"AL YOU DUMMY!" Yelled Ed.
Father was shocked to see Ed's arm return as Ed clapped his hands and immediately transmuted a pillar from the groun as it collided into Father's gut sending him away.
With his restored right arm, Ed pulled the metal that pinned his left arm out.
Father rolled on the ground until he stood up, only to receive a barraged of pillars to the face from Ed as he transmitted a massive bunch of them.
Everyone looked on in shock to seeing Father getting pummeled as Ed then transmitted a javelin and threw it will at the strength he could at Father as it collided
The right side of his face, includong hos eye was destroyed as Father screamed in agony, with black liquid pouring out from the wound.
As the scene unfolded, everyone present at the battle began to cheer on Edward, showering him with appluads and encouragment as Ed and Father charged and then jumped at one another, before Ed punched him right in the face as Father was knocked down, Ed standing before him.
"Come on you novice! This fight ain't over yet!" Shouted Ed.
Father slowly got up before the two charged at one another again.
Ed then struck Father on the side of his face knocking him back.
'I don't understand!' Shouted Father in his head. 'How can this happen when I've absorbed God!? How can a mere human, a meager alchemist, with his bare hands!'
Ed continued to land punch after punch on Father as the almighty being got more and more staggered before Ed punched a hole right through Father's stomach and then uppercutted as he was launched into the air and fell onto the ground, eyes closed.
Everyone cheered as Father had been defeated.
As the cheers went on, Ed turned his attention to find the soulless armored body of Alphonse as Alex and Akari were kneeling over it.
Kunsil landed down next to Alex and reverted back to normal.
"From the looks of it, we've won." Said Kunsil.
"Yeah but....." trailed off Alex as he looked back at Alphonse. "It seems Alphonse is gone for good. Sacrificing his soul away to help our cause."
Ed walked up to them and looked at the armor staying quiet.
"Edward. I've got the toll. I can tap into Truth's power and make a stone for you to bring back Alphonse." Offered Alex.
Ed just sighed.
"I, can't. As much as I want to, I can't. I promised Al we'd never use a Philosopher's Stone." Said Ed, as he tried to think of an alternative way to bring back Alphonse.
That was until Ed looked at his hands, and an idea struck him, as he stood up and walked over to grab a discarded stick that was among the rubble.
Edward then began to draw a transmutation circle on the ground until he was done.
At first everyone was confused on what he drew, until Alex gasped in shock.
"Ed, that's a human transmutation circle!" Shouted Alex causing everyone there to turn their attention to Edward.
"I'll be back in a few minutes. This is my last transmutation. Stand back and enjoy the show!" Happily said Edward as he clapped his hands and as blue energy began to flicker until he placed his hands down on the circle as the glow grew brighter.
Edward now stood in the white void in front of his door of Truth
Sitting right in front of him was Truth who as usual was sitting down.
"I take it your here to retrieve your brother? Just how do you plan on pulling an entire human out of here?" Asked Truth. "What's your payment? Do you intend to offer your own body?"
Edward just smirked and let out a chuckle.
"Yeah I've got your payment right here. So go ahead and take it!" Said Ed as he pointed back at his door of truth.
The reason that allowed Ed to transmute without a circle.
Truth was in shock that Ed was willing to give up his use of Alchemy entirely to bring back Alphonse.
"This thing is my portal of truth, so I get to decide how it's used. Isn't that right?" Asked Edward with a confident smile.
In response Truth gavr a small laugh as he placed a hand on his head. "So it's come to that. Are you sure about this? You do realize that you'll never be able to perform Alchemy again without your portal right?" Asked Truth as Ed looked back at his gate.
"I'm aware of that. This portal, I knpw it contains every secret of Alchemy has to offer, however, its also led me astray. I saw the truth that lies within it, and I became convinced that I could solve everything with Alchemy, but I couldn't possibly have been more wrong. That was just arrogance." Said Ed.
"So your willing to cast it all aside and lower yourself to a simple human?" Asked Truth.
"What do you mean lower myself? The only thing I could've ever been, was just a simple human who couldn't even save a little girl. Not even with Alchemy." Responded Ed.
"You sure you'll be alright without it? Think carefully now." Warned Truth.
Edward kept quiet, as he had all of his friends in allies in mind as he turned and gave Truth a confident smile.
"Who even needs alchemy, when I've got them?" Asked Edward.
Truth smiled in ecstasy. "You've done it! That's the right answer! Good job! You beat me!" Shouted Truth as Ed clapped his hands and placed them on his gateway.
"Go ahead! Take him home! The back door's right over there! Goodbye Edward Elric!" Were Truth's final words towards Edward as he had one last thought left in mind.
'Two contracts fulfilled. That just leaves one left.'
Ed's portal and Truth both dispersed into nothingness as Alphonse, who's soul had returned to his body, sat thete awaiting Ed as he approached him.
Al slowly stood up as Ed helped him up.
"That was crazy Al." Said Edward.
Al merely chuckled in response. "Speak for yourself."
Al's gate then began to open as a bright light shone from it.
Ed and Al held one another in arms as Ed looked at his younger brother.
"Now let's go home. Together." Said Ed as Al nodded in agreement as the two walked towards the light.
Back on the battlefield, Alphonse's opened his eyes to see a cloth covering him as he was nude as he looked around to see his close ones around him.
"Well, looks like he's finally waking up." Said Alex.
