CHAPTER 396: CHAPTER 12: EXPLOSIONS ARE AN ART

Dabris Town, inside a hotel called Demon Kiln.

In a storage room of the hotel, Alphonse was bound hand and foot, sitting against the wall.

Alphonse is the protagonist’s younger brother. Back then, he and his brother performed human transmutation. His brother lost an arm, while he lost his entire body.

Now Alphonse is a tall suit of armor, empty inside, with a blood seal that keeps his soul affixed to the armor.

Alphonse can move normally, and can even fight or use alchemy, which shows that alchemy is unrelated to the physical body but is instead driven by the soul.

At this moment, there is a woman inside Alphonse’s armor, to be precise, this woman is not completely human.

Her name is Madelle, a synthetic beast of human and snake. She has the appearance of a normal human but some snake-like traits, such as heat perception and a flexible body.

Madelle is currently inside Alphonse’s armor to restrict his movement.

In the room, Greed·Greed stepped forward and took off Alphonse’s iron helmet, revealing Madelle.

"Oh～, impressive, it really is hollow."

Greed put the iron helmet back, pointing to himself.

"I’m Greed. I hope we can get along peacefully."

Greed is a young man, always smiling, wearing small round sunglasses that obscure his eyes, preventing others from reading his emotions.

Behind Greed were several synthetic beasts, most of whom retained a human appearance.

Synthetic beasts are made by transmuting humans and animals into one entity.

The synthetic beasts behind Greed are complete products, with their own consciousness and thoughts, able to independently carry out tasks and possessing some animal abilities.

Among these synthetic beasts, there are some merged with crocodiles, some with lizards.

The strongest synthetic beasts include three: Roya (male), a human and bull hybrid; Doluchede (male), a human and dog hybrid; and Madelle (female), a human and snake hybrid.

The trio are Greed·Greed’s main subordinates.

After introducing these synthetic beasts to Alphonse, Alphonse was somewhat incredulous.

"Impossible, I’ve seen synthetic beasts; they have no ability to communicate. Your subordinates are no different from humans."

"Surprised? It’s the truth."

Greed didn’t explain further, as Alphonse was a prisoner and there was no need to explain to him.

"Who synthesized them?"

Alphonse recalled seeing a little girl who was merged with a dog, turned into something neither human nor ghost, orchestrated by her father, a state alchemist.

"The military."

"How is that possible."

"There’s always darkness that cannot see the light in this world. Besides, I’m not a synthetic beast, I’m a homunculus, and there is a purpose to capturing you."

Greed looked at Alphonse with greedy eyes.

"How can a soul be extracted and fixed onto something like you? Your situation is very similar to immortality."

Greed captured Alphonse for this purpose; he wants the technique to extract and fix souls. Although he looks young, the energy of the Philosopher’s Stone within him will eventually deplete, and his time is running out.

"The big sister inside you isn’t very obedient. If the blood seal is accidentally erased..."

The threat was obvious, but Alphonse shook his head.

"I don’t know. I have no memory when the soul was fixed in the armor."

Greed squinted his eyes.

"Don’t want to talk? Then I’ll put it another way. I must obtain the method for immortality."

"Immortality? Do homunculi also age and die?"

"Of course, although my body is sturdier than ordinary people, it needs to be reformed by Father every two hundred years at most. My time is limited, so don’t anger me."

Alphonse remained silent, unwilling to betray his brother.

The door was pushed open, and a man walked into the room.

"You no longer need to obtain the method for immortality."

Su Xiao entered the room, with Bubute Ni following behind.

"Is this your handiwork?"

Greed pointed to Alphonse.

"Yes, it’s my handiwork."

A special-level alchemy bomb appeared in Su Xiao’s hand, glowing brightly.

"This is the main material for fixing souls. In exchange, tell me the method of creating homunculi."

Su Xiao tossed the special-level alchemy bomb in his hand, blocking the doorway.

"Don’t take me for a fool, Flame Alchemist."

"Oh? You recognize me. Then I’ll be straightforward. Kidnapping a state alchemist’s family is something I probably can’t ignore."

This was just an excuse, but an excuse to justifiably kill.

"Tsk, meddlesome."

Greed waved his hand dismissively.

"Kill him. Be careful, this guy is a bomb maniac,"

"Yes."

The synthetic beasts behind Greed slowly approached Su Xiao.

Su Xiao threw the alchemy bomb in his hand and swiftly exited the room.

Boom!

An explosion resounded throughout the entire block, causing civilians to scream in fear.

After the explosion subsided, Su Xiao coughed a few times due to the thick smoke. The room where Greed had been was blown apart.

A large pit formed on the ground, littered with remnants of several synthetic beasts.

Greed had escaped with Alphonse, as well as three synthetic beasts.

Su Xiao sensed the direction Greed had fled—it was downward.

...

In the sewers, Greed hurriedly ran while carrying Alphonse. Alphonse’s armor was somewhat twisted, apparently having been heavily damaged by the explosion.

"Is that guy the Flame Alchemist? He’s a bomb maniac."

Roya (Bull) had one arm blown off, with a jagged tear, while Doluchede (Dog) was slung over his shoulder, his lower half gone.

"Shut up and run. That guy is a lunatic. He killed the most people in the Ishbal annihilation battle."

Greed·Greed hurried forward. He wasn’t injured; he could harden his body’s surface, his strongest ability, and had the highest recovery power among homunculi.

Boom!

Another explosion sounded overhead, blasting a large hole in the sewer’s ceiling.

Su Xiao jumped down through the hole, blocking Greed and his followers.

"Do we have to fight? You shouldn’t have any connection to the Fullmetal Alchemist, so why interfere."

Greed seemed reluctant to fight Su Xiao, but Su Xiao said nothing, standing firmly in their path.

"Looks like we’ll have to fight."

Greed’s skin turned pitch black as he extracted carbon molecules from his body, forming a carbon layer on his skin. Once the density reached a certain level, the hardness was unimaginable.

Greed’s appearance changed dramatically, his entire body becoming black, his hair disappearing, leaving his head bald.

Two fangs extended from Greed’s lower jaw as he flexed his neck.

"I haven’t used this form in a long time. It’s really too ugly. Alchemist, your bombs are now ineffective against me."

Greed sneered, gradually approaching Su Xiao.

"Are they really ineffective?"

Su Xiao waved his hand, scattering dozens of special-level alchemy bombs to the ground, which transformed into little white snakes.

"Hey, hey, what’s up with this amount?"