My Death Battle Attempts

by LittleZbot

In which I take two fictional characters and pit them against each other in a duel to the death. Rules in the first chapter. NEXT EPISODE: Katara (Avatar: The Last Airbender) VS Percy Jackson (Percy Jackson & the Olympians)

29. Zuko VS Roy Mustang

A/N: Keep a lookout for numbers like these: [1], [2], [3]. When you find one, feel free to scroll down to the "Special Notes" section of that particular analysis (just below "Weaknesses") to find out what more there is to be said about the topic that was just mentioned!

A/N#2: Wah Hah Hah, waraeba, sugoi ten toreru! I bet you didn't expect this! I tricked you all! I WAS DONE WITH THIS EPISODE THE WHOLE TIME

Okay, no, that's a lie. I was done with the research and most of the writing/scripting. All that really remained was putting the battle into words, which IS hard! For me, anyway. Somehow, I managed to scrape enough free time together to get this thing all packaged up just a few days after Bloodborne VS Dead Cells, which is nutso to me! Don't expect the next episode to get done anywhere NEAR this quick.

This episode was requested by Finch Flying Ace. Comment with your requests and they may become future episodes.

Episode 25: Zuko (Avatar: The Last Airbender) VS Roy Mustang (Fullmetal Alchemist)

LZ: Thousands of years ago, mankind believed everything in the world was made up of one of four elements: Air, Water, Earth, and Fire. Of the four, fire was perhaps the most dangerous. It could create warmth, comfort, and energy, or it could bring death, destruction, and mayhem.

TWO: Or it could be used to make super-strong firey warriors with more ambition than they can handle. Especially in wartime. That won't cause any problems for the secretly-evil government they serve at allllll.

LZ: Prince Zuko, the firebending rival of the Avatar.

TWO: And Roy Mustang, the Flame Alchemist.

LZ: I'm LittleZbot, and it's my hobby to analyze their weapons, armor, and skills to find out who would win a Death Battle.

…

Zuko

LZ: Water. Earth. Fire. Air. Long ago, the four nations lived together in harmony. Then, everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked. Only the Avatar, master of all four elements, could stop them, but when the world needed him most, he vanished.

TWO: Which was real good news for the Fire Nation, because dealing with an Avatar protecting the world from their dictatorship royally sucked.

LZ: In this world, the four nations, each representing one of the four elements, held a constant, tenuous peace between them, for fear of destroying one another with their great power. Such power was a result of benders, people who were born with the ability to control an element with movement and breath. In the case of the Fire Nation, it held firebenders, each capable of both creating and manipulating fire.

TWO: Firebenders can shoot fire in streams and jets, blow it out in arcs or ki-like blasts, make fifteen-meter-tall walls of fire, or just light things on fire for the heck of it. Including themselves, if they want. They can make tiny fire jets constantly coming from their hands to make even blocking a punch from the wrong side a death sentence, form fire-based forcefields that burn all attacks and projectiles before they can reach the bender, or, if they're super-trained, they can even breathe fire like a dragon! Woah, that's super-powerful! Why'd they ever fear the other nations, again?

LZ: Exactly what they began to think before long. When the Water Tribes split and began to die out, the Air Nomads restrained themselves to peaceful monklike ways, and the Earth Kingdom underwent great societal stress, the Fire Nation and their leader, the Fire Lord, realized that this was their chance. They held the superior element, more military might than all the others combined, and an isolationist culture that would protect them from the interior stress running a war would have on other nations. The only thing standing in their way was the Avatar.

TWO: The Avatar is the chosen guardian of the planet. They use the spirit of light, Raava, to gain super-duper bending, including being able to bend all four elements, with the job of keeping peace between the nations and bridging the physical and spiritual worlds. Whenever one dies, they reincarnate into a new bender with no memories, who eventually learns that they're the new chosen one and has to dedicate their life to learning the elements and stopping Fire Nations from eating other countries like snack cakes.

LZ: But when Fire Lord Sozin found himself leading during the brief period of time where one Avatar was dead and the next had not realized who they were, he struck, starting a war with the entire rest of the world.

TWO: Fast-forward one hundred years, and you get to the strongest firebender in history, Fire Lord Ozai, leading the war against the last remaining strongholds. And his two children, set to succeed him and rule the conquered world: Princess Azula, and Prince Zuko.

LZ: Both were born firebenders, but at very different levels. Azula was a prodigy; matching firebending masters at the age of eight and even achieving a feat unlike any other of her time: blue fire.

TWO: Bending is all tied into the flow of chi, or spirit energy, both in you and in the world around you. It's influenced by thought and spiritual perspective, so the color of fire became a pretty big deal. Most folks could make red or orange fire, but firebending was originally taken from dragons who could do way more. The more dangerous your fire is, the higher on the scale the fire goes, from orange to blue to violet to white. For a human to make blue fire was, well, it was crazy!

LZ: Zuko was never going to match up, but it hurt him even more so, because firebending, strength, and honor were all his father cared about, and Zuko held no talent in any of these. He was lucky if he could make a candle light. He was such a failure to his family, his own grandfather once ordered his execution.

TWO: Woah, that's, uh, a bit harsh, isn't it?

LZ: In Fire Nation society, honor is everything. Every action you take, every person you interact with, everything is an opportunity to either raise or lower your honor. And should your crime be so great, you could even lose your honor entirely, and be banished from the nation until you completed a worthy quest. Or, in the worst-case scenario, you could bring shame to your whole family, and the only way for their standing to be restored would be to die.

TWO: Hm, um, maybe them conquering the world ain't such a great idea after all.

LZ: But Zuko sought approval regardless, and attended war meetings, planned strikes, and involved himself in politics. What he couldn't accomplish with firebending, he would with his mind.

TWO: Until one day, when he spoke out of turn in a meeting. He had to duel the guy, because, well, honor, but because it was a meeting sanctioned by the Fire Lord, it was Ozai he'd offended, and Ozai he had to duel.

LZ: Rather than fight his own father, Zuko kneeled and accepted his fate; an act of humility, unacceptable in the Fire Nation. In return, Ozai gave his son a large red scar surrounding one of his eyes. He would forever be marked by his disgrace.

TWO: And then he banished him anyway! To restore his lost honor, Zuko had to complete an impossible task: find the next Avatar, and kill or capture them.

LZ: His heart hardened and his emotions aflame, Zuko would travel the world for years, taking the time to become a true firebender under the guidance of his uncle, Iroh.

TWO: AKA the chillest, best non-dad you could ever ask for. Iroh was crazy powerful, super humble, loved Zuko like a son, and totally obsessed over tea. He didn't give a crap about the war or politics or honor, and set out to sea to help Zuko, even if he didn't want it. So, basically, the exact opposite of everything the Fire Nation was about. Getting rid of him was a big bonus in the eyes of the nobility, and a big pain in the eye of Zuko. Well, at first, anyway.

LZ: After years of searching, at the age of sixteen, Zuko found him: the next Avatar, the Last Airbender, Aang.

TWO: Thus began a rivalry as strong as any anime's. Aang was busy trying to learn the elements to defeat Ozai, but Zuko kept hunting him down, and the two fought all the time.

LZ: Which Zuko was well-prepared for. Under Iroh's tutelage, he became the firebender he always wished to be, and beyond. He could unleash blasts the size of houses, coat lakes in flame, use fire as an assist in martial arts, fire from his hands, arms, feet, legs, or mouth, and regularly outmatch other benders using their own elemental attacks.[1]

TWO: Even waterbenders, who could put out his flames in a second! But his fire can power through it or leave openings for him to martial-arts his way to victory.

LZ: After an encounter with a far-stronger Azula, Iroh also began to teach Zuko more advanced firebending techniques, making him one of the strongest firebenders you were ever likely to meet. Firebending isn't all he has, though. As his firebending lacked when he was young, he sought another style of fighting: swordplay. Trained by Piandao, the best swordsman in the history of the nation, Zuko wields twin single-edged dao swords that can each slice cleanly through steel.

TWO: Zuko's so good at this swordplay stuff, he even made a non-firebending secret identity for when he wanted to do stuff that the prince couldn't, like, you know, save people. The Blue Spirit!

LZ: The Blue Spirit quickly became one of the Fire Nation's most-wanted criminals. With ninja-like stealth, quick thinking, superhuman agility, and swordsmanship that outmatched every other fighter around him, he could break into prison complexes and either free or assassinate anybody he wanted, never leaving a trace that he was there to begin with.

TWO: But while he's great with the blade, like most non-benders, the Blue Spirit has problems fighting those annoying folks who control the elements with their mind. Long-distance attacks can screw him up bad. Especially earthbending, which can break his stances and attack in all directions without warning. There's a reason all of Zuko's serious fights have him just firebending.

LZ: Well, it is worth noting that Zuko did train to combine his swordplay and firebending to a degree. He can channel his chi through his swords to light them on fire, throw fire-based sword beams, and rapidly chop the air in front of him to produce omnidirectional waves of concussive fiery blasts. But truthfully, even his swordplay doesn't hold a candle to his pure firebending potential.

TWO: Kind of ironic; he became a master ninja swordsman to make up for being a bad firebender, but he eventually got to be one of the best in the world!

LZ: Zuko had no natural talent, but he made up for it with hard work, passion, and a drive to succeed like no other. If he had to study twice as hard to learn a move, he studied four times as hard. He was determined to be a firebender powerful enough to match the legendary Avatar, no matter the cost. And I'm sure spending years wandering the world with one of the strongest firebenders in history didn't hurt, either.

TWO: Even in his early days in the show, Zuko could beat other master firebenders in duels, like Admiral Zhao, and matched flames exactly equally with Aang's airbending, which is powerful enough to counter erupting volcanoes and split mountains in half![2] And that's before Iroh's advanced training that made him a match for a three-element Avatar and able to firebend against combustionbenders. This sub-group of firebending involves using your chi to shoot contained bullets of energy out of your forehead Light Chakra. When the bullet reaches where it's aiming, it explodes in a burst that'll one-hit-kill you!

LZ: This is one of the rarest and deadliest forms of firebending. But, using his own blasts and fire shields, Zuko could block these bullets and protect himself from these explosions.[3] Going up against a firebender is generally a very bad idea from anyone who uses fire as a weapon, especially a firebender as precise as Zuko. They can block, nullify, or steal any fire-based attacks used against them, and add it to their own attacks afterwards.

TWO: He did just as good against other benders, too. Even studied some of their techniques to improve his firebending! And since firebending is done through specific movements of the arms, legs, and head, the Fire Nation decided to be nice and efficient and make entire martial arts based around it. Zuko's takes a bunch of inspiration from Northern Shaolin Kung Fu, but even in a series filled with martial artists, he doesn't just hold his own; he's one of the best there is. He's beaten benders stronger than him multiple times just by catching them in a good leg sweep or blocking their movements in hand-to-hand. He has tons of experience going up against all sorts of masters, including every single time he fights another bender.

LZ: All this made him an exceptionally dangerous rival for the young Avatar. But after he failed to capture him after cornering him in the North Pole, Ozai sent Azula as a headhunter, with the orders of killing both the Avatar and her brother. Azula caught up, and completely humiliated Zuko multiple times.

TWO: It got to the point where Zuko kind of gave up on life. Sent his crew home, and he and Iroh settled down in the Earth Kingdom capital under fake names, where they ran a tea shop and Zuko tried his best to forget everything he lost. Everything… except his pride.

