Agni sacrifices his life protecting Prince Soma from the killers in Ciel's home. Ciel and Sebastian arrive too late. This is when the other Ciel arrives. It turns out that the Ciel readers have known since the beginning of the series is actually a twin, specifically the spare (who, unless I missed it, is never once named in this entire volume). Flashbacks show their birth and childhood. The spare Ciel (our Ciel) wanted to become a toymaker, while Ciel was going to be the next Earl Phantomhive. Spare Ciel was sickly and, although no one ever treated him unkindly, there were frequent reminders that one day he'd be on his own. This volume's bonus illustration and Black Butler AU: Black Santa.

Oh boy. Well, that explains why Lizzie said she couldn't come back. She realized that she's actually the fiancee of the real Ciel (aka Evil Ciel).

Why would they be sad about the parents but never once think about Ciel's adorable and sickly little brother, even if he wasn't destined to be the next earl?

real Ciel had a hand in spare Ciel's abuse and near-death after their parents died, I'm probably going to get snarly. There's no sign of it in the way they interact with each other in the flashback, so the main reason why I'm worried this development is a possibility is because it occurred to me that the people who killed Agni looked an awful lot like the robed guys who kept Ciel (spare Ciel) caged.

My guess is that spare Ciel is going to have a bit of a breakdown as soon as the flashbacks are over, but hopefully he'll snap out of it pretty quickly. Real Ciel might have surprise and a bunch of killers on his side, but spare Ciel has a demon, so I'm betting on the spare.

his new music hall and the Phantom Five were part of a plan to limit the Sphere Music Hall's blood supply and increase the likelihood of deaths, in order to force this opportunity to happen ASAP. However, breaking up Blavat's operation (acquiring and typing blood for safer transfusions for a group of rich old men in renal failure) doesn't bring Lizzie back, for some reason. There's an encounter with Grelle and Othello, and Prince Soma admits that he knows Ciel doesn't consider him a friend and is keeping him at arm's length. He's determined to stay close to Ciel and help him somehow reconnect with the world. The volume ends with Agni seeing something shocking in an old family photo of Ciel's, and with Ciel (?) pulling a gun on Prince Soma.

(who are, apparently, not the members of the S4). Lizzie runs back to the music hall (bound to it in some way?), and Ciel hits on a plan - open his own music hall right across from Blavat's, with his own boy band, the "Phantom Five" (Edward, Clayton, Cheslock, Joanne, and Soma).

"Phantom Five" looks great considering he threw them together and expected them to be a functioning band in two weeks.