"This world… will finally belong to me!"
After Greed's attack, Father's body dematerialized and sunk into a puddle on the floor.
"He got him…" Ed whispered.
Manami's eyes narrowed. No... that was too easy…
"I was expecting you to make an appearance, Greed. I know you all too well, my son."
Giant eyes opened from within the puddle under Greed's feet.
"Did you forget that you were born from my extracted avarice? Anything that you have and will ever desire, I assure you that I've desired it first."
Suddenly, the puddle from under Greed slid across the room, dragging Manami and the others across the floor.
"Gah!"
"Ed! Manami!" Greed called.
Manami watched as the glob of shadow slithered to its throne, with his five sacrifices surrounding him. She then saw red sparks out of the corner of her eye, and looked to see that Hohenheim was released from inside Father, but was still constricted like she and the others were… but he didn't need anything to transmute!
BOOM! His transmutation reached Father and exploded. Though, when the smoke faded, Father was revealed to be unaffected. He laughed as he lifted his hand into the air.
"The true center of this world… is here!" Father laughed maniacally as he slammed his hand down on his transmutation circle beside his chair, and sparks flew all around them.
"No..! He's got us!" Hohenheim yelled.
"?!" Manami looked down to see an eye open over her stomach. She looked over to see that everyone had a matching eye over their own abdomens.
She watched as black, shadowy tendrils emerged from all of their portals and reached back to Father, connecting them all together…
"Gahahahaha!" Father cackled. "Fight for me… let your gateways fight for my soul! Shed your energy for me!"
Manami gritted her teeth, feeling herself lose the energy to fight her bind.
"What power… what immense power!" Father cried with glee. "I can barely contain it! And I'll use it to open this planet's gateway!"
And then everything went black.
Manami felt her fingers twitch and she slowly opened her eyes. As her vision faded in and out of focus, she saw Ed and Izumi a feet away, slowly starting to sit up.
"We're… alive..?" Ed whispered.
"What happened..?" Izumi asked.
Manami let her eyes fall shut as she let out a soft groan.
She felt so drained...
"Manami..?"
"Ngh…" Manami opened her eyes once more, seeing Al hovering over her now.
"Are you okay..?" He asked.
"I… think so…" Manami went to push herself to sit up, rubbing the side of her head.
"..." She suddenly got a bad feeling.
"It's quiet…" She looked up to the ceiling. "There's… nothing going on above."
"Does that mean he did it?!" Ed asked. "Did he turn everyone in Amestris… into Philosopher's Stones?"
"Yes."
Everyone jumped in surprise and looked over to see someone stepping out of the smoke.
"In order to imprison God within my body… I needed an enormous amount of energy..."
Manami's eyes widened in horror when Father emerged... but he now looked like a young, well-built man with long blonde hair and golden eyes.
"And the citizens of this country provided me that energy." He said. "And now… they and God reside within me."
"He… succeeded…" Hohenheim whispered.
"Yes, and it's all thanks to you…" Father smiled. "My friends."
Manami's eyes trembled as she watched him move to sit in his throne.
"Everyone…" Manami's eyes trembled. "They're all gone..?"
Winry… Elicia and Gracia…
"Over fifty million." Father clarified for her.
"... everyone, stay behind me." Hohenheim said, holding out his arm.
"There's no longer any use for your alchemy… or for you to open the gate." Father spoke, and tapped his finger against the arm rest of his chair.
WHOOM! There was no explosion, but a wave of energy flew past them… a familiar one.
"!" All at the same time, Ed and Al tried clapping their hands and slamming them on the ground, while Manami took out her fans and waved them.
No transmutation. No gusts of wind. They couldn't use their alchemy!
"Farewell, my sacrifices." Father said. "You've fulfilled your roles admirably."
They watched as he lifted a finger, and above it formed what looked like a fire ball…
"That's…" Manami's eyes widened.
"Yes, with the power of God, I can create a sun in the palm of my hand."
But suddenly, Father flinched. He hesitated. He looked down to his chest.
"..?"
"Do you notice now, Homunculus?" Hohenheim asked. "That slow, steady heartbeat? The souls of this country's citizens… are still linked to their bodies, by what we call a 'spirit.' Like a mother and child connected by the umbilical cord! They don't belong to you just yet!"