Having learned how to counter lightning attacks after losing a battle to Azula, Zuko climbs the tallest mountain he can find. A storm has whipped up above; the driving rain makes it hard to climb, but this is to Zuko's favor; he hears the thunder in the clouds and knows that lightning awaits him at the top.

When he finally reaches the top of the mountain, he stares up into the sharp, relentless rain, and waits.

He hears thunder, over, and over, and sees lightning strike many times in the valley in front of him. But although he is the tallest object within the storm, none of it comes.

Zuko lowers his head slightly and finally shouts to the sky.

"You've always thrown everything you could at me! Well, I can take it, and now, I can give it back!"

The icy rain strikes down, but it isn't the answer he seeks. Another lightning bolt strikes harmlessly far away.

Zuko lifts his head again, staring straight into the knife-like droplets, clenching his teeth. "COME ON! STRIKE ME! YOU'VE NEVER HELD BACK BEFORE!"

If anybody is in the sky, they refuse to answer.

Zuko raises his arms and screams, voice drowned by the endless storm.

TWO: Oh. Nevermind. That too.

LZ: When Azula found Zuko once more, she gave him one final chance to join her, and hunt the Avatar together. Emotionally broken and at the end of his rope, Zuko agreed. The two defeated everyone they fought, and killed Aang. Or, so it seemed. He survived (because Katara is OP), but Zuko finally returned home, not just a prince, but a hero. His father even finally began to respect him.

TWO: But after his travels with Iroh, Zuko'd changed more than he thought. He saw the Fire Nation for what it really was, and hated himself for a long time. He'd eventually track down the surviving Aang and his team, and abandon the Fire Nation once and for all.

LZ: Not to finish his years-long rivalry, but to ask for forgiveness. He would betray the Fire Nation, teach Aang firebending, and attempt to learn how to be a good person. They did need him, after all, if they were to stop Ozai before Sozin's Comet, an astrological phenomenon that raises the power of all firebenders, arrived in mere months and the world was doomed.

TWO: Which Team Avatar accepted with open arms! …Hah.

LZ: Yeah, no. It took a lot for them to even begin to consider Zuko and what he had been through, and even when he did finally join, mistrust was rampant. But Zuko was genuine, and even though he wasn't good at being, well, good, when has that ever stopped him before?

TWO: Losing his anger and passion meant losing his ability to firebend, though, so he took a little trip to the island of the Sun Warriors, the original birthplace of firebending. There, his worthiness was judged by two dragons, Hobbs and Shaw- er, Ren and Shaw, and hey, character arc worth, I guess, because they were like "yeah, man, you cool" and gave him their own firebending, coming from life instead of emotion.

LZ: After having his will to fight and firebending power restored by the two dragons, Zuko's firebending prowess increased even further. Rather than the fire he used throughout his entire life up until this point, he gained dragonfire, a variant that replicates the breath of the primordial forces of fire itself. This is the kind that Iroh used, and would enhance Zuko's strength to levels he had never before seen.

TWO: Never before seen until Sozin's Comet showed up!

LZ: Under the glow of the comet, Zuko's firebending power, along with that of all firebenders, skyrocketed dramatically. Even a single firebender could eradicate forests, cities, entire armies, and it allowed Iroh to blast through the impenetrable walls of Ba Sing Se. This is a city Iroh worked for months with a full army of firebenders to breach. Under Sozin's Comet, the wall fell to a single fiery blast. And that was the day Zuko was to face his final, true opponent: his sister, the new Fire Lord, Azula.

TWO: He fought, blow-for-blow, against Azula on the day of Sozin's Comet, and matched her power exactly. Which is crazy, 'cuz not only is Azula super-strong, but on a day like this, landing one hit would have killed either of them! Afterwards, Azula fought and held her own for a bit against Katara, who's pretty much the strongest non-Avatar bender in history![4]

LZ: While scaling them to her greatest feats is questionable, even on bad days Katara can control the individual drops of a rainstorm, wipe out entire armadas of ships with just a wave of her hand, and she could manipulate mountain-sized clouds even before she initially trained in waterbending. Under Sozin's Comet, Zuko's bending power should be close to that.

TWO: Yeah, because he can throw lightning bolts around!

LZ: Lightningbending is the most powerful sub-skill of firebending, and can only be performed by those who are exceedingly skilled at bending, have peace of mind, and an excellent control of their chi. When using it, a firebender guides the chi of the air around them to channel through their body, coming out of their fingertips as pure electricity. Should this electricity strike an opponent, it will instantly kill them, regardless of power or defense.

TWO: Even Aang's Avatar State super-mode, which is powerful enough to shuffle islands around, dies to a single blast of lightningbending. This stuff is no joke.

LZ: This is one of the reasons both Ozai and Azula were considered so dangerous; they were powerful enough to use such an ability relentlessly, as part of their standard arsenal.

TWO: Zuko learned how to do it when he went into Iroh's more-advanced training, but couldn't perform the technique. He had tons of firebending experience and enough chi to match the actual Avatar, sure, but his conflicting emotions and loyalties meant that the lightning literally kept blowing up in his face.

LZ: So, instead, Zuko was taught another secret technique: energy redirection. By taking lightning into himself directly through one hand, he can transfer it through his chakras and release it through the other hand, either to strike the attacker or to dissipate harmlessly.

TWO: He's done this against both Ozai and Azula, and even taught the technique to Aang. And reacting to electricity moving through a path-of-least-resistance through the air would mean reacting to something with the literal speed of a lightning bolt; over 220,000 MPH! Iroh's also redirected an actual bolt of lightning, and when Zuko first learned it, he headed to the nearest thunderstorm to practice. That was the thing you saw earlier. So, it should absolutely be the same speed.

LZ: And, after joining Team Avatar, rescuing his mother, and accepting himself, Zuko's path to inner peace was complete. With all three requirements fulfilled and direct training on doing so from a firebender just as skilled as Ozai, there's no reason current Zuko shouldn't be able to lightningbend in the same manner as Ozai or Azula.

TWO: Especially since he's gotten even better than Azula at firebending in the post-game. His dragonfire in the comics can hit all of the spectrums of color and power, not just blue, and his basic orange fire was matching Azula's blue even in their Comet duel! So, when using violet or white fire, his power should be off the charts![5]

LZ: Even when using basic orange dragonfire, Zuko's command over it is nearly awe-inspiring. He can charge it like ki to produce more powerful blasts, regulate his or others' body temperature to function even within cold areas (which most firebenders are weak to),[6] sense changes in the weather, or produce jet-like fire from his feet to fly through the air like a rocket. Other non-dragonfire firebenders can easily melt through a solid iron door, so just imagine how hot Zuko's white dragonfire must be.

TWO: When Iroh got and mastered the stuff, he was so powerful, he was compared in power to an actual dragon. And even though these drakes might just look like big reptiles, they're actually ancient spirits, manifestations of energy, life, and fire itself.[7] Other spirits can do things like grow entire forests or pull around buildings the size of a town, and Zuko got even more experience using this stuff than his uncle did!

LZ: However, this is not to say that Zuko's firebending prowess ever surpassed his uncle's, or even Ozai. It likely didn't. While he matched blows with Aang throughout much of their time as rivals, the discrepancy was clear: Aang was the Avatar, bridge between all mortal and spiritual life, and Zuko was simply a young man on a troublesome path. The ending he received was not at all what he envisioned, for what ultimately mattered was not power, but purpose. He even nearly gave his life in his duel against Azula, sacrificing his pride, his passion, and his dreams, to save a single innocent bystander from her lightningbending. It was only after he gave up his ambition and sought to restore balance in the world, supporting Aang as a teacher and a friend, that he became worthy of the mantle of Fire Lord.

TWO: I mean, with Ozai and Azula defeated, someone had to take it. Sure, Iroh coulda, but then he wouldn't have time for hanging out at tea shops and being the emotional father to everyone who grew up in the mid-2000s. So, of course, it had to be Zuko.

LZ: He certainly has his weaknesses. Even now that he is emotionally balanced and has a good sense of priorities, his physical abilities aren't quite as tippity-top as he might like them to be. Like most benders, underneath all his power is a simple mortal man. His speed may be great, but in terms of taking hits, he's no different than you or I.

TWO: Um, no. Don't get me wrong; he ain't surviving anything close to what he can dish out. But humans in Avatar-land are way stronger than in our world, and Zuko's big-time even there. He can cleave stone and even snap steel with his bare hands, and he once survived an entire battleship exploding on top of him! But, yeah, most of the bending hits he takes were meant to be non-lethal. When a bender wants to kill someone, usually, they do.[8] But to the new Fire Lord, none of that really matters.

LZ: Zuko's entire life has been one of duality. Honor and Balance. Self and Others. Two swords, one motion, two eyes, one scar. Overcoming this took years, and the emotional tolls were sometimes so powerful he would hover between life and death for days from mental anguish alone. But he overcame. He worked. He found his one path. And following this path of humility led his nation into an age never seen before.

TWO: Should've fought Vegeta.

LZ: Yes, he- what? That doesn't… what?

In battle against the earthbender Gow, Zuko uses his swords to slice through several rocks the hammer-wielding man bats at him. Defending himself is a greater struggle than he expected, as the soldier raises a clod of stone with his hammer and hurls it at the young prince.

The crowd of onlookers begin calling out, warning him of attacks, but it only distracts the firebender, who manages to barely block the next eight blows. Then the earthbender strikes the ground while he is still recovering, sending a wave of broken ground to the prince, exploding under his feet as a multitude of jutted rocks that knocks him down.

Zuko lands hard on his back.

He's taken back to when he was very young, and suddenly woken up by his mother. He didn't understand fully what she was saying, but he remembered, right before she left, she said something to him:

"Remember this, Zuko. No matter how things may seem to change, never forget who you are."

The crowd gasps as they see Zuko lying on the ground, unconscious. A young boy whispers to him. "Get up…"

As Gow walks closer, ready to end his life, Zuko's eyes burst open. He spins around, raising himself while producing an omnidirectional burst of fire. The flames set fire to the nearby houses and knock Gow over a dozen meters back, causing him to drop his weapons with a cry of pain.

Zuko stands in a fiery aura as the once-cheering crowd watches, suddenly silenced in fear of the firebender. Zuko slashes the air in front of him, creating waves and balls of fire that pelt Gow until he's slammed into a wall. In only a few seconds, he has been defeated.

As Zuko walks up to retrieve what was stolen, Gow asks fearfully "Who… who are you?"

Zuko answers proudly. "My name is Zuko. Son of Ursa and Fire Lord Ozai." He sheaths his swords. "Prince of the Fire Nation, and Heir to the Throne!"

