The water around the Maunsell base was dyed red with blood and fire floated atop it's surface as Scarlet Order ships continued to sink. The crew of the Prudentia were growing tired and simply wanted to lie down and rest. Their bodies ached and their eyelids grew heavy. Their minds were exhausted and none of them knew how much longer they could hold out until they began to crack.

They began cycling out teams within the team so that one group will be able to rest while the other fights. Then they would switch. Even Alois pitched in and fired however he could, sitting propped up against the wall and aiming though one of the vents in the wall. Thankfully, the helicopters over head were doing most of the work. It was thanks to them that everything was going so smoothly.

In one of the towers, however, a filing cabinet was lifted by a massive clawed hand. Grunting, the hairy, dog-like beast of a man tossed it to the side and rubbed the side of his head. Doctor Hobbs wasn't able to stand up right away. He had yet to regain his vision completely and everything blurred. Taking his hand away from his head, however, he could see his fingers being covered in red. That explained the throbbing pain in the back of it. At least now the man knew that he possessed regenerative capabilities, despite it taking almost a full day to recover from having his skull bashed in. Groggily, he stumbled to his feet and looked outside, only to see the mayhem.

Bodies littered the floors of the towers and the bridges connecting them. The metal surfaces were stained red with blood and the sea was on fire. Ghost ships floated on its surface before eventually sinking beneath the reddened waters. At the sight of all of this put the doctor under arrest, capturing him in a state of pure awe.

Sadness didn't come to him. Neither did fear. If anything, there was confusion. He was disoriented to begin with, but now he was confronted with surroundings that were similar to the ones he knew, but were more horrific.

In this state, he stumbled forward, stepping over corpses and trying not to slip in puddles. It was only due to the fact that the turncoats were watching the sea, that he didn't get gunned down on the spot. Crossing the bridge before him he reached a new tower, and from it's top he heard gunfire.

"Still fighting..." he mumbled. He addressed no one as he spoke with slurred speech. In truth, he thought of his own side when he heard the shots, luring him up the stairs to the rooftop. The door was heavy, but he managed.

At the top, however, he found the crewmembers of the Prudentia, staring at him with stunned eyes. He was not supposed to be there, but he was oblivious to this fact. The sole reason why he made it passed that door was because no one was guarding it. They figured that all of the other inhabitants of the base that were not on their side where deceased.

"What's the latest status report?" Hobbs questioned. "What's going on?"

A sound alerted his attention, causing his head to turn and his eyes to focus. It was the sound of a gun clicking as it became live. The hand that held the weapon belonged to none other than Jim Phantomhive, supposed prisoner of the order.

"Why is he out?!" demanded the doctor in disbelief. "What is going on here!?"

"A coup de'tat, good doctor." spoke the menace. "The Order has fallen."

"What are you talking about?" Hobbs asked before turning to the others. "What is he talking about!?"

More guns aimed at the man as everyone there knew that he could not make it out of here alive. It was impossible. Furthermore, it was dangerous to have him here. In response to this, the doctor simply looked around, still shocked that all of this could be happening. Then, his eyes fell to the ground, where they honed in on the body of one of his experiments.

"Araneus!" he shrieked, grasping at the sides of his head. For a moment, he stared down at the corpse before taking a step forward. In doing so, he earned himself a gunshot wound to the shoulder.

"He's dead, Hobbs, and the world is a better place because of it." Alois stated. His tone was sharp and icy.

"He would have created the first ever 'natural' birth of a demon ever recorded!" the wolfman replied. "That isn't better! It's a loss!"

"Nah. One less monster is always a win."

In a flash, the doctor was right I front of the demon, his massive body looming over him. Hobbs' eyes were wide and his brow was furrowed as he stared down at the menace, grabbing his arm when Alois tried to aim his weapon. He then lifted the Phantomhive up off the ground by his wrist, gun still in hand.

"He was no monster!" the doctor declared. "He was beautiful! He was a creator of life! Life that has never been seen by the world before! And you murdered it! You're the monster! Demon! How dare you touch what is mine?!"

"Pretty easily." bluntly answered the menace, raising his free hand. "It's a lot like this!" In an instant, the blonde's fingers were lodged into the wolfman's eye-socket, causing the beastman to cry out in pain.

