Lust's grin turned into a sneer of utter, permeating hatred as Kallu's stone prison entombed her. She stared down the Stone Alchemist and lectured him. "Why do you pesky humans resist us so much? You must realize how hopeless this is."
Her eight razor-like talons minced the stone around her, chunks of rock falling to the ground and kicking up dust all around her. She aimed towards Kallu. "Before we go on any further, I'll have to scrape those circles off of your flesh."
"I don't think so."
The barest hint of a shadow flicked in the light shining down on Lust. Steel whispered, and the Spice alchemist dropped down from the catwalks to cleave the Homunculus clean in half, from head to toe, with his leafbladed spear. He landed gracefully as Lust split cleanly down the middle and started healing. Then, almost contemptuously, Amon twirled his spear once and slashed horizontally, cutting Lust in half again.
Walking calmly away, Amon stopped a few yards away from Lust and turned. When he faced Lust, his eyes were deadly.
"Get up, you pathetic piece of shit." He bit out each word savagely. "You call yourself superior, but from what I just saw? That man you killed was better than you in every. Way. He was a soldier. A normal soldier. He fought without alchemy. Without... whatever you have. He fought with tooth and nail, doing whatever he could to survive in a war far, far larger than he was."
"But you? You just sit there and wait for them," he jerked his finger at everyone behind him. "to run out of ammo. And then you cut them up like meat."
"So I wonder what happens when you meet someone who doesn't need ammo." He leveled his spear at her, his voice soft. "Care to try?"
"Yes." Elongated spikes shot through the Spice Alchemist's shoulder, spurting blood onto the other alchemists as his body was carried up above them, punctured straight through and stuck into the wall behind them all. Red sparks flickered about the stitched line where Lust's body was still putting the finishing touches on its healing. Her eyes burned with loathing as she watched Amon's own body weight pull him down, worsening the wounds she had inflicted. "To tell the truth, I don't really care what you humans have to say. Count your blessings, as I'm not allowed to kill you yet. But that doesn't mean you won't suffer."
Suddenly, a stone spike rose from the ground, and pierced her abdomen. Her body shook back, and her claws lost their grip on Amon. He slid to the ground, trailing blood on the wall behind him. She moved to counter, but she was not fast enough; the Barefoot Alchemist got to work, dancing around her and carrying himself to a merry dance in his head. It was the only way to work as nimbly as required to kill her. Spike after spike drove itself through her flesh, and she was powerless to move as more piled up. Leo didn't speak, focused on his grim task. This continued for nearly half a minute, before the perfect moment arrived. He leaped into the air, and two spikes each nailed themselves through his feet, piercing the circles and breaking them as they pinned him to the wall he was adjacent to. His body twisted to keep his bones from breaking as he lied on the floor, while Lust's other hand methodically sliced away the rocks as if they were butter. She freed herself quickly, and took a step towards the others.
Anton's volley was next. A dozen bullets impacted her torso, digging themselves in only to stop against the force of whatever energy was healing her. It did manage to slow her down, however. That was all the time it took for a gigantic stone first to emerge from the wall to her side, smashing itself against her and sending the woman hurtling to their left. That seemed to surprise her; they were dismayed to find that that was all it seemed to do. Red energy healed her tremendous internal injuries, allowing her to finish her tumble on her feet. She seemed angrier than ever, but that veneer of calm remained.
Fate was not kind to the homunculus, however, and shamed her further as a tremendous stone coffin encased her, and that itself was surrounded by a wall of ice to trap her further. The forces pushed further and further, aiming to crush her entirely. It was in that brief moment that Lieutenant Anton and Sergeant Elias managed to make their escape; though it was humbling to flee a battle, the remaining expendable soldiers were gone. As far as they could tell, no one else would die.
[hr]
Their brief respite was up. Those unbreakable claws of Lust's sawed their way through the barrier, and she exited the rubble unscathed. Waiting for her, however, was James. "Everyone able to fight, open her up! I'll shoot the stone!"
He fired a single bullet. It split open her chest, the force revealing the ribcage underneath. Another shot, dead-on into the same spot. Bone shattered and flesh was peeled back. Another shot furthered the wound, and a fourth, and a fifth, until finally the glittering red stone was visible amidst the gore. Eyes squinted and hand steady, the sixth bullet fired. All the explosive force within rocketed into the surface of the stone, a bulls-eye. He grinned to himself.
Ping!
The bullet smacked into the stone, and with a metallic noise flipped away and to the floor. It was unharmed by the shot. A single finger-lance pierced through the barrel of James' gun, and behind it through his arm and out the other side. "Clever, Lieutenant Colonel." Lust admitted, in a sultry tone. "I would expect nothing less from a man like you. But you've heavily underestimated the powers you're dealing with."
Roland, witnessing all of this, heard a voice call out. "Someone, cover that gluttonous bastard upstairs! If he comes after us, we're screwed!"
He knew they were right. Somebody needed to keep an eye on it. He decided to get Gluttony's attention by taunting him. "Hey 'Gluttony'! 'Lust' is in terrible agony out here! Don't you care?!"
He braced himself, charging as he waited for the monster to come hurtling out at him. He waited. And waited. The moments passed, but no homunculus came through that door. He wondered if he hadn't shouted long enough. What had happened?
BANG BANG BANG. KRAKOOM.
[hr]
The entire chunk of wall erupted as an explosion annihilated it. Through the smoke came a bloody, shattered corpse of a man. Though mutilated, it was recognizable as Gluttony. It twitched in odd, impossible ways as it tried to heal from the immense wounds it had taken; it looked in even worse shape than Lust had been after some of their most effective assaults. Before it had even healed, another figure limped out of the shadows, clutching a grenade in his hand.
"HOW'D YOU LIKE TO EAT A FEW MORE GRENADES, YOU BASTARD?!"
Victor Kendrall stood on the walkway, bleeding immense quantities of blood from the horrendous wound he had sustained. His entire right arm was bitten off at the shoulder; his face looked grotesquely pained as he ripped a grenade from his belt, tearing the pin off right there before tossing it down both at Lust and Gluttony. The two homunculi braced themselves, but were torn to shreds nonetheless by the shrapnel. Victor acted quickly and drew the second pistol he had holstered before, and fired three bullets each into one homunculus, then the other. As they reformed, Gluttony made a painful squeal to his "master".
"Lust! It hurts! I think my stone is running out!"
The woman called Lust staggered to her feet, feeling the peculiar, peeling skin on her arm. "I think mine is as well. I hate to run from a good killing, but we'd best not take any chances."
Gluttony moved towards the wall behind them as Lust pointed at the Lieutenant Colonel. "You and your men were very lucky today, Projecting. Count your blessings they survived." She turned to leave as Gluttony pounded his way to the outside, sunlight leaking in from the hole he made. Before she exited, she turned back to add a final twist of the knife. "Oh, and, be a good dog while I'm gone."
Before any of them could move enough to pursue them, the two mysterious beings who called themselves "homunculi" were gone, leaving them alone in the room, broken and bleeding but very much alive. Above the rest, Victor tried to make some form of cheer, but his consciousness was fleeting, and he collapsed, slipping off the walkway and landing on the floor below.