Zuko:

Name: 豎髙
~Phonetically "Zoo-kow", other translations include: "Standing Tall", "Of True Rank", and "Robber of Ancestor's Honor"

Species: Human

Height: 5'3 / 160 cm

Weight: Approx. 140 lbs / 63.5 kg

Age: 18

Occupation: Fire Lord

Member of Team Avatar

Gifted Sungi Horn player

Got dumped by Mai thrice

~That's rough, buddy

Abilities:

Slightly superhuman stats

Incredible endurance

"Above Average" hearing

Expert Swordsman

~Uses Twin Dao Swords

Martial Arts

~Northern Shaolin Kung Fu

~Tai Chi

~Dancing Dragon

Firebending

~Fire Whips

~Fire Blade

~Fire Strike

~Fire Stream

~Blazing Rings

~Fire Bomb

~Fireball

~Big Fireball

~Flame Wall

~Charged Attacks

~Finger Guns

~Dragon Breath

~Jet Propulsion

~Lightningbending

~Energy Redirection

Dragonfire

Feats:

Defeated Sokka, Jet, Suki, Gow, Admiral Zhao, Kori, Master Wei, Azula

Defeated Aang when he could use three elements

Defeated the Rough Rhinos w/ Iroh

Matched Azula in firebending combat, later defeated her twice

In the Into the Inferno video game, defeated Azula and Ty Lee simultaneously

Survived the explosion of a metal battleship while he was aboard

Broke a steel chain with a kick

Ran on a wall

Redirected lightning from Ozai and Azula

Leapt in front of a lightning bolt Azula fired from over two meters away, still redirected it

Swords sliced through steel chains without making sound

Swordplay defeated several firebenders at once and equalled Jet

Blocked attacks from Combustion Man

Deemed worthy by Ran and Shaw

With dragonfire, can use green, blue, violet, and white flames

Firebending exactly matched Aang's airbending, which can split mountains

Faster reaction time than Sokka, who dodged arrows from a Yu Yan Archer from less than two meters away

Created a tornado made out of fire

Could have killed Ozai, actively chose not to

Survived drifting at sea with no food or water for three weeks straight

Melted blue ice while underwater

As the Blue Spirit, freed Aang from imprisonment, located Lake Laogai, and became one of the Fire Nation's most wanted

w/ Sozin's Comet, powerful enough to match Katara and breach Ba Sing Se with a single attack

Attained the throne of Fire Lord

Weaknesses:

Defeated by Combustion Man, Ultimaton, Ghazan, Katara

Prone to emotional manipulation

Struggles against earthbending

Relatively typical physique

Stealth can be seen through

Less effective in very cold areas

Requires both movement and breath to firebend

Special Notes:

[1] While the official Avatar cookbook states that Zuko never learned to use firebending through his mouth, evidence within the series suggests otherwise. The Breath of Fire is a lower-level technique of the same dragon-breathing Iroh was capable of, he demonstrated some form of invisible limbless firebending when frozen behind ice, he has absorbed heat through both his mouth and limbs, and firebenders he is stated to be superior to have used dragon-breathing before.

[2] Aang's airbending has also moved clouds, which, using kinetic energy, would take around 3.27 Megatons of TNT. Splitting the mountain is harder to calculate, given that the size of the mountain varies in panels and is never clearly shown to begin with, but even the lower estimates reach over 6.7 Megatons of TNT!

[3] Despite his mastery over firebending and chi, Zuko has never shown use of combustionbending, even in his old age when facing another combustionbender, which implies that he is incapable of the technique at all. It is likely genetically inclined, such as moonless bloodbending and lavabending.

[4] While it is implied that the reason Zuko was able to match Azula during Sozin's Comet is because she was mentally unbalanced at the time, in later comics he was able to easily dodge many of her attacks and defeated her twice. He matched her exactly during their brief spar in the Southern Raiders pre-Comet, and in Smoke and Shadow when she was more powerful than ever before. In the video games, he has beaten her twice, once while she was assisted by Ty Lee. Scaling the two should be reasonable.

[5] Zuko demonstrated this while protecting his mother's carriage against insurrectionist firebenders. Not only was he able to extinguish their flames, but he formed a fire-based tornado surrounding the carriage without any of the inhabitants feeling the heat. This tornado contained elements of red, green, and violet fire, and copious amounts of white fire surrounding it. This was directly confirmed to be mirroring the multicolored dragonfire dragons produce by the author in the comic's special edition release.

[6] While cold and humidity is normally such a weakness for firebenders that prisons even include rooms specifically made to remove firebending, Zuko's breathing techniques have shown to counteract this. Zuko has been able to firebend even when completely drenched, at the North Pole while suffering from hypothermia, when frozen in ice by waterbenders, and when placed inside one of those same prison rooms within the Boiling Rock.

[7] It should be noted that while the original show paints dragons as intelligent animals, Legend of Korra displays them as spiritual beings, in line with library foxes and lion turtles.

[8] While Zuko once survived a hit of lightningbending, this lightning had been redirected through benders twice, and likely nullified in power. As no other character has ever survived a hit except through extremely specific means, this is the most likely explanation. He did not directly take Azula's lightning during their Agni Kai; as is clearly shown after the hit lands, he redirected the majority of it into the sky before taking damage.

…

Roy Mustang

LZ: The country of Amestris has had a long and storied history with war.

TWO: Starting out with the most relevant of topics, I see.

LZ: Originally starting out as a small nation, it fought and tore its way through innumerable battles to become one of the world's great powerhouses. To do so, it relied on alchemists, people who could manipulate the elements around them to perform miraculous feats of nature. Such as the well-known upstart, the ambitious and powerful Colonel Roy Mustang.

TWO: Woah, that- I really expected you to go on for, like, six paragraphs without even mentioning the guy. Anyway, Roy here is pretty much the pinnacle of what Amestris is most proud of. He mastered the fundamentals of alchemy at just twenty under the tutelage of the dying master alchemist: Berthold Hawkeye. And was immediately good enough to become a State Alchemist, which only the best of the best of these guys can hope for. But despite already being pretty darn great at everything involving magic circles, he wasn't satisfied.

LZ: After joining the Amestrian Military, Mustang went back to his former master to unlock the last remaining secret he had: the legendary art of Flame Alchemy. But Berthold didn't like that idea so much. Mustang had been a studious pupil, a good friend, and an all-around standup guy, but he had what Berthold considered one fatal flaw: he was a patriot, through and through. He firmly believed that State Alchemists helped the nation, that its wars were fought for justice, and that his acceptance into the military was one of the noblest paths his life could take.

TWO: Berthy'd figured out long ago that all this government stuff was a sham to grab more power, and dreaded the idea of anyone in that military having Flame Alchemy, because that version is the craziest, most dangerous alchemy of them all. But, well, he was dying. And if anybody were to have it, Roy wasn't the worst pick.

LZ: So, right before he died, Berthold entrusted Mustang with the secrets of his research, under the stipulation that it would be used to protect others (and protect his daughter, but that doesn't matter here). Armed with this new knowledge, Mustang returned for his ranking, and earned the official military title of Major Roy Mustang, the Flame Alchemist.

TWO: Let's go over alchemy a bit. Alchemy is the magic-

LZ: SCIENCE.

TWO: The science of transforming objects into other objects that're made up of the same materials. An alchemist draws a reseijin (a circle with very specific patterns drawn inside), charges it with willpower, and does things like turn sandstone into marble, repair a broken radio, or enhance their statblock.

LZ: Specifically, Amestrians use the encompassing style of Vibrational Alchemy, where drawing reseijins guides the energy of the vibrations of the Earth's crust to empower their transmutations. This means that every single transmutation requires a different on-the-fly reseijin, which alchemists can only figure out by mastering chemistry, biology, and mathematics well enough to perform complex equations in a fraction of a second.

TWO: Naturally with a stipulation like that, most alchemists, once they get used to basic material transmutations, pick out one specific art of alchemy to master. Roy's art of choice, of course, is Flame Alchemy. And it might be the most powerful alchemy there is.

LZ: Flame Alchemy is a manipulation of the gasses in the air around the user to transmit sparks between air molecules and ignite oxygen through a reverse charge of the spark, creating massive flaming explosions effectively wherever the user wishes. It's nearly impossible to dodge such an attack; the spark follows ionized trails of oxygen through the air, making it as fast as a bolt of lightning, and the reverse-wave that causes the explosion expands at nearly a third the speed of light. This art is so dangerous, Mustang actually destroyed the research notes after he mastered them, so that this power would never fall into the wrong hands, making him the only user of the art in Amestris.

TWO: Roy makes the sparks by using special gloves, which already have flame alchemy reseijins drawn on them and ignites a spark with a sharp rub of the fingers. Which means that Roy has become famous for his method of execution. If you see Roy Mustang raise his hand and snap his fingers, you know that someone, somewhere, has just died.

Roy observes the white room in front of him, filled with friends fighting for their lives against hundreds of nigh-immortal zombie-like mannequins. As more pour in, the heroes are completely overwhelmed.

Mustang scans the room, nods, and snaps his fingers.

Instantly, massive walls of flame erupt all over the room, perfectly situated to avoid his friends while capturing every mannequin in waves of fire. When the air clears and the screaming stops, there's nothing left of the once-invincible army but ash.

LZ: Just three years later, Mustang joined the battlefield of the bloody Ishvalin War of Extermination, under a decree that sent all State Alchemists into the war with the intent of firmly ending it. In no time at all, he became a legend for his ability to end every battle before it even began with nothing but the snap of his fingers.

TWO: Even though he was supposed to just be helping people, Roy was really, really good at killing folks. And the Amestrian government he was so loyal to figured that out real quick and put him everywhere they could. Tales around the country grew of the alchemist who could create walls of fire that would kill anyone who was nearby, launch fireballs that melted everything they touched, and could throw jets of flames like weapons. The dude was unstoppable.

LZ: After ending the war's final battle nearly single-handedly, he was labeled the Hero of Ishval and gained fame and notoriety across the world. He was promoted to Colonel at the age of 26, the youngest in the history of the country, and gained near-autonomous control over a fifth of the nation's military. But the war had changed Mustang.

TWO: See, most Amestrians thought that the war was fought to stop a large rebellion from destroying the country, but it was really just a mass murder of the entire Ishvalin race. I mean, sure, they tried to defend themselves, but it was a total bloodbath, and Roy being the hero of the war just meant that he killed the most innocent people. Well. Ain't that peachy.

LZ: Mustang's time during the war slowly unveiled the horrors such "heroism" entailed. He saw friends die and enemies tortured. Temples fell and cities burned. And every time he snapped his fingers, untold lives, each a story that ended without warning, were gone.

TWO: Geez, that'll strip your delusions down fine. That guy must've been a wreck.

LZ: Mentally, he was, for a while, but Mustang eventually came to terms with this and decided he would do the only thing he could to atone for his sins. He set his sights on achieving the throne of Fuhrer, making peace with all their neighbors, and changing the country from within. With his keen instincts and analytical mind off the war and on the throne, he set in motion many events that would shake the foundation of the country forever.

TWO: Roy's an expert in combat, both on and off the battlefield. He's a super-good martial artist, able to take out entire mercenary bands without using any alchemy. He easily outmatched the Fullmetal Alchemist, Edward Elric, in a duel. And that's no small feat, 'cuz in the novel "The Valley of White Petals," Ed humiliated Wisteria's best warrior, Ruby, in pure hand-to-hand combat, no alchemy needed. And this isn't some minor street fighter or anything; Wisteria was stated to have the military might to match the entire nation of Amestris!

LZ: Beyond that, his Flame Alchemy is extremely impressive. He completely mastered the art over the course of the Ishvalin Civil War, and as such can manipulate the explosion's size, space, distance, and power however he wishes. His skill is great enough to turn a dummy of a human body to ash with an explosion twice the size of a four-story building, but leave the woman standing right next to the dummy completely untouched.

TWO: His explosions can encompass entire cities and reach taller than factory smokestacks, but are precise enough to ignite inside a foe's nostril, or even their eyes! Geez, how does anybody win against this guy?

LZ: They don't. At least, not if he's going all-out. However, after the war, part of his instability manifested itself as an aversion to killing. Should he become the murderer he was in Ishval, he would never be fit to rule, for Amestris would only grow more corrupt. The problem is, given the nature of his alchemy, this more or less removes around 90% of his arsenal.

