In the snowy north, the soldiers of Fort Briggs engage an invading army and Marcoh leads an attack against monstrous Envy. In Central, an ominous and shocking secret is revealed to Olivier Armstrong.
Full Synopsis
At Fort Briggs, the invading Drachma army is being overpowered by Brigg's cannons and the Drachman Commander curses that Kimblee had betrayed him since Kimblee earlier claimed that soldiers loyal to him would help their forces overcome Fort Briggs and is quickly killed by cannonfire. As the Major Miles orders the firing to stop, he realizes, as Kimblee appears on the field, a crest of blood as Kimblee actually wanted to complete his mission. Back at Asbec, May tries to teach Alphonse the concept of the Dragon's Pulse, by which he has no idea of what it means. Scar apologizes to a fellow Ishvalan as they are bringing firewood for having to hide out in their town, but the man states not to worry since they are getting something out of it, with Winry helping with the clothes, and Yoki playing with the children much to his displeasure. Jerso states he is going to fetch more firewood and wants the message passed on to Zampano, just as Yoki wonders where he is. Past the forest outside Asbec, Zampano meets with Envy, who is disguised as an Ishvalan, to lead him to Scar.
Back at Central Command, the Führer informs Lt. Hawkeye that he is now aware that she knows Selim's secret identity as well as his secret. Bradley then goes on by asking what she thinks of this, and Hawkeye tells him she's sad that Amestris' ruling family that she believed in is fictitious and pretended to be human, while they actually mock them. Bradley admits he might be a made up character since his son, his position as Führer, and all his men were given to him due to the actions of a higher power, but his wife was of his own choosing. While helping Jerso with getting the firewood, Dr. Marcoh answers his question that he was not actually a bigwig at Laboratory 5, but instead he had men working under him, and wonders where they are now. Zampano arrives with the disguised Envy, and Envy reverts to his normal form as he prepares to catch Dr. Marcoh. To his surprise, Envy is caught in an alchemy trap with snow transmuted into ice spears. Zampano and Marcoh make it clear they lured Envy and tells him he set special traps in the snow that detonate only for Homunculi as Envy gets attacked by more ice-related transmutations. Unbeknownst to Envy, this is actually May using alkahestry, with their transmutation symbols buried underneath the snow.
Angered by the fact of being mocked at, Envy transforms into his giant form and tries to crush Dr. Marcoh with his tail, but Jerso in his chimera form saves him, followed by Zampano striking Envy in his right eye with the quills from his chimera form. After May creates a large number of ice spikes to trap Envy, once Envy breaks free, Scar jumps onto Envy's back to finish him off with his decomposition technique. However, Envy is still alive and grabs Dr. Marcoh with his tongue, ordering everyone to stay put or he will kill him. Envy taunts Dr. Marcoh and states he will eliminate Asbec as punishment for his betrayal, or capture the villagers and use them to become Philosopher's Stone ingredients just like what was done with Marcoh's former workers which reside as Philosopher's Stones now. Surprised by this, Marcoh tells Envy that while he knows how to use human lives to make them into Philosopher's Stones better than anyone else, he also knows how to destroy them. Using a hidden transmutation circle on his right hand, Marcoh attack's Envy's Philosopher's Stone, causing a giant power surge, to which the Ishvalan villagers, Yoki, and Winry can see in Asbec. Envy's giant body disintegrates as Zampano pulls Marcoh away from it and his human body emerges while being still attached, shocked and appalled that this is happening to him. As Envy yells at Marcoh and the chimeras not to look down on him, a small, green slug squirms from the husk and the body disintegrates to bits.
