I'll show you how we do things at Briggs.
"How you do things at Briggs"?
That's right.
Lend us a hand, alchemist!
Brother!
You, too!
Hang on! We're...
You were threatened and forced to help.
No one can blame you for that, right?
Who's this?
He's our bro.
Okay. You're helping, too.
Pick up the pace! And don't spill any of it!
Buccaneer! Carry those to Gate 8!
Yes, sir!
Charge!
Shove him into the elevator!
What... a drag...
Push! Push!
All right! We can do this!
Turret, turn to starboard!
Yes, ma'am...
Miles, send him away!
Aye, ma'am!
All right! We did it!
Where... am I?
Now! Let him have it!
Good job!
Now what?
How do we throw him out of the gate?
This stuff smells.
Move, brat!
Hey! One more round!
We're out of ammo!
In that case...
That hurt...
All right!
It's north-blend fuel.
It vaporizes even in extremely low temperatures, and with that, it absorbs body temperature in no time.
On top of that, we're in the middle of a blizzard.
He'll freeze all the way to his brain.
So cold...
My body...
...won't... move...
What... a drag...
Hibernate until spring comes around, dimwit.
Buccaneer, haul these three down.
Roger!
What?!
W-W-Whoa!
W-W-Why?!
We helped you!
"You were forced to."
Wouldn't that be more convenient for you?
And I'm not letting you get away until the identity of that monster becomes clear, so be prepared.
It's cold.
"Clang"?
Morning, Brother.
Oh, that's right.
Yo! Did you have a nice nap?
I did, but...
So I hear you saved our men.
Thanks.
That'll be 100 cenz.
This wasn't out of gratitude?!
Umm... are there any news?
The advance unit went to check up on that hole.
They should be back any moment now.
Oh, and Major Miles is at the hospital.
Hospital?
He's there to see the guy who was injured while fighting Scar.
Scar is up north, too?
Oh, there you are.
He's awake.
Thanks for yesterday.
You saved our buddies' lives.
You guys really care about your buddies, don't you?
We at Briggs consider ourselves a monolith.
And since you saved our buddies, that makes you one, too.
Then can't you let your buddy out of-
No can do.
You guys really are a monolith...
Apparently, Scar's body wasn't found at the scene of the accident.
There's a possibility he's lurking in the area.
Yes.
Good lord...
First, the cat... and now we also need to search for Scar?
Understood.
Leave Scar to us and focus on getting better.
Wait a second.
I want you all to stay out of this.
The Ishbalan is my prey.
Unfortunately for you, we're not so soft as to let a mass murderer do whatever he wants here at Briggs.
We believe in the survival of the fittest.
If you let your guard down for a second, you die. Understand?
Talk shit again, and you'll never be able to leave the hospital.
We at Briggs have been commanded to take care of you.
So stay put.
Just as I remember. Ishbalans are so interesting.
Are you doing all right, Kimblee?
You got here sooner than I'd expected, Lieutenant General Raven.
I rushed here after I heard about your injury.
You had me worried.
This is what you're worried about, right?
Very well.
Now, time to get to work.
But as you can see, I'm...
I brought a doctor well-versed in alchemy.
And we have the stone.
You'll be well in no time.
Eastern Alchemy is quite difficult.
Especially this whole concept of the "veins of the dragon".
It's to describe the power running through the earth.
Power running through the earth?
Simply put,
it's a power that goes back into the ground after erupting from the summit of a mountain, and enriches the earth.
Think of it as a river that runs through the earth.
By understanding that flow of strength, its entrances and exits...
You can apply it to practically anything.
When you say "anything", does this apply to the human body, as well?
Yes, it does!
For example... your hip!
My foot...
Or, right here!
Why did I feel that in my eyes after having my neck pressed?
You need to take care of your body, Dr. Marcoh.
The power in your body is stagnant in many places.
I-I see now...
So this is what makes long-distance transmutation possible.