"What have you done, Hohenheim?" Father glared at him.
"I've planned for this day for years. My comrades inside me have helped me. Over the years, I've inserted their souls into the earth… soon, their power will come crashing down on you!
"So what if you inserted some Philosopher Stones in the ground?" Father asked. "Without a proper circle, you have nothing."
"Oh, I've got a circle…" Hohenheim smirked. "You seem to forget that the solar eclipse… will cast a shadow in the shape of…"
Father's eyes widened when he realized it.
"You still resist me, Hohenheim?!"
"That's the reason I'm here, Dwarf in the Flask!"
Suddenly, flashes of red emitted from Father, and he hunched over and yelled out in pain. He clenched the miniature sun in his hand to extinguish it.
He tried to hold on, but he failed. Suddenly, a burst of red energy came from inside him and swirled around the room. Manami could hear cries from many people as they swirled around her, then watched as they crashed through the ceiling and rose to the sky.
"Are those… souls?" Manami asked.
"Yes." Hohenheim answered her. "Those are the souls of Amestris, returning to their bodies."
"!" Manami couldn't help but smile and let out a sigh of relief.
Everyone else was okay…
"And now…" Hohenheim's eyes narrowed as steam emitted from Father.
"I doubt that, with just the souls he acquired form Xerxes, that he can continue to control that which he calls God."
"I… can always create another stone…" Father wheezed, still hunched over.
"I'm not done yet…" He lifted his head to look up to them. "There's more… billions of humans I can draw energy from!"
Suddenly, a purple orb came out of Father's forehead and shot directly at them.
"?!"
Manami had squinted her eyes shut, bracing herself for impact, but she opened her eyes to find that it never came.
Instead, it appeared that Hohenheim had deflected the blast, sending it crashing through the ceiling instead.
"GRRRAAAAHHH!"
Father sent a wave of energy at them across the floor, but it never made it to them… for a blue light surrounded them.
"?!" Everyone looked back to see Mei with her hands on the ground, and her small knives surrounding them to make an Alkahestry circle!
"I-I've got the floor…" She grunted. "Alkahestry focuses on the ground's energy… the more power there is, the more I have at my disposal!"
"Look out!" Manami pointed.
BOOM! Father had sent another blast their way, but Hohenheim outstretched his hands and held it back.
"Ghh!" Hohenheim grunted. "I don't… have what it takes to fight his energy..!"
Mei gasped, seeing one of her knives start to falter.
"Please, try as hard as you can!" She cried. "I can't hold on much longer!"
Manami watched as Hohenheim's hands began to burn. She looked around, desperately, to find anything that she could do… but all that she could find was Ed and Al, looking around with the same sense of uselessness.
Without alchemy, what could they do?
"It's no use!" Hohenheim yelled.
"Dad!" Al suddenly reached forward to put his hands on Hohenheim's back. Immediately after, much to Manami's surprise, Ed joined him.
"Just hang on..!" Al cried.
"Stay focused!" Ed barked.
For a split second, Manami could see the smile curl on Hohenheim's lips, having found a second wind.
"I can only do so much, boys…" He said. "But I'll give it everything these old bones can do!"
He pushed the blast back significantly, but it still continued.
"At this rate… dad's Philosopher Stone will burn out!" Al cried.
"Come on, Scar…" Manami bit her lip. "Anytime now..!"
Right as she said it, there was a rumble under their feet.
"It's coming!" Hohenheim announced.
"GRAAH!" Ed and Al clapped their hands, while Manami readied her fans and immediately went to blow a gust of wind to fend off the blast, so that Hohenheim could retreat and stagger backwards.
Ed and Al had sent a series of spikes at Father and Pride and the spikes even destroyed the seat which he called his throne.
"Ha!" Ed laughed. "Your little throne has been reduced to rubble. Now we're gonna take you down, and your 'truth' along with you!"
He clapped his hands and transmuted a cannon to shoot at Father and Pride, over and over again.
"How do you like that, huh?!"
Al clapped his hands and transmuted pillars that shot right at Father, but with a single wave of red sparks, they were destroyed, along with Ed's cannon.
