Chapter 87: Cliffhanger?

Bonus Chapter for 5k stones from last week will be up in a few hours.

2.5k stones for the next bonus.

Get cracking.

....

’This is what happens when you trespass in God’s domain? Does that mean it happened because of a failed attempt? But what were they attempting for the backlash to be like this?’ Reed looked at the Elric brothers with a grave expression.

"What do you mean it is a story for another time? I need details! I need them now!" Holding onto the smooth pages, his hands trembled.

With a groan, Reed slumped on the bed. His thoughts ran faster than a jet. He thought back on Edward listing a human’s chemical composition, trespassing into the god’s domain, and more hints.

Humans had created many extraordinary things from the resources on this planet. But there was one thing they hadn’t been able to do till now.

"Did the Elric brothers try to create an actual human lifeform through alchemy?" Reed blinked.

There was no other way but to read on; as a reader, he could only read on.

The interesting part was that there really was a philosopher’s stone in this work, and it amplified the alchemy as expected. That’s what Cornello used to fool the people of the town and had ambitions to take over the country.

Too bad the Elric brothers were smart enough to handle him and the Chimera he had created.

Reed read on as Edward created a spear out of earth, but his eyes widened when he saw the prosthetic leg and arm Edward had. He was immediately reminded of Mr. Stark, the friend he made on John Doe’s website.

But these seemed quite different from the Iron Man armour; still, he was sure it would get Stark’s attention. Too bad he hasn’t been responding to Reed’s messages as of late.

’I mean, I get that he got inspired by reading Pluto, but hasn’t he been offline for a while now?’ He only wanted to ask about the progress and what Mr Stark was working on while exchanging some ideas, but that had to wait, it seemed.

Still, Reed was happy that the second Chapter went a bit into depth about the Elric Brothers’ story. Well, he wasn’t exactly happy about what happened, though.

’Trying to resurrect their mother... One lost his body and the other lost his leg.’ Reed massaged his temple as he read that Edward had to exchange his arm for Alphonse’s soul later.

’But how did he put the soul in the armour? How is that maintained? Is the soul tied to the armour? And who oversaw these exchanges? Who decides the fair price?’ Hundreds of questions popped into his head as he read the fight.

In the end, Elric outsmarted Father Cornello and made him broadcast his evil intentions to the town with the devices he used for the religious broadcasts, as Alphonse repurposed the church bell into a speaker.

Still, the concept of equivalent exchange wasn’t forgiving to the Elric brothers. Even after losing so much, they couldn’t bring their mother back.

And now Edward was trying to help Alphonse get his body back, while the younger brother wanted to get his brother’s limbs back to normal.

Still, it seemed like that take a lot of time since the Philosopher’s Stone on Father Cornello was a fake. Cause of course, it was.

’John Doe is pretty evil for doing this to his characters.’ Reed smiled while shaking his head as Edward created the statue of the Sun God Leto and terrified the father into unconsciousness.

Still, his attention was on the two characters that appeared later. The black-haired woman and the bald, fat man munching on the earlier chimera.

’Lust and Gluttony, yeah, they are the main villains for sure.’ What really surprised Reed was that Lust was able to extend her fingers into claws.

And there was a symbol on her chest, a snake circling an alchemy circle to bite its own tail. And gluttony had that symbol on his tongue.

’So, they can use Alchemy without having to draw a circle since they have one on their bodies?’ Reed kept thinking for an hour before he turned the page.

The following Mining town Chapter was also quite good. It seemed more like a breather phase; still, Reed couldn’t help shake his head at the hate the government got.

Sure, there were corrupt people in the government, but that was bound to happen in any organization. It was more of a human fault than a system flaw. And those corrupt people always made things harder for the ones trying to do their jobs.

That’s why it felt quite nice to see the corrupt Lieutenant Yoki getting cheated out of the ownership of the coal mines and finally getting punished.

