The First Homunculus

As Kimblee's four bodyguards move through Briggs posing as Winry's escort, Miles wonders what the man is plotting. Winry fits Edward with lighter cold-climate automail, scolding him for hiding his trip and defending Kimblee, who had spoken warmly of her doctor parents on the drive up. Ed, flustered by Hawkeye's earlier hints, cannot bring himself to warn her fully about the man's wartime deeds. With the upgrades done and Winry sent off on a tour, Kimblee declares it time for business, keeping Alphonse isolated in the brig.

Buccaneer descends into Sloth's tunnel to search for the lost recon team, asking Armstrong to seal the passage if they fail to return, while she orders her men to pin Raven's murder solely on her if it surfaces. Buccaneer's group finds severed limbs and sliced metal, rescues two terrified survivors, and narrowly escapes the eye-covered shadow that preys on them before it inexplicably withdraws. In Central, Hawkeye delivers papers to the Bradley mansion and senses a malignant presence behind her that proves to be Selim. Recalling that a homunculus King Bradley should have no blood kin, she confronts the boy, who reveals himself as the very first homunculus, Pride, binding her in shadow tendrils and cutting her cheek before withdrawing with a promise to watch her always.

Kimblee relays the Führer's three orders to Edward: find Scar, find Marcoh, and carve a crest of blood into Briggs as was done to Ishval. Edward refuses, and Kimblee, intrigued by his resolve not to kill, dangles a Philosopher's Stone as reward for completing the tasks. Ed feigns cooperation, understanding the stone is made of souls, and requests Scar's search so he can quietly reunite with May, asking that Al come along. Alphonse explains this to Winry, who then bursts into the departing car, insisting her pride as an engineer requires her to maintain Ed's new limbs, and Kimblee lets her join the hunt.

Winry installs Edward's lighter cold-climate automail and is unknowingly used as leverage. Buccaneer's team recovers survivors from Sloth's tunnel and escapes the shadowy predator. Hawkeye discovers that Selim Bradley is Pride, the first homunculus, who threatens her but spares his hostage. Kimblee delivers the Führer's orders, including carving a crest of blood into Briggs, which Edward refuses. Kimblee offers a Philosopher's Stone, and Ed feigns agreement to begin the search for Scar. Winry forces her way onto the search party.

The episode adapts material from the manga chapters introducing the first homunculus and the grip of the red lotus. The title-card array is the Ouroboros. A suggestion that Ed wear a shinguard is cut, though the guard appears on him later. Ed's jab about Kimblee's sanity test and Kimblee's stated platonic regard for Winry are both omitted. The dub has Kimblee tell Winry his team was sent to help her parents, while the original only implies a rescue without stating it. When Ed recites the periodic table, he skips several elements out of order, a deviation from proper atomic sequence.