"It should be starting soon. Time to leave." Daniel looked at the fallen Wrath, glanced back at Central City, then grabbed Wrath and boarded his Quinjet, heading towards the Amestrian border.
In Mustang's plan, Daniel's role was to create chaos. Mustang's subordinates were spread out to disrupt and engage the Central forces, while Major General Armstrong led a portion of the Northern troops infiltrating Central to seize the military headquarters and hold it.
Mustang, the Elric brothers, Isaac, Izumi, and Scar headed to the underground lair of the so-called "Father."
Despite having drawn away a significant portion of the Central forces and sealing off the headquarters' entrances with alchemy, Armstrong and the Northern troops faced fierce resistance. The remaining generals unleashed the artificial soldiers, also known as the Immortal Legion.
The allure of immortality and an invincible army was too great for the aging generals. Immortality for personal enjoyment and an undead army to crush any opposition.
However, reality was harsh. The Immortal Legion turned on the generals first, attacking them like zombies from a biohazard outbreak. Many generals and soldiers were killed in the process.
The only ones capable of controlling the Immortal Legion were the homunculi, who had deceived the generals, much like they had done with the King of Xerxes.
Upon learning of the plan, Daniel's first thought was that Mustang and his group were walking into a trap, delivering all five human sacrifices to the Dwarf in the Flask, simplifying his work considerably.
Daniel, of course, did not intend to stop this plan, as it aligned with his own goals.
"We need to get further away." Reaching the border, near Sloth's tunnel encircling the country, Daniel retreated a bit further, considering that staying too close might be dangerous. He then released sixteen Iron Man suits from a container, sending them flying in different directions.
The Iron Man suits were operational in this world. Though there was no network, Red Queen had standalone programs. It's like using a computer without internet access; it loses many functions but can still operate.
Daniel hadn't used them before because they were cumbersome to wear and he hadn't encountered enemies necessitating their use.
The National Transmutation Array targeted living beings, so it wouldn't affect the lifeless Iron Man suits.
Just as Daniel completed his preparations, the entire nation of Amestris underwent a dramatic change. A sinister red glow appeared on the ground, forming a massive transmutation circle, signaling the activation of the National Transmutation Array.
As the array activated, countless eerie black shadows emerged from the earth, causing every person in Amestris to lose consciousness and collapse.
Simultaneously, crimson liquid seeped from the ground, turning into an ominous black substance—these were Philosopher's Stones, created and buried by the Dwarf in the Flask over the centuries.
The entire nation was bathed in red, with crimson lightning crackling in the sky.
The sight of the crimson lightning, black shadows, red mist, and a massive red transmutation array was overwhelming. A black, transparent gate appeared in the sky, and a gigantic black figure began to emerge from it, accompanied by countless black tendrils.
At this moment, the entire land was plunged into darkness, the sun above turned pitch black, resembling a total solar eclipse.
"Is this the pressure of a god?" Daniel felt an immense pressure, even from a distance, as if the air around him had thickened, making it hard to breathe.
As a mysterious voice echoed across the land, a black gate appeared on the surface of the darkened sun. When it opened, a cold, emotionless eye appeared inside, with numerous black tendrils reaching out—The Eye of God.
The tendrils intertwined, and the gigantic black figure climbed upwards, gripping the tendrils to ascend.
"Is this the real Gate of Truth?" To enter the Gate's world, one needed a toll. The greater the toll, the more knowledge one could gain from the Gate of Truth.
Using the lives of all current Amestrian citizens and the Philosopher's Stones buried underground as toll, the real Gate of Truth was opened, and the Dwarf in the Flask aimed to pull down God.
"Fifty million souls," Daniel thought, feeling the gravity of the situation. Suddenly, a blinding light erupted from the sky, turning everything white and causing Daniel to lose sight.
After a while, the light faded, the giant black figure and gate disappeared, leaving only the solitary black sun in the sky.
"The Eye of God, the Gate of the Earth," Daniel murmured, then pulled out the Space Stone, ready to act.
He had a clear purpose in not disrupting the Dwarf in the Flask's plan, not preventing the activation of the National Transmutation Array, and not saving the fifty million souls of Amestris.
Disrupting the plan would have been easy—destroying the circular tunnel surrounding Amestris would have sufficed. Without this circle, the National Transmutation Array couldn't be activated.
