Chapter 7
Ed charged towards Al, running like a man on a mission, his metallic blade raised above his head poised to strike, ready to kill.
Al readied his sword to defend against his brother.
He wasn't looking forward to fighting him. It was the last thing he wanted to do, but Guilt gave him little recourse. He had to fight and win against his brother no matter what. But right now, that was his dilemma. How was he going to defeat his brother in one-on-one combat?
He'd never fought his brother before and wasn't sure what to expect.
Ed was under Guilt's sinister influence and with that his brother's actions will be irrational and irregular. His mind will be filled with anger and rage and a person with nothing but revenge on their mind was not a stable person to be fighting with especially when they were as reckless and unpredictable as Ed was.
But what if he could use that to his advantage? Battling your opponent is much more than strictly fighting. It takes strategy and heart to overcome your enemy. That's how he'll win over Ed, he'll use his over confidence against him. He'll lull Ed into a false sense of security and then strike when he least expected it. All Al needed was to wait for the perfect moment to implement his strategy.
Ed came at Al and sliced hard and fast through the air with his metallic blade. He aimed for Al's head. Al maneuvered and angled his sword to block. Then repeated the process again and again as Ed poured on the pressure delivering wave after wave of attack.
Al wasn't as endowed a swordsman as his brother. He didn't have the years of practice wielding a weapon of its make trapped in that suit of armor for all those years. But this was a life and death situation and he knew what was at stake. He had to believe that the sword he just transmuted from life's minerals was an extension of his very being. It was his weapon of choice to defend against his brother, so it had to be the best!
But there was something different about this sword.
He had fashioned it after his father sword and he found a hidden confidence when wielding it.
He remembered when he first saw his father's sword. It was late at night, years ago, back when they were children, after hours of reading their father's private Alchemy book reserve. Ed had said not to touch it, but like all children his age Al was curious and just had to. After Ed fell asleep on a stack of books, he lifted it off its mount on the wall and held its black sheath in his hands. He was careful when he took it out and saw its shiny, metal, and very sharp blade, and that night he developed a unexplainable fascination and attraction to it. He liked how it felt in his hand and despite the danger of wielding such a powerful weapon he knew he had to learn how to use it.
So he practiced with it for months in secret in the forest by the stream next to their house, learning how to use it from what he read in books. But he never got to use the knowledge he learned in actual combat. By the time he started getting good with it their mother got sick and he forgot all about it. He imagined that the sword was still in the same place the last time he saw it, in a hallow oak tree. Ed and his mother never missed it, and when they burned down their family home, the sword was supposedly destroyed.
But it didn't matter now. That was all in the past. Where the sword came from was a moot issue. His knowledge in wielding the sword he had now took precedence. He was fighting his brother and he had to focus on the present. He was in dangerous territory and if he wasn't careful he'd lose his brother's soul.
Their swords clanged together like two titans in a heated battle over the planet. And in a twisted sort of a fate it was just that. This was a battle over a soul, Ed's soul, and Al had no intentions of allowing Guilt to control Ed anymore. He had to win against his brother and prove to Guilt that love conquered all!
Ed attacked again and again, his metallic blade clanging against Al's samurai sword, attacking with swift merciless strikes, pounding and slicing with malicious movement of forethought, as if being controlled. Which in fact Ed was. Guilt stood off to the side watching the battle and was probably mentally feeding Ed his moves as he was making them. Mental telepathy. And there was a certain familiarity to Ed's attacks, Al noticed, as if exhibiting a repeated pattern, and in an almost novice manner.
His brother wasn't fighting, it was obvious. Guilt was using Ed's body as a go-between to make it look like he was fighting. And it soon became apparent as Ed continued to attack with the same moves over and over again. The puppet master was pulling the strings and Ed was dancing to Guilt's flexible fingers.
"Stop this battle, Guilt," Al finally said. "I know you're using Ed's body to fight me. Ed's fighting style is much more rich than this. My brother's heart just isn't in it."
Ed and Al clashed swords again and ended up testing the others strength in an X formation.
Then all of sudden Ed jumped back a few meters as if receiving a mental order to do so. He lowered his blade and just stood there. But his face still showed the same emotional mentality.
