(AC: Envy Revealed ~Adagioï~ - FMA:B OST 3)
Dr. Victor Garand, the Immortal Alchemist, stood in his new Homunculus body, his hand crackling with red alchemical energy. The soldiers before him were stunned as he started to descend the stairs.
"FIRE AT WILL!" one of the soldiers yelled as the soldiers raised their weapons, barraging him with a hail of bullets but the bullets merely impacted an invisible shield that occasionally crackled with red alchemical energy, the bullets not fazing him in the slightest as he continued his steady approach. He finally reached a point half-way between the temple steps and the overturned tank. When he did, he glanced to either side at the soldiers with a scowl.
"Foolish humans." Garand said in a low tone of voice before calmly raising his right foot and then stomping down hard, causing the earth beneath his foot to suddenly release a large shockwave, the ground itself rippling and sending the soldiers flying and collapsing a number of the remaining buildings around the courtyard. From the command tent on the dunes, everyone could feel the earth shaking from the shockwave, General Armstrong quickly putting a hand to the handle of her sword.
"What was that?!" she asked, annoyed.
"General! Look!" Miles exclaimed, pointing towards a large cloud of smoke near the temple. Armstrong snarled angrily as she realized what was happening. Back in the city, Garand observed the soldiers lying on the ground for a moment before hearing the sound of fingers snapping and quickly transmuted a black wall up in front of him just in time for the air near him to explode in a fireball. Garand glared at the black wall, the wall shrinking away to reveal General Mustang, ready to attack.
"Mustang." Garand said as Roy narrowed his gaze.
"You think I can't take down a homunculus?! You forgot that I just killed two of them in front of you!" Roy yelled before snapping his fingers but Garand merely shielded himself with another black wall.
"I don't understand it. How is he able to block my flame alchemy?" Roy asked before noticing what appeared to be very light wisps of steam rising from the metal. He was moistening the air around him, making it harder for Roy to use flame alchemy on him. Garand suddenly sensed someone by him just as Izumi Curtis ran at him, grabbed him by the arm, and threw him down hard onto his back. Garand did not look amused and scowled softly at Izumi from the ground just as his hands crackled. Earthen spikes started bursting up from the ground near her but Izumi swiftly evaded them, moving away from Garand as he climbed to his feet.
"The Teacher and the Flame Alchemist. Two of the human sacrifices if I'm not mistaken." Garand observed as he reached for the black barrier and instantly caused it to crumble into rocks with a mere tap.
"Looks like I'll have to do this the old fashioned way!" Roy said as he clapped his hands together and slammed them into the ground, creating a large brown hollow cylinder before snapping his fingers, causing the end nearest him to explode, firing it like a makeshift cannon, the cannonball taking Garand's left arm clean off. Izumi immediately seized the opportunity to run in, clapping her hands together and slamming them into the ground, causing a sudden burst of earthen spears to burst up from beneath Garand, impaling him from below.
"That should hold you!" Roy said as he raised his hand, ready to snap his fingers when Garand suddenly vanished, the earth beneath him suddenly breaking off in a perfect circle and rapidly shrinking down into a hole, spears and all. Roy and Izumi stood at the ready, ready to make a move the minute Garand did. Sure enough Garand burst up out of the hole but so did something else. Water. Garand had transmuted an artesian well beneath the desert city, the water spraying into the air like a geyser, splashing Roy's gloves in the process. Garand's arm had also regenerated.
"Damn it!" Roy groaned as he realized his flame alchemy had been negated. Garand landed nearby, turning towards the water and shoving his hand into the spring, the water suddenly spraying towards the two but being transmuted into blades of ice. Izumi quickly transmuted an earthen wall in front of them, shielding them from the ice blades. Izumi caught a glimpse of what Garand was doing from behind the wall.