Even without breaking the circle, if Daniel were to bring large-scale weapons or even small nuclear bombs from the Marvel universe and use them recklessly, he might deplete the Dwarf in the Flask's Philosopher's Stones, making the underground Stones his.
However, he didn't want to cause excessive collateral damage. The primary reason was the National Transmutation Array. Daniel wanted to witness it. He considered the possibility of taking the Dwarf's place, but without assurance, he decided against it.
Becoming a god by sacrificing fifty million lives was tempting. Most people would be swayed by such an offer.
HYDRA was willing to sacrifice billions for the Insight Plan; fifty million was a smaller number in comparison.
In the vast universe, countless lives had been taken by Thanos, with billions killed over the years. If he snapped his fingers, the death toll would be incalculable.
Unable to replace the Dwarf, Daniel devised another plan, one unique to him due to possessing the Space Stone and knowledge of Kamar-Taj magic.
He aimed to enter the dimension of the Gate of Truth while the Dwarf pulled down God. In the Fullmetal Alchemist world, this would be impossible for others, but not for him with the Space Stone.
Whether he would gain any benefit was uncertain, but it didn't hurt to try.
"No white figure, so it's been pulled down. This must be the true Gate of Truth." The space within the Gate was as blindingly white as ever, but this time, the white figure was absent. Instead, there was a giant, already open white door, its frame adorned with strange symbols and images.
"Gate of Truth, World Tree, Knowledge," Daniel thought. Given the urgency, he quickly glanced at the symbols on the Gate and stepped inside.
As he entered, vast amounts of knowledge flooded his mind. Feeling this knowledge, Daniel smiled, confirming his previous suspicions.
The reason why alchemists who had seen the Gate were stronger than others and could serve as sacrifices was simple: knowledge.
For an alchemist, knowledge was power. An alchemist's strength depended on their knowledge. Learning through traditional means was slow and challenging, but the Gate provided knowledge in exchange for tolls.
In the modern world, knowledge is power too. Without it, inventions like electricity, nuclear bombs, or satellites wouldn't exist.
Even a genius like Einstein would struggle in a primitive society without prior knowledge.
Similarly, for sorcerers, knowledge was crucial. The sorcerers of Kamar-Taj were weak partly due to slow training and limited knowledge. The Book of Cagliostro was reserved for Strange because others like Mordo wouldn't understand it.
It's like handing relativity, the Goldbach conjecture, and nuclear technology to a layman—they wouldn't grasp it.
Some argue that making a nuclear bomb is easy with materials, but it's not. Obadiah Stane had experts with doctorates working on miniaturizing the Arc Reactor, yet made no progress despite having a large reactor to study.
"Hurry up," Daniel urged himself, feeling the knowledge entering his mind. The urgency was due to his "tax evasion"—he hadn't paid the toll. If the Gate detected this, it would spell trouble far worse than tax evasion.
"I hope they don't defeat the Dwarf too quickly." Daniel hoped Edward and the others would take their time.
"Hang in there. No, it's time to leave. Being too greedy isn't good. Better leave now, but this is a rare opportunity," Daniel's thoughts conflicted, with his angelic and devilish sides debating.
Ordinarily, gaining knowledge from the Gate required tolls. The more tolls, the more knowledge. Alphonse, for instance, could have been the best alchemist due to losing his whole body, while Edward only lost limbs.
Mustang lost his sight, and Izumi lost her organs.
Now, Daniel was gaining knowledge potentially worth fifty million souls, an immense amount.
His "tax evasion" meant slower knowledge transfer. The Dwarf, having paid, received knowledge quickly.
Hohenheim could counter the Dwarf's plans because they shared the Gate's knowledge.
"Damn it," Daniel's hand trembled, torn between leaving and staying.
"I must leave." Finally, Daniel activated the Space Stone, exiting the Gate. Despite the missed opportunity, it was safer to leave than risk being trapped in the Gate.
Such greed-driven deaths were common, and he didn't want to be one of them. Carefully surviving in the Marvel universe, only to die here due to greed, would be foolish.
"It seems to be ending. Good thing I didn't stay," Daniel noted as the eclipse disappeared. He breathed a sigh of relief, though a part of him regretted leaving behind the vast knowledge.
