Inside the Temple, Garand and a shaken Morser quickly hurried to transmute the blackened walls and doors over the entrances and any weakened openings leading into the temple. Only an open hole in the ceiling to allow sunlight in remained open.
"We left them to die." Morser hissed as she finished transmuting the last of the barriers.
"We can bring them back." Garand replied as he pulled the two body bags towards the transmutation circle.
"Provided we can get their remains back! There's no guarantee that they left anything but ash behind! Victor, they were our daughters! We lost them once! I don't think I can handle this!" Morser said, tears beginning to well up.
"We can bring them back! Once we've gained immortality, we'll be capable of raising the dead! We'll be no mere alchemists, humans, or homunculi. We will be gods!" Garand said as he unzipped one of the bags, revealing what appeared to be Dr. Garand only around the age of twenty inside.
"(Sigh) We have our new bodies but we only have one Philosopher's Stone and no alchemist between us. Where are we supposed to get the extra ingredients for the second body?" Morser asked as Garand stood up while standing within the circle, pondering for a moment.
"Good point." He said before casually turning and pointing a gun at Morser, shooting her in the spine. Morser fell to the floor, landing within the circle but too far out of reach to do anything except look at Victor in pained disbelief while clutching her back, unable to move her legs and crying out in agony. Victor calmly tossed away his gun while making sure the extra body bag with Morser's intended body was outside the circle.
"Victor! Why?!" She asked as Victor pulled out two things, a scalpel and the phial containing the Philosopher's Stone.
"A fair question I suppose. Two years ago, Amestris itself provided the fuel for a simple Homunculus to consume God. If a mere Homunculus could do it, imagine what a human, gifted with the power of a Homunculus and capable of performing Alchemy could accomplish. Unfortunately, such power cannot be attained if the power is divided up between two or more people. Father showed us that. The Immortal Alchemist was never intended for more than one of us, Elizabeth. It was always intended for me and me alone. You played your part and frankly, I never did quite get over your dumping me." Garand said as he calmly cut a large incision into the body's chest and threw the scalpel out of the circle. Morser was wide eyed in disbelief at the realization that she, like the rest of the Red Kingdom, had been played for a fool. Garand quietly opened the phial and dropped the stone into his hand, the stone taking a solid form.
"You don't know how strong that stone is, Victor! You could face a rebound if you tried creating the Immortal Alchemist right now!" Morser hissed as Victor examined the stone. (AC: Lapis Philosophorum – FMA:B OST 1)
"You are correct. But then again this stone wasn't meant for me anyway." Victor said as he calmly approached a spot on the floor of the temple, a spot where two stone tiles formed the shape of the Red Kingdom insignia except with the infinity symbol inside the castle part. Garand knelt down and pried one tile off followed by the other, revealing a sturdy black strongbox. He reached in and pulled the box out of the hole, placing it on the floor near the hole, undoing the latch on the box and opening it while Morser watched in disbelief. Inside the box was nothing but straw and a single red felt jewelry box with the symbol of an Ouroboros on it. He calmly picked up the box and started to return to the circle.
"As you know, when a stone begins to lose its strength, it loses its solidity. This stone as you observed, is almost empty, but it was never meant to be used as my power source anyway." Victor said as he opened the box and pulled out a second Philosopher's Stone that was slightly larger and had a more crystalline appearance. Morser blinked in disbelief at the sight of the stone.
"W-Where did you get that?!" she asked.
"You'd be surprised how unobservant Father and the Homunculi were during our time in Laboratory Five. They let too many of them slip through their grasp and one of them happened to fall into mine. I've held onto it, just in case. Plus did you know that you can combine two smaller Philosopher's Stones together to make one stronger one? You don't even have to perform a transmutation, you just put them together and they do the rest." Garand said as he pressed the two stones together, the crystalline one absorbing the smaller one, the stone growing larger and more rigid.
"So that was all that you needed a second stone for? To make that one stronger?" Morser asked as Garand shrugged.
"Not initially, no. I originally planned to give you the weaker one and keep the stronger one for myself, but in the end I guess I get the lion's share." Garand said as they heard a loud bang on the metal barrier over the doorway into the temple from the courtyard.
"Sounds like the military is getting anxious. I guess it's time to see if the Immortal Alchemist is more than just theory." Garand said as he knelt down next to his new body, placing the Philosopher's Stone in his left hand and then inserting it into his body's chest before removing his hand. Morser began to shake in fear as Garand looked at both of his hands for a moment before slamming them down onto the ground, the circle beginning to crackle with red alchemical energy, a large grey eye appearing and opening within the circle. Garand started to scream in pain but didn't remove his hands as his new body's chest started to glow with red light. Morser then felt something changing within her, causing her great pain as she screamed along with Garand. (End AC)
…
Outside the temple, General Mustang had been watching as a Briggs Tank fired shot after shot in an attempt to break the door down but only succeeding in putting large dents in it. The Mannequin soldiers had all been incinerated and now all that remained of the Red Kingdom was now inside of the temple. Accompanying Mustang and the tank were dozens of Amestrian troops.
"What is this thing made of?!" Roy asked in annoyance as Izumi and Sig Curtis arrived.
"Having trouble, General?" Izumi asked as Roy scowled.
"Garand's sealed himself inside. I tried transmuting the wall away but it's made of a substance I don't recognize right off the bat and I can't transmute it." Roy replied as Izumi scowled towards the door
"And according to Edward and Alphonse, he has everything he needs to create the Immortal Alchemist." Izumi said as Roy's scowl deepened but he said nothing. Suddenly they saw the wall starting to crackle and glow with alchemical energy.
"Hold fire!" Roy ordered, the tank ceasing its fire while the troops quickly aimed their weapons towards the door just as it started sinking into the ground. They kept their eyes focused on the entrance but saw nothing for a while.
"Hold position! Something's coming." Roy ordered, keeping his hand raised, ready to snap his fingers at a moment's notice. Izumi had her arms crossed over her chest, glaring at the doorway. Finally they saw something appear in the doorway. (AC: Envy Revealed ~Adagioï~ - FMA:B OST 3) A young man in his early twenties with short brown hair, average build, wearing a pair of brown trousers and with an Ouroboros tattoo on his chest. Roy and Izumi recognized the tattoo and took a step back in anger.
"Open fire! Fire everything you've got!" Roy ordered, the troops immediately opening fire with their guns and the tank. Roy immediately started snapping his fingers, creating explosions around the man but through the fire and smoke, Hawkeye spotted something through the scope of her rifle, something that made her eyes widen in alarm.
"General!" Hawkeye exclaimed, earning Roy's attention.
"I know I hit it! He can't survive a point blank explosion like this!" Roy replied as he stopped snapping his fingers.
"General! Look!" Hawkeye ordered as the men gradually stopped firing, stopping to see if there was anything still standing but all they saw was a cloud of smoke lingering near the entryway. As the smoke cleared, they all looked in shock and disbelief as they saw a large black sphere, heavily dented, formed from the ground where the man had been standing. The sphere then started to crackle with red alchemical energy before suddenly exploding, a large chunk of it flying forward and smashing into the tank with enough force to knock it up and onto its back, smashing the barrel of its cannon.
"What the hell was that?!" Roy asked, as they turned back towards the temple, the man looking at his hand which still crackled with energy. A small smirk appeared on his face.
"So begins the end of the reign of humanity, and in its place begins the rise of the Immortal Alchemist." Garand said, clinching his fist with a dark grin.
End Chapter 20