"Damn it! We're fighting him on his own terms! We need to-UWAH!" Roy yelped as Izumi quickly tripped him up, ducking down with him just before a wide but thin blade of ice cut right cleanly through the earthen wall, narrowly missing the two alchemists, and shattering behind them.
"That was too close." Izumi said as the barrage died down, noticing the earthen wall shatter, revealing Garand standing before them with a scowl on his face. (End AC)
"Enough with the playing around." Garand said as he raised his hand and instantly the ground around their feet and hands buckled, trapping them in the ground. Garand was about to do something when he was suddenly impaled from behind by a large metal arrowhead. (AC: Versus Homunculus – FMA:B OST 2) Garand turned around in annoyance to see Colonel Armstrong charging towards him, Scar, Ling, Lan Fan, and May close behind.
"Don't give him a chance to fight back! Make him use his Philosopher's Stone!" Armstrong yelled as he slammed a fist into the ground, sending a sudden burst of rocks up in front of him. He then quickly punched the rocks, sending a barrage of the large arrows towards Garand who quickly transmuted the strange black wall in front of him from the ground, blocking the arrows. Ling and Scar quickly ran to the opposite sides of the wall, intending to attack him from the sides but Garand suddenly launched into the air on a fast rising pillar of the strange black rock. Scar attempted to destroy the pillar but nothing happened.
"What sort of material is this?" Scar asked as Ling took a closer look at it and smirked slightly.
"Carbon! It's carbon!" Ling exclaimed as Garand landed on top of the water geyser, the water freezing in a snap as soon as he touched it, using it to step down onto the ground. Sig and Captain Hawkeye were helping pull Roy and Sig from the ground.
"Are you sure?!" Izumi asked.
"It's the same material as Greed's Ultimate Shield! I'd recognize it anywhere!" Ling said, watching as Lan Fan hurled a Xingese grenade towards Garand, the grenade exploding at his feet but ultimately doing no good as he simply regenerated. Scar then flew towards him, Garand trying to trip him up by transmuting small earthen blocks in his path, the blocks getting larger and larger the closer he got. Scar was suddenly with striking distance, reaching towards Garand but Garand blocked with an earthen wall in his path. Scar easily obliterated the wall only for a rectangular shaft of rock to strike him head on in the face from behind the wall as it crumbled, knocking him back some distance.
"Scar!" May exclaimed, rushing over to him but Scar was unconscious from the strike. Alive but unconscious. Garand suddenly had to deal with Ling and Lan Fan, the Xingese warriors ready to strike but Garand raised another wall in their path. However the two easily bounded over the wall, dropping two more grenades onto him before running past, the exploding grenades forcing him to regenerate, obliterating the wall. He was about to attack them when he heard a shrill whistling sound. He turned just in time for a shell to explode right at his feet, throwing him back some. Roy and Izumi both looked to see Paninya crouched atop the overturned tank, her uniform pants legs torn off just a few inches above the knee, and her knee cannon smoking.
"General ordered me to get here ASAP, whatever that means, and I brought some friends!" Paninya said as Darius and Heinkel roared past, literally and figuratively, the two chimeras rushing in towards Garand as he started climbing to his feet. Before the two chimeras could reach him, the ground in their path suddenly opened up, crackling with red alchemical energy, causing the two to fall in, the ground closing back up behind them, trapping them in the tunnels below.
"Pathetic." Garand grumbled as he started walking towards the others. Ling and Lan Fan quickly charged towards him.
"Geez what is this guy made of?!" Paninya asked, quickly kicking her leg out to the side, loading another round into her knee cannon and taking aim.
"He's powered by a Philosopher's Stone, an alchemical amplifier made from countless human souls! The only way to stop him is to make him use up its power!" Izumi explained.
"How do we know how much power he has left?!" Paninya asked, visibly disturbed by Izumi's explanation.