So your alchemy doesn't use the veins of the dragon?
Yeah. We use the energy created by tectonic movements.
The immense amount of energy that is released by earthquakes and volcanic activity.
This country's alchemy uses that energy.
But that's not it.
Ever since I stepped foot in this country, I felt like something was out of place...
I finally realized what once I went underground in Central...
...but this power, which flows beneath our feet...
...feels more like it's coming from thousands of people squirming about...
...rather than energy created by tectonic movement.
It's huge.
A platoon should be able to get through.
The tunnel goes on indefinitely, following a loose curve.
But there aren't any signs of people down there.
Take the horses down.
Yes, ma'am!
And bring those three, too.
Wow... It really is huge.
I can't believe we let him break in without noticing all this was going on...
So this is the first time Briggs has been invaded?
Since I came here, yes.
But around twenty years ago, there was a case when our security guards were attacked during midwinter.
Apparently, a mysterious woman kept stealing food and supplies from them for an entire month.
I survived in Briggs in the winter for a month!
It has to be her...
I guess this is far enough.
Get off.
Now...
You don't have to worry about anyone eavesdropping on us down here.
Tell me everything you know.
I mean everything.
Don't hide anything.
When I asked you about the monster, you asked me to try to realize your situation, did you not?
More or less, you believed that I would realize your situation.
You could have been killed at any time in that situation, yet you still summoned those words.
So I figured you had something to protect, even if it meant you'd lose your life doing so.
For example, a hostage.
I want you to cut the bullshit.
Tell me the truth.
We need your help.
Philosopher's stones... Homunculi...
King Bradley, and a man who is referred to as Father...
And the entire upper echelon is guilty....
So as we thought, people were being taken hostage.
A friend of yours who is an automail mechanic and Mustang's men...
We performed many joint drills with Eastern Headquarters, so I know Hawkeye and Havoc.
It would be a big loss to lose them.
I wish I could do something.
Umm... what about Colonel Mustang?
Oh... I don't really care about him.
It would actually be better for me if he just falls, so I have one less rival to worry about.
More importantly, we need to decide what to do now.
How do you alchemists see this underground path?
I don't think this tunnel was dug from Drachma.
This is only a hypothesis, but it seems as though this tunnel was dug to create a large circle.
A circle?
A circle governs the circulation of power in alchemy and is an important factor.
Now, for the equation...
Lieutenant Falman, do you know the major incidents within the country that resulted in a lot of bloodshed?
Bloodshed?
How would that...
The Riviere Incident in July of 1558.
Let's see... Riviere.
The civil war in Cameron in October of 1661.
The Soapman incident, February 1799.
That happened in Fisk.
The Wellsley Conflict, March 1811.
The First Southern Border Conflict occurred in October of 1835, northwest of where South City is today.
The Second Southern Border Conflict happened in May of 1911, just south of Fortsett.
What about Pendleton to the west?
Many soldiers have died there in the battles against Creta, a neighboring nation.
And the riot in Lior, in 1914.
Severe casualties.
Wai-
A riot?! Why?!
Didn't we report the situation to Eastern Headquarters immediately after we exposed the fake priest?!
It was the Central army.
They came and made the Eastern army withdraw.
Lior turned into a mess after that.
No way...
Dammit!
Continue what you were doing earlier, Fullmetal.
I know.
Now we're going to connect the dots.
How could this be?!
It's almost identical to the transmutation circle we found under Research Laboratory 5!
A circle for creating a philosopher's stone, which uses human lives...
Just how many people will die with such a large transmutation circle?!
I once asked Envy if they were trying to create a philosopher's stone using this country.
But he laughed and told me I was close.
In the past, I told Edward that he'd surely be able to realize the real truth, which lies beyond the truth.
What I meant by the "truth" was that the stones are made of live humans.
And what I meant by "beyond the truth" is the existence of the ones behind it.
And the truth beyond the truth is the transmutation of a philosopher's stone using the entire nation.
