They were almost there.

Just one more flight of stairs and they'd take over the office.

Granted taking over it wouldn't do much but it be best to already have established themselves there and ambush Wrath.

After having Weiss and Becky, Mei and Bronya, and Alphonse volunteering to tale on 3 Homunculi and Kimblee, it was now left up to Alex, Edward, Kiana, and Himeko to make it to the office.

As they walked up the stairs, they hoped that there'd be no Homunculi left.

Unfortunately, they noticed the next floor already had shadows moving in it.

That was an immediate give away that something was there.

After a quick snap of his fingers, Alex's flames blew away the shadows blocking the entrance to the next floor.

Thr four arrived and saw what they hoped would be the last Homunculus they see, Pride.

"Um, what's a little boy doing in here?" Asked Himeko.

"Probably got lost to get outside." Said Kiana chuckling a bit.

"Don't be fooled. He ain't a normal kid. This is one of the Homunculi." Said Edward.

"Ed's right you two. This is the Homunculus Pride, one of the oldest and strongest."

Pride chuckled shaking his head with a smile.

"Glad to know that two of the greatest alchemist prodigies know me so well. Allow me to enlighten you." Said Pride pointing at Himeko and Kiana. "Murata Himeko and Kiana Kaslana. Before you ask, Homunculi know everything beforehand, so I already knew your names."

The Homunculus held a confident smile.

"Unfortunately for you four, I don't see any way of getting past me. To avoid shock, Wrath has arrived and is currently taking his time making his way up here. Now then, allow me to me grateful to you lowly humans and allow two of you to move on so you can lose at Wrath's hands."

The debate on who to move on wasn't long as Himeko grabbed Alex and Ed and simply tossed them over Pride to the final flight of stairs.

"Ow!" Said Ed.

"What the hell was that for Himeko!?" Shouted Alex.

"Ain't it obvious? No one deserves to move on but you two. Now get your asses up and go!"

With that, Alex and Edward immediately moved on as Pride chuckled.

"I had a feeling that would happen. Then again, I'm interested to fight a high ranking Valkyrie..." Pride then pointed at Kiana. "And a Herrscher. Glad to see a gift has been given."

Himeko smirked and pulled her ginormous broadsword out.

"Please. A brat like you had no idea what he's gotten himself into."

Pride smirked and held a hand to his face, laughing maniacally with a extrmely confident expression.

"Your mistaken Murta Himeko."

Himeko noticed Pride's shadow convulsed before it suddenly turned into something she opulent believe

"You have no idea what you've gotten yourself into." Said Pride, mocking Himeko. "Aww. Too shocked redhead? Don't worry. I'll be humble."

The massive shadow became a smaller one.

Pride then sent one of his shadows, turned it into a blade, and sent it towards Himeko as she blocked it.

The redhead began to immediately charge ahead parrying all of Pride's shadow attacks and attempted a direct strike, only for Pride to have one of his shadows grab Himeko's sword and quite literally slammed Himeko into a wall.

Though immediately after that happened Pride got struck from the side as he got a hard kick to the ribs from Kiana as she ran ahead and followed that up with another kick to the back.

Pride was sent to the ground before sending his shadows immediately at Kiana.

The white haired Valkyrie was able to flawlessly weave through and between the sharp shadow blades as she aimed her handgun and shot a bullet at Pride only for the Homunculi to dodge out of the way and have on of his shadows knock and hold Kiana down to the ground.

Kiana struggled to move as she was pinned down good.

"Come on Kiana Kaslana. Why hold back?" Said Pride as he stood in front of her. "Unleash it. Let me fight the Void. That's your only chance of winning."

Pride then suddenly got smacked by a flying broadsword as the impact sent him flying out of HQ and onto the ground below.

Pride managed to regain his footing as he saw Himeko jump down, her sword now beginning to be coated in flames.

"Let's have at it!"

Pride smirked and let out the massive shadows from earlier.

Himeko now more pumped out charged forward and clashed against Pride's shadows, the blade being hot enough to cut through the durable shadows.

Himeko got closer and closer until she slashed at Pride, her blade inches away from hitting him, until from behind, a shadow grabbed Himeko and shoved her away.

Though, Himeko, with sudden herculean strength, thrusted her flame coated sword at Pride as the blade pierced cleanly through his left eye.

Pride screamed in agony, having one shadow pull the blade out and the others just constantly slamming Himeko against trees.

Pride managed to get the blade out, holding a hand to hide the damage

"I-It's always, those damn adults that annoy me the most. They're the most, damn stubborn. Never know when to give up."

Pride walked up to the beaten Himeko, pointing one of his shadow blades at her.

"Like I said, you had no idea, what you were getting yourself into."

Pride was about to make the final blow, until he felt a sudden surge of energy from the building.

He looked to his right, and grew a smile, at seeing who had arrived to the fight.

It was Herrscher Of The Void.

She felt different from last time.

And she was different.

Thanks to that help from Alex and Truth, Kiana had slowly learned to gain control of Void's power at small increments.

Now, at this moment, was the first time Kiana had unleashed her Void form, now under full control.

She slowly walked her way to Pride as be laughed maniacally.

"Finally! Now the real battle begins! A Herrscher fighting a Homunculus! Two godly beings facing off!" Tell me Void, don't you hate humankind? You have the same dislikes as the Homunculi. Join us, and we can eradicate humanity off the face of the pla-!"

Pride felt a sudden force shove him into a tree and had a javelin pierce his shoulder into a tree, both being caused by Void.

"Don't get me started on that. Besides, why would a Herrscher like me, work with a weak Homunculi like you?" Said Void with a chuckle.

Pride simply pulled the javelin off and got off the tree.

"T-Those are some big words, coming from you. Let's put that up to the test!" Said Pride finally removing his hand from his face

The intensity of his shadows grew larger abd stronger.

Void simply floated up and suddenly, a punch of black and golden portals were summoned around Pride.

In an instant, thousands of spears were launched almost simultaneously at Pride as he had his shadows bunch together and shield him from all the spears.

As Pride managed to block them all, he then saw the flame sword pierce directly through the shield and stab him through the abdomen.

Pride coughed and backed off pulling the sword out as the shield fell apart.

He looked ahead to see Void pointing her hand at Pride's forehead.

"The stone is here. It's over for you." Said Void as she moved out of the way, as Himeko's sword pierced through Pride's head and stayed there.

Pride was shocked, before his body disintegrated.

That left his stone, which eventually shattered on its own.

That now left one man left.

Ed and Alex made it to Roy's office.

The two looked at each other and nodded before looking to their left to see Wrath.

The final battle begins.

Chapter 44: End