Hohenheim stepped in front of Ed to deflect the blast from hitting his son.
"Keep it coming!" He yelled. "Make him use up his Philosopher's Stone! He'll run out of energy!"
Manami readied her fans and blew gusts of wind at Father and Pride, then Izumi transmuted one of the pipes that ran along the floor to whip at him— both of which he deflected without so much as lifting a finger.
Suddenly, something emerged from under the floor behind Father. Manami wasn't sure what it was, but she could definitely feel the room getting warmer.
"Sweet memories!" Greed suddenly appeared behind Father, holding a giant metal beam.
"That's the tub I took a bath in before— now it's your turn, Daddy!"
He went to swing the beam at Father, but was blown away.
"Out of the way, Greed!" Ed yelled, as he transmuted a hand to emerge from the ground, under the giant container, and tilt it so that it would spill over on Father.
Manami's eyes widened in shock. That's why it was so hot… it was lava!
But was that enough to take him down..?
"?!" Suddenly, Father had ascended into the air, a swirl of lava under him, almost like it was launching him into the air towards the ceiling.
"Where is he going?!" Izumi asked.
"Damn, he's going to the surface! He's going to replenish his supply!" Hohenheim gritted his teeth.
"Then we need to stop him!" Manami yelled, looking up to see that Greed had already started climbing up.
"Brother!" Al's voice made Manami turn to see that Ed was still dealing with Pride.
"Don't worry about me! Just go!" He assured them. "If this bastard wants a piece of me, then he's gonna get it!"
"Then let's go." Izumi walked up to Al and Manami. "You better not lose, Ed."
"You got it!" Ed yelled back to her.
"..." Manami looked up and went to wave her fans to launch herself up into the air, like a bird. She landed on a floor a few levels down from the surface, to find the chimera men and Scar.
"Manami!" Darius called for her.
"You're okay!" Jerso said, once Al and Mei arrived to their height.
"Gotta go!" Manami gave a quick wave to the chimera men before launching herself further up.
Above, she could hear Hohenheim yelling to Father.
"Sorry to interrupt your meal, but that's as far as you go! I won't let you devour any more people!"
Manami landed behind him, readying her fans. A moment later, Al, Izumi, and Mei made it to the surface and joined them.
"He was hoping to use them to create a new Philosopher's Stone." Hohenheim said. "Luckily, I stopped him."
"What else are these powerless humans good for?" Father glared at them.
"You insist on treating humans as a lower life form… but don't you see? It's only through them that a Philosopher's Stone could be created..." Hohenheim's eyes narrowed. "And only through a Stone could a Homunculus live. But what can a Homunculus create? What good are you if you can't create?! Creation is all, but you've done nothing but destroy! You may think you've reached a perfect state of being… but, in truth, all you've reached is a dead end."
"But I can create," Father said simply. "Shall I produce some humans for you?"
He lifted his hands into the air while his abdomen suddenly flashed red sparks, and his skin bubbled before what looked like a bunch of people, still fused together, were being pushed out of it.
They were crying… wailing in agony.
They all fell out onto the ground as their own individual bodies, but their eyes were still lifeless. Manami's eyes widened in horror as they slowly began approaching them like zombies.
"At last… I've found immortality… Don't you see? I'm still alive..." One of them spoke.
"King Xerxes?!" Hohenheim gasped at the sight of him.
Manami was frozen in shock, but felt tugging at each of her arms and whipped around to see the zombie-like creatures surrounding her.
"A body..!"
"G-Get off!" She went to shake them off, looking over to see even more of them surrounding Al.
"Finally… a body!"
"I have a body again..!"
She raised her fan, but she hesitated— she didn't have the heart to attack them.
Just like when Ed hesitated, in Gluttony's stomach
"This… this isn't right..!" Al cried.
"DAMN YOU!" Hohenheim yelled at the top of his lungs, and Manami heard something behind her.
"?!" She looked back to see that Ed had just ascended to the surface, but she barely had any time to look back before…
BOOM! A blast came from Father. Manami waved her fans to try to conjure a gust of wind to deflect the blast, but she felt a SNAP in each hand.
"?!" She had just enough time to realize that both of her fans had snapped in two before everything went white.