"We'll know when he dies!" Izumi replied, watching as Garand got stabbed in the stomach by Lan Fan with a ninjato that had lit explosives tied to the handle. Ling and Lan Fan quickly diving away just as the bomb exploded. Armstrong and Sig then came running in from either side, Sig wielding his large cleaver, both musclebound men attempting to punch Garand but he leapt back, transmuting a pair of rectangular stone shafts that burst up from the ground and struck both men in the jaws, knocking them back.
"Sig!" Izumi exclaimed, a fire in her eyes upon seeing her husband attacked by the Immortal Alchemist.
"Captain!" Roy ordered, Hawkeye quickly taking aim and firing her carbine at Garand but the bullets again impacted harmlessly against the invisible alchemical shield, the bullets dissolving away into lead dust before it could hit him but the distraction was enough as Roy and Izumi ran towards him, clapping their hands together and slamming them into the ground, creating a large pair of earthen stocks, trapping Garand's arms, legs, and waist.
"We've got him now!" Roy yelled as he pulled off his gloves, revealing a faint scar on the back of his right hand in the shape of a flame alchemy transmutation circle, the one he had cut into his hand during his fight with Lust two years prior. He quickly dug into his pocket and pulled out a lighter. The lighter was empty but he just needed the spark from it. Before he could flick the lighter, the stocks around Garand suddenly exploded, forcing the two to shield themselves from the flying debris. Garand saw Ling and Lan Fan coming towards them again along with Paninya, her leg blade extended, as well as Sig and Armstrong.
"That's enough!" Garand hissed as he stomped the ground again, sending a shockwave that catapulted them all away except Paninya who leapt clear and came down towards him, dropping down and slicing his legs off below the knees with her leg blade. Garand fell to the ground and was about to fire a shot at point blank from her knee cannon when Garand glared at her with a scowl from the ground. Suddenly a carbon spike shot up from the ground and into the barrel of her knee cannon, ripping her automail leg in two at the knee. Paninya screamed in pain, clutching her leg. (End AC)
"Paninya!" May yelled. Ling and Lan Fan both landed safely on their feet, Armstrong and Sig landing in a skid, slamming up against a hollowed out building. On the ground near the overturned tank, Hawkeye had run over to where Roy had landed.
"General! You have to get up!" Hawkeye exclaimed as Roy grimaced in pain.
"That may be a bit difficult, Captain. I think my leg's broken." He grunted. Izumi was climbing to her feet when she suddenly dropped to one knee, coughing up blood, a nasty bruise forming around her stomach.
"Mrs. Curtis!" Hawkeye exclaimed. Sig quickly hurried over to them, kneeling down next to his wife and helping her stand. Garand was standing over Paninya now, his legs having regenerated. He looked down at her and raised his hand but suddenly took a bullet to the chest.
"What?!" Roy asked, looking for the origin of the bullet but what he saw made his eyes widen. (AC: Battle Scherzo – FMA:B OST 2)
"Hold it right there, monster!" General Armstrong yelled, a carbine trained on him.
"General Armstrong. I thought you were dead." Garand said as Armstrong handed off the rifle to a man in white desert combat gear, one of the Briggs Mountain Guard. She then drew her sword.
"I refuse to allow myself to be killed so easily, monster and by such a worthless opponent like the Red Kingdom! It's time to show you how we do things at Fort Briggs!" Armstrong yelled as she raised her sword into the air. This was the signal for three Briggs Tanks to come rolling into the courtyard, smashing through rubble and debris, the tanks followed closely by a contingent of Briggs soldiers, carrying light mortar launchers and rifles.
"Your target is the man with the Ouroboros Tattoo on his chest! Check your fire and try not to hit any friendlies!" Colonel Miles ordered from the gunner's seat of the center tank.
