Chapter 52: Lord of the Demon's Lair

Synopsis
Alphonse pleas with Gluttony to take him to Father, explaining that he would be very happy to see him.

Meanwhile, after a brief discussion over who will open the Portal, we cut to Roy and King Bradley talking about the fact that King Bradley is a Homunculus. Going back over the events that took place during the funeral of Brigadier General Maes Hughes, Bradley recalls how enraged he was by the loud mourning of Hughes' daughter. Roy then demands how he could say such a thing when he had a son himself. Considering it as a "threat" that can't be used against him, Bradley tells Roy that he should worry about his own weaknesses.

Even worse news was to come as Master Sergeant Kain Fuery reports to First Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye that his post location has been reassigned to the Southern Headquarters. And that wasn't all: Second Lieutenant Heymans Breda was reassigned to the Western Headquarters, and Warrant Officer Vato Falman had been reassigned to the Northern Headquarters. As Riza was being stunned into silence over the confusion, she too received orders being reassigned to Central Headquarters stationed as Führer King Bradley's personal assistant.

From there, May continues her search for the lost Xiao-Mei as she makes the conclusion from the people that she was last seen with a suit of armor that it was the suit of armor that they had fought with the day before. May takes Scar in a furious attempt to find Xiao-Mei along with the suit of armor, but as they find him, Scar stops her from going any further as he spots the other individual being a homunculus. After a bit of debate between them, they go down into the sewers underground to follow Alphonse and Gluttony. As they go further down May feels an eerie sensation as if a great many things were crawling beneath their feet. At that exact moment, Alphonse cheers up a scared Xiao-Mei who is afraid of the gatekeepers in the darkness. As they make their way down, Alphonse asks if they're getting close and Gluttony acknowledges that Father is still far away.

Ed and Ling remain trapped inside of Gluttony and are facing an overly eager/destructive Envy who has now transformed into his real form that is monstrous and shows all the previous souls he had absorbed. Ling asks Ed if he can transmute a weapon, now acknowledging that he has a few broken ribs as Ed agrees that he's in about the same condition and that this will be tough. They rush to escape into the darkness to regroup and initiate an attack when Envy does quite a bit of damage to them both, causing Ed to rush in for a quick attack. However, he stops as he is confronted with the souls of the previous beings speaking to him and terrifying him. Ling hurries and attacks Envy from above trying to snap Ed out of it telling him that they aren't people and that it's a monster. But Ed stops again after he hears what he thinks to be the sound of Nina calling out to him to play together as Envy prepares for another attack against Ed. The attack is successful this time as Ed appears to have given up as he stares off to the side at a piece of the ruins of Xerxes, this causes Ling to furiously attempt to snap Ed out of this state of giving up. Just before Ed is completely digested, he has thought back to his trip through the desert and the ruins as he connects the dots and slams his leg through Envy's tooth shouting to let him go that he knows how to get them out.

Back underground, Scar and May are fighting off the gatekeepers using their alkahestry to defeat them. Scar points out that they're unusual because they're actually chimeras that had been creating using alchemy. May then feels that very strange feeling again only this time concludes that it's coming from a person further down below.

Chapter Notes

 * The events that take place in this chapter coincides with Episode 25: Doorway of Darkness (2009 series) from the Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood anime.