But that's not where it ends.
We don't know what they're planning to do in the end.
We also don't know about immortality, which is what you're looking for.
So you mustn't long for a philosopher's stone.
We must decipher this research by combining my knowledge of alchemy and your knowledge of Eastern Alchemy.
Right.
The oldest one was in 1558...
Right after Amestris was founded.
Without even a declaration of war, Amestris invaded Riviere, which was once a neighboring country...
Hang on!
This is...
The military is involved in every one of these incidents.
The coup d'etat... the civil wars... and Lior, too.
The Central Army came out and poured oil on the flames.
Ever since this nation was created?!
Our country started out as a small nation, but we expanded by annexing the small countries around us.
So it was to create this circle?
So it wasn't their plan to use this country to do something, but they created this country to realize their task.
Our country...
So, Mr. Hughes...
Yeah. He saw the transmutation circle for the stone before he died.
Since he worked in the building they have strategy meetings in, he had access to more resources than anyone else.
He was the first to realize there was something wrong with this country-
Dog of the military. State Alchemist!
Do you have any idea what this country is trying to do?!
Do you really think all this prosperity was created with the powers of humans only?
If you did know, you'd understand why I'm doing this!
I don't like this!
Looking at the pattern, the next area that will see bloodshed...
The only area left is Briggs!
What do those pigs at Central plan to do with my castle?!
Major General!
Please return to base at once.
Lieutenant General Raven has come to visit from Central.
So they're not even giving us time to think, huh?
Major General Armstrong.
There's something I'd like to ask of you.
Could you try and trick Lieutenant General Raven?
I'm sorry for making you wait, Lieutenant General Raven.
No, worry not.
It's my fault for coming here without advance notice.
Major General Armstrong will be back shortly.
Please, follow me-
Oh, that's right.
I've brought a guest with me.
Major Miles, do you mind giving him a tour of the fort?
Nice to meet you, Major Miles.
Winry's apple pie.
The thing I said I'd like to eat when I get my body back.
I guess we have more important things to think about now.
Don't worry, you'll be able to eat it someday.
After we get our bodies back and beat the crap out of those guys planning to use this country for their own goals.
Yeah.
Sorry for the mess, Lieutenant General.
We were attacked by the enemy.
Attacked?
We were able to drive it off, but the thing was... what you'd call a monster.
What do you mean by monster?
It didn't die no matter what we did to it.
Oh, my.
That sounds troublesome.
Personally, I think it's a biological weapon from Drachma, but the Elric Brothers...
We've taken in the Fullmetal Alchemist and his younger brother by chance.
It seems as though they know something about the monster but won't say anything.
It could be a disaster if a state alchemist who works with the Führer President is a Drachman spy, so we've arrested them.
Would you like to see them?
I guess so.
They really won't say anything?
Yes.
They also claim they came here to research organic transmutation or something.
They're being quite ambiguous. I couldn't doubt them more.
I thought about torturing it out of them, but I'm technically a woman, too.
I couldn't lay a finger on a child like that.
My heart would be crushed...
Yeah, right.
That queen's made of ice to the core.
So even you, who holds the title of "The Northern Wall of Briggs", has a soft spot for children, huh?
It wouldn't be odd to have a child or two at my age, but I'm totally behind in those affairs.
What are you talking about?
You must be much sought after by the men.
No, no.
It's such a sad experience to age, isn't it?
I'm absolutely horrified of aging.
That biological weapon from Drachma had a wonderful body.
An immortal body.
Isn't it like a dream?
What if I were to tell you that it may not be long before it isn't just a dream?
Say, Major General...
Are you interested in a perfect, immortal army?
He fell for it!
"Obey the ones with power".
That's the true meaning of the law of the jungle.
If you don't wish to be bound by that, obtain greater power.
Because there's always times one must fight power with power.
Next time, Fullmetal Alchemist:
Episode 36, Family Portrait.
Men set out on journeys with determination in their hearts.