"Yeah, hard pass from me, sorry, Mister Sils," Auria said, closing the door on him.
Amleth gave a wicked smile, "Don't toy with me, little girl," He said as he placed his palms on the door and, in a flash of light, disintegrated it, "I always get my way," He sneered.
Auria took a few steps back, she was stunned! He just disintegrated the door! The poor innocent door… It didn't deserve such a fate.
"Who… What are you?" Auria sputtered.
Amleth curled his fingers into a fist, but loosened his grip and gave a bow to Auria, "Most people know me as Amleth, though my colleagues call me Pride… And I know all about you, Miss Godless Alchemist,"
Auria kicked her staff up and caught it in her hand, "What are you… Pride?" Auria growled, "I'll fight you if I have to, don't try me!"
Pride chuckled, though it soon turned into a maniacal cackle, "Oh, Miss Godless Alchemist, you don't know what you're getting into,"
Auria wasted no time in jabbing Pride in the gut with the butt of her staff, then whipping around and hitting him square in the jaw with the tip of the staff! He could do Alchemy, so he was obviously a threat!
Pride stumbled backwards, first clutching his abdomen, then his face, and flashed Auria a wicked and nasty glare, "Ah, that was a dirty move, Alchemist… Let's make a deal, before you hit me again,"
"What's your deal?" Auria snarled, "And no, I won't work with you or for you, that's off the table,"
"Oh, my deal is quite simple really, you've humiliated me, and that's something I just can't stand, so… What I'm thinking, is that I'm in a bit of a bad mood, you follow?" Pride asked, but didn't wait for a response, "So, I'm thinking that I just cut my losses here and destroy the train and everyone in it,"
"What?" Auria sputtered, "That's insane, no way! No deal,"
"Oh, it wasn't a negotiation, Miss Alchemist, can I call you that? I'll call you that," Pride said, "It was a threat and a promise, though of course, you can stop it if you find a way to stop me,"
Auria growled, but Pride just did not. Stop. Talking. Really, he was just getting annoying at this point.
"Anyway, I will wait for you up top, though if you don't find me soon, I'll just go ahead and blow up the train," Pride said.
With a flash of light, Pride vanished and Auria relaxed her stance, that was so frightening!
Just as Pride vanished, Seven and Rockwell came bolting into Auria's train cart, "What happened, what happened?" Seven asked.
"We heard shouting and fighting, is something going on?" Rockwell asked.
Auria heaved a heavy sigh and slumped onto the wall. Ross spoke for her, "Amleth Sils…" Ross started, "He… Called himself Pride, and he said he'd blow up the entire train unless Auria stopped him!"
There was a long, drawn out silence, everyone was calculating in their heads about what to do next.
"Well then, let's go, I'll back you up, Auria," Seven said, as she whipped out a glove from her pocket and put it on.
Seven placed a palm on the train wall and transmuted a sword, "Let's get going, if he's serious about his threat, there's no time to lose,"
Auria, just now getting over her confusion at Seven's transmuting, looked to Seven and nodded. No time to waste!
Auria and Seven stood atop the train. The wind was so ferocious that it almost blew them right off the edge!
As the two oriented themselves, the looked out to the seemingly endless line of train carts, and a few carts over, sat Pride.
Pride said something, but Auria and Seven really couldn't hear him, something about putting a pig in the pasture? They weren't sure.
The two hopped carts a few times until they stood in front of Pride, "Sorry, really couldn't hear you back there," Auria said.
Pride chuckled, "Ah… How embarrassing… This is the second time you've humiliated me now,"
With that, Pride created a flash of light that flung Auria and Seven backwards! They went so far back, they landed on the previous train cart!
Auria quickly checked the vials in her pockets, checking if they were cracked. Thankfully, none of them broke, it probably would've killed her if they did.
Auria and Seven quickly jumped back to their feet. Auria tapped her staff on the ground twice and transmuted the tip of her staff into a sharp point.
With her staff and Seven's sword, there was no way they could lose! The duo charged at Pride, though they didn't have much of a plan.
As soon as the two got even close to Pride, he just flung them back again. He was toying with them.
"Come now, I thought the Godless Alchemist would be a bit smarter than this, I must have the wrong person," Pride sneered.
Auria sat up and gritted her teeth, "He's really kicking our asses,"
Seven's breath was shallow and harsh, "Yeah…" She groaned, "He's just playing with us though,"
Auria stood, she had an idea, "Hey Pride, don't you think that playing around like this is a bit silly? Do you really have to do something like this to beat two little girls? Thought you wanted to fight," She taunted.
