Al, Captured

Cornered by the chimeras Roa, Martel, and Dolcetto, Alphonse is subdued when Martel slips inside his hollow armor and hampers his movement. Greed abandons the wounded Edward once he notices Dante and Lyra nearby, retreating with Kimbley to the Devil's Nest bunker. Above ground Ed searches desperately, while Izumi and Sig learn the situation from Dante, whose only clue is a matchbook bearing the hideout's name. The two women trade opposing views on alchemy and existence before Dante quietly doubts they will meet again.

Below ground, Al hears from the chimeras how battlefield injuries turned them into research subjects until Greed freed them from Laboratory 5. Recognizing the ouroboros mark, Al assumes Greed allies with the other homunculi, but Greed calls them sworn foes. Fixated on the near-immortality of Al's soul-bound body, Greed threatens to dismantle him for study, then demonstrates his own regeneration by letting Roa smash off his head, which regrows in seconds. Izumi crashes in through a transmuted door, defeats the chimeras, and traps Greed with alchemy, only for his Ultimate Shield to blunt every strike until her illness leaves her helpless.

Outside, Major Armstrong warns Ed that the military intends to raid the Devil's Nest, and Archer's troops move in. Ed confronts Greed and rejects the idea that their obsessions match, insisting he only wants his brother's original body back. Greed hardens into his full armored form, taunting Ed for never having killed. When Kimbley betrays Greed by seizing the skull of the human he was made from, Greed's gang flees through a hole Roa punches in the wall, hauling Al with them, and soldiers hold Ed at gunpoint for Archer.

The chimeras capture Alphonse and deliver him to Greed at the Devil's Nest. Greed reveals himself a homunculus estranged from his kin and demonstrates his regeneration for Al. Izumi arrives with Sig, defeats the chimeras, but is undone by her chronic illness against Greed's Ultimate Shield. Armstrong informs Ed of the coming military raid, which Archer launches. Kimbley kills Ulchi, takes the skull tied to Greed's creation, and betrays him. Greed's gang escapes with Al, and the military detains Ed on Archer's orders.

The episode adapts material from the manga chapters covering the meeting with Izumi, the beasts of Dublith, and a fool's courage. It parallels the events later retold across the 2009 series in its Dublith and underground-lurkers episodes, though the two adaptations diverge sharply in how Greed's arc unfolds.