TWO: But when he's ready to end you, almost nobody can get near this guy without blowing up. His gloves work in tandem with each other, too, thanks to their different symbols; the left one is for power, and the right is for pinpoint aiming. And when he uses one to alter the properties of the other, stuff can get crazy. While explosions, flaming walls, and flamethrower-like bursts are all he's ever directly been shown to do in the original manga, it's been heavily implied that he can do way the heck more with his flames, with a lot of folks talking about such feats off-screen. Luckily, we have video games, novels, and alternative anime to fill in the gaps.

LZ: According to these stories, Mustang can use fire like a torch, throw dozens of fireballs, or drop his fire to the ground and let it travel like flaming snakes. He can light his limbs on fire for extra power, cause giant pillars of flame to erupt from the ground under enemies, or create multiple smaller ones that surround him and rush away, exploding upon contact with anything. He can even create dozens of floating balls of living flame that act as landmines he can set off at any time, or form several tornadoes. Made of fire. All with the snap of his fingers. And he can always invent new techniques if he finds himself trapped in a corner.

TWO: Roy isn't just powerful. He's also a genius, with a tactical mind like nobody else around. Even when surrounded by prodigies and brilliant scientists, he stands head-and-shoulders above the rest. Like when three super-geniuses, Lieutenant Riza, Edward Elric, and Alphonse, all once investigated an incident about an old town where alchemists were gathering. The three were there for months, and couldn't find out much of anything. Pretty crazy, since all of 'em were genius battle tacticians and were doing college-level science when they were toddlers.

LZ: But Mustang walked in and figured out the real enemy, the actual threat, and the big secret of the alchemists and their leader all in less than five minutes.

TWO: So, the government probably should've thought twice about giving someone that smart so much power. It wasn't long before he began to notice little things wrong with how they were performing their duties, and small holes in their excuses. A little research here, a little dabbling there, and Roy was soon opening up an big-time millennium-old conspiracy.

LZ: It turns out, the entire country was founded by an ancient demon-like creature named "Father" who sacrificed a previous country to give himself immortality, and now wanted the Power of God. Every war Amestris fought, every expansion it made, every political movement it created, was all for one purpose: to form a giant reseijin that would sacrifice the millions of lives of the Amestrians and open a moon-sized Portal of Truth.

TWO: Um, the Portal of Truth is a spiritual gateway that can only be opened through specific transmutations and leads to the source of all alchemy, and also to Truth, who's basically God. Anyway, the point was to get five alchemists who'd survived opening the portal and use them in an ritual to bring God to Earth, at which point Father could use the energy of the fifty million or so people in the country to take his powers and be, you know, omnipotent and stuff. Father even made a bunch of homunculi monsters out of his emotions to help out. Even the Fuhrer of the country, King Bradley, was actually the homunculus Wrath. Spoilers, I guess. Kinda crazy that Roy managed to figure this out.

LZ: Yes, but in line with his other accomplishments. Like when the homunculi killed his best friend, Hughes, and set up the soldier Maria Ross to take the fall. Mustang immediately saw through the ruse, and replied within the day with his own complex ruse that led to Maria Ross being assumed dead and sent to another country while he manipulated the homunculi into showing themselves so he could take them down.

TWO: Or when he created a strategy for his dozen or so regular human troops to take out an entire literal fully armed army head-on without him, and it succeeded. An army with giant crab mech suits, by the way. The games got weird. Or, when he had an entire conversation with Riza that was encoded so well, not even Pride, a centuries-old shadow creature with tons of military experience, figured out they were doing anything other than making small talk.

LZ: Or how about how he straight-up pretended to be a major womanizer for years on end, constantly on dates and flirting with every girl he saw, and then it turned out that all of it, every date he was on and every girl he flirted with, was actually exchanging coded secret information from a vast spy network he'd set up around the country! Because, yes, that happened!

TWO: Geez! Well, outside of mindgames, Roy's just as awesome. He's killed two homunculi, both of which were supposed to be immortal since they could regenerate their body from ashes, physically matched multiple former Fuhrer candidates that had literally been trained to be the world's strongest soldiers, and, alongside another State Alchemist, defeated over a hundred rogue alchemists at once! Plus, his fire is crazy-hot, capable of melting armored vehicles and, in Dual Sympathy, vaporizing iron cannonballs before they even touch his flame wall! And the best part? After Roy was physically forced to go through the Portal of Truth by Father, he was granted a brand-new encompassing style of alchemy. Bye-bye, regular old Vibrational Alchemy, 'cuz True Alchemy is the best that it gets!

LZ: With True Alchemy, Mustang was granted the ability to use all of his alchemy without a reseijin. He can simply clap his hands and perform whatever alchemy he knows. This was enhanced even further after Scar lifted the alchemical blocks Father had placed around the country, vastly increasing the potential of every Vibrational and True Alchemist in the world.[1]

TWO: And don't forget, Flame Alchemy isn't all Roy's got up his gloves. He's mastered Material Alchemy, too!

LZ: According to bonus manga chapters (and the video games), Mustang's Material Alchemy is close to the level of that of Edward Elric even while Ed was using it through the umbrella of True Alchemy. Edward's mastery over Material Alchemy is incredible; he's capable of transforming a lamppost into a military tank, forming laser beams from dust particles, and making exploding concrete horses that fight alongside him. No joke.

TWO: When he fought Paninya, the two almost destroyed an entire city. So Ed just rebuilt it, every building, room, street, and all, with a single clap of alchemy! And Roy matches all that BEFORE going through the Portal!

LZ: The Portal of Truth grants every alchemist that travels through power far exceeding what they previously had. When Alphonse, the Armored Alchemist, ventured through the portal, he had his memories of the time sealed away. He spent most of his life as a regular alchemist, only able to make a cage or manipulate a dirt hill. But once his memories unlocked, he actually became more powerful than Edward!

TWO: So just imagine the boost someone already on Ed's level gets, and then the boost after that from unlocking the vibration-whatevers! Roy's power's gotta be amazing!

LZ: Enough to, say, forge a wall that blocked a fireball attack from Father when he held the Power of God. In this same state, he was capable of moving the moon and easily creating small stars with an energy of 22.8 Petatons of TNT!

TWO: Well, that was when he had control over it 'cuz of the 50 Million souls in Amestris. After Hohenheim reversed that, he was left with only about five hundred thousand. So the power level here should be lower. But still, Father could sneeze 30 Kiloton attacks and his energy barriers could tank firepower from an army and all of the strongest alchemists on the planet at once, so blocking hits from him and forcing him to take you seriously is still crazy.

LZ: Father isn't the only one Mustang has fought. He's curbstomped both Edward and Alphonse at the same time, took out Gael, who can throw around trains, and defeated Balerea Dell, a rogue alchemist who used his invented Blood Alchemy to transform into a horrific shapeshifting monster-

TWO: It's Carnage, they just whole-hog ripped off Carnage.[2]

LZ: With his incredible precision, tactics, and power, Mustang has gone up against many of the most powerful beings in his world. Including High Priest Zelgius, who used Flame Alchemy in a similar manner to Mustang. The two were able to counter each other's alchemy by manipulating the pathways of their sparks before they reached each other, meaning that Mustang had to be reacting to energy as fast as a bolt of lightning. Mustang has also preemptively set off or changed the effects of his sparks mid-flight many times, which confirms said speeds in-canon.

TWO: There's actually plenty of support putting him on that level. Like how another alchemist he's strictly said to be better than, Aston Martins, had his whole thing be that he's able to create and channel lightning, no problem. Or how he matched the best non-alchemist warrior in the country, Olivier Armstrong, in a bonus level of To The Promised Day (which generally closely follows the original manga). And she can dodge ramming from Sloth, whose entire superpower is being faster than every other homunculus![3]

LZ: However, Zelgius was a different case. While Amestrians, including Mustang at the time, used the encompassing alchemical style of Vibrational Alchemy, Zelgius used Velzanian Alchemy. Velzanian Alchemy feeds upon the user's own soul to empower their alchemical abilities, and, if all the Philosopher's Stones in this story didn't tell you already, the power granted by a soul is far above that of any other in this world.

TWO: So, Roy should've been completely destroyed. Even a single hit would've killed him! But, instead, he fought smart and got Zelgius to, over time, eat away his entire soul by overextending his powers. When the dawn broke, an untouched Zelgius literally withered away, his soul not being able to keep up the fight any longer.[4]

LZ: But all this power only made Mustang's struggles with his morality even harder. Discovering the country he had devoted himself to was rotten to the core, even from its founding, shook him badly, and while he initially managed to contain his emotions over the passing of his best friend, the impact of Hughes' death would manifest in dark ways to challenge him in methods no human could.

TWO: Like when he finally tracked down the guy that killed Hughes, the immortal homunculus Envy. Roy resolved that, whether or not he could kill him, he would make it so Envy wished he could die. That'd be no easy feat, because this was a guy who could crush Ed's bones and tank blasts of even Destruction Alchemy! But with a snap of his fingers, Roy could melt Envy's eyes out, set fire to his lungs, cause his blood to boil, or scorch away his tongue.

LZ: And, after draining his immortality away, Mustang had to be held back by his friends and enemies alike so he would not cross the thin barrier that separated soldier and murderer.

TWO: So, yeah, you do NOT want to mess with him. Unless you're faster than lightning. Or immune to fire. Or have the Power of God. Or if you can really just get up-close in general. Roy's a great martial artist, sure, but he has to be, cause his body's just as wimpy as a regular guy's.

LZ: Not just as wimpy. He's survived bullets, explosions, attacks from chimera that can bite through steel, and can punch through sandstone boulders. But his physical stats don't even approach what he's capable of with his alchemy. Should an opponent manage a surprise attack, they could kill Mustang before he has the chance to snap his fingers or clap his hands.

TWO: But when he has a goal in his sights, nothing will keep him from accomplishing it. When he confronted his first ever homunculus, Lust, she used her Ultimate Spear to tear through his weapons and doused him with water (which was a weakness back in the day),[5] so he turned the water into hydrogen gas and blew her up with it, reducing her to dust.

LZ: Imagine his surprise when she completely regenerated and attacked him, impaling him twice through the stomach, tearing up his gloves to prevent him from using alchemy, and then leaving him to bleed out while she went off to murder his crew.

TWO: So, he was on the ground, having lost most of his blood, with no alchemy or healing possible. Think that stopped him? Nope! Instead, he used a broken piece of glass to carve a flame reseijin into his hand, cauterized his open wounds with his own fire, grabbed a cigarette lighter, and chased Lust down. When he finally reached her, he blew her up in an explosion so big, it incinerated her entire body. Then he did it again, and again, and again, over and over, until this hypersonic immortal homunculi finally died for good. All while he was under pain so intense, he was on the verge of passing out!

LZ: And, when all was said and done, Mustang led a large group of powerful warriors in a coup to take back the country and defeat Father. Even though he was found out partway through his plans and Father prepared for months to catch and destroy the lot of them, Mustang's strategic prowess far exceeded their expectations, and, with the assistance of several other alchemists and a couple of small armies, he was ultimately victorious.

TWO: Hold on, he killed Lust (and a bunch of other bad guys), but killing Envy is a step too far? Does this guy not, you know, understand his own no-killing rule?!

