"Death tolls are rising in the ongoing war between the military and the alchemists calling themselves 'brotherhood of alchemy'" said the reporter.
"Wha…."
"Father…" Etzio intervened.
"Why don't we just leave?"
"I mean there are so many humans,"
"And we have so much resources"
"If we just left this planet all the casualties would stop"
Edwardio smiled
"Wouldn't it all be easy if everyone just thought the same way you did?" he said
"It would, if we all shared the same mind, there would be no war, no needless suffering."
"But there would neither be any love, compassion, or community…"
"..."
"You cannot gain something, without giving something first"
"Hahaha" He laughed softly
"Did you know? An alchemist told me that"
"Haha" Etzio chuckled, in a broken smile.
He paused.
"What if you could change the way people saw, the way they heard… The way they thought?"
*beep* - a quiet noise from outside
Edwardio's face turned serious.
"That would be dangerous my son" he said
*beep*
"..."
"Then my research is dangerous" Etzio responded
He paused.
*beep*
"I am working on a way to alter the nervous system via interference signals"
"You could effectively alter people's senses, rid them of even the concept of suffering…"
"...Or you could cause more suffering."
"I've been thinking about it a lot…"
"Perhaps I should leave it undiscovered."
*beep*
Edwardio put his hand on his chin, and pondered.
"Hmm…"
*beep*
"It is a truly difficult que-"
"Eugh… What is that alar-"
BANG!
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________
A soldier stood in a watch tower, the city in the horizon behind him, dead land in front.
Suddenly, he heard four low donks, smoke appeared ahead.
"This is section one speaking, a large mist just appeared in front, over" the soldier said calmly, pressing down on an earpiece.
"Mikey, be on guard," he continued, before turning around.
Behind him stood a cloaked man, removing a blade from mikey's neck
…
"This is Watchtower, section one has fallen!"
"I repeat,"
"Section one has fallen! Over."
More soldiers were already heading over towards section one, they ran, watching as the entire wall crumbled to dust.
But soon enough it became engulfed in the mist, the ever approaching mist.
…
"This is Legion squad five, we are first on standby, over"
Suddenly three metal cylinders crashed down before the soldiers, one figure from each pod, stepped out, all clad in 'war-buckets' - metal suits, or rather engineering masterpieces.
Soon the mist clad all that were not in the city.
The dread of silence drenched most soldiers.
A man, only bearing a simple outfit covered with a drenched coat, walked steadily forward.
A soldier appeared in his field of view.
"They're here!" The soldier screamed before unloading the magazine on the man.
The man held his arm forward
"AAHHH!" The man screamed, but then his stomach sank.
*Click* *click* *click* he heard from his gun.
He looked down - no ammo,
Then he looked up, the man was no infront of him, completely unscathed.
The man grabbed the soldier's head, crushing it, then he simply moved forward.
Another soldier dashed out of the mist, and began firing.
The man pulled out a staff, and pointed it towards the soldier.
Suddenly spikes came out of the ground beneath the soldier.
"Ahh!" he screamed.
In his last breath, the soldiers threw a device towards the man.
Pop.
A low sound exploded the mist around the man - a large sphere of clarity appeared.
A warbucket came out of the edge, he dashed in and sliced the man's head off in one swift motion.
"Legion squad five report, one alchemist down, over" the warbucket said.
"This is Watchtower, don't press forward, we have a view on every position we possess."
"Stay steady, braise for the worst, and don't let us down. over."
The warbucket followed the advice, but then he saw a red light in the distance.
Another alchemist appeared,
Clad in a mage-cloak, he walked with a calm and confident stride.
There was a worm-like creature floating around him, glowing in a red light.
Then he held up one hand in front of him, and slowly began a series of signs.
"I need some assistance here, another appeared, and he's about to cast a spell." the warbucket said,
"I have a bad feeling…"
But Suddenly another, very large, alchemist appeared, dashed forward, landing precisely in front of the warbucket, and finishing off with a brutal kick that sent him flying.
"Haha!" the alchemist exclaimed-
"One down!"
But suddenly another warbucket dashed in, pinning the larger alchemist down.
Then they put their hands in his mouth.
"Ghahhaw, ahh!" He screamed, though muffled by warbucket's hands.
A bright light - a beam, appeared from the cloaked alchemist.
He did not even move, but suddenly the warbucket got split in half.
"Jose…" The cloaked alchemist said.
"Stop acting like a dog" he continued coldly
"You are humiliating our entire species…"
"How can we ever bring about peace if we enjoy the violence?"
"It's okay," Jose responded while recovering his breath.
"We are covered by the mist anyways."
"That's not the point!"
They both paused.
"They deserve this Castello," Jose said coldly.
The Warbucket who had previously been kicked away, appeared once more, in a slow, broken stride.
"Dororo…" He suddenly spoke
"I see them now, one is on my left, the other on my right,"
"Can you see my feed? Over"
Suddenly a large beam appeared, coming from behind the warbucket.
They just heard a sizzle.
Castello looked over to Jose, he saw a body, but not a head.
"Yes I see them," A calm voice said, in the warbucket's earpiece.
"One down."
Castello's eyes widened, he quickly held his arm forward, crushing the warbucket in front of him.
Castello, turned him into a crumbled ball, just before he too got put down - his heart pierced.
"Watchtower, this is Dororo,"
"I've taken down two alchemists, but I've lost contact with Legion squad five, over."
…
"Wake up Castello" A deep and dark, yet calm voice said, as castello suddenly started breathing.
Castello opened his eyes, a man with dark hair, flowing in accordance with the mist kneeled over him.
"General Shiro!?" Castello exclaimed in a cough.
"Stay still, I'm healing you." Shiro responded, in a stoic voice.
Another soldier appeared from the mist.
Shiro did not even look up, he simply held his arm forward, pulling the man towards him.
As they connected Shiro put his hand on the soldier's throat and pinned him down.
Shiro made a quick insertion.
"AAAAH!!!" the soldier screamed.
Shiro pulled out the man's heart before placing it in Castello's chest.
Then he finished by healing the missing tissue and skin.
Shiro stood up, looking ahead.
"We are closing in on the city…" he said calmly
"I want you to find and kill a young man by the name of Etzio Navarrio, formerly known as 0-h3…"
"He might have gone rogue…"
Then he looked down again, towards Castello and held his arm out.
"We cannot leave any factors uncounted for."