[If you are interested in reading 10 chapters ahead, go check out my Pa.tr.eon with the link https://www.patréon.com/LazySageDao, or just type in my writer's name in the website. The plot is getting exciting there and you guys can support me in any way you can.
Additionally, go read my other novel [Journey of the Fate Destroying Emperor] and [The Otsutsuki Clan: A Legacy of Blood and Destruction], it's a Naruto Fanfic with an evil MC born in the Otsutsuki clan.
Join the discord: https://discord.gg/bnsezTApeY]
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"Where am I?" muttered Maes Hughes as he opened his eyes, looking at the room he was in. "Wait, I thought I was dead?"
"Fortunately, you are not," suddenly said a voice, which slightly startled Hughes. He turned around to look in the direction of the voice, however, all he saw was blurred.
"Your glasses are on the nightstand next to you," said the voice. As such, Hughes reached out to take them; he had to tap his hand for a few seconds before he reached.
Hughes then saw a young man with black hair and blue eyes looking at him.
"Are you the one who saved me?"
"That's correct," replied Edward. "You can get up if you want, you have made a complete recovery."
Hughes immediately realized that his body was in perfect shape. He raised his shirt to see a few scars on his body in the shape of bullet holes. If it was not for them, he would have thought that the previous event was a dream.
"Thank you for saving me, and when I have time, I would like to show my gratitude. But, I have to go."
"There is no need to rush."
"You do not understand, this is a matter of life and death."
"I am perfectly aware of your discovery of the nationwide transmutation circle and the implication behind it," replied Edward. "Nevertheless, it does not change the fact that you cannot leave."
Immediately, Maes Hughes became on guard as he looked at Edward with a solemn look. However, the latter just smiled and said:
"There is no need to guard against me; if I was your enemy, there would be no point in saving you. Now, come watch your funeral."
As Hughes watched this young man leave, he pondered for a moment before realizing that the latter was right. So, he got up from the bead, rushed after him while yelling: Wait, who are you? I don't even know your name. Plus, what do you mean by watching my funeral?"
As Huges followed the young man, he found himself in a living room with two chairs that looked remarkably comfortable. However, his eyes were attracted to what lay in front of the chair: a large projection screen that showed a funeral.
At the funeral, Hughes saw his best friend Mustang, the soldiers under his command, the Fuhrer, and more importantly, his wife and daughter.
"What is this?"
"To the outside world, you're a dead man. So, this is your funeral."
Hughes looked at the screen. Then, something that broke his heart happened. His daughter looked at his wife and said:
"Mom, why are they burying Daddy?"
"Elicia, he's gone."
"Daddy said that he has a lot of work to do; if they bury him, he cannot do his work. Stop them, mommy, stop them; daddy has a lot of work to do."
As Hughes watched his wife embrace his daughter with tears flowing down her eyes, he clenched his hand. Edward--who feared that this guy would cause trouble--immediately said: "Think of it that way, you're not really dead, just cannot see them for now."
Hughes had already figured out that this young man who saved him would not let him leave for some reason, so, with clenched teeth, he sat on the remaining chair while he stared at the screen.
Meanwhile, while Edward was watching, he was also pondering about his mortality. To him, the reason that Hughes made his family suffer like that was that he was too weak to prevent his death.
And the current him was also pitifully weak. So, one day, his family might have to bury him--just like Hughes. As such, Edward warned himself to never get complacent in his progress and to also always be careful so that he does not have to put his family through this; too many people are counting on him.
After the funeral ended, Hughes looked at Edward and asked: "Why did you save me? And why are you preventing me from warning people about my discovery?"
"Humm?" muttered Edward. "How do I explain this. Well, think of it that way. Imagine that you're reading a good book and you have a favorite character. However, the author decided to kill that character to drive the story and make it emotionally impactful, to raise the stakes.
"As a reader, there is nothing you can do about this since this is not your story. However, imagine if some God gave you the chance to travel to the world of that book and granted you the ability to change the plot as you wish. What would you do?"
"Of course, save my favorite character," replied Hughes.
"Well, that's exactly why I saved you."
"Although I'm a little flattered that I would be your favorite character, this is not a book, and I'm not some character on a page; this is real life with real consequences."