LZ: It's not quite that he or his friends consider killing inherently immoral, but rather that this moment against Envy was ensuring that Mustang could not, no matter how stressed or enraged he became, possibly take joy in being the person that he once was. They could not put another man on the throne who was judge, jury, and executioner, or this new country they were trying to form would again rot from its very foundation. In fact, after facing the darkness within, Mustang gave up the throne for a time, instead traveling the world, proclaiming peace and forming treaties, working to undo the centuries of war and hate between Amestris and all surrounding nations. Only then, at long last, was he worthy of taking the title of Fuhrer.

TWO: Hm, fair. Maybe not the Hero of Ishval, but Colonel Roy Mustang became his own kind of hero. With him leading them, Amestris' future is brighter than ever.

Colonel Mustang, Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye, and Major Alex Louis Armstrong all sit inside of Mustang's car, having recently found out that their Fuhrer was a homunculus, and after Roy had all of his most trusted allies stripped away from him.

Mustang finishes telling them of his visit to the Fuhrer and all the events that have transpired. Riza takes note of something. "You're surprisingly confident, sir."

Roy nods and looks down at his scarred hand. "It's… a bit like when I fought the homunculus Lust," he explains. He smiles confidently.

"I'm called many names. 'Human Weapon.' 'Monster.' But it's only when I'm fighting a REAL monster…"

A fierce glimmer enters his eyes.

"…that I truly feel human."

Roy Mustang:

Name: Roy Mustang

Species: Human

Height: 5'8"/173 cm

Weight: 150 lb/68 kg

Age: 32

Occupation: Fuhrer

State Alchemist Title: Flame

Occasionally carries a sword, but has never used it

Absolutely terrible at peeling vegetables

Once led a ghost-busting expedition with all his best men, only to find out that the ghost was just a dog

Abilities:

Beyond Genius-Level Intelligence

Superhuman Speed

Superhuman Strength

Superhuman Durability

Superhuman Agility

Martial Arts

-On par with the the best fighters on the planet

Expert Shot with both pistol and shotgun

Extreme Proficiency in Flame Alchemy

~Sparks

~Explosions

~Fireballs

~Flame Walls

~Flame Constructs

~Flame Tornado

~Traveling Flame

~Flame Streams

~Tracking Flame

~Flame Alight

~Flame Absorption

~Flame Geyser

~Flame Meteors

~Plasma Mines

~Flame Dragon

Vibrational Alchemy

~Material Alchemy

~Gaseous Alchemy

~Liquid Alchemy

~Healing Alchemy

~Human Alchemy

True Alchemy

Feats:

Defeated Zelgius, Edward Elric, Lust, Envy, Gluttony, Balerea Dell

First human in the history of mankind to kill a homunculus

Defeated Gael, who can shove and throw train cars

Took out three trained mercenaries by himself without alchemy

Kept up physically with an alchemist using enhancement alchemy

Literally staged a coup on the government, while they were expecting it, and pulled it off

Figured out a four-month-old mystery in one day

Dodged fire from Gael's machine guns

Punched apart sandstone blocks

In Broken Angel, recognizes the real enemy and threat after a mere glance, even though all others had been studying the area and people for months

w/ Major Armstrong, defeated over a hundred alchemists at once

Only person to recognize General Craigin's secret motivations and plans

Created an explosion that reached above four-story buildings, and yet managed to make a dummy the only thing hurt by it

Dodged Ultimate Spear, Zelgius' sparks, and Aston Martin's thunderbolts

Flame Alchemy code is said to be indecipherable to the average alchemist

Created explosions larger than cities and taller than factories, power plants, and smokestacks

Pride stated that Mustang is the most powerful State Alchemist

Heat from flames incinerated an iron cannonball before it reached his fire

Blocked a fireball from Power of God-enhanced Father

Comparable to General Armstrong, who dodged a speedy blow from Sloth

Champion of a competition that determines the best State Alchemist in the country

Material Alchemy was comparable to Edward Elric's even before entering the Portal of Truth

Physically matched and defeated multiple Fuhrer candidates w/o using alchemy

Not even Power of God-enhanced Father could dodge an explosion after it went off

In 2003 anime, defeated Fuhrer King Bradley

Attained the throne of Fuhrer

Weaknesses:

If enemy is immune to fire, most of his arsenal is useless

Ambition often overwhelms intelligence

Glass Cannon – durability isn't as great as other alchemists

Defeated by the combined forces of Edward Elric, Alphonse, Major Armstrong, and Corniche Royce

Never became Fuhrer in the manga for some reason, author had to clarify that he did in an interview

Special Notes:

[1] Going through the Portal of Truth specifically allows one to see "the truth of alchemy," giving them otherwise incomprehensible knowledge. When they use alchemy by clapping (or, more accurately, praying) they are actually using their own body's energy flow as the reseijin, and still must perform all the same calculations they normally would. Scar's barrier-breaking vastly reduced this limit, but it still applies to some degree. This knowledge is usually given in exchange for a toll, something inherent to the alchemists' beliefs and ideals. Roy specifically had his eyesight removed, so he could not see the future of his country. However, after the battle with Father, his eyesight was restored using a Philosopher's Stone, granting him all the benefits of True Alchemy with none of the drawbacks. He very explicitly did not keep this Stone, and would not wield it in a Death Battle.

[2] While the finishing blow was landed by an alchemist named Luon, Mustang's flames were the only reason anyone else stood a chance against Dell. It's directly shown within the light novel that any attack at the end would have finished Dell off, and Edward was planning on doing so with just a swipe from his arm-blade.

[3] During his battle against Jerso and Zampano, Edward was stated to be faster than Scar, who could react to Bradley's lightning-dodging, and Edward and Alphonse combined defeated Aston Martins themselves. In the 2003 anime, Roy Mustang himself kept up with and defeated Bradley. All of this continues to support Mustang being at or above this level of speed.

[4] Roy lost his first battle with Zelgius, and had to be saved by Edward and Alphonse. However, both of them together could not defeat Zelgius, even while under the protection of Sophie's Holy Symbol, while Roy did win their second match.

[5] While Roy used to be unable to use Flame Alchemy while wet, this was exclusively due to his wet gloves being unable to form sparks. With True Alchemy, this weakness should be circumvented.

…

All right, the combatants are set. Let's end this debate once and for all. It's time for a…

Death Battle!

…

In the dead of night, a large, ornately decorated building was silent but for the sound of a few supply trucks coming and going. The two guards at the entrance yawned at alternating intervals. The gate was barred. The dogs sniffed about. At the border of Amestris next to the Eastern Desert, the fifth vault of Amestris was sleepy.

And the Blue Spirit was almost inside.

It had held on under one of the trucks that had moved nearly a hundred kilometers from a small town in the west. It had slipped between the light of the moon, stayed crouched and silent behind a guard as he did his rounds, slipped a sleeping agent into the liquor of the two entrance guards, and spent the last week becoming good friends with the dogs that were set to be transferred here, who now only raised an ear when they approached before continuing their prowl.

Now, they waited until the leftmost guard shut his eyes for a fifteen-second nap. Always pick left, because everyone looks to their right first. They leapt across the outcrop station's roof as little more than a blue blur, and ducked into the entrance of the vault. There, they entered the 14-digit security code they had secretly lifted two weeks prior from a royal guard of the Furher's procession. The Fire Nation and Amestris had been in talks of a potential treaty as of late, but the Fire Lord had a condition that Amestris' Fuhrer refused to fulfill. Political tension made for thriving ground for a creature of the night.

The door unlocked and the Blue Spirit slipped inside. They passed several secure doors, following the map they'd memorized two days ago, and glided down two sets of earthen stairs. When they came to an elevator shaft, they skipped the device and climbed down the side with a set of detachable hooks.

Until finally, they approached what they were looking for. The library. They slipped inside, closed the door silently, and took fourteen steps towards the glass display.

And then every single candle in the room lit up at once and a swiveling chair where the glass display should have been turned to face him. And sitting on that chair, with a smug look on his face, was Fuhrer Roy Mustang.

"Well, well, well," Mustang cooed. He folded his gloved hands on his lap and crossed his feet. "Now, what is the legendary Blue Spirit doing in the closest vault to the Amestrian border?"

The blue-masked being spun its head to look for traps or would-be assassins. Finding none in the first few seconds, it launched two kunai at the former Colonel and leapt into the rafters, sprinting across them to escape. It was stopped at only the second rafter when the next three suddenly lit on fire.

"The entrance is already sealed," Mustang called out, "and the supply trucks are gone. Even if you did escape, the tracker you swallowed in your breakfast this morning will let us know your location for the next six hours."

The Blue Spirit turned around, its unmoving face belying any surprise or annoyance.

Mustang stood up. In each glove there was a single kunai that had barely stuck in; now, the alchemist calmly removed his gloves, revealing the thin sets of steel lining positioned at exactly the points where he'd predicted the Blue Spirit would strike. He carefully removed the knives and put his weapons back on. "So, you can try to escape again, or you can come down here and explain what you were after… Prince Zuko."

The Blue Spirit stiffened. It stopped all movement for a moment before quietly dropping from the rafters into the light, and there it removed its mask, revealing the firebender's scarred face. "In our country, using the title of former ranks is considered dishonorable."

Mustang shrugged; it was clear he had made the mistake intentionally. "Of course, Fire Lord. But my question still stands. What is the leader of an entire nation doing in a crypt like this?"

"I could ask you the same thing, Fuhrer," Zuko bounced back. "Bit late to be playing hide and seek, isn't it?"

Roy easily caught the double meaning. "If you thought you would find the secrets of Flame Alchemy in some vault, you don't know Amestris as well as you think you do."

"You have the power to grant anyone, regardless of rank, talent, or birth, the ability to bend the elements. Why would you keep that to yourselves?"

Roy tapped his fingers over each other. "Normally, we wouldn't have a problem sharing our knowledge of alchemy. But when it comes to nations that spent the last hundred years trying to enslave the planet, we make exceptions."

"I told you," Zuko nearly shouted back, face beginning to heat up. "It's not like that anymore! You wouldn't be looking for a treaty if it were, would you?"

Mustang pressed his lips together. "The Avatar trusts you. I still need proof. A treaty is acceptable. Sharing weapons of mass destruction is not."

"Fine!" Zuko did shout now. "You want to think the Fire Nation is still the same, then let's treat it like that! I challenge you to an Agni Kai!"

Roy's left eyebrow twitched. "That's rather rash, young Fire Lord. Are you willing to stake so much on a simple duel?"

"For centuries, political treaties were sealed by Agni Kai," Zuko replied, puffing up his shoulders and raising his head higher. "It is still considered a great honor in our land. You may refuse, and then we will be back where we started."

"And if I accept?"

Zuko unsheathed his swords and held them forward. Challenging, not threatening. "Me and you in a firebender's duel. If I win, we get the secrets of alchemy. If you win, you get your treaty. If you're worried about me honoring these terms, I can have the Avatar himself precede over the fight."

"I know better than to question a firebender's honor," Mustang replied cooly. "But I do seem to recall all Agni Kais ending in death. Or, in some cases," he nodded to the young Fire Lord's scar, "fates even worse."

"I have that under control," Zuko replied. "Don't forget, we're already allied with the Water Tribes. There's no harm we could do to each other that couldn't be fixed - including death."

Roy mulled it over for a minute before raising his head. "If that is the only way you will accept our treaty, then so be it. When and where?"

"I issued the challenge. You decide the time."

Mustang nodded. "Seems fair. Three days. Noon. Joint military base over Xerxes."

Zuko nodded back; this was where they had held negotiations last, so it would be easy to set up forces on both sides. "How do I leave?"

