Fullmetal Spear Hero

Chapter 2: Arrival in Melromarc

"Oh Brave heroes won't you please save our world?"

'What ….. The….HEEELLLLL?'

'I CAN'T BELIEVE THAT THIS IS WHAT TRUTH MEANT. I JUST GOT FINISHED WITH DEALING WITH THE HOMUNCULI WITH EVERYONE'S HELP. NOW I GOT TO RELY ON JUST THESE OTHER THREE PEOPLE FOR HELP? TRUTH THIS IS NOT ACCEPTABLE!'

The other three people appeared to be just as flabbergasted as he was.

Ed looked down at the circle that they were in. It didn't look like any alchemical circle he was familiar with and the energy it was giving off didn't match anything close to what he uses or the amplification through the usage of a philosopher's stone. What was this?

"Saving the world. What exactly do you mean by that?" The one with the bow asked the cultists.

The cultists appeared desperate saying that the story is long and complicated but that the world is teetering on the brink of destruction and that they were desperate enough to use an ancient and complicated ritual in order to summon the four cardinal heroes to save the world.

"I refuse." "Same here." Ed's mind went to a screeching halt. He didn't hear that right. 'Tell me those two have far more tact than that.'

"You call us here without asking us. Don't you have any guilt at all about calling for us here without our consent?' Ok this was as subtle as Envy doing a happy victory dance. That image almost looked like Envy causing seismic quakes with his antics. 'Yeah don't even think about that Ed.' As he sweat-dropped at even the small comparison. Envy would be sounding like a bunch of cannon blasts just from the foot falls. 'These guys are asking for help. I may not like it either since I was just about to get Al back but these two self-centered idiots are going too far…even the term thoughtless does not do these two justice.'

To be fair though while he could understand being asked to help with a world ending event even he wasn't that selfish even when he was starting out on his journey with Alphonse.

Of course, he garnered some attention of his own. Ed may not have been the most talkative but he certainly drew eyes towards him. Seeing as how while the guys were fully dressed in their own garments while even though he still had a trail of blood on his face as well as his shirt and jacket were all but rags at the moment being held on by a single torn bit of fabric.

"BY THE ANCIENTS, SIR HERO, ARE YOU ALRIGHT?" The gaggle of people finally turned their eyes to see what the clerks were talking about and could see that it looked as if Ed had been more than a little roughed up. "Yeah; peachy, just got out of a war." He answered in a dry tone. Everyone's breath caught in their chest at the remark. What in the world have they summoned?

He didn't look like it but Ed could tell he looked like he had just been slapped in the face. "Re…..Re…Regardless, perhaps we should bring this issue towards the king. He could probably speak to you about your demands."

They were about to head out when one of the clergy asked Ed if he would like a shirt to cover the upper part of his body. Reluctantly he took it. Seeing as they were about to meet the head of the nation, at least something sensible to cover his body would suffice.

After some time the four youths made their way into what appeared to be a throne room. At the end of the chamber, there was a throne with a man in a purple robe with knights in armor surrounding them all.

Going from his past experiences with Furor King Bradley when he first took his exam, even if he was an older man he could very well be extremely powerful. Maybe not in appearance alone, but also in strength and as such he would need to be careful around these guys and especially the king.

Long story short, the waves of calamity were a series of events that happen every two hundred or so years. The waves would bring creatures which would ravage the lands. Recently they have just started up again and the King of Melromarc, Aultcray had decided that after struggling to deal with one wave, that they would have to summon the heroes of legend.

In this world the four heroes are each selected via the magical ritual to wield a certain weapon, whether it would be bow, sword, spear, or shield.

Ed looked down in disappointment, while he wielded a spear several times in the past, his main weapon and go to had always been his automail arm which he transmuted into a gauntlet with a blade. That is gone now so he will need to learn to efficiently fight with a spear. He knew he couldn't rely on alchemy for a lot of this. He was not that powerful and even if he was, the possibility of a rebound was more than likely to occur.

When the king had requested them to introduce themselves, the first introduced himself as Itsuki Kawasumi, 17 years old and a high school student. High school? What did that mean, if he really went to school, didn't they teach him how to introduce himself in front of someone with a lot of power.

After him was Ren Amaki, the one with the sword. Like Ed, the guy was 16 and a sophomore. Still not understanding that idea.

Next came Edward's turn. He didn't want to reveal what his specialty was so he decided to be technical here. Looking forward, the savior of his nation stated: "Edward Elric, age 16, Major in the Army of Amestris."

That got quite the interesting reactions. "He can't be serious, he's 16, the kid looks like he is only 13. Army? I have a hard time believing that especially with that size." Same old stuff and it took all of Edward's will power not to just lash out that he was not short and that he was still growing.

In the king's mind, even he was hard pressed to even accept that. The other two were obnoxious, this one was so ridiculous it was unbelievable. A high ranked position at such an age. Even Melromarc doesn't do that. And don't even get him started on the shield hero, the less said about the guy the better for him.

Right then and there the king launched into his story about the waves of catastrophe but the one with the shield pointed out he never even gave his name and even though Edward mentally admonished the way he spoke to a stranger in an unfamiliar place like someone he knew, even Edward noticed that the king intentionally skipped him. Why?

The king's advisor had mentioned something called status magic. Magic….of all things, it had to be magic. That practically throws a lot of the rules of science out the window.

Icon? What were they talking about? Corner of his vision? If he didn't learn what was going on and get out of here he was going to scream. Then the idiot with the sword made some speech about getting paid to do this stuff right in front of the king no less and the nitwit with the bow, the less said about him the better.

