"Truth."

This guy, or thing.....whatever it was, was definitely something that to this day, Alex still couldn't explain why he exists.

All Alex knew was whatever Truth told him, and according to Truth, he was apparently the self proclaimed god of Alchemy, though Alex still doesn't believe him on that.

"You know, now's not a real good time to wanna talk to me now. I'm kinda in the middle of something and I need to get back to it as soon as possible." Said Alex.

The white figure merely gave a smile as he chuckled a little bit.

"Is that so? In my eyes, I'm pretty sure that I appeared before you at the right time actually. I mean after all you saw that behemoth of a mech." Said Truth.

"Yeah so what? I'm pretty sure with me, Kiana, Major Himeko, and Ms. Theresa, we'll be able to take it down without too much trouble." Replied Alex.

As he said that, Truth put a hand to his face and began to laugh for a while.

"Man! Boy oh boy do I love you naive outlook! It just cracks me up!" He said between laughs.

"H-Hey stop laughing I'm being serious."

"I know! That's exactly why I'm laughing!" Said the white figure before calming down. "Anyways, I'm being serious. This is gonna be an extrmely difficult fight. You barely managed to beat Ganesha back during the exams and that was without my help. From what I see, this mech is easily fifteen times harder. After all this isn't any normal giant mech."

"What? Not a normal giant mech? How not?" Asked Alex.

"Remember what that Cocolia woman said? She killed that Wendy girl. Now answer this. After killing Wendy and being in possession of her Herrscher core, do you really think she'd just let the opportunity to use it go to waste? Especially when she's already infuriated with you all for ruining her plan to gain Mei's Herrscher core?" Said and asked Truth.

Alex kept quiet for a bit, before sighing.

"Crap. You do have a point. Knowing Cocolia, she definitely would take the opportunity to use it immediately." Said Alex.

"Exactly. So here's your current situation at hand. Right now you and the girls are trying to escape but are currently in a death battle between a giant mech powered by a Herrscher core. Let's not forget that you all are currently trying to keep a completely drained, weakened Mei and an unconscious Bronya safe from any more harm." Explained Truth.

"Yes I get the point Truth. We've got all the cards stacked against us. Doesn't mean that we aren't gonna try our absolute best. I assure it that we will get this job done." Proclaimed Alex.

Truth merely gave a frown and sighed.

"Fine if you insist then I'll just go back to sitting back and relaxing until our next chat. Good luck. Your definitely gonna need it." Said the white being as he sat down.

Alex nodded and turned away from him, about to close his eyes to wake up but, before he did Truth called his attention.

"Hey wait a minute! Before you fully awaken, I gotta tell you one last thing." He said.

"Hm? Make it quick then. What is it?" Asked Alex.

It took a while to get a response but Truth eventually talked.

"That white, twin tailed haired girl. Keep an eye on her. She's not what she seems." Said Truth.

"What? White, twin tail-..............wait. Are you referring to Kiana? What do you mean by she's not what she seems?" Asked Alex.

Instead of answering, Truth merely gave a wide grin.

"I'd explain but it's like you told me earlier. Now's not a good time. Good luck!"

Alex wasn't even given time to respond back to Truth, as he had immediately closed his eyes.

He felt his body being shaken, seemingly trying to wake him up.

Alex slowly began to open his eyes.

At first he looked around and saw that he was back at the AE floor as he saw Himeko and Theresa taking on the giant mech head on while Kiana provided supported from the back.

Alex's eyes eventually turned back to who was shaking him as he saw it was Mei who immediately gave him a hug once she was he was awake.

"Alex! Thank goodness your awake! You hit your head really hard on the metal pipe. I just barely managed to get the bleeding to stop." Said Mei as Alex felt where he had hit his head, to feel stitches there.

"Don't worry. I'm holding up fine and managed to get me and Bronya to a safe distance. Please go help them." Said Mei.

Alex nodded and got back up onto his feet as he headed towards the fight as Mei went back to where her and the unconscious Bronya were staying safe.

As the fight went on, the girls began to realize that nothing they've done so far had even managed to make a dent or even a scratch mark on the mech as they were getting exhausted.

The mech immediately cocked an arm back and attempted land a massive, full force punch onto Theresa until its fist made contact with a sudden structure that emerged from the ground as it caused the mech's arm to recoil back.