Scar is surprised that this slug is Envy, who has also been manipulating them. Returning to the village, Winry finds that Dr. Marcoh is injured. A short while later, while Yoki is mocking Envy, Winry demands to know why Marcoh was acting so reckless. Marcoh explains it was for the first time of settling things on his own accord, rather than doing what he was told similar to Winry's parents just as Envy bites Yoki's finger. His attempt to control Yoki's body to use as a hostage fails as no one in the group considers Yoki to be their friend and Marcoh even tells him they'll kill both him and Yoki if he gets out of line. However, as soon as Al pulls Envy off of Yoki's body, Marcoh admits he was bluffing much to Yoki's annoyance. At their hut, Jerso and Zampano use torture with the glass jar Envy was placed in to talk about their secret plans. As he points out they'll kill him after he tells them everyone, Envy notes that the Fullmetal "pipsqueak" isn't with them and reveals he'd gone missing instead of returning to Fort Briggs. Al demands answers and Envy reveals that the mine in Baschool caved in and it is unknown if he is still alive. That night, Al responds to Jerso's question that instead of going to search for Ed, they'll just move on as Ed would do the same thing. Scar announces that he'll be heading out on his own mission to search for something that can help change Amestris, despite his grudge for what happened in Ishval and that he'll need Dr. Marcoh to accompany him which he agrees.
As Al decides his destination will be Reole, believing the tunnel to be there so he can destroy it and buy time to set up a reverse transmutation circle, Scar gives the jar with the slug Envy to May and asks that she returns to Xing since it will help save her clan. Despite May's objections, considering the aid she provided for their group, Scar states that as a Xingese citizen she should not get involved with the affairs of another country and she won't be able to complete her clan's mission if she wastes time by helping them with Amestris' problems. The next day the group sees off May, Xiao-Mei, and Envy, with Al telling May he'll visit her when he masters the basics of alkahestry, before they divide up as well. In Dublith, a depressed Bido watches two military officers outside the Curtis's Meat shop as one soldier reports that Izumi Curtis and her husband have left on vacation with no indication of their return. As they are ready to return to Central to report to Bradley, Bido recalls he was the one that took down Greed. Bido decides to hide under their car so he can go to Central and find Greed.
At Central Command, Olivier Armstrong steps on the foot of her younger brother Alex Armstrong and advises him to address her by rank, noting he hasn't changed much. After Alex mentions he heard of Fort Briggs' recent victory over Drachma, he whispers that the countrywide transmutation circle is almost complete. Olivier informs him that Amestris's security comes first and she must be ready to defend against any threat, and then kicks Alex for making a useless comment. Meeting with Lt. General Gardner, Oliver admits she doesn't think of Alex as her brother for his cowardice in the Ishval Civil War. Taking Maj. General Armstrong with him to a hidden bunker, Gardner lists the three rules for being a State Alchemist: Obey the military, do not create gold, and do not create human beings. He explains that while the first two have obvious reasons (disobeying is treason, and creating gold would upset the economy), the third rule has a hidden agenda. As they enter the a hidden room, Gardner reveals the third rule of that not creating humans is actually to avoid for someone else to create their own army, as he then shows her the Mannequin Soldiers.
Meanwhile Al's group has arrived at Reole and Al recognizes Rosé upon arriving at the foodstand and she is surprised that Al is traveling again. Asking where Ed is, Al states he isn't here today. Teasing Winry about a hint of jealously when Rosé admits she missed him, Winry snaps at Al, as Hohenheim returns from washing the pots and noticing that Al is there.
Episode Cards
Episode Notes
- This episode is adapted from content in Chapter 74: The Dwarf in the Flask, Chapter 79: Bug Bite and Chapter 80: The Prodigal Father Returns.
- The Transmutation Circle that appears in the background of this episode's title card is the array tattooed on Tim Marcoh's right palm.
- In the manga, after the Drachman army is destroyed, its commander has a short conversation with Kimblee and gets blown up during it; Kimblee then escapes from the remaining Drachman soldiers, who want to take him away, using the Philosopher's Stone. In the episode, however, the commander is killed during the battle before even finding Kimblee, who is then shown standing on the battlefield among explosions.
- In the corresponding manga chapter, Bido appears to have known about Bradley's involvement in the raid on Devil's Nest via hearsay, but in this episode, he is depicted as having been hiding on the scene of his comrades' deaths.
- The title name may be derived from the quote "When an ant is struck, does it not fight back and bite the hand of the man that struck it?" - Labaya of Schechum. Amarna Letter EA 252: Sparing One's Enemies, 1350 B.C.E.
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