Ed focused more closely on anything that seemed out of place in his vision till he noticed the small emblem in the lower fight corner of his vision.

Trying once again, he noticed a movement of words, abbreviations, icons, numbers, even his name. 'Damn, this is going to take some time to work through.' "What is all of this?"

The advisor next to the king had mentioned that all that he sees in front of him is what is known as "Status Magic" limited only to the legendary cardinal heroes.

Edward looked at his own status….feeling somewhat violated that this thing invaded his own body and soul but he began looking at this display trying to make heads or tails of it and was only able to understand half of it. Hopefully one of these other three idiots would be willing to help though they would probably ask for something in exchange. Ed didn't exactly have a choice in this matter, since even if these egotistic maniacs understood this stuff better than he did.

Each of them was needed to travel on adventures to increase their skills but then the advisor had mentioned that the four of them would need to adventure separately as even being close to each other would have an adverse effect on the weapons themselves.

Well there went one option.

Someone came to bring them to their rooms for the night. As Ed was following them he had been thinking to himself. He entered another world, which meant its own cultures, its own government system and its own local language. That got Ed to thinking in a worried manner. "Excuse me… I am sorry to interrupt and I understand that it is late."

The king and his advisor glanced at him.

"Is there a library in this kingdom at all? I am curious as I would like to learn a little bit more on this country's history before we set out on these adventures you speak of."

The king nodded. "There is a library but it is currently closed right now. It will be open in the morning."

That gave Ed some satisfaction that it is not closed off for now. In the meantime he needed to better understand these people that he was summoned with. It wouldn't do to go into a battlefield without knowing the ins and outs of everything. He had partial access to the knowledge of the towns through central library and learned the rest while on the road, the towns themselves and his superior officers.

'Sigh. I may have helped to end the homunculi but now it looks to be an even longer road on seeing Al again. If these three were as careless about the world as they were today in front of the king, the chances of him seeing everyone again would be the vast difference between the earth and the sky.

No… he couldn't dwell on that. He came out on top even when faced against truth itself in the long run.

He wasn't just the Fullmetal Alchemist. He wasn't just the freaking spear hero. He was Edward Elric.

The room provided was a bit cozy if a bit dated. That being said they did provide them with a bit of food and if Ed was honest, he was a bit hungry after that battle in Central. Of course, he did wish that two of the idiots didn't compliment that just because they were cardinal heroes that they were getting special treatment. There was no such thing as a free lunch.

And where in the world did they get the idea that just because they were randomly picked as cardinal heroes that they automatically get to be classified as heroes like some play? This world, a game? Edward wanted to take that spear of his and jab it straight into the guy's foot, then let him see if this is a game. If they can bleed then they can die. They seriously don't know what world ending events are like.

The one in the green…Naofumi if he had remembered correctly was the first one to inquire about the group. "If I may ask, what was the year that you all came from? For me it was 2012." Ren answered 2094 and for Ituski, it was 2035.

"What about you shorty?" the question came from the smiling bow hero.

Rule number one on Edward Elric: Never mention or mock his size.

Next thing Itsuki knew, he had the wind knocked out of him. He laid down as Ed planted foot in his chest "SHORTY, SHORTY WHO ARE YOU CALLING A SHORTY I'M STILL GROWING YOU LITTLE HALF PINT MIDGET. YOU'RE NOT MUCH TALLER THAN I AM."

'SCARY….' Both Naofumi and Ren blanched as Edward tore into Itsuki.

"Anyway to answer your question, it was 1914 where I am from."

This unnerved the summoned heroes. Each of them besides Edward was summoned from a different century.

'So I guess asking him about our country is pretty redundant.'

Everyone gave their own opinions on what this world was like being similar to a video game with which Edward had no idea where these guys were coming from and he was a bit out of his depth.

"Hey umm…Edward was it?" At least the eldest of the three had some form of manners.

"That's right." Ed answered.

Naofumi hoped that he could defuse the situation.' "If you don't mind me asking, how exactly did everyone get here? I was summoned through a book that I found in the library. One that talked a small bit about the introduction of the cardinal weapons before I was taken here."

Edward just looked at him like he had grown a second head. Then again maybe he hit it on his way here. Never mind, this madness was going to drive him to an early grave.

"Got pulled out of a void between worlds trying to get my brother back when the idiots downstairs did the summoning, now who knows if or when I can see my brother again."

Naofumi's heart went out to him. Seeing as he had a younger brother himself. The other teens went after him. "Stabbed by a robber trying to protect some friends of mine." "I got hit by a vehicle."

Edward looked to the last hero with an eyebrow raised. 'You're telling me you got run over by a car.?' Considering how fast the cars in Amestris were that seemed rather sad. But then again the cars may have changed since the 1900's of their world. Least the one in blue did well.

These three people were supposed to help save this world and like it or not, he would need to be somewhat prepared for the next day when the king said that he would be bringing in some of the best fighters to offer.

From there he will be making a starting point on this but for now he had other things that he needed to deal with. Considering the guy's attitude and knowledge he swallowed his pride. Turning to the eldest in the room, he spoke. "If you don't mind before turning in for the night Naofumi, I would like to have a talk with you about these things in our vision are supposed to work. You and the others speak of these video games and their similarities to this world. Would you be able to shed some light on what you can?"

Naofumi gave a gentle yet nervous smile. Maybe Edward Elric would be a good person to partner up with sometime.