The girls turned back to see that it had come from Alex who had transmuted the ground to protect Theresa.

"Finally your awake!" Said Himeko.

"Yeah yeah I know my apologies." Said Alex as he snapped his fingers, sending a burst of flames at the mech's head, causing its vision to dazed buying the girls some time to rest.

"So catch me up to speed. What the hell's been going on while I was out?" Asked Alex.

"We're getting our asses kicked!" Shouted Kiana in an annoyed tone.

"Yeah I'm not surprised to hear tha-OW! Don't hit me!" Shouted Alex as he got smacked by Kiana mid sentence.

"We're all pretty much trying our best and getting nothing in return. We can't even leave mark on it. Only reason we're still going against it is because me and Theresa have barely been able to hold it back." Explained Himeko.

"I see. Listen this mech ain't normal. Remember how Cocolia killed Wendy? This mech is using the Herrscher Core as a powerup." Said Alex which immediately got the girls shocked.

"She what!? How could she!? Alright now I'm really gonna skewer this giant metal bastard into trash!" Shouted Kiana.

"Listen I got an idea. I'm pretty sure if we find the core and destroy it, that'll take down the mech for sure. Cause clearly we're not enough to penetrate its armor." Said Alex.

"True. But I'm pretty sure that if reach the floor where the core is held, security there is gonna be tight." Himeko said.

"It's nothing we can't handle. Major Himeko, you and I will go find the core so you can destroy it. As for you two, just hold your ground as best as you two can." Said Alex as he pointed to Theresa and Kiana.

The three girls nodded as Alex and Himeko immediately took off to the previous floor as Kiana and Theresa went back to engaging the mech.

"And what makes you so sure that the core isn't up there?" Asked Himeko.

"I've known Cocolia for a while now. She wouldn't have put the core in the mech's body, arms, and head it be too obvious." Said Alex.

They reached the lower floor as this floor had the mech's lower body with a couple of normal mechs guarding the floor.

The two immediately began to slice their way through the mechs with ease and a quick pace.

Once they were done, they went to the next lower floor which had the waist of the giant mech as the security here was extemely tight with tons of mechs guarding the floor.

"Bingo. Look over there." Said Alex as he pointed at the torso, as a bright light was shining, embedded into the body.

"I'm gonna need you to buy me some time. With how tough this metal is, I'm gonna need to charge up a hefty amount."

"Alright got it. Let's finish this Major Himeko." Said Alex.

"With pleasure Mr. Mustang." Said Himeko as she chuckled a bit.

Alex charged ahead and began to fight the large hoard of mechs, attracting their attention as Himeko stood in front of the torso and began to focus, closing her eyes holding her claymore out and charging it up.

'I hope this goes by quick.' Thought Alex as he continued to try and keep the mechs distracted.

Eventually after just one minute had barely passed, Himeko opened her eyes, and blazing hot flames began to envelop the entirety of the blade, signifying that she was ready.

Alex had just managed to finish destroy the last remaining as he saw Himeko about ready to lunge and slice the torso and core in half.

However, Alex saw a large gate open as a mech stepped out and began to charge at Himeko, ready to punch her out of the way.

"Shit! By the time it gets there Himeko's gonna be defenseless after cutting the torso in half!' Thought Alex to himself.

With no hesitation, Alex immediately sprang into action, running as fast as he could to reach the impact zone.

With a strong fiery swing, Himeko slashed and cut the giant mech's torso in half, as the sound of the mech powering off was heard.

"Alright kid. Looks like your plan wor-!?"

At the last second, Alex pushed Himeko out of the way as the mech's heavy fist absolutely rocked and hit Alex's face and head right on the mark as the young boy was immediately rendered unconscious and collided against the wall.

"Alex!" Shouted Himeko in worry as she immediately took down the mech quickly and ran up to him.

Himeko though wasn't even given any time to inspect the damage done to his face as she turned back to see Kiana carrying Mei and Theresa carrying Bronya as she were in a hurry.

"Hurry up Aunt Himeko! The mech's gonna blow up!" Shouted Kiana.

Himeko immediately picked up Alex over her shoulders as the three girls immediately rushed out of AE's main building as at the last moment they managed to get outside, as the mech and subsequently the building blew up behind them.

Chapter 22: Complete