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"Let's first see what's going on now," Daniel Davis quickly decided to put aside the knowledge he had gained from the Gate of Truth and head to Central City to check if Edward and the others had dealt with the Homunculus. After all, he had already left the Gate of Truth and couldn't return, so thinking about it further would only cause unnecessary worry.
Activating the cloaking system on the Quinjet, he swiftly flew towards Central City. Upon reaching the skies above Central City, he rode a flying broomstick, activated the Pym Particles, retrieved the Quinjet, and flew down.
"It seems the battle isn't over yet," Daniel quickly realized from his vantage point that a battle was still raging in front of Central Command. Several alchemists were engaging a frail, elderly man, the Homunculus. Although their attacks didn't injure him, the relentless assaults forced him to stay on the defensive, unable to counterattack.
Despite being blind, Colonel Mustang was directing his Flame Alchemy with precision under Hawkeye's guidance, each strike hitting the Homunculus.
A massive earth wall protected Mustang and Hawkeye, created by Mustang using knowledge gained from the Gate of Truth, allowing him to craft such barriers.
Izumi faced the Homunculus with a large stone crossbow, continuously firing giant bolts, while Edward and Armstrong launched long-range attacks.
Hohenheim's attacks were the simplest and most powerful, purely energy-based.
"Eight times normal human eyesight," Daniel had wondered how Mustang and the others had detected him, but upon learning about Hawkeye's capabilities, he understood. Hawkeye's eyesight was eight times better than a normal human's, similar to Marvel's Hawkeye.
"Edward's lost arm has returned, and Al's armor is damaged. Is it because of the exchange?" Edward was furious, likely due to Al's sacrifice to restore his arm.
Several alchemists were at the frontline, while soldiers in the distance used various ranged weapons, including guns and small mortars, to attack the Homunculus. They kept their distance because the Homunculus could turn ordinary people into Philosopher's Stones instantly within a certain range, a power that alchemists seemed to be immune to.
In such circumstances, attacking him up close was akin to offering oneself as a Philosopher's Stone.
"The Homunculus is running out of strength. It looks like I won't need to intervene," Daniel observed. With Hohenheim's countermeasures activated, the Homunculus had already lost. Without the power of the five million souls from Amestris, he couldn't suppress the god within him. Even without further combat, he would soon be devoured by the god unless he could absorb another five million souls quickly, which was impossible without a nationwide transmutation circle.
Therefore, even if Edward and the others lost the battle, the Homunculus' plan had failed. The fight only hastened the consumption of the Philosopher's Stone within him, speeding up the god's retribution.
Strictly speaking, the true contenders in the world of Fullmetal Alchemist were always the Homunculus and Hohenheim, with the others being incidental.
"The protagonists of Fullmetal Alchemist were never the Elric brothers, but their father, Hohenheim," Daniel mused.
"Dammit, no, I just wanted—" Under the continuous assault, the Homunculus could no longer suppress the god's power within him. Black shadows began to emerge from his body, first a few tendrils, then covering him entirely. A cold, emotionless eye appeared, and the Homunculus vanished.
The battle ended.
With the Homunculus gone, everyone breathed a sigh of relief. Izumi clutched her chest and sat down, exhausted from the continuous fighting. Despite being a formidable housewife, she had reached her limit. If the enemy were still present, she might have been able to continue, but now the fatigue and injuries overwhelmed her.
Edward rushed to Al's damaged armor.
"So this is where it is, no need to search the void in Gluttony's belly," Daniel said as he arrived at the Homunculus' underground base beneath Central Command. He saw the circular transmutation circle inscribed on the floor, identical to the broken mural at Xerxes.
"The existence of such a transmutation circle means someone in this world's history has attempted what the Homunculus is doing now," Daniel thought as he searched for research materials.
After the war, it was time to clean up. Initially, this task would have fallen to Mustang, but with his blindness, Major General Armstrong took over, being the highest-ranking officer left in Central Command.
With the confusion and chaos of the battle over, Armstrong quickly took control of Central City. Her Northern troops and Mustang's forces began taking over Central Command.
Central City soon returned to normal, although temporarily. There were still many unresolved issues, and the truth of the matter was known only to the Eastern and Northern troops. The Southern and Western troops would need an explanation.
Edward used the Gate of Truth to restore his brother's body, achieving a happy ending.
With many Central Command officers involved in the conspiracy, the Eastern Army soon occupied Central City under General Grumman's leadership, who emerged as the biggest winner of this conflict.