Roy smiled, and as he did a makeshift door opened inside the wall, carved with alchemy.

Did he plan all of this?

Zuko shook his head as he turned to leave. He paused only for a moment as he heard the Fuhrer's voice.

"Will you be bringing your swords?"

"Will you be bringing your gloves?" he shot back heatedly.

Mustang smiled. "See you soon, Fire Lord."

-FIGHT!-

Mustang jumped back and snapped his fingers, creating an explosion that blocked another fireball from striking him in the head. Another snap caused a wall of flames to spring up between the two of them, granting Mustang a little breathing room.

He glanced to his left, where both sides had their respective entourage standing back, ensuring that neither would be cheating in a win without consequences. His original Central crew was back, and Riza stood ahead of them, hand on her leftmost pistol holster and eyes constantly scanning the potential opposition. Said opposition, meanwhile, was composed of the famous Kyoshi Warriors, who acted far more relaxed and even seemed amused by the situation.

And between both teams, on chairs atop two earthbended pillars, overseeing the match, was the Avatar himself and his wife. The wife was clearly worried about something, while the Avatar was doing his best to pull a neutral expression. It was he who had created the arena Roy and Zuko were now fighting in; with only a single raise of his hand, no less.

If nothing else, he did have to grant one thing to the once-disgraced-prince: he knew how to find the most interesting of people and get them on his side.

Roy was jolted from his musing by the flame wall parting in half. Zuko leapt between the bent flames and punched the air in front of him four times mid-jump. Each strike created a head-sized orange fireball, an extension of his punches that could burn through Roy in an instant.

He managed to protect from the projectiles by creating a line-based explosion surrounding his front half, breaking the flow of air that allowed the fireballs to travel in a straight line and causing them to scatter in random directions. One headed towards his group, but the Avatar clenched a fist and the fireball was snuffed out mid-air.

Roy snapped his fingers, throwing a spark at Zuko, who dodged the electric wave with speed that greatly surprised Mustang. The explosion went off harmlessly some meters behind the already-moving Zuko as the firebender drew his blades and attempted to slice at the alchemist. Roy dodged to the left, trying to keep in Zuko's bad eye, and when the Fire Lord swung both blades down to catch his right arm, Roy reached out with a foot, catching Zuko mid-stance-change and tripping him forwards.

But Zuko was quite experienced, and where any other soldier would have fallen onto their stomach, he spun his remaining heel around and drove his airborne foot back into position with a burst of fire, ending with him catching the Fuhrer in a leg sweep of his own. Roy went down quickly, and snapped his fingers to save himself from the rightmost dao sword coming for his neck. A streamlined explosion shot straight from his right glove and through the blade, knocking it out of the firebender's hand and out of the arena.

Zuko gave his fallen blade a cursory glance and turned back to Roy. He stomped forward with a foot trailing red fire, but Mustang rolled out from under it and picked himself back up. Zuko channeled his breath of fire through his body and into his sword, causing it to heat up and become swallowed in orange fire. When Zuko swung the blade, rather than cutting through mere air, it launched several fireballs and flame arcs at Mustang, who snapped his left glove to repel each of them with an arena-sized arc of flame. When the arc reached Zuko, he simply cleaved it in half with an open palm.

Interesting, Mustang noted. I'd heard that all firebenders draw their power from intense emotion and call on it in battle, but he hasn't even opened his mouth once. Maybe he has a different source?

Zuko ran at Roy, chopping through the air several times as he did and throwing several more fire arcs. Roy easily avoided or dispersed each with just a snap of his fingers. He wasn't, however, prepared for Zuko throwing the sword at him mid-swing. He was nearly taken out just by that one move, but he'd seen plenty of unexpected tactics in his life, and learned to respond in kind. So when the blade was about to touch him, he instead struck its pommel with his open palm from the bottom, ceasing its momentum and causing it to spin sideways, drifting to the side of Roy and clattering to the floor.

There, Mustang snapped his fingers to melt the blade, but Zuko leapt into the way in time, stretching out his hand to take the spark into his own body through one set of fingertips and then out through the other, heading off the stage and exploding in the distance.

Huh. Never seen something like that before. I should remember this.

Zuko stood and picked up his blade. He studied it for a moment- and then tossed it out of the ring.

"An old heirloom. Didn't want it getting hurt," he explained.

He left out the other side of the explanation. He didn't fight with one sword. They were a set, made to be complete. Fighting with only one would be like only seeing out of one eye. Or, more understandable to him, only listening to one of the voices in his ears. It made him selective. Sloppy. And mistrusting.

So, instead, he took a pos-costal stance, flattening his palms, raising one to face the sky and the other to face his enemy before turning it inwards. A spurt of flame emerged in both hands before dying out quickly. He was challenging the Fuhrer to a dance of martial arts.

Which Roy accepted.

Mustang raised both his hands and held them open and diagonally opposed to each other before approaching the firebender. The two swayed forward and back in their stances for a moment before Mustang made the first move, thrusting his right arm forward to grab Zuko's elbow.

Zuko rolled with the motion, swinging his legs up with jets of fire to wheel his entire body over Roy's grasp, the sudden force and pressure twisting the alchemist's arm and carrying the rest of his body with it. Mustang went sideways into the air for a moment, but he, too, was an experienced martial artist, and righted himself to land on his feet.

Zuko launched a swing-kick at his ear to disorient him, but Roy blocked it with an open palm against his own head, blocking the kick, but still causing some pain to the ear as his hand was shoved into it. With his free hand, Mustang reached under the knee of the leg that was striking him, shoving his fingers into a nerve and causing a sudden shock of pain to the firebender.

Zuko spun on his shoulder and flipped up to right himself. When he did, he closed his palms into fists, and jets of orange fire spurted from the holes within each. With this technique, even if the Fuhrer were to block a hit that led to the hole facing him, Zuko could instantly expand the fire, burning through his opponent. He'd practiced against this form many times, and knew that Mustang had to be an incredible martial artist if he even wished to keep up with it.

Zuko literally leapt into action, swinging a right jab below the chin at Mustang right away. The idea was for the alchemist to catch the swing and force it backwards, thereby automatically causing the jet to face his chest for a brief moment. If he could manage that, he would win immediately. However, it looked like Roy had studied this trick, and didn't fall for it. Instead, he swung his own right arm upwards the moment Zuko passed his jab by, shoving the entire punch upwards and exposing Zuko's armpit, where his left hand jabbed into a pressure point.

Zuko had seen this trick before, though; Ty Lee was one of his royal guards. So he slammed his arm down, catching the strike before it could land and pinning Roy's arm to his torso. There, he dropped to the floor and rolled, swinging Roy to the ground as well and forcing the Fuhrer to land hard on his back. Once he heard the grunt of pain, Zuko wheeled his legs around, swinging to pin down the Amestrian and put his fire-ridden hand to his throat. But as he was still moving, Mustang snapped his fingers, creating an explosion in the air atop his body that would have severely burned Zuko if he had carried through on his plan.

Zuko jumped backwards, and Mustang leapt to his feet nearly as quickly. He snapped his fingers again, forming several pillars of flame to spew in front of him and rush forward, keeping the firebender away. The duel had turned to fire once again.

Zuko's eyes flashed.

He wants to play keep-away? Great. I've been saving something.

Fire grew from Zuko's hands and feet. Lightly, at first, but then it was strong… and then Zuko was flying. Above the arena, out of reach for any sort of melee or mid-range attacks Mustang might have wanted to do. He fired a single shot of flame at the alchemist, who easily blocked it before it even traveled three meters with an explosion. Mustang snapped both sets of fingers now, creating a dozen fire-borne worm-like structures in the air that raced ahead to track down the Fire Lord. And Zuko literally blew them away… with blue fire.

Mustang frowned and snapped his fingers. Instantly, a few green plasma-like balls of fire rose around him and began to meander around the air-borne battlefield. Mustang snapped both sets of fingers several more times, creating dozens of fiery mines. Approaching him now, even from the sky, would be suicide.

Which, to Zuko, was fine. He didn't need to get close any longer.

Zuko did gasp out something like a shout now when he punched, but what came out was no regular fireball. It was a full-on stream of blue fire, as deep and dark as Azula had ever done, and it burst through the mines, exploding each it touched with a deafening sound and a grand fire pillar, but this did not seem to slow the blue fire down at all. As it burned its way to Mustang, he was forced to use both gloves to create two simultaneous explosions. This finally put out the blue flame, but that was only one attack from Zuko.

Zuko held both his hands in a ying-yang circular shape and brought it to his side. There, a small lick of blue flame sprung up. A flame that slowly grew in intensity as the air itself began to boil. It wanted so desperately to escape as it grew stronger and stronger, but Zuko would not let it. Until the attack was fully charged, and the Fire Lord, living up to his title, threw his hands forwards and unleashed a beam of what looked almost like pure, blue energy. It was fire, Mustang knew, but it was by far the greatest fire he had ever known to exist.

So Roy threw both his arms out and snapped both sets of fingers, throwing out two explosions, not just rapid, but altered. These were the ones he was infamous for, the ones that burned the streets of Ishval, the ones that made others whisper in fear of the Flame Alchemist. These beam-like blasts of fire could have covered an entire city, but instead they concentrated, here and now, and punctured through the charged fireblast, dispersing the blue flame and washing Zuko's entire body in fire.

The fire vanished quickly, however, at Zuko's bending behest, and this revealed that the firebender had not a scratch on him due to him managing to put up a Fire Shield.

Zuko dropped to the ground and, in a move that reminded Roy a little of breakdancing, began spinning in circles while producing blue fire from each of his four limbs. The twisting of the fire continued as it spread into the air, and then patches of other colors began to appear, as well. Green, red, orange, and violet were all visible in small amounts as the funnel grew, and Roy realized too late that the Fire Lord was creating a tornado.

He responded in kind.

A few snaps of his gloves were all it took, and then there were two arena-spanning, funneling and spinning tornadoes of flame above the both of them. One blue, one orange, both roared, not attacking each other, but conjoining forces to make approaching the area dangerous. The arena began to shake, staked-down tents began to rise, and a nearby Fire Nation tank was lifted into the air and dropped between the two fighters. The Avatar even swung his staff once the suction began to affect the observers, putting out both tornadoes in an instant.

Once the sky cleared, Zuko charged up another fire blast. He sprouted flames from his feet, ready to take off again… but found the ground suddenly unwilling to give him up. He looked down in surprise, his charged attack dying in his hands, as his feet were inexplicably encased in marble.

"This arena is formed from sandstone, right?" Mustang called out. He smirked. "I'm sure you didn't forget that I could do more than make explosions."

Zuko bit his tongue before he could shoot back. He pulled on his leg, but the marble didn't let go. And now, Mustang made his way over to the broken tank, clapped his hands, and placed them on the war vehicle.

The steel of the tank melted and traveled to Zuko, forming an eight-meter-diameter circle around the firebender. Zuko tried to melt the marble off of his feet, but that only hardened it further. Another clap, and the steel reached up and surrounded Zuko, encapsulating the confused former prince in a steel dome. A dome with small vents at the top. Vents that were filtering out all the warm air and forcing down the moving, cooled air.

A perfect firebending-proof cooler, made with alchemy.

The steel dome surrounding the trapped Fire Lord, Mustang clapped his hands again and pressed them to the ground, opening a window into the structure. Too small for a human, but more than large enough for what he wanted. Roy snapped his fingers, and a spark left only a half-meter from his left glove before bursting into a stream of flame that made even the arena sag a little.

