Summary:
In the basement of a house, a young boy suffers the consequences of a mysterious and forbidden alchemical ritual gone wrong. Bleeding profusely from the crushed stump that had been his left leg a moment ago, the boy calls out for his brother Alphonso, but receives no response. His brother is gone. later, the boy—accompanied by a seemingly large man clad entirely in steel plate armor—arrives in the border town of Reole, where every radio broadcasts religious teachings and praises of the Sun God Leto, as preached by the town’s spiritual leader, Father Cornello. After a small incident forces the two strangers to reveal that they are alchemists, they introduce themselves as the famous Elric brothers – younger brother Alphonse Elric is the one in armor and much smaller older brother Edward Elric is the state alchemist known as the “Fullmetal Alchemist”. They meet a young woman named Rosé Thomas, who has become Cornell’s most devoted follower after being told that her deceased lover can be resurrected by Leto’s miraculous power, and Edward becomes suspicious of such an ominous claim and decides to investigate further.The Elrics meet Rosé at church, where Ed confronts her blind religious faith with scientific facts about human beings to disprove the existence of gods, miracles, and resurrection, but after witnessing a public display of Cornell’s “miraculous powers”, Edward and Al begin to think that there was actually something unnatural behind the Father’s power—something they had long sought. They request an audience with Cornell, but fearing that the state army has sent them to investigate his “secret plans”, the prophet plans to have them quietly murdered. But when Cornell’s aide, Brother Cray, tries to carry out the order, he and his men are handily defeated by Ed and Al. However, to Rosé’s horror, the fight knocks off Alphonse’s helmet, revealing that the armor is apparently empty inside. The Elrics explain to Rosé that Al’s current state is the result of meddling in the “God Realm”, challenging her to confront the truth about their leader.When Edward and Alphonse arrive at the prophet’s inner sanctum, they accuse Cornell of using alchemy to trick his congregation into believing in his miraculous powers, adding that his strangely liberal transmutations indicate that he is actually transmuting with the legendary alchemical enhancer – the Philosopher’s Stone . . Cornello confesses to his deception, as well as his possession of the stone, and Edward demands that the fake cleric hand it over, but Cornello refuses, citing the ease with which he used it to fool everyone in town. Despite hearing the truth, Rosé is easily swayed by Cornell’s renewed promise to resurrect her lover and idly watches as the prophet attempts to kill the Elrics by triggering the chimera. Edward takes on the beast and displays a remarkable ability to perform alchemy without the use of a transmutation ring, but when even this talent proves unable to bring down the monster, Ed is forced to reveal that both his right arm and left leg are automail – all-steel automotive prostheses – and threatens to show the third Cornell the difference between them.