A literal miracle had happened as Edward had showed up at the right time as he had attempted to hit Sloth.
Ed immediately helped Akari up and looked ahead at Sloth.
"Listen you damn Homunculus. Get away from Al now." Demanded Ed, acting completely different from the last time he saw Sloth.
Akari and Al were surprised, Al especially as he looked at Sloth.
"B-But brother remember. This is....." Trailed Al.
Sloth gave a small smile at Ed as the older Elric gave no reaction back.
"Akari, Al, step back!" Shouted Ed as he clapped his hands, transforming his automail into a firearm
In an instant Al ducked and Akari stepped back as Ed began to fire at Sloth, who had turned her entire body into water to take the hits as Ed continued to fire until the body went away into the puddle on the floor.
Alphonse immediately got in between Ed and the water puddle infuriating the older Elric.
"Brother stop!" Said Al.
"Get out of the way Al!" Said Edward as Akari got up and grabbed his shoulder.
"Calm down Edward!" She said only for Ed to shake her off.
"You stay out of this!" Shouted Ed.
Sloth's head slowly emerged from the puddle as she finally spoke.
"Your hurting me Edward." She said.
Edward's automail turned back into normal as he scoffed at her. "Nice try but I know it takes more than that to kill you!" He said as he immediately began to run the other direction with Sloth immediately chasing him.
She then turned both her arms into water as they wrapped around Ed, trapping him and holding him still.
"Your mother was talking to you." Said Sloth with a smirk.
Ed struggled to break until until he turned to look at Sloth as gave a small smile himself.
This shocked Sloth as she looked down to see what they were standing on
Sloth, as well as Akari and Al who had just caught up to the two were shocked to see a large transmutation circle here of all places.
"What is this?" Asked Sloth.
"I asked myself that same question myself yesterday as well when I stumbled upon here. Once I found out this specific circle was used to seal and kill Homunculi, I set you up by having Alphonse come here as bait." Said Ed who had this planned all the time he was away which shocked Al and Akari.
Sloth simply gave a smile hearing that. "That's quite clever of you boy. It'll take more than that to kill me you know."
"Oh don't worry I know. I got that all covered!" Said Ed, his hand reaching into his pocket as he pulled out a small container
In a move that shocked Sloth, Ed, instead of trying to break free decided to turn around and immediately charge straight at Sloth.
This caused the trap to loosen up as Ed reached and slammed the container into Sloth's body as it accepted the container as it began to merge inside the body as Sloth began to slowly decay.
"Brother what is that!?" Asked Al.
"She's our fake mom Al. This is her weakness. Her remains." Said Ed.
Hearing this shocked Al as he got upset.
"W-Wait. You dug out our mother's grave without telling me!? What's wrong with you!" Asked Al which shocked Akari.
"In case you didn't notice we're fighting for our lives!" Said Ed.
Al ignored that as he ran and grabbed the container containing their mom's remains as he threw it outside the window.
"What the hell are you doing!?" Said Ed running at Al only for him to shove the other down.
"Just stay down Ed! I'm not gonna let you do this to her!"
"Don't you understand!? We got a job to fulfill!"
"Mom's reamins paralyzed this homunculus. This proves what she is absolutely and where she comes from. We created her that day." Said Al, as he turned to see Sloth regained form and began barfing up her insides.
"You need to understand Al! We did create her and now we gotta put her to rest! Do you really wanna keep being attacked by her again!?" Asked Ed.
Al struggled to answer.
He knew what he had to, but, he just didn't have the strength to do it.
They all then saw Sloth, who was severely weakened by her own remains, slowly regain human form as she stood up and faced Ed.
"Edward..........please."
"Stop trying to play your dumb mom card! You don't even have memories!"
"Yes I do. I don't know how or why. Maybe it was your own feelings and wants that were etched into my own memory. Either way I do have them." Said Sloth.
"If so then why're you still attacking us!?" Asked Ed.
"To be free. These memories are the driving force of everything I do because they feel like chains. I remember, being a mother with endless devotion. Now, I have none. It's a fraudulent persona that's been forced on me, and I don't have the energy to consume it. That's why I have to kill you. So I can prove this identity is false. No real mother would kill her own sons after all. As long as you children are alive, these memories will torment me into trying to make me into this human. They're at war with my real self, and they could win. In time I might even come to love you two." Said Sloth.