It rushed ahead until Mustang snapped his right fingers, adjusting the trajectory so the flames would enter into the makeshift cooler. As soon as they entered, the entire structure lit up in fire that licked out of the window, and the former prince shouted in what seemed to be pain.

Mustang heard the cry and nodded in confirmation. Then he clapped his hands, causing a rush of wind across the valley as the air rearranged itself, providing now only a passable atmosphere as all the spare oxygen in the city rushed with the fury of a storm into the dome. This was accomplished in only a few seconds, upon which Mustang held both his hands forward and snapped both sets of fingers, creating a visibly larger spark that seemed to glow green that bull-rushed into that same opening.

When the explosion went off, the resulting fireball shattered the dome and rocketed into the sky. It grew so large and hot so quickly that the Avatar leapt to create a wall of wind containing the blast to only the arena. Roy even had to transmute the air again to remove the immediate oxygen around him for a few seconds so the fireball wouldn't consume and destroy him.

For a brief moment, Roy wondered if he'd overestimated the young Fire Lord. If he were to be completely cremated, there would be no coming back, regardless of what healing he propagated. He heard no sound, felt no vibrations, saw no indicator of life within the flame. Even a Fire Shield would have broken to an explosion of that enormity. But he distinctly did not smell burning flesh.

In a moment, it became clear why.

The flames suddenly turned inward, as though they were falling into a hole or being sucked into a whirlpool. But although they spun and funneled, they also drowned. The flames collapsed as a building does atop their original location before being snuffed out entirely.

And standing in the middle of where they were, right hand outstretched and taking into it the last bits of heat in the air, was Zuko. A Zuko who had steady eyes, lightly-scorched clothes, and was engulfed in an aura of fire.

White fire.

Taking a heron stance, Zuko outstretched his arms, one left and one to Roy, before lifting his right foot and placing it atop his knee. The calm, clear flames licked around his limbs. Mustang noticed one of the metal shards of the dome nearby begin to melt.

Zuko let down his foot, leaning a measure forward while swiping with his front hand. And a stream of white dragonfire jetted out from his open palm.

Mustang snapped his right hand, sending a spark to explode upon contact with the flames, which it did, but the fire was not dispersed. Rather, it seemed to add to the strength of the approaching white flame. Mustang fell back and clapped his hands as his eyes widened in fright. The air rushed north at exactly the right moment, taking the bolt of dragonflame into the sky mere centimeters from Roy's face. So close, in fact, that Roy felt his skin ripple and blister; simply being approached by an attack of such power would leave permanent scarring along his face.

Zuko breathed in, and breathed out. Fire comes from the stomach. Relax your mind. Calm your passions. Breathe like a dragon.

The mantra repeated, Zuko drew in a magnificent breath and withdrew his arms. And, as Roy finished barely redirecting his first, simple testing of his full fiery potential, Zuko roared.

Striking forwards with both his arms at the same time as his head, a sea of white exploded out of his palms and his mouth. Even his eyes went white as the power of the ancient spirits of life coursed through him. And the spirits' approval gave even more weight to the attack, as the three streams of white dragonfire joined together and took the shape of a dragon themselves, a magnificent spirit of fire rushing at the alchemist at incredible speed.

Roy only had time to close an eye in pain when he saw Zuko let loose his full white flame. He brought up both gloves and snapped his fingers. A spark alighted directly in front of him and transformed into the head of a majestic dragon himself. It screamed in tongues of vermillion flame and flew ahead. Roy sent a dozen sparks after it, adding speed, power, and length to the dragon until it looked almost like a form of the sun itself.

The two dragons collided in the middle of the arena. One white, one orange. There was a brief moment when the spectators suspected that the dragons would come to life and begin to bite, scratch, and scream. But no.

The white dragon burned through the orange with barely a hindrance and boiled the ground itself as it sought to consume Roy Mustang.

The Fuhrer saw an ocean of white flame coming at him and clenched his teeth. He clapped his hands and held them up to meet the approaching dragonfire.

When the flames hit, the alchemy took effect. Streams of transmutational electricity spread throughout the constructed dragon's fiery body and dispersed large swathes of it, dampening the oxygen and reversing the irreversible fusion of molecules that formed fire. But that could only affect things on a scientific level, and bending is not entirely scientific.

And as the spiritual energy grew to envelop the Amestrian, he shifted the winds again, forming a barrier that focused the energy of the flames to other portions of the arena. But he could not protect where the transmutation came from, and all he could do was grunt and clench until blood ran down his mouth as the fire burned away his gloves and began to melt the skin of his hands.

When the white flame finally cleared, Zuko saw the former Colonel on his knees. Most of his outer clothes were scattered in ashes and riddled with flame-borne holes, the only scrap left of his combustion-causing gloves was a white leather ring around one of the fingers on his left hand, and his hands and arms were covered in burns, scars, and blisters.

His left arm sagged; Zuko had more than enough experience to note that the water within the marrow had boiled, causing the limb to fall. He would be lucky if he could move it even once. His legs were almost as bad; in any other country, he would be paralyzed for life. He saw the Fuhrer reach over with his right hand and attempt to pull in his left one, only to recoil from the pain.

Zuko inhaled once more. He was this close to winning. All he had to do was perform one more move without screwing up.

There is energy all around us. Yin and Yang. When these energies are separated, the moment they come crashing back together, you provide release and guidance. You do not command it. You are its humble guide.

Zuko slowly exhaled through opened lips. Fire comes from the stomach. It is released through the breath.

He bent his head down and closed his eyes. He lifted two fingers from his right hand to his left shoulder and felt for energy. He touched it; now he moved his entire body. Like a crane, a swan, like a conductor. Flowing from one edge to the other. His fingers moved with him, traveling in a trail across his stomach, passing to the other side and back.

Sparks collected at his fingertips. He felt the energy in his stomach swell to bursting. The pull of the electricity brought in more, from the ground, from the air, from the sky; it all collected in bright trails of blue through Zuko's flowing form.

And when he finished his dance, his fingertips were pointed directly at Mustang. The alchemist had managed to sit up, and was clenching his left arm. He couldn't fight back. Couldn't dodge. And couldn't win.

So, Zuko bended lightning.

Seeing the bolt of lightning break through the air towards him, Roy instinctively clapped his hands. That caused a massive burst in pain in his left arm, which immediately fell again. But he couldn't think about that right now. He stretched out his right hand's fingertips to meet the lightning and, like a rod, the bolt was drawn to it and entered his body through his fingers.

Mustang felt the electricity as it rampaged. He knew that at any moment it could destroy his heart or lungs and he would die.

But he was an alchemist.

Remember what Fullmetal said. You ARE the transmutation circle. One is all. All is one.

Alchemists performed the impossible every day. They used rampaging energy as their source, their life, their basis of all science. They teach. They guide.

And thus, Roy's True Alchemy brought the lightning safely through his chest and into his left arm. There, it energized the limb, allowing Mustang the microsecond he needed to lift it before the lightning broke free from his left fingertips and returned to its source.

So, Roy Mustang redirected lightning.

Zuko's one good eye grew larger and he tried to move. But his right leg was clamped; sunk into ground that had molded into marble.

Zuko's mind flashed back to Mustang trying to "reach over with his right hand and attempt to pull in his left one."

He wasn't grasping.

He was praying.

The lightning struck Zuko in the chest and smashed through his body, breaking the marble mold and sending him flying backwards.

Mustang heard the wind barrier coming down instantly. The patter of many pairs of feet running towards the Fire Lord. A few cries of shock, fear, and anger.

And the smell of boiling, burned flesh, turned into death.

That was all he was able to sense before his mind shut down under the pain.

-KO!-

Five hours later, Mustang sat in a medical tent, left arm wrapped in a thick cast and placed into a sling. He still felt some pain, but his burns and the wounds on his legs had healed quickly under the waterbenders' "spirit water." Mustang did find himself casually wondering what the actual ingredients within were to make a serum potent enough to reverse death, but for now, he was happy to play along with the beliefs of this culture. Even his left arm, which he had suspected to never use again, would be fine in only a few days.

A medic opened the flap of the tent and met Mustang's eyes. He nodded.

Roy got up and followed the medic past all the other tents and into one that was significantly larger, emblazoned with dragons. He knew it well; this was the tent he and the Fire Lord had met in two weeks back, at the start of the negotiations.

He entered the shelter and the medic pulled back another curtain, revealing the young leader of the Fire Nation resting upright in a bed. He was held under even more bandages than Roy was, and was in the middle of more healing alchemy at the hands of the Avatar's wife. However, as soon as he entered, Zuko's eyes lit up, and he sent the young lady away with a curt nod. She listened, but gave Roy a half-hearted glare on her way out.

"Please, sit," Zuko declared, nodding to a cushion that had been set up in the tent. The Fire Nation's customs were notably similar to Xing's, Mustang was slowly realizing. He nodded back and took a seat.

Zuko sat up straighter. "I told you I had it under control."

Roy chuckled. "I never would have thought this is how we'd settle things. Assuming that you're still amenable to our arrangement?"

Zuko frowned. "A man should always keep his word. A leader should always keep his heart. The Fire Lord must keep both."

Mustang leaned forward, eyebrows softening. "The Fire Nation really has changed."

"No, it didn't change," Zuko replied. His eyes faded a little. "It was just… lost for a while. I'm trying to help it find the path back."

"You know," Roy responded dryly, "some nations would find a duel to the death a barbaric way to settle political affairs."

"And some nations might find refusing to share scientific discoveries to not adhere to the rules set by the New Avatar Accords. Implying that they might oppose the Avatar… and his friends," Zuko retorted.

The two met each other's steely eyes for a moment before Roy broke into a smile.

He held out his hand. "It sounds like we have a lot to learn from each other."

Zuko glanced in surprise at the hand, then back to Mustang's face. He raised the corner of his mouth and shook the hand.

On that day, a new alliance was forged.

…

Conclusion

TWO: Okay, maybe he shouldn't have fought Vegeta.

LZ: I can't even pretend to understand what you're on about right now. *ahem* This was surprisingly close, though, not for the reasons you might expect. Zuko had many potential power multipliers that were difficult to scale. In addition to his actual feats, he also has dragonfire, lightningbending, Sozin's Comet, white fire, and more. Locking down a specific maximum power is quite troublesome.

TWO: But the kicker is, none of it really mattered. Eh, poor choice of words. It definitely gave Zuko more mid-combat options, and things like Sozin's Comet and dragonfire meant his fire could grow bigger and be harder to avoid. But the actual power increase? Honestly, Roy's a cool guy, probably superhuman given how he can match physical stuffs with guys who use alchemy to increase their strength, but he isn't surviving even a single regular meant-to-kill blast of base Zuko's fire. In Book One, Zuko's fire was matching Aang's air exactly, which, in a canon comic, split a mountain in half. That was BEFORE his advanced training and dragonfire and all that, so, ain't no way Roy survives any hit whatsoever.

LZ: But, on the other hand, the same went for Zuko. Mustang's explosions have reduced superhumans even stronger than him to literal ash. When he's going for the kill, virtually nobody without a healing factor will survive. With a single snap of his fingers, he can reduce immortal armies to dust, create explosions on a city-wide scale, and annoy beings as powerful as Father.