"RIGHT!" The Briggs men replied. Armstrong immediately leapt onto the side of the center tank as the men formed a perimeter around the edges of the courtyard, setting up their mortar launchers behind the rubble and taking aim. The soldiers that had been knocked out earlier were starting to come around, joining them with their rifles trained on the Immortal Alchemist. Garand glared at them all defiantly, not noticing as Darius and Heinkel, having escaped the tunnels from a hole nearby, came running in, Heinkel biting down on Garand's left arm while Darius grabbed Paninya, running her towards the safety of the Briggs Soldiers. Heinkel then chomped through his arm and made for the soldiers.
"FIRE!" Armstrong ordered, swinging her sword towards Garand. The tanks and mortars immediately started firing, the soldiers firing their guns, the center of the courtyard literally exploding with the sheer firepower of the Amestrian military. Lan Fan and Ling were pitching grenades into the fray as well. Paninya then pried open the casing above her destroyed leg and pulled out her two remaining knee cannon shells, handing them to Darius.
"Take this ya bastard!" Darius yelled, lobbing them at Garand, the shells exploding on impact. After about a minute of continuous fire, Armstrong raised her blade into the air, this being the signal to cease fire. (End AC) The weapons went silent and all they could see was a large black cloud of smoke in the center of the courtyard from the explosions. They all waited with baited breath, anxious to see what remained of their foe. The smoke then cleared, revealing nothing but large craters where Garand had been standing.
"We did it! We killed him!" one of the soldiers cheered, the rest of the soldiers breaking out into cheers of celebration but the others weren't so easily convinced.
"Quiet! That's an order! We're not done!" Armstrong yelled as they all fell silent, watching the craters intently. Suddenly they saw the red crackling of a transmutation, the ground opening up as an unscathed Garand rose from underground. (AC: The Forbearer – FMA:B OST 3) The soldiers were all stunned.
"Impossible!" "We hit him with everything we had!" "How is he still alive?!" the soldiers whispered amongst themselves in disbelief. Garand was glaring angrily at Armstrong.
"I've grown tired of your pathetic attempts to kill me, humans. I am the Immortal Alchemist! I cannot be killed! I am humanity's next step in the evolutionary chain! I am the first of a new race! I shall tear down these kingdoms of humanity and replace them with a world dominated by Homunculi! Make peace with your maker, because the Red Kingdom has arisen!" Garand yelled before stomping his foot, sending out another shockwave.
"Take cover!" Hawkeye yelled just as Armstrong and Miles quickly leapt off the tanks a mere second before the tanks were launched backwards along with most of the Amestris forces. The shockwave died down before it could reach Mustang or the other wounded forces, only kicking up a large burst of debris they had to shield themselves from.
"I don't get it! How do we stop him?!" Roy asked as the dust died down.
"I don't know if we can, sir." Hawkeye replied, clearly frustrated.
"You cannot stop the steady march of evolution. You humans are nothing more than fuel for the Philosopher's Stone! You can either submit to becoming Homunculi or-…huh?" Garand asked as he noticed the ground in front of him start crackling with blue alchemical energy before opening up. (End AC) He looked down into a darkened hole for a moment, arching a curious eyebrow before he saw the ground inside flash with blue light from another transmutation. Before he could blink, he was dealt a swift and powerful punch to the jaw by an armored metal fist that sent him flying back and crashing into the stairs of the temple. He growled in annoyance as he sat up and saw, standing just in front of where he had been moments ago was a familiar suit of armor and an equally familiar State Alchemist in a red jacket and long blond hair. (AC: The Intrepid – FMA:B OST 3)
"Alright Garand! Get up!" Edward yelled as he and Alphonse dropped into a fighting stance.
"Fullmetal!" Roy exclaimed, almost relieved to see the brothers.
"Where have you two been this whole time?!" Izumi yelled, furious at their tardiness.
"Sorry it took us so long but it's easy to get lost in those tunnels!" Alphonse replied.
"Yeah so now we're here! Put'em up doc! We're about to show you just how outclassed you really are!" Ed yelled as he and Alphonse both stared down the Immortal Alchemist…
…the final showdown was about to begin…
End Chapter 21