up the elimination process so he can inch closer to devouring his master's soul. However, could it be the very same amphitheatre that he first made the covenant with Ciel Phantomhive? If so, perhaps it was time to return to hunt for more clues to help his master continue his search. "Unfortunately, Reaper, you will not get the chance," he said further, returning back to the conversion at hand about the barrier. "You see, someone else has been watching our little tat-a-tat, and I am not only referring to your fellow Reapers. This stone garden is not just for show, it is to hide something of my summoning, or to be correct, His summoning."
Beneath the Reaper's feet, a force felt unlike any other, threw back the white stones asunder and out of the barrier, revealing something large etched beneath, or rather something summoned from beneath.
It was known as the Ocularis Infernum or the "Eye of Hell", and it was a large, omni-eye, that could see everything, knew everything, and was a direct conduit to the fiery depths of Hell itself. Finny had filled in the exactly dimensions with white stone Sebastian had told him to, so the eye could be brought to the human world inconspicuously by Sebastian's true lord and master - "the shining one, the morning star" - Lucifer.
Kelvin's feet began to sink into the iris of the eye like quicksand and arms suddenly burst out of the ground and wrapped around his legs with vice grips, dragging him further down. The Reaper tried to struggle against them, but to no avail, and soon found his legs almost completely submerged. The arms continued at him, reaching for his torso. Kelvin tried to yank himself free without success.
"No! Please, Michaelis! Help me! I'll give you anything you want!" Kevin cried, the look of utter fear in his fiery eyes!
"That's the beauty of it," he turned to the two boys who were watching everything unfold from the roof top, then turned back to Kelvin who was now submerged up to his armpits, "I already have what I want." Kelvin continued to struggle, but the arms would not relent, clutching at his shoulders and head. "My Master will enjoy devouring you, over and over and over again. For that is what Hell is - repetition." Sebastian's eyes glowered. "At the risk of sounding cliché, go to Hell." He grinned. "Please."
"Michea-"
And with a final plea, one last dying scream, the Reaper was pulled completely under - and the eye disappeared. Sebastian used his powers to return the white stones back to where they lain before thrown asunder, back into a perfect square.
Sebastian took a reflective sigh of relief.
It was finally over. The Fallen Reapers had been defeated and his masters were safe.
He looked back at the roof top and saw both boys looking down at him. Indeed, he was a butler with two masters. Two delicious souls to eventually partake in, their strength and determination in the face of adversity would add to their taste. They had helped him defeat the Fallen Reapers by allowing him to draw on their energies. He had told Lukas that their covenant would only be temporary, but he wouldn't hear of it, giving haste to sharing his brother's fate. And Sebastian gladly accepted his decision.
"Sebastian! What are you waiting for? Get us down from here!" Ciel demanded.
"Coming sir," he replied back.
But before he could gorge on their souls, he knew there was still a lot more enemies out there Ciel Phantomhive wanted eliminated before he was satisfied everyone who had done him wrong were gone. And yet, he had the same covenant with Lukas Phantomhive, to now help him eliminate everyone who had done him wrong. And both agreed they wanted Bryon Kelvin, wherever he may be?
He didn't know how many people he would have to kill to fulfill his covenant to them both, but he knew one thing assuredly, patience was a virtue practiced by wise men who eventually achieved their goals.
Patience, he told himself.
Patience.
To be continued…