Throughout that monologue, Al stayed silent as Ed tried to hold in tears.
It touched Akari, as she knew deep down that despite the hostility, Trisha Elric, Alphonse and Edward's mother was still there.
Sadly, letting her live wasn't an option. Even Sloth knew that herself as she finished speaking.
"How could I allow that though? I should always hate you for creating me." Said Sloth.
Will what strength she had left, she attacked Edward.
This caught him by surprise as he fell down but immediately got up and starting running as Sloth continued to attack with her water whips over and over again not letting Ed get a chance to stop.
Ed then clapped his hands and transmuted the ground to bring up a wall which Sloth easily took down with her water whips.
Ed however kept making more and more walls that Sloth kept knocking down.
"Brother. What're we supposed to do with her?" Asked Al as Akari also waited for his answer.
"We made her. It's our responsibility to deal with her! He said as he transmuted his automail to create a blade as he jumped up and downward slashed Sloth who had turned her body into water avoid damage.
Sloth let out another attack as Ed jumped back to avoid.
Ed then began to parry and block Sloth's attacks with said blade as Sloth wouldn't let off the offensive as she only got faster and faster.
Akari saw that Ed wasn't gonna be able to last long enough so to the best of her ability, she froze time for Sloth only and immediately told Ed.
"Hurry and attack her she's frozen! I can't hold it for that long!" Shouted Akari.
Ed nodded and charged at Sloth.
Right as time had returned for Sloth, she saw Ed stab her directly through the chest.
Sloth saw this and simply gave a smile. "The final proof is coming when you see how little I care." She said.
That was until a bright glow appeared.
Then in a quick second, Sloth bursted apart into water droplets
It began to rain a bit inside the building as the droplets fell to the floor.
"Brother what happened!?" Asked Alphonse as Akari saw Ed's automail completely destroyed.
"I transmuted my automail into Sodium right as I punctured her. The chemical reaction when it made contact with her water caused the explosion." Said Ed, slowly standing up.
That was until the water began to form back together again much to everyone's shock as Sloth slowly regained human form again.
"Did you actually think I'd die so easily? You don't understand me at all." She said.
Suddenly, time had caught up to Sloth as she coughed up even more remains than before as she struggled to get up.
BGM: Brothers(Instrumental) from FullMetal Alchemist 2003
"It seems your timer has ticked away to zeroes." Said Ed. "The remains that punctured you earlier have finally shut down everything for you. You can't even move anymore." Said Ed as he walked beside Sloth.
"Thanks to that, I can now take my time, and compose her into a different element." He said which shocked Al.
"Alchemy on a living structure? You don't know how to do that!" Said Alphonse.
"Before our fight, that bastard Alex told me something during his fight with Greed. He reworked his body's chemistry to create a weakness. Alex had altered the makeup of Greed's entire body." Said Ed which shocked Al and made Akari a bit proud knowing how knowledgeable her son was.
"Homunculi are more malleable than humans. That's their strength, and their demise."
Edward clapped his hands and placed them on Sloth's body as eventually she began to emit a green glow
"What's, happening?" Asked Akari.
"I started a chain reaction that's converting her liquid body into Ethanol. She's going to evapotate. Disappear into the air." Said Ed.
The three watched as Sloth's slowly evaporated into nothingness as the green glow got more and more faint.
Ed saw this and deep down felt terrible as he took a deep sigh.
Then suddenly, Sloth spoke with a much softer voice.
"Nicely done, sweetheart." Softly spoke Sloth which shocked Ed and Al as Akari smiled, knowing this time it was their mother, Trisha speaking.
Ed and Al stood together watching their what was essentially their mom slowly fade away as she smiled at them.
"Clean up after yourselves and take care of each other." Said the homunculus.
Before the homunculus completely dispersed, she looked to Akari with a smile and spoke.
"Akari is it? Please. Continue to look after them. For my sake." Said Sloth.
Akari was shocked.
She knew this wasn't Sloth.
Akari knew this was Trisha Elric talking to her.
Akari gave a smile as she nodded.
"I'll do my best to look after them, Trisha. You can count on it." Said Akari.
Sloth gave one last smile.
As she had finally vaporized away into nothing.
Chapter 37: End