TWO: Not to mention that he also had his own difficult-to-scale upgrades in the form of True Alchemy and the broken seal.[1]

LZ: Physically strong as he may be, if Zuko was even caught on the edge of such an attack, there wouldn't be enough left of him to fit in an urn. Even if you wish to insist that, based on him surviving a few bended attacks from, say, Azula, he was far more superhuman than Mustang, it wouldn't matter when Mustang created an explosion that went off inside his mouth, nose, heart, lungs, or brain. Which, if he landed an attack, he could absolutely do.[2]

TWO: So, both could unleash enough firepower to kill the other guy in one hit super-casually. In that case, it comes down to the age-old question we've retread many-a time: who lands the killing blow first? Normally, the answer comes down to speed and experience, but things are actually a bit more interesting this time.

LZ: Both Zuko and Mustang had feats and scaling alike that put them firmly at lightning-dodging. You can argue as to which one could react to lightning more quickly by measuring distances and time in movement and all that (in which case Mustang lands a very arguable 13% faster), but the truth is, we haven't seen either's full potential in reaction speed. Both have only performed such feats while in very specific situations, and it's unknown if they would be able to if the other guy was two meters closer or farther or whatever. They were both extremely fast to react, and had both fought others who were faster than them, so speed doesn't actually determine anything this time around. Even the potential light-speed arguments don't matter.[3]

TWO: And both didn't have a ton of experience fighting the other's powers. Zuko's brief stints against Combustion Man and P'li meant he knew fire powers could be used this way, but he wasn't ready to face them on a scale like this.

LZ: Meanwhile, the only other fire-user Mustang fought was Zelgius, who showed a few similar techniques to Zuko, but otherwise wouldn't prepare the Flame Alchemist at all for someone so skilled in the art.

TWO: Which means we hit the scraps.

LZ: If Zuko could get in close, he could have an advantage. His own physical stats are arguably greater than Mustang's, and he had far more experience in using martial arts. Not to mention swords that slice through steel.

TWO: But it wasn't a guaranteed thing. Roy's scrapped with other master martial artists himself, like supersoldier Fuhrer candidates, Olivier Armstrong, and, of course, Edward Elric. Ed's one of the best fighters on the continent, and Roy's complete deconstruction of him in their duel proves he could hold his own for a short while against Zuko up-close. At least long enough to snap his fingers and activate any of his keep-away techniques, like the expanding pillars or floating balls. Roy's kinda used to forcing people to keep their distance.

LZ: Meanwhile, both had the reaction speed required to dodge the other's attacks. As Mustang's sparks move at the speed of lightning, Zuko could certainly avoid their travel paths, and Mustang's manipulation of said sparks meant he could dodge, defend against, or even nullify most of Zuko's attacks, including lightningbending.

TWO: Both had things like fire walls, omnidirectional explosions, and charge attacks that meant they could play keep-away as much as they wanted. If this fight was to be won, it was going to be from a distance.

LZ: And that's where the light begins to shine through the cracks. Most of Zuko's swordplay, martial arts, and other skills were useless at long-range, and even his firebending has a history of struggling against foes who can keep their distance. Mustang, meanwhile, shone through long-range combat. Almost all of his fighting experience is in that field, and thanks to both the ease and speed of his attacks, keeping up with agile foes was no big deal.

TWO: Zuko could launch multiple fireballs fairly quickly, but most of his moves take specific stances, breathing, and time to pull off. Meanwhile, Roy could make as many explosions in as many areas of any strength that he wanted just by snapping his fingers. If they were both equal in reaction speed, he'd be able to do that ten or so times in the same time it took Zuko to do one charged fireblast. So Zuko was kept on his toes way more than Roy.

LZ: Thanks to Zuko's jet propulsion and fire shields, Mustang couldn't simply make a city-sized blast to guarantee victory, but the fact that his explosions were far bigger and came out far faster than any of Zuko's firebending meant he was far more likely to land with the edges of an attack. Something he could capitalize on with the large variety of attacks Flame Alchemy provides.

TWO: Zuko's agility and flight could dodge one explosion, no problem, but turning the battlefield into an airborne minefield made it way harder for Zuko to move. Homing attacks, fire snakes, and fire tornadoes were all things that Zuko could handle individually, but combined, with more explosions and an environment that could turn against him at a moment's notice, it would easily overwhelm the Fire Lord. And remember, one hit, and he loses.[4]

LZ: Flight is a solid advantage over the Fuhrer, and would normally allow a combatant control over the battle's pace and field, but Mustang has caught mid-air opponents many, many times, and the size of his explosions and many keep-away options meant that Zuko could not risk coming close enough to land an attack without allowing himself to be attacked as well. And while some moves, such as walls of flame or fireballs, could be manipulated or absorbed by firebending and grant Zuko more power, Mustang had just as many options of counterattacking, and his bread-and-butter of explosions could not be firebent. Zuko was unable to manipulate the flames Combustion Man or P'li made, and their techniques are far less refined than Mustang's.

TWO: And even though both are a bit prone to giving in to their emotions mid-fight, Roy was way, way smarter. Zuko's a great learner and studious worker, but he had'ta be, because he wasn't a natural at firebending, and, generally, not the brightest knife in the crayon box. He can come up with the occasional plan and see some traps coming, sure, but against someone like Roy, that's practically laughable. I mean, that guy could insta-solve mysteries even Alphonse couldn't figure out. And Al's studied enough to master twelve types of alchemy and four encompassing styles, and solved a months-old mystery about a ton of kidnappings just by overhearing that one guy once gave someone an art book!

LZ: With his intelligence and strategic mind, Mustang could easily set up traps for Zuko throughout the battle, predict his movements, or see his weaknesses. He would be fighting with the future in mind, a mindset Zuko hasn't had to face before. And Zuko has never been one to strategize mid-fight; he has always relied on his own skill and power, and has fallen into traps many times, including mid-battle.[5]

TWO: Oh, and, uh, Roy has other powers, too.

LZ: Unlike Zuko, Mustang had far more than fire attacks up his sleeves. With True Alchemy, he could manipulate the ground, air, his own body, and even Zuko's own attacks however he wished. He could alter the earth to break Zuko's stances, remove the oxygen in the air to make it impossible for him to breathe and therefore firebend, convert the fire in attacks into their base molecular structures, turn his swords into trumpets, or just form whatever objects or constructs he needed out of the ground whenever he needed them.

TWO: Like, say, a giant pit beneath Zuko's feet, or a dozen clones to disguise himself, or an explosion of air inside the firebender's lungs. And that material alchemy meant that he didn't even have to move to survive Zuko's assaults. He could just stand there and make barriers to protect him while attacking just as much as before. 'Cuz remember how he could block fire blasts from Father, who can make stars?

LZ: He created that miniature star with little to no effort, intentionally using it as a small taste of his power. True, we don't actually know how much weaker Father became exactly when he had to control the power with less souls or how much of that was dedicated to such a blast, but even a very small fraction of this energy would still be far more than Zuko was capable of producing. Meaning that Mustang's Material Alchemy was capable of protecting him from any and all of Zuko's attacks.[6]

TWO: Zuko's had problems against earthbending in the past, but Roy's over here commanding more elements than the Avatar. He just also happens to be one of the best firebenders, and, if that "remaking a city" thing is anything to go by, earthbenders that Zuko's ever seen.

LZ: With both's amazing attack power and comparatively fragile bodies, the winner is going to be whoever hits the first blow. And with Mustang's multitude of attacks with far larger ranges and areas, keep-away abilities, incredible tactical mind, and ability to use elements other than fire to a great degree, he lands that hit far more often than not.

TWO: That's rough, buddy.

The winner is… Roy Mustang.

…

Special Notes (For the Conclusion):

[1] The heat of their attacks is similarly difficult to pin down, but remarkably high. While Zuko had upgraded several times over from heat that could melt iron, Roy's flames burned hot enough to completely incinerate a large iron cannonball before it even touched them. Regardless, both had methods to survive being close to the other's flames so long as they did not touch them.

[2] While Mustang's explosions have been dodged in some video games and the anime, this never occurs in the manga, and, in fact, even Father could not dodge one once the spark was lit. Father is capable of moving faster than Greed can perceive, and Greed equaled the spark-dodging Bradley in speed, firmly establishing that Zuko was incapable of dodging an explosion once it was lit. To survive an attack, he had to avoid or dispel the spark itself.

[3] Edward and Alphonse are capable of reacting to laser beams in video games, characters have broken transmutations as the energy was moving through the circle, and Hohenheim frequently uses alchemy that moves at the speed of light in the 2003 anime. Similarly, benders in the Legend of Korra time have shown to be able to dodge electricity as it traverses energy waves and metal, and combustionbending is pure energy channeled through the Light Chakra. Scaling these light-speed reactions is questionable to a degree, but as both have them, it would simply put their levels of speed on equal footing once again. As Roy's sparks have been faster than any except Bradley and Greed could see coming, their speed would be increased to similar levels.

[4] Zuko has fought a select few battles where failing one dodge would result in death, but such a thing was fairly rare. Meanwhile, Scar was capable of instantly killing anyone with a single touch via destruction alchemy, and Roy fought both against and alongside him. Both Edward and Alphonse became capable of the same thing later on, and Gluttony could, at full power, kill anybody within his eyesight with an absorption move. In non-canon material, Isaac the Freezer could also kill others with one touch. Even outside of Zelgius, Mustang is quite used to fighting and dodging one-hit-kill moves.

[5] It's possible that Zuko could redirect one of Mustang's sparks through his body, much like he can lightning, but unlike a lightningbender, Roy chooses when his attacks go off. He could easily set it off while it traveled through Zuko's body, or, failing that, could simply have it not go off when it returned to him.

[6] Ozai's firebending during Sozin's Comet, which would be greater than Zuko's, was protected against by Aang multiple times using non-fire elements. Katara was even able to block Azula's Sozin Comet-lightningbending with a water shield. This proves that these attacks can be defended against, and Mustang is more than capable of doing so.

...

Next time, on Death Battle…

A rainbow-haired, white-gowned CEO steps onto a runway, featuring clothes created by an alien entity that threatens to consume the world.

VS

A smiling king wearing sunglasses and a frilly, pink cape sits atop a building, manipulating those beneath him with invisible string.

(Ragyō VS Doflamingo)

Yeah, like I said, this battle was tough to write. How do you make an interesting fight when one hit on either side ends it? I hope I did okay. I want it remembered that just because Sozin's Comet didn't appear in the fight sequence doesn't mean it wasn't taken into account! I just thought the fight would be more interesting if both worlds could interact as well as both characters, and that meant sliding into the Avatar timescale where the Comet wouldn't be coming.

Fun fact: the original draft of the script had both fighting in an abandoned factory, which was an interesting setpiece that allowed for some stealth and big-brain tactics, but it bloated out the choreography to extreme degrees and, well, once I came up with the idea of it being an Agni Kai, I couldn't let go of that.

I did write up a way longer version of that intro with the Blue Spirit, though. Like, longer than the actual fight. Once it breached into "too much fanfiction" territory (and I realized that I was forcing myself into a corner where I'd have to write a 10k word fight where nobody ever got hit once) I cut it down to the probably-still-too-long version you have now. I just really, really wanted to incorporate something of Zuko's ninja abilities and Mustang's brilliance. That's some of my favorite stuff both can do, and it gets lost when you put both into a Death Battle situation. I do think that led to me cutting down on the dialogue in the fight itself, which has positives and negatives itself, but at least marks it as different from many previous fights.

(also it helps assuage my nerves that I didn't have to write full character stuff between two of the best-written characters in storytelling history after my screw-ups in Alphonse VS Nightmare)

Okay, I better stop before this chapter breaches 20k words. See you soon…ish!