"Then strike him down, he's defenseless," Guilt said. "Defeat your brother and win back his soul."
Al squeezed the handle of his sword tightly. "I'm not falling for it, Guilt," he said, slightly lowering his sword, but made sure he was prepared in case Ed decided to attack him again at a moment's notice. "You wouldn't willingly forfeit this battle unless you had something greater to gain. Tell me what that is."
Guilt smirked. "And ruin the fun? Never." He said. "Well, if you prefer it, then let the fight continue."
Ed screamed in an enraged manner and charged towards Al.
Al turned back to his brother and readied himself for Ed's attack.
Suddenly, as Ed ran towards him, he clapped his hands and his arm turned into a large square battering ram. Al was momentarily surprised by the sudden change and in a moment of poor mental timing, he tried but failed to move out of the way before Ed barreled into him with tremendous force.
The impact of the hit tossed Al backwards several feet and he slid on his back for several more due to the slipperiness of the foot deep water. His sword went flying past him and the tip of the blade embedded itself in the trunk of a thick petrified oak tree.
Al looked at his sword with shock and awe and then looked back at Ed in the same manner.
Ed stood at Al's feet. He clapped his hands again and restored the metallic blade to his right arm. He raised it and brought it down. But Al quickly rolled out of the way of Ed's strike and ran to get his sword. He plucked it out of the tree trunk and turned to face his brother. Both his hands on the handle grip.
Guilt chuckled, and smiled. He looked to be enjoying this.
Maes Hughes felt the complete opposite.
Ed made a swift sideways slice through the air and Al ducked. Al then somersaulted away from his brother and then quickly got to his feet. He turned and positioned himself to block an impeding attack, but it never came. He looked at Ed and saw his brother had made a grave error during the last attack. In attacking the way he did, he accidentally embedded his blade into the trunk of the very same tree his sword had been stuck in. Ed pulled at his blade, struggling to get it free, but his effects were to no avail.
This was the moment, Al thought. This was his time to strike his brother down.
But as he raised his blade to do so, Ed stopped pulling at his arm and looked at Al as if seeing the end near.
Al saw the absolute trepidation in Ed's face and suddenly stopped, lowering his sword at his side.
"I can't do it," he said. "You're my brother."
"What's the matter, Al? Afraid?" Guilt said. "This is your moment. Strike him down and end this duel."
Al quickly turned to Guilt and gave him an ugly nasty stare. Right now, he hated Guilt with a passion and he wanted so much to go over there and slice him in two. But he couldn't. He didn't know what it would do to Ed. Guilt was a part of his conscious mind and he couldn't just eliminate a portion of Ed's waking self. That could destroy him and more importantly kill him. And that would defeat the purpose of this duel.
"You'd like that, wouldn't you? But I'm not going to do your dirty work. I won't kill Ed. There must be another way to free him from you."
Ed managed to yank his blade free from the tree.
"Too bad," Guilt said with a thin smile. "Then I suppose you'll be the one to die, and your body will be mine!"
And with a sudden thrust, Ed impaled Al through the chest with his blade.
Al looked at his brother with a expression of complete shock. He then looked at the blade sticking through his chest and was agape at how this could be. He had let his guard down and Ed had impaled him.
Ed pulled the blade out and it was covered in Al's blood. Al dropped his sword and put his hands to his bloody wound. He stumbled a few steps backwards and then looked into his brother's eyes. He rose his hands in the air and showed Ed that they were covered in blood.
"Brother," he managed to said weak. Then he let out a few heavy breaths before saying, "I forgive you."
Al's eyes rolled back and then he collapsed to his knees in a wobble state. His hands dropped to his sides and then he fell face first into the water. The impact splashed water and blood onto Ed's clothes. Soon after, Al's blood began to stain the water around him dark red.
Ed stood over his brother, frozen, and in utter shock. His mind exploded with what he had just done. He turned to Guilt and couldn't believe what this imposer who looked like him had made him do. His memories returned in a blinding flash and he suddenly realized what he had done.
He dropped to his knees and screamed, "AL!"
He then turned Al over in the water and cuddled his brother's body in his arms, holding him tight against his chest. Tears streamed down Ed's face like a water fall.
Guilt smiled, and then said, "I win," softly chuckling to himself.
To be continued…