"Shoot him!" ordered the menace as he was swung around. Several shots fired into Hobbs' back, furthering his desperation. With one mighty movement, the doctor swung his arm and let go of Alois' wrist, sending him over the wall and off of the roof.

Alois' eyes widened in horror as he hadn't the faintest idea as to what lied below. Hearing gunshots all the way down, he fell, and he fell fast. Instead of hitting water, however, he struck metal, hitting the deck of a passing ship with crushing force. His body dented the floor and his wounds reopened. As air was forced from his lungs, he coughed up large amounts of blood as well. His vision was blurred and his head was spinning. He tried to get up, but his body betrayed him, causing him to crumple into a heap.

"Jim?" the other Phantomhive said aloud, sensing that something was wrong. His head shot up and he tried to lock on to the menace's signature as he stared toward the ceiling, only to find nothing. Then he looked around, finding that Alois' presence was coming from a new direction entirely.

"Shit..." It registered that Alois was on one of the nearby ships. Immediately, he began to head out, talking into his headset along the way. "Jim fell from the tower! He's on one of the boats!"

"What?!" called Elizabeth, shocked at the news. "Which one?!"

"It's near the tower he was stationed at!" informed the bluenette, alerting those who were airbourne.

"I see it! Do you want me to handle it?"

"No! He's mine!" declared the bluenette as he made his way up the ladder. "I mean, I'll take care of it."

"You're so sweet, but so crazy..."

"Shut up!"

Elizabeth could be heard laughing on the other end, watching as glided through the air and circled the base. She could see the menace and she could see her cousin going after him. She could tell Alois was alive, so she wasn't too concerned in that regard. Instead, her concern came from another source as one of the helicopter pilots began screaming into his headset.

"Something's got me! Fuck, fuck, fuck! Something's got me!" He screamed, his voice breaking in the process. Turning her head, Elizabeth could see the copter in question. "I'm going down!"

"What's going on?!" the woman demanded, trying to see what was wrong with the aircraft as it spun with smoke trailing behind it. Squinting, she could see a blackened figure clinging onto the helicopter before finally releasing it just as it was past the point of recovery. The pilot's microphone was cut off as he hit the water.

"Hello?!" asked Elizabeth. "Hello?!"

Her gaze fell to the figure as it fell with purpose, heading straight for the ship that the two demons were on. With a loud boom the figure struck the ships surface as it continued to burn. Ciel called out to his husband from his place on the ladder, even though he wasn't sure if the other man could hear him. The blonde Phantomhive looked up to see that the figure had landed in front of him and stared down at him.

"Oh..." Alois said absent-mindedly. "It's you… You look terrible..."

Preston stared down at his former friend with his teeth bared and his eyes aflame. His pupils were slit and his golden eyes glowed against the blackness of the armour that concealed all but his face. The Omid looked like a less elegant version of his nightmares. Six fists clenched and unclenched as Preston tried to kill the demon with his eyes to no avail.

"Get up."Preston ordered in a grainy voice. "Get up, demon!"

"Do I have to?" questioned the menace, only to be picked up by the neck and hoisted into the air. This time, there was no wall to lean on, so the Omid was supporting his weight on his own. Alois' feet dangled inches from the ground and he choked momentarily as he attempted to maintain a steady flow of air into his lungs. "Oh, you're still mad?"

"You stole my victory!" Preston accused. "My army… Look at what you've done!"

"More like what you have done." retorted the menace. "None of this had to happen. I told you that they would come if you had me. Furthermore, none of this would have happened if you stayed in London. It is your fault."

"There was nothing for me in London. My future was taken from me!"

"Oh, don't give me that. Your future was limitless, if you just tried." Alois stated. "You threw it all away because you wanted to wallow in whatever funk you were feeling."

"You did this!"

"No, I didn't. Sometimes, things aren't anybody's fault and life just sucks. You got dealt a shitty hand. I know what that's like, pal, but you don't see me raising an army just to jerk my own ego and make me feel strong."

"Rraagh!" Swinging his arm downward, Preston slammed the blonde's head into the ground, forcing out a pained noise from the menace. As he laid there, Alois looked into the other man's eyes and saw that all reason was gone from him.