Given his seniority, Grumman quickly restored order in the country, even though the Homunculus' plot had been thwarted.
The country's stability was still fragile, with ongoing conflicts such as the one at Fort Briggs in the North against Drachma.
The Northern Army needed Major General Armstrong to hold the line.
After a series of negotiations and exchanges, Grumman became the interim President, Mustang was promoted to Brigadier General and became the leader of the Eastern Army, and Armstrong became a Lieutenant General, leading the Northern Army.
Rebellion suppression was still a merit, after all.
It was foreseeable that the next President would likely be one of these two.
"Greed has to be given up, and Grumman has gotten a great deal, just like Yao Ling," Daniel noted as he saw Yao Ling's group preparing to return to Xing.
Although Greed and Yao Ling fused, Greed was eventually absorbed and killed by the Homunculus. However, traces of the Philosopher's Stone power remained, potentially extending Yao Ling's lifespan.
After much consideration, Yao Ling and Mei Chang ultimately decided not to take the Philosopher's Stone method back to Xing. It was too dangerous for an emperor to possess such knowledge, and Yao Ling feared he might misuse it in old age, so they chose ignorance.
The same went for Amestris, where the Homunculus' underground base was destroyed. How Dr. Marcoh, who knew the Philosopher's Stone method, would be handled was unclear to Daniel.
Existing Philosopher's Stones were not destroyed but used instead. The Elric brothers swore not to use them for personal gain, but Mustang and Yao Ling's groups had many who needed the stones, like Mustang's eyes and Lan Fan's shoulder.
Despite altering many events, Daniel couldn't change everything.
Mustang initially didn't want to use the Philosopher's Stone, having learned a harsh lesson from the Gate of Truth, but he eventually agreed after Hawkeye and others persuaded him, resolving to atone for his past mistakes.
Edward's teacher, Izumi, could also have used the stone for her health issues but refused, choosing to live with the Gate of Truth's punishment.
The toll of the Gate of Truth was a fee for crossing, taking what one valued most.
Equivalent exchange was this world's absolute truth, inescapable even for the Homunculus.
For Izumi's resolve, everyone could only respect her decision.
"Dr. Marcoh, can you help with the remaining power of the Philosopher's Stone?" Daniel asked after healing several people with the remaining stone, explaining Paninya's situation.
Automail might look cool but came at a painful price. Daniel suggested using the stone's power to restore her.
"No problem, I'll go as soon as things here are settled," Dr. Marcoh agreed after hearing Paninya's story.
After things settled in Central City, the Elric brothers and their father prepared to return home to see Winry, while Mustang and Hughes began implementing new policies.
The Ishvalans could now return home, and the state would help rebuild their homeland.
"The Gate of Truth's toll is truly remarkable," Daniel, curious about its tolls, found that even his surgical fruit power couldn't resolve it.
His earlier scientific approach to restore these sacrifices didn't work in this world. While he couldn't study Edward's limbs, he examined Mustang's eyes and Izumi's internal organs.
People could survive with missing major internal organs, but Izumi's body defied Daniel's understanding. Although missing parts, her body functioned almost normally, with some inexplicable energy preventing restoration.
It was as if these missing parts were temporarily stored at the Gate of Truth.
"What do you intend to do, you bastard?" In a remote mountain cave, the freed Envy cursed at Daniel.
"You won't need this," Daniel said, placing Envy into a Philosopher's Stone transmutation circle and activating it, ignoring Envy's curses.
"A lizard," Daniel noted as he killed Envy's true form after draining the stone. He did the same with Gluttony, Pride, and Sloth.
"A tiny baby," Daniel was stunned to find Pride's true form, a palm-sized infant. He couldn't bring himself to kill the baby.
"Let Hughes and Mustang handle this," he decided, unwilling to care for an infant.
"These knowledges are truly magical," Daniel mused as he began studying the knowledge gained from the Gate of Truth. A fist-sized fireball appeared in his hand, floating above his palm.
"Now this looks like magic. Slashing with a blade is hardly wizard-like," he smiled, knowing it was alchemy, not magic. Combining dimensional magic and the Gate of
Truth's knowledge, he had surpassed the world's alchemists.
His current energy was insufficient, but with the Homunculus' power, he could match their feats.
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