Edward looked him straight in the eyes and asked: "If you were a character in a book, how would you possibly know? How would you know if your fate was already written down from the moment you were born?"
Suddenly, an existential dread overcame Huges, but he quickly regained his thoughts.
"Okay, let's not mention your reasons for saving me, but why do you prevent me from giving the information about the nation-wide transmutation circle? Whoever is behind this, if they succeed, all the citizens of Amestris will be killed."
"Since I'm a reader of the book, of course, I already know the end of the events. As such, I also know that other people will also find this information out and prevent it from happening," replied Edward calmly.
"Even more so, since you already know the outcome, you can easily prevent it and reduce the necessary struggle and sacrifices that could happen," rebutted Hughes. "Unless you do not want to intervene or you will benefit in some ways."
"See, you are finally using your talent as an intelligence officer."
Hughes sighed but did not continue on this topic.
"By the way, I still do not know your name."
"Oh, sorry about that. My name is Edward Bones," said Edward as he extended his hand for a handshake.
"You're the alchemist that saved Nina Tucker?"
"That's me."
"Mustang told me about you. I'm glad that you were there to save that little girl from her miserable fate," replied Hughes as he shook Edward's hand.
"Now that everything is settled down, I will give you two options: stay here or travel with me."
Hughes fixed his glasses up as he pondered for a moment, then he responded: "I'll stay here."
Edward looked at him up and down. "Okay, you do not need to play smart. Even if you stay here, you cannot escape as I placed a powerful spell on this villa. Every day, someone will come up to give you a menu and you can choose what you want to eat. Besides that, you'll still be imprisoned inside."
"Spell?"
"You can think of it as a very advanced form of Alchemy."
Hughes sighed after hearing this, he then asked: "If I leave with you, where are we going?"
"We will be crossing the desert heading for the country of Xing."
Hughes pondered for a while before deciding to travel with Edward.
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For anyone who watched FMAB and did not cry or feel anything during Hughes' death and funeral, you're either a psychopath or dead inside. No argument!
2Next Chapter Title: Xerxes
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Chapter 141: Maes Hughes
1[If you are interested in reading 10 chapters ahead, go check out my Pa.tr.eon with the link https://www.patréon.com/LazySageDao, or just type in my writer's name in the website. The plot is getting exciting there and you guys can support me in any way you can.
Additionally, go read my other novel [Journey of the Fate Destroying Emperor] and [The Otsutsuki Clan: A Legacy of Blood and Destruction], it's a Naruto Fanfic with an evil MC born in the Otsutsuki clan.
Join the discord: https://discord.gg/bnsezTApeY]
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After reading Wrath's memories, Edward realized that he was wrong about something. In the anime, Wrath is one of the most powerful villains that the protagonists faced, and he was not even an alchemist. He relied purely on his physical abilities and peak swordsmanship, and even a powerful Alchemist like Colonel Mustang was not his match.
Edward always assumed that his physical prowess was due to the Philosopher's Stone, but he was wrong. Wrath's enhanced physical abilities came purely from training.
3He waved his hand and a dissecting table appeared in the room; he laid Wrath on it before opening him up like a cadaver at a medical school. After a brief analysis, Edward muttered:
"Your muscles are five times denser than humans, and so are your bones. Your organs are shock-resistant, and your life force is incredible. On top of that, your neural receptors are at least 10 times faster than humans.
"And all of that was achieved through pure training; how incredible."
1After doing an initial analysis on Wrath, Edward had Morgana scan all of his body down to the atomic level, then he left--leaving Wrath alone. He knew that a few hours later, the latter would be able to move on his own.
After returning to his house, Edward took two swords and started training. With each swing, he would control certain muscles in his body to exert a certain amount of force; each swing was exact.
Then, Edward felt a strange energy from the ground entering his body, nourishing his body; to be exact, it was increasing his life force, thus also enhancing his body.
"I was right; the people of this world can passively absorb life energy from what the people of Xing call Dragon Pulse; the life energy will nourish them thus enhancing their bodies beyond normal range.
"And it seems that Wrath has developed the optimal method of training."
He then continued to use Wrath's memory of training to fully digest it. A few hours later, he stopped and muttered:
"This world is different from Earth, so it should not be possible for the citizens of the Empire to passively absorb life force to increase their physical fitness. However, after studying the concept of Dragon Pulse from Xing, I should be able to create a method to actively do so.
