Fullmetal Alchemist Manga Chapter 104 : The Center of the World

   

Summary:

As Wrath, smiling at Scar's new tattoo, again marvels at human tenacity, Edward tells Alphonse downstairs to take care of the injured May while he deals with Pride himself. Insulted by Fullmetal's low assessment of his threat level, Pride goes on the attack with his shadows, claiming that humans are still alive only because their usefulness has not yet ended, before revealing another of his strengths - his size; since Edward has spent his entire life fighting larger opponents, he has no experience fighting opponents smaller than himself. Although this presents the Pride with a momentary opening, Edward counters by claiming that his experience fighting larger opponents has made him an expert in the fighting tricks of small fighters. Ed perfectly anticipates Pride's moves and counters with a devastating headbutt that shatters a chunk of Pride's already deteriorating visage.Meanwhile, May attempts to heal her injuries with the Alkahestra at the cost of leaving herself open to her father's attacks, but Alphonse arrives in time to protect her. He and Izumi launch a tandem attack on the shadowy figure, but to no avail. Unscathed, Father extends his black tendrils to each of the four human victims and pulls them into a circle around him as he declares that the long awaited moment has finally arrived.On the surface, a solar eclipse is seconds away, and as the oblivious citizens of Amestris marvel at the sight, the captured General Klemin panics and demands that the Briggs soldiers guarding him take him to the center of the Nationwide Transmutation Ring, where they will be safe. As the moon completely eclipses the sun and strange tremors grip the nation, the father shouts with joy and asks his five captives if they have ever considered that planet Earth could be considered a life form or a consciousness system capable of gathering universal knowledge on Earth. a much larger scale than any human. He goes on to say that if a human were to open a Gate belonging to such a life system, the power he would gain would be unimaginable, noting that he intends to use the Five Victims in his slavery to open the gate and take it. too much for myself. At that moment, however, Greed suddenly appears at his father's side and, remarking that he has finally found "the center of the world," slashes his father's body with his unrelenting claws, declaring that everything now belongs to him.Unfortunately, even as a shadowy puddle on the ground, the father notes that he maintains the upper hand and expected Greed to appear at this stage, as Greed was once a part of him. The Father crawls to his throne with the Victims (including the released Van Hohenheim) spread out around him, where he declares – his liquid body reformed – that his current position was the center all along. Although Hohenheim makes a move to stop him, it is too late; Father slams his hand into a miniature mockup of a five-pointed circle on the table, activating a gigantic field. As he does so, an eye of the Gate appears on each of the Five victims, and the black film surrounding the lair expands and rises like a tide, engulfing all of Central Command and the surrounding area. Shadowy black hands erupt from each Gate of Sacrifice and clash together in the center of the circle, creating a pool of alchemical energy that further expands the black matter on the surface. Father laughs hoarsely, noting that the energy released by this clash will give him the power to open the planet's gate and subsequently lead to another, as-yet-unmentioned goal.The Nationwide Transmutation Circle activates, and as giant black tendrils appear, all the people within Amestris' borders collapse where they stand, their souls forcibly pulled from their bodies. Above Amestris, a pair of gargantuan gate doors appear and open as the father, his shadow body enlarged to titanic size, emerges from within and calls out to the celestial circle formed by the sun's corona around the moon - referring to him as "God". As the Father's massive black tendrils reach out from the ground, a pair of gates appear on the firmament itself, opening before the eclipse to reveal another Brobdingnagian eye within. The Gate of Heaven sends its own tendrils down to the Gate of Earth, and the father who grasps them declares that he will pull God down to Earth and make it a part of himself. In doing so, a massive light breaks across the surface of the planet. As the Gate of Heaven returns to eclipse and the Gate of Earth falls silent again, the entire land of Amestris falls deathly silent and each of its inhabitants lies lifeless. Deep within the Homunculi's lair, however, the five Human Victims - as well as Pride, Greed and May - are stirring.As Roy comments on the unusual silence, Edward wonders aloud if everyone on the surface has turned into a Philosopher's Stone, and a voice from the shadows answers him in the affirmative. A human form appears, smoothly and effortlessly transforming into robes and sandals as he notes that he needed a colossal amount of energy to contain the God within him, and that the people of Amestris were transmuted into energy to reinforce this limitation; The power of God and the lives of all the people of the nation as such reside in his body. As Hohenheim taunts, the father declares that he has achieved his goal and steps forward in his new body—a perfect, youthful human body that resembles a young Hohenheim—to thank Sacrifice for their help.