"Boo-hoo..." Alois coughed. "Go ahead… Cry… Cry about how shitty your life is… How you can't go back home to your family… How you can't even step foot in your country… Oh, maybe you should cry about how you're being hunted by the government, too… Also how your army is failing… Boo-hoo… Oh, woe is me… My life is so hard just because I decided to become an international criminal… Boo-hoo-hoo!"

His head was slammed into the ground again and the grip on his throat tightened. Raising his hands, he gripped Preston's and tried to slip his fingers underneath the man's palm to pry it off. The blonde's smile faded with this and his eyes clenched shut. Then, he moved his right hand up the man's arm in hopes of pushing him away.

"I was dying!" Preston hissed between clenched teeth. "I was dying and there was no other choice! I still have no choice!"

"Whose… fault... is that?"

"Yours!"

"How?"

"It just is!"

There was no logic to be found in Preston's arguments. He had lost all reason long ago. The fact of the matter is, it was uncertain if Preston himself truly believed what he was spouting. What lied beyond the path he had chosen was nothing but a dead end. Every single bridge had been burned and the inferno was drawing closer to Preston. There was simply nothing left, he was right. Things didn't need to be this way, but despair was a powerful thing. It can cause madness to creep into the minds of the most sound of men. There was nothing left for Preston now.

He had no home, no family, no friends. He had no army. He had no ships. He had nothing but his body and his soul left of him. That was all he had to fight with and all he had to lose.

"What happened to Araneus?" he asked, letting up off the blonde's neck slightly.

"I killed him." the menace answered. "Killed him and enjoyed every bit of it."

"And Hobbs?"

"Dead."

With that, the Omid's grip returned and he swung his fist, striking the menace in the face. Then he swung another, and another. If Alois wasn't careful, he was going to have a hard time recovering from this.

He did his best to obtain at least one good eye, although his vision was blurred and he occasionally only saw white. With one hand, he tried to pry the other's away, while with the other, he felt along Preston's arm. His fingers lingered over the underside of the Omid's elbow while Preston continued his assault. It took everything Alois had to drown out the feeling of the punches, while he instead focused on his own index and middle fingers. He began focusing a lot of energy there as his arm began to glow. Taking his arm away again, he cocked it back as much as he could, before letting go and stabbing through the weak spot in the armour with all of his might, breaking the skin.

Preston let out a yell before letting go of the blonde and taking a step back. Alois didn't have time to regain his senses. He needed to sit up and crawl away while the seed took hold. While the menace had only used this technique on a person once, he knew it was affective. Preston would soon know as well as greenery began to sprout from the wound. The Omid's face contorted further, this time adding more pain. Quickly, he clutched at his arm and grabbed the vine before attempting to yank it out, but it was too late. It had already began to bore into his flesh and take root.

"What did you do?!"

"Fuck you, that's what!" Alois replied, being unwilling to stick around and answer Preston properly. He was in no condition to fight, so he needed to create as much distance from them as possible.

The vines dug into Preston's muscle beneath his armour and wrapped around his bones. Indeed, Alois had once used this same technique on none other than Araneus, but decided it was necessary again now. His former friend screamed in pain and clawed at his arm, but he could not rid himself of the parasitic plants. They began burrowing up his arm, reaching his bicep, now. Preston had all five of his remaining arms to attempt to rid himself of this horrific pain, but nothing worked. It was going to spread, if he didn't do something fast.

With one hand, he stuck his fingers through the crack in his armour and attempted to pull the piece away for better access, only to cry out in pain as his flesh was revealed. The Black Annis armour had torn parts of his skin off with it. His teeth ground together and his face contorted in pain as he removed an adequately sized piece so that he could reach inside. Boring his clawed fingertips inside and grasping hold of the seed.

Eyes stayed locked on one another; golden on icy blue, as with a swift movement of the arm, the beast yanked out the offending seed along with many vines. The rest of the plant matter soon died within his appendage, causing him pain still, but it mattered not. Preston's skin regenerated and so did his armour. Steam escaped between his teeth and from his nostrils as he huffed out.

"Disgusting..." Alois said. "Preston has died completely, hasn't he?"

"No! I am here! Still here!" roared the beast.

"No… My friend is dead."

"We're! Not! Friends!" The monster lunged at the menace, it's legs carrying it at inhuman speeds. Preston cocked back three of his arms and prepared to strike, aiming directly for the incapacitated Phantomhive. Closing his eyes, Alois prepared for impact, but it came in a different form than expected.