"Unfortunately, there is a bigger problem at large: whether Earth has any life force to absorb. Only living things have a life force, as such, this entire world or planet is actually a living organism; it might even be a part of Truth's body.
"But, the same cannot be said for Earth."
Edward paused for a moment as he suddenly remembered a theory made by a wizard from Hawaii. The theory stated that Earth was a living creature, and the leyline nodes that travel through it were its magic veins.
2"This theory is similar to the concept of the Dragon Pulse; however, instead of Qi traveling through the ground and connecting everything, it's magic instead."
Edward went through his memory to review that wizard's theory. Many people disagreed with him, with the main argument being that if Planet Earth was alive, it should have a consciousness; without it, it cannot be classified as a living organism.
3As such, the Hawaiian wizard has been researching to discover the consciousness or will of the Planet.
"That wizard might have been right," muttered Edward. "After all, Truth can be considered the consciousness of all living things, including this planet. If he can exist, why can't the planet's consciousness exist--even the entire universe might have its own consciousness.
1"Alright, I can research these things when I get back."
After that, Edward placed his focus on the homunculi, Pride. He was interested in its ability to absorb other homunculi and gained their powers and abilities.
--Scene Break--
"So, you're saying that this Alchemist dissected you, left you alive, then proceeded to take Pride away?"
"Yes, Father."
"Why would he do that?"
"From the brief conversation we had, the Alchemist seems to be unable to kill us for some reason. However, he is also interested in our abilities," replied Wrath calmly.
However, his hands that were clenched showed his true emotions. What he did not say to his father was that this Alchemist seems to want to humiliate the homunculi, showing that they are as weak as ants in front of him.
Just like they despised humans, the Alchemist despised them.
Father frowned after hearing this, paused for a few minutes before saying: "As long as he does not mess with our plans, we will leave him alone for now. However, afterward, I will deal with him."
…
Days passed and Edward finished studying the homunculi that he captured, he then released them. Since he wanted their plans to succeed and promised Truth not to kill anyone, he did not bother with them after getting the information he wanted.
Even Gluttony was released after Edward learned how to make a large dimension from him. Meanwhile, Father was once again surprised once he learned that the Lust and Gluttony that he has been interacting with the past few weeks was a fake one.
After realizing that Edward was a much greater threat than anticipated, he gave up the idea of making him one of the sacrifices and ordered the Homunculi to avoid confrontation with him.
Central City, inside a booth, a man lay on the floor bleeding, a picture of his wife and daughter was next to him. Looking down on him was the homunculus, Envy.
"You humans don't make any sense to me. You throw away your lives for nothing."
After saying that, he turned around to leave. However, what he did not notice was that as soon as he did that, the bleeding person--who was Lieutenant Colonel Maes Hughes--suddenly plunged into the ground, before another person that looked exactly like he appeared.
As for Envy, after turning his head, he saw a man with blue eyes standing in front of him; the man was wearing a suit with a long trench coat that floated with the wind.
"You're Edward Bones," said Envy as he unconsciously took a small step back.
"That's correct. Now, do you want to go willing with me and be dissected, or do you want me to drag you there by force? You can take your time to make a choice, I don't have any plans for the rest of the night."
10Envy gritted his teeth after hearing this; he hated the eyes that this alchemist gave him. Because it was similar to when he toys with the lives of humans when he watched them squirm before dying in despair.
"Don't be cocky, human," said Envy as he revealed his true form which was a giant green four-legged beast with countless souls on its body.
1"So, you've chosen the hard way. Fine by me."
2Edward snapped his finger, massive blue lightning traveled from his hand to hit Envy. He screamed out loud after being electrocuted, with burns all over his massive body.
Envy heard another snape, then flames enveloped him and burned his massive body. In just two attacks, he lost dozens of souls to regenerate himself.
3Afterward, for the next 30 seconds, only Edward's hand snapping and Envy's scream could be heard in the area of the booth. For a sadistic thing like Envy, his screams were nothing but music to Edward.
After playing for a while, he used a spell to place Envy to sleep before capturing it and leaving.
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Next Chapter Title: Funeral
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