Previously:

"Ooh, this is getting good now!" Lacey said. "Makes me wish I had some popcorn!"

"Aren't you going to join in!?" Grell asked a little incredulously. "You're a Reaper, aren't you!? You should be on our side!"

"My official assignment is to protect Chêne. There was no mention made of 'dolls' or zombies or whether I should do anything to stop them. I'm only here to keep an eye on these two in Chêne's place," Lacey explained, gesturing to Sebastian and Ciel. "Part of protecting someone is making sure they're happy, and she won't be happy if anything happens to them. But I won't be joining Sebastian either, because it won't look good if I aid a demon in fighting my fellow Reapers. So I'm just gonna fight these zombies to make sure they don't get too close to Ciel." She revved up her death scythe and turned to face the zombies that had begun to creep a little too close for comfort.

"I'm obliged to you for looking after the Young Master," Sebastian said.

"Like I said, it's for Chêne," Lacey said, shrugging. Sebastian, Grell, and Ronald all turned their attention back to Undertaker.

"Hee! Hee! This is juuust like rabbit hunting," Undertaker said. "… Now, then." He smiled. "Who will be the hunted rabbit?" All three of his opponents charged at once.

That Butler, Born

Sebastian, Grell, and Ronald all charged at the Undertaker. Sebastian drew four knives and was about to attack, when Ronald's death scythe was thrust at his head. Sebastian quickly dodged.

"!?" the demon gritted his teeth.

"Whoa there!" Ronald said. "My mistake!"

"Your eyesight seems rather poor… Hm!?" Sebastian said darkly with a vein throbbing on his cheek as he threw his knives at Ronald.

"Whoa!" Ronald exclaimed, ducking low to avoid them. The knives continued on towards Undertaker, but he spun his sotoba and blocked all of them.

"Grim Reapers are all verrry nearsighted!" Undertaker said.

"That puts you at a disadvantage!!" Grell said, coming up behind him. He swung his death scythe at his prey. Undertaker blocked it with his sotoba again. "Eh…!?" Grell was surprised when his blade sliced through the wood. 'I cut through it!? Then why couldn't I before!?' Undertaker leered. He took advantage of Grell's confusion and kicked him away.

VREEE!

Ronald came rushing towards Undertaker next, but Undertaker simply dodged, jumping up and landing lightly on Ronald's shoulders. Ronald's eyes widened in shock and alarm asUndertaker stabbed his sotoba down towards his face. Ronald jerked his head back. He managed to avoid being stabbed, but his glasses were separated from his face.

"…!!" Ronald gasped. He reached out for them, but they just grew blurrier as they flew away from him. "Damn, my specs!"

"You're still green if you're relying on your eyeees!" Undertaker said, stomping on his face a he jumped away again. Ronald hit the ground with a harsh thud.

"What the heck are you..." Grell said, snatching the glasses from the air, "… doing!?" He tossed the glasses back to their owner.

"Thank you, sir—" Ronald started to say when something silver flashed in front of him. "Er!" He watched helplessly as one of Sebastian's knives hooked his glasses and flew away with them. Sebastian leaped into the air and threw eight knives at Undertaker as he landed. Undertaker braced himself and swung the sotoba like a cricket bat, catching all but one, which he dodged.

"Can you really hunt me with such tiiiiiny tableware, I wonder?" Undertaker said as they continued to fight. Sebastian moved his head to the side to dodge the sotoba Undertaker thrusted at him.

"They may be inferior to death scythes, but..." Sebastian said, smirking as he tightened his grip on the knife on his hand. He grabbed the sotoba with his other hand and held it in place while he sliced it up with the knife. "… The sharpness of our family silverware is first-class!" He slashed at Undertaker, who leaped back to avoid it.

"I seeee!" Undertaker said, skidding back to stand in front of the sotobas he threw at Grell that were embedded into the floor. He grabbed three sotobas and threw them at Sebastian. The butler jumped away, landing on top of the railing on the landing. "Come, come. What's the matter? Is this all the tree of you can manage? You're going to hunt me down, aren't yooou? Hee! Hee!"

"He's really pissing me off..." Ronald said, putting his glasses, which he had managed to recover, back on.

"Let's do this quick," Grell said with a frown. "The ship is listing pretty bad. We're out of time."

"… You said it," Ronald agreed. They both leaped into the air, charging Undertaker together.

VREEE!

"I can't be worrying about my looks!!" Grell said, revving up his chainsaw.

"We've gotta attack head-on!!" Ronald said with determination.

CLAAANG!

Undertaker blocked both of their attacks with his sotoba.

"Again!? I can't believe this!" Grell said incredulously. "A death scythe is supposed to be able to cut through anything…! So… how come you can parry our deaths scythes!?" Undertaker smirked.

"Man, these guys are slow..." Lacey said, making Ciel glance at her as she beheaded a zombie that got too close.

"The death scythe can cut through anything… hm?" Undertaker said. "Don't you find that catchphrase a little funny?"

"!?" Grell gritted his teeth and glared at him.

