Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
[The Next Day]
Morning had arrived as Alex got up and got himself prepped up and ready as he left his room and to his surprise saw Akame on the couch already done preparing herself.
"Wow. Your a fast one." He said.
"Well I did wake up earlier so I was just here waiting for you to finish." She replied back to him.
Alex chuckled as she stood up and walk towards him.
"Hopefully this all goes well. On the plus side, I wonder if we'll be able to work well together." She said.
Alex nodded as he also felt the same. "Yeah I hope so as well. Let's go to the spot and meet up with Becky." He said.
With that they left the complex and began making their way to the meet up spot as it took a decent while walking through the city.
Eventually they made it out of the city and walked into the forest entrance as they sat and waited for the third wheel.
They didn't have to wait long though as shortly heavy metal steps were heard as they looked up to see Becky in her power armor
Akame was easily startled as she hid behind Alex as he chuckled.
"Wow Becky. You got quite the change to your armor." He said.
Akame was shocked as she saw the helmet come off and sure enough saw Becky's head as she was in the armor.
"Yeah I know. This bad boy actually adds a couple of upgrades and enhancements so this is definitely gonna come in handy." She said as she placed her helmet back on. "Anyways let's go ahead and get to our location."
Alex nodded and after calming Akame down, the three walked off along the outskirts of the city and near the forest for a bit.
Soon they saw the entrance to an alleyway as Alex immediately hid behind a wall and had the other two hide as well.
Alex peeked his head out from the corner of the wall making sure no one was there.
Once he was done, Alex walked into the alleyway followed by the other two as they all saw a rundown building with a sign on it
"The Devil's Nest huh? Edgy." Jokingly said Becky.
"Why are we here? This can't be the location rift?" Asked Akame.
"According to reports, this was the last known location of Greed. Might as well hope for the best.' Said Alex.
With that he walked on ahead and managed to sneak inside with the two following behind.
Eventually he made it to a door and kneeled next to it as he tried to listen to what was going on inside.
When he did, he heard a couple of people discussing what was going on inside the room before one voice had ordered the rest to disperse and monitor the halls.
Once Alex was sure no one else was in that room, he prepared to try and open the door until the voice suddenly spoke.
"Come on in. Your awful at stealth." Said the voice.
Alex had the other two stay behind for a bit as he opened the door and walked into the room as he was now face to face with Greed
"Well well well. I assume your the state alchemist that's been sent to hunt me down huh?" Asked the man casually.
"Yeah. And I assume your the Homunculus Greed right?" Asked Alex.
"That I am. It's finally nice to be talking with a normal person for once. You don't wanna know how long I've been down here." Said Greed as he stood up.
"Don't you work together with the other Homunculi?" Asked Alex.
Greed simply laughed at that for a bit before stopping. "Nah. To be honest their grand plans are just too much for be. I'm living life for myself and attaining what I want for myself."
'Well it is in his name after all.' Thought Alex not being surprised at his selfishness.
"Anyways let's cut to the chase little kid. You wanna take me down correct? Well sorry to be a downer but I ain't gonna let it happen easily." He said menacingly as Alex transmuted a sword.
"Yeah I knew you wouldn't." He said.
"That puny thing won't lay a scratch on me even with a direct hit. But go ahead and try."
Greed invited Alex to take a free hit but Alex didn't take the chance immediately.
He snapped his fingers letting a small flame spark as he then immediately dashed at Greed seemingly to take a slash.
Instead Alex ducked and slid under him.
That caught Greed off guard as he was then suddenly met by a massive metallic punch from Becky's power armor as Greed was knocked across the room.
"Come on! Gotta try harder than that!" Said Becky who got an easy punch.
Greed groaned and eventually got up as he saw Alex, Becky, and eventually Akame in the room looking at him.
"Wow kid. You brought a squad just for me? I'm flattered." Said Greed jokingly as he cracked his knuckles.
"Heads up you two. Who knows what he's gonna do nex-." Before Alex could finish speaking, Greed had suddenly dashed behind and quite literally smacked him across the room as he then immediately blocked some hard punches as he then tripped her up causing her to fall down.
Unfortunately Greed couldn't react in time to dodge a strike from Akame as she was in prime position to hit.
Greed could feel an ominous aura from the sword and knew this was gonna be a lethal hit.
Shockingly, Akame saw that when her blade had made contact, instead of cutting through flesh, it had instead scraped against some kind of metal as Greed kicked her away and backed off panting a little.
"Gotta say you punks are a lot more smarter than what I assumed. To make me use this form and hide my face is a shame, though, I need to do all I can to survive after all." He said.
To the three's shock they saw Greed cover his entire body and morphed into a different form
"The hell?"" Asked Alex wondering what the hell happened to Greed.
"Impressed at my Ultimate Shield? You can try all you want but no way in hell am I ever gonna get hurt!" Said a highly confident Greed.
Alex ditched his sword and began to engage in hand to hand against Greed.
Right now Alex had only hoped to at least stagger Greed with a good strike.
Unfortunately Greed had yet again smacked Alex away with ease.
This time Akame has tried her best with hand to hand but unfortunately she didn't fair much better as after a few sloppy attempts at punches as was also easily smacked away.
This now left Becky to handle the Homunculi.
"Come on now. How much longer can your metal suit of crap dance with me!?" Said Greed.
The two began to trade and block punches back and forth and though it was intially even, Greed began to gain the edge as he was able to land some more effective blows on the Irish giant and even managed to leave a crack on her helmet.
He then kicked Becky away as she stumbled back.
Becky took a deep sigh and knew she had to focus on this moment.
Soon she was completely zoned in as her suit began to overcharge itself as she got up ready to tangle again.