Alois let out a sound of surprise as he was swiftly picked up and carried out of Preston's line of fire. The arms around him felt familiar and safe, bringing him a renewed sense of calm. He knew why. Opening his eyes, he confirmed his suspicions, seeing his spouse concentrating on getting him to safety. Once Ciel noticed the blonde looking at him, however, he stopped his movement and smiled.

"Hello, honey." the Watchdog said. "I got to see you sooner than expected."

"You got lucky." Alois grinned back. "Unfortunately, I'm not. I don't think I can fight that thing."

"I'll handle it." his beau said as he kissed his cheek. Gently, he set the blonde down so that his wounds weren't disturbed. The bluenette even tried to wipe the other man's dirtied cheek with his thumb, but to no avail. "There should be a handkerchief in one of those pockets, if you want it."

"I'll be fine. I wish I could say the same for him." Pointing his finger, he drew the Watchdog's attention away from himself and onto their shared foe. Their former friend continued to seethe and snarl, prompting Ciel's attention.

"I'll take care of it." he said. "You rest, now."

"Be safe." Alois replied, causing a genuine smile to grace the Watchdog's face. The bluenette stood and faced his foe, but not before answering.

"I will." Ciel said before he began walking.

He walked toward the blackened beast with his head held high. His chest was out, his shoulders back, and his fists clenching and unclenching. As he drew further from his husband and closer to his opponent, his smile fell, leaving him with a scowl.

It was a face that held no sympathy for the Omid. Not one single shred of it. Preston made his choice. From there, he continued to make choices; all of them bad. Even now, he wasn't making the wisest description, nor was he even in the right.

"Preston Omid..." he began, using his thumb to press down on his knuckles, cracking them. "You have betrayed your country, turn you back on your friends and family, claimed land that was not yours to claim, and led over a hundred supernaturals to their death needlessly… All of that demands punishment, but none of that is the true reason why I am furious right now."

His tone was not firey but icy and cold. While Preston burned, his rage consuming all in his path, Ciel's anger; his fury, was cruel in intent and contained with deadly precision. Ciel's chest burned, indeed, but was a ticking time-bomb. Once his thick layer of ice melted away, his eruption would burn so brightly, that it would smother Preston's and reduce him to ash.

"You have disrespected and brought harm to the Phantomhive family." the bluenette continued, his fist finally clenching. "For that alone, you must pay. As to whatever goal you're hoping to accomplish in all of this, I quite frankly don't give a damn. Whatever it was, however, it certainly wasn't worth putting your hands on my husband for."

In a flash, Ciel's eye glowed crimson. The ice had begun to crack, as his rage was becoming clear. That eye revealed it. With it came flame coming off of the man's body; black as night. All at once, it erupted, transforming Ciel's appearance as he donned his demonic garb. His horns grew, as did fangs. The Phantomhive was not wasting any time with playing games. He was going to finish this now.

"Whatever the hell you're planning doesn't matter." snarled the Watchdog. His teeth were bared, his body took a fighting stance and he roared with all of his might. His calm demeanor had crumbled away.

"I'll destroy you for making Jim cry!"

Preston clenched his own fists, all six of them, as he prepared for combat. "Once I'm finished, I will stop all of the cries!"


A/N: Whelp...

I'm sorry this chapter took me a bit. I had my Spanish Oral Exam today. I almost died. I had to prepare myself mentally.

But here we go... How is this going to end? My bet is with lots of yelling and punching.

Also I'm sorry for the cliffhanger. Insincerely sorry, but sorry, nonetheless.

Everything is terrible.

No character shet (because the story will answer most of the questions with time) but I did get a question that won't be!

"Hello Hate:). I'm so sorry for bringing this up, as I'm sure you covered this subject in book one, but does Revy's body age or decompose or does his presence in Alois' old body halt the aging/decomposing process?" by Hannahfanbear

Nope. It doesn't decompose or age. It actually repaired itself once he resurfaced, and the body was nothing but BONES to start with in the grave! As long as Revy's soul is attached, it's gonna keep walking around. Now, if he soul were to leave, THEN it would start to decompose.

Come to think of it, I wonder when he's going to move on into the next life? Reapers must HATE him!

Until the next chapter, my duckies~!