"Well! It's not funny to me in the very leeeast! Hee! Hee!" Undertaker said. He looked at them, green eyes shining in the shadow of his bangs. "There is one thing, isn't there? One thing that it can't cut through."

"You don't mean…!?" Ronald exclaimed, shocked. The sotoba glowed in Undertaker's hand, and he sliced it in arc, cutting Ronald and Grell both with one swing. Blood spurted out of the slices across their chests. The sotoba had transformed into a large scythe with a skeletal handle that had a sharp blade coming out of the skull crowned with thorns at the top.

"GAH-HAH..." Ronald and Grell grunted and groaned as they slammed unto the floor.

"… Kuh…!" Grell gritted his teeth and furrowed his brow. "That's a… death scythe!!"

"Took you long enough," Lacey muttered. It was killing her not to get in on such a good fight. She sliced another zombie's head off just for the heck of it.

"I see," Sebastian said. "In the presence of many death scythes, the motto that a death scythe can cut through anything becomes a falsehood."

"Don't they get collected unconditionally when a Grim Reaper retires…?" Ronald said, struggling to pick himself back up again.

"I found it hard to part with mine as we'd been together for so long," Undertaker said, touching the blade affectionately. " 'Twas suuuch trouble sneaking it out with meee!" He raised the death scythe above his head, preparing to strike. "Now! Shall I try hunting you down instead? Just like the pitiful rabbits in the hunt that you are?" Undertaker swung his scythe and sliced through the support columns that were holding up the second level over Grell and Ronald. Sebastian ducked low then dodged as that part of the second level began to collapse and fall.

WHOOM!

"!!" Ciel gasped when the stairs shook under him, clutching the railing for support. Lacey sliced off the head of a zombie that fell towards her. Sebastian snatched the tables as they fell from above and began tossing them at Undertaker.

"It's no use," Undertaker said, easily slicing through all of them. "Slicing tables is no different than breaking biscuits." Suddenly, Sebastian was gone. "!"

"I simply wanted to get inside of the wide reach of your scythe," Sebastian said, sliding up next to him. Sebastian aimed a powerful kick at him, but Undertaker jumped back and dodged.

"You thought up an amusing notion, Master Butler!" he said, flipping through the air. "Then..." He landed on the steps behind Ciel.

"!" Lacey immediately turned on her heel to attack when she realized his intentions, but he blocked her scythe with his and forced her back as he grabbed Ciel. Lacey crashed into the horde of zombies and was immediately caught up in a fight for her life.

"… I shall do the same," Undertaker said to Sebastian, holding Ciel hostage.

"!?" Sebastian, Lacey, and Ciel gasped with wide eyes. Undertaker spun Ciel around to face him, holding him by the front of his shirt.

"I can at long last have your lordship set foot into the coffin I custom-made just for you..." Undertaker said. Sebastian was upon them in an instant, half transformed. Lacey broke away from the horde.

"I knew you would come," Undertaker said, hurling Ciel away. Sebastian froze for a second, his eyes wide. He turned his head to look at Ciel, who was growing further away. He reached out his hand to catch him. His fingers touched Ciel's, and then Ciel flew beyond his reach. Sebastian was pinned in place by Undertaker's death scythe, which had stabbed him through the back, impaling him. Lacey's eyes widened as Sebastian's blood spurted from his wound and his mouth. She was too late to intervene. It had all happened in seconds. "Humans are weak and frail, but it is surprisingly difficult to drag oneself through a human life… Master Butler," Undertaker said. "You seeee, I've always been most curious… why the likes of a noxious beast such as yourself would be playing the part of a butler in a tailcoat. Not only that, but you got yourself a wife and married her in a church as well." He glanced at Lacey. "I'm sure you're curious about that as well." Lacey furrowed her brow. He looked back at Sebastian. "I'll have you show me… your cinematic record." Sebastian's record rolled forth, surrounding him until he could no longer see anything else.

"Sebastian!!!" Ciel yelled. His hand disappeared behind the film.

∞—Sebastian's Cinematic Record—∞

Yes. He is calling me.

A black, gloved hand with claws reached out into the darkness and clasped a small hand.

Amidst sorrow, rage, confusion, and despair… he is hurling out the words of a curse.

He stood before his new master. The slaughtered cult members littered the room. Chêne was frozen with fear on the floor in the same spot where he had come inches within killing her before he was stopped.

He is calling me.

"What is your name?" the demon asked the boy in front of him.

"I am..." he said, glancing at the bloody altar and the small hand hanging limply from it. "… Ciel. Ciel Phantomhive." His brow was furrowed. The eye with the contract mark was bleeding. "The successor to the title of Earl Phantomhive."

"Fu fu… I see. Very well," the demon said. "Then I must first take a form befitting the servant of an earl." A sharp high-heeled boot stepped out of the darkness and landed on the ground as a leather dress shoe. "—Now." The demon stepped forth in the guise of a butler. "Command of me anything you wish..." He adjusted his jacket, wearing a glove on one hand while the other was naked, exposing the contract mark. The other glove was tucked in his jacket pocket. He bowed. "… My little lord."