"How you feeling? You okay?" Asked Roy.
"Alex........and the Colonel. Your here." Said Alphonse as he looked and saw Akari.
"Ms. Akari."
Akari gave a warm smile.
"Hey. Welcome back." She said, reaching a hand out for him.
Ed gently lifted Al's frail body up as he shook Akari's hand.
"Home at last. It's so warm." Said Al, finally feeling a human's touch for the first time in so long.
Everyone was happy as the long fight was over.
Unbeknownst to everyone there though, from the crater, Father slowly arose as one soldier caught notice.
"H-He's still standing!"
Everyone was shocked to hear this as their attention turned to see that sure enough, even with the hole in his abdomen, Father still stood, even though he was panting heavily.
"Y-You, viile humans, still wanna defy fate!? Death for the human race is imminent! It is, far too late now, for any of you too stop me!" Shouted Father as he looked up to the sky, arms stretched out as he began to levitate up into the air as he ascended higher and higher until he wasn't visible anymore.
Then, the heavens and sky shook as the clouds all parted away revealing a massive object from the sky, crashing towards the surface
A spherical object as large as the moon began to descend upon the land with an ominous red eye being visible.
"T-This, can't be real." Said Kunsil.
As it slowly got closer, the gravity increased ten fold as everyone was practically pinned to their knees on the ground as they all struggled to stay up.
As time drew closer to the end, Alex's mind went blank, as he heard Truth speak within his head.
BGM: Mistic from Persona 3
"Go Alex. Ascend to the heavens, ans save this world. You've found what you want to cherish and protect. Now go and reach your final confrontation."
Alex's eyes widened as he slowly reached a hand out, holding out to the sky, the heavens.
"Very well then. Let's go together, and prevent the fall of man." Said Truth.
Alex then stood up on his own, and lowered his hand, as he himself slowly levitated towards the heavens and sky just like father did.
As he did, everyone on the ground saw this and immediately called out to Alex while Akari kept quiet, holding her hands together for a prayer.
'Go do it. Save us all, my child.'
BGM ends here
Once Alex ascended past the sky all he saw around him were strange green patterns
As he continued to be lifted through the weird tunnel, they turned blue
Eventually Alex reached the end of the tunnel and was in a black empty void until a bright light shone
Alex got closer and closer to the light until it filled his entire vision.
Eventually, he landed down in the black empty space and stared down this in front of him
In front of the giant white structure was a small black orb with arms that Alex assumed was Father's true form
The little black orb seemingly danced around the white light before turning to see Alex.
"What the!? How'd you get here!?" Asked the orb who had a high pitched voice.
"Are you Father?" Asked Alex.
"So what if I am!? Are you gonna make fun of me cause you've seen my true form!? Well it doesn't matter! With this giant white light of energy I'll collide the giant sphere into the blanet and harvest everyone's energy again!" Shouted the orb.
"Like hell!" Shouted Alex.
"Oh please. Like a mere human could ever dream to harm me here." Said the orb as he held his hands out.
In front of his hands, he charged a massive fireball
As Alex saw this in shock, he couldn't react in time as the orb launched the fire attack directly at him as it landed and caused a massive explosion of flames to burst around Alex.
Alex fell onto his knees and struggled to get up as he heard Truth talk to him.
"Even if your all alone, your not lonely by any means. Can you hear their voices?" Asked Truth.
Sure enough, Alex heard the voices of Akari, the Elrics, Roy, Riza, Kunsil, the CPUs and Candidates, the Black Jacks, and the Valkyries all calling out his name and pleading Alex to get the job done.
Alex clenched his fists and slowly got up onto his feet as the orb immediately launched another ball of fire at him as Alex held his arm in front of him, trying to tank the attack.
"Never have I ever seen a kid with such high potential as you kid. Everyone cheering you on from the Earth is feeding you strength. I never thought I'd see the day someone would ever manage to gain such strength."
Once the fire went away. Alex began to slowly walk forward as this caused the black orb to panic.
"How are you still standing!? Your just a mere HUMAN!"
The orb then launched another fire ball, this one more potent that the other two and launched it at Alex as the flames burned hotter than ever before.
Alex stopped for a bit and panted before smiling as he remembered the voice Kevin spoke to him before he perished.
"I sense great things from you. A person who can single handedly save the world."
"This is it! DIE YOU VILE HUMAN!" Shouted the Orb as it launched the strongest fireball it could as he Alex simply looked up and smiled as the the flames exploded all around him.
"The process is done. Your contract has been fulfilled. Your strength and powers have merged with mine. Now your the soul owner of the Gate of Truth. Alex, I truly mean this, you were the best guest I've ever had. Now use all the power, every single drop you got, and seal that bastard away! Go Alex!" Shouted Truth, as those were his last words ever as he disintegrated away into thin air.
Alex smiled as within all the fire blazing around him, as he lifted a hand pointed a finger at to the sky, as a bright light enveloped the dark void as the black orb yelled in angony as he was enveloped in the light as well as the white mass of energy
From the view of everyone on the ground this was what they saw a white dot from appear from the red center as then, the sphere began to crack until it exploded in the air.
Everyone ducked for cover to avoid debris, but, once it was all done, they all looked up to see it was now gone.
The fall of hunanity, has been prevented.
Arc Ending Theme: With the Stars and Us by Lyn
The Promised Day Arc: Complete.
Chapter 68: End