Pride's face contorted into something almost unrecognizable, "You're insulting me now?" He asked, "Very well, come over here and fight me then,"
Auria grinned and granted his wish, charging at him and stabbing him in the abdomen! She then pulled it out and hit him backwards with the butt of her staff.
Pride stumbled backwards, but he soon recomposed himself, and his stab wound mysteriously healed itself!
"What… What are you?" Auria asked.
"Miss Alchemist, have you ever heard of a homunculus?" Pride asked.
"A homunculus… A person made from Alchemy, is that what you are, Pride? A homunculus?" Auria replied.
"Bingo! And that makes me somewhat of an immortal, I could even touch the gods if I wanted to!" Pride exclaimed, "Not that I would ever want to,"
Auria readied herself to attack again, and she was just about to, but Seven came rushing in and quickly decapitated Pride!
"Take that, homunculus…" Seven snarled.
Seven relaxed for a moment, but was quickly flung away again! There was no time to rest, Pride wasn't dying that easily!
"That is cute…" Pride said as his head began to reconnect with his body grotesquely and disgustingly.
"Gross…" Auria murmured.
"You may think it disgusting, but this is how humanity evolves, Miss Alchemist, we homunculi are the peak of your existence,"
Auria gritted her teeth again, but it was Pride that took the first blow! Transmuting a spear from the ground, Pride went to attack Auria.
Auria, like always, was on the defensive, parrying and blocking blow for blow, but still, her staff was not equipped for such close quarters combat, she needed to put some distance between the two.
Twirling and spinning her staff around, parrying Pride's attacks as she backed away, she found her opening and hopped to another train cart!
With this small opening, she slid her staff into the back of her shirt and began to run away from Pride.
Pride, of course, chased after her, though he was stopped in his tracks by a vial that Auria threw into his face!
"You little…" Pride growled.
Auria just smiled as she ran, she mixed and swirled various ingredients from the vials she had and tossed them back at Pride.
"Try to keep up, Pride! This'll be over real quick if you can't keep up with a poor Alchemist such as myself!" Auria teased.
This just further angered Pride, who leaped up to strike at Auria. Auria, however, tossed up a mixed vial at him, creating a huge explosion and tossing Pride far away!
"Ah damn, I'm dried out now," Auria murmured, rummaging through her pockets.
Pride was catching up, Seven was out, and Auria had no more vials. Truly, a dangerous situation.
It was at that moment, Auria saw it! The train was just about to reach a tunnel, and Pride didn't seem to notice it yet. She just needed to keep him facing her until it reached them.
As Pride approached Auria, he dusted himself off, "Damn, really did a number on my suit…" Pride clenched his fists around his spear, "This is one of my favorite suits,"
Auria shrugged, "Just happens like that, sorry, but I'm not actually that sorry,"
Pride scoffed and began a ruthless assault onto Auria. She was just barely able to parry or block any of his attacks and her staff was really taking the brunt of this force.
It was getting closer, but Auria wasn't faring too well. Pride gave one extremely powerful blow to Auria, which forced her to fall to the ground.
"Farewell, Miss Alchemist…" Pride said.
Pride went to deal the finishing blow, but he was interrupted by a gunshot! It shot once. Twice. Thrice! It didn't stop there, the gunshots continued to pile up!
Looking over, Auria saw everyone! Seven, Ross, Senwell, Rockwell, even Nicosia made his way up and all of them were shooting Pride.
Auria looked a bit further down the line. It was time! The gunshots stopped and Auria kicked Pride up, forcing him to hit the top of the tunnel and vanished into the night!
Auria heaved a huge sigh of relief and just slumped onto the train top, "Did it…" She said, "Beat the crap outta him!"
The group grouped up in Auria's train cart, though it was quite a tight fit, "So… Who was that?" Lieutenant Ross asked, "What was that?"
"A homunculus," Seven spoke up, "A synthetic human, if you will, there's tons of Alchemical texts on it, though I've never seen one in person… Well, until just now, pretty exciting, right, Auria?"
Auria chuckled, "Real exciting, anyway, Pride referred to himself as a homunculus… Hey, Pride is a Sin, right Seven?"
"According to the Ikarians, yes," Seven replied.
"You think there could be some others then? I doubt there's just Pride, doesn't make much sense," Auria said.
"Then we gotta be careful, they probably know what's what and they'll be aiming for the Godless Alchemist!" Seven exclaimed, "Don't worry, I'll protect you," Seven grinned.
"Counting on you, Seven," Auria said.
"Anyway, it's been a long night, how about we all get some sleep?" Ross suggested, "I'm sure Crane needs some rest as well,"