Greed chuckled and immediately went at her again as Becky took the blow but then immediately punched him back.
The hit absolutely stunned Greed as he was knocked back and hit the wall a ton.
Greed immediately shrugged it off and went back to the assault as even though Becky took the blows, she always struck back as all her hits stunned Greed and wore him down as she finished her assault off by punching him right in the face.
Greed was staggered and began to panic.
He immediately whistled and ran away into a back room as his lackeys had immediately rushed in to buy him some time.
Becky then grabbed Alex and lifted him high.
"H-Hey what the hell are you doing!?" He asked.
"Don't worry me and your big sis can handle this! Now go long!"
"OH HELL NO!"
With that, Becky yeeted Alex past and over the lackeys and into the doorway as Becky and Akame handled the men as Alex began to run down the alleyway.
Eventually he made it as he had found a secret back room to this place.
He walked into the weird big room with stairs on both sides of him and an upper terrace above him as well as 3 massive blue tinted windows.
"I found you Greed!" Shouted Alex as he walked in and stood in front of him.
He then got into a fighting stance as Greed removed his coat and entered his fully coated Ultimate Shield form again.
This time, Greed charged at Alex and attempted three punches.
Alex managed to block all three before Greed decked the right side of Alex's face with a punch.
It cause blood to fly as Greed immediately decked the left side of his face as well.
Alex staggered but went low and attempted to punch Greed under his chin but nothing happened aside from causing his right hand to bleed and possibly break as Alex was shocked.
"You still don't understand what your dealing with do you?" Said Greed as he smacked Alex away as Alex violently had his back collide with the corner of a table as he fell onto the floor.
"Your sloppily fighting. Kid. You damn know well that the only way to beat me...... " Said Greed.
"Is to kill." Said Alex as he slowly got up.
"Correct. And you think your ready to do that?"
Alex turned to face him as he gripped his right hand.
"Thank god. May be battered as hell but it sure as hell ain't broken."
Alex smiled a bit.
"Let's go!"
Alex charged at Greed and attempted two punches which Greed easily dodged.
Greed grabbed Alex by the neck and picked him up.
Alex choked a little before clapping his hands and placed them on Greed's right arm.
Greed felt a tinge and immediately let go and dropped Alex as he rolled back.
"Your alchemy is worth nothing when fighting me!" Shouted Greed as Alex got on one knee and looked at Greed as he walked towards Alex.
"Now it's my turn for fun."
Greed got ready and aimed a punch at him as Alex clapped his hand and quickly transmuted a dagger and jammed it into Greed's right fist.
Shockingly, Greed's right hand up to his elbow were exposed as his Ultimate Shield was transmuted away to reveal bone and meat out in the open
Greed stepped back and held his right arm in shock.
"What? What the hell is this?" Said Greed as he looked at Alex. "What've you done to my shield you little shit!?"
"It's easy when you realize one thing. There are no unexplainable events. Everything results from scientifically measurable actions. Even your precious shield. It's been said that Homunculi have the same body structure as regular humans on an elemental level. And there's a key element in humans that serves to increase the body's hardness and resistance abrasion. Carbon. It makes up a third of every person. Carbon's degree of hardness depending on the strength of it's atomic bond. It can be the different between diamond and pencil lead."
Alex finished his explanation as Greed finally regenerated his right arm.
"Now that I know how to use it this shouldn't be too tough." Said Alex as he immediately charged at Greed.
Alex went for a punch as Greed blocked it.
Thankfully it was a decoy as Alex immediately transmuted the right side of Greed's abdomen and slashed it open with his dagger, exposing his ribcage and more meat.
Greed stepped back shockingly weakened as he hunched over on his knees.
"Well, this was easier than I thought." Said Alex.
"Y-You say that, yet, I haven't lost yet." Said Greed.
"Don't delude yourself this is over." Replied back Alex.
"Are you sure? I don't die so easily." Said Greed as he healed his wound.
"Then I guess I'll have to keep beating you down until you wish were." Said Alex as Greed laughed.
"What a relief. I was worried this stopped getting fun. I feel better for gambling so much on you."
Alex and Greed both deadlocked and stared at one another for a while before Alex clapped his hands and brought out his dagger again.
"Let's start." Said Greed.
"Let's finish!" Said Alex as he charged and ran at Greed going for a slash only for Greed to jump away.
Greed immediately lunged at Alex going for slashes and kicks as Alex jumped up to avoid the kicks and tried to kick Greed in the face twice as Greed blocked both.
Alex jumped off Greed's arm as Greed went for two low slashes as Alex dodge the first one by rolling over his arm and did the same over the second and this time kicked him hard in the face.
That dazed Greed as Alex clapped and and transmuted Greed's abdomen.
Greed groaned in pain and went for one last downward slash as Alex dodged by turning around.
Alex shouted and spun around before stabbing directly through Greed's abdomen ending the fight.
Alex pulled the blade out as Greed's Ultimate Shield went away.
"Damn kid. That, was good."
Greed swayed and fell onto his knees as Alex walked up to him.
"Any last words?" Asked Alex.
Greed looked at him before speaking.
"Y-Your doing god's work kid." Said Greed.
"God's work?"
"U-Us Homunculi, need to all be eradicated, b-before The Promised Day."
"What? What the hell is The Promised Day? What're you getting at?" Asked Alex.
Greed laid onto his back as he simply smirked at Alex.
"Oh don't worry kid. You'll, find out eventually. It's, coming and drawing near."
Those wound be Greed's last words as his body and eventually Philosopher's Stone disintegrated into nothingness.
Alex's Route: Done
Chapter 30: End