’At least these brothers didn’t lose themselves even with the hard times.’ Reed focused on the fourth Chapter where General Hakuro was held hostage.

This was also where new characters were introduced. It felt like a big deal until Edward and Alphonse dealt with the criminals on their own.

The use of Alchemy and the different types of prosthetics was quite novel. Still, Reed was really interested in the colonel named Roy Mustang who conjured explosions with his snaps. His white gloves had the alchemy circle, and the snap seemed like the trigger.

And just when it felt he would get a bit about this Flame Alchemist, the volume ended.

"He doesn’t miss with these cliffhangers." Reed sighed as he saw the moon hanging outside the window.

The sun had set before he knew it. But just as he was about to research the symbols on Roy’s gloves, Mrs. Dinkins softly knocked on his door.

"Do you have dinner sorted for today, kid?" She asked as he opened the door.

"Well..." Reed had forgotten that he hadn’t eaten anything since morning. Did coffee count as breakfast?

He was too busy rereading Princess Mononoke on the plane, and spent the rest of the day on Fullmetal Alchemist. The culmination of that was his grumbling stomach, making his smile awkward.

"Figured, come have supper with us, Susan just came back, too." Mrs. Dinkins invited him with a sweet smile.

And honestly, he was a bit too hungry to think about manners at this point. So, he followed her to the room where the family ate often. He used to eat here as well when he first rented a room here.

The place was mostly the same; the sofa had just changed to a dark colour. The table was still the same, so were the chairs.

And the Storm Siblings still lived here as usual.

Johny, who had grown up a lot from before, was focused on the TV as he walked in. And Susan was on her phone, talking with someone.

"What? What do you mean you forgot to ask him?" She paced alongside the open window, too lost in her conversation to notice Reed.

In the attack at Harry’s party, her phone was crushed under the rubble, and John’s number was inside it. The SIM card got corroded because of the gas, and even the SIM card readers weren’t helping.

’I should’ve memorized it!’ Now, she didn’t even know how to approach John for the number again.

Colleen had told her that she got his number, but Susan wanted him to know what happened to clear up any misunderstandings. It would be weird if she called with a different number without an explanation.

That’s why she turned to Colleen, who said she had his number.

"I was so excited when he was at the Dojo that I forgot." She chuckled over the phone.

"Excited? What do you mean by that?" Susan blinked.

"No, I mean we were going at it pretty hard. By the time he left, I could barely think straight, and my body was aching. I could barely stand." Colleen sighed, but sounded pretty happy. "Still, I am looking forward to doing it with him again in the future."

Going at it pretty hard? Couldn’t think straight and her body was aching? Couldn’t stand straight? And she was looking forward to doing it with him again in the future?!

"U-Um Colleen... What are you talking about right now?" Susan was frozen in place.

"I was talking about sparring. What did you think?" Her words turned sly. That build-up was definitely on purpose.

"N-Nothing..." Susan’s face turned redder than a tomato. "Just send him if he could give me his number again, ok? I’ll get you some Aomori Apples."

She didn’t even wait for Colleen’s reply and ended the call before this troublesome friend of hers could tease her further.

’Here I was thinking my friend climbed the stairs of adulthood with my crush?!’ She covered the pure embarrassment dawning on her face with her small hands; she wanted to turn into a ball and hide under her bed.

"Sue, come help me carry the food." But her aunt, Mrs. Dinkins, called from the outside without a worry.

"Yes!" Susan quickly turned towards the door and finally noticed Reed.

’Since when was he there?’ She hoped he hadn’t seen her talking on the phone, and if he had, she hoped he would forget it all. One could only get so embarrassed in one day.

Still, it was pretty awkward with him just staring at her like that.

"Hello Reed." She waved at him.

"A-Ah, yes, hello. Long time no see, Susan." Reed’s eyes suddenly had a clear shine.

"Yeah, long time no see. I’ll get the food, so please make yourself comfortable." She gave him a small smile and walked out.

Reed was still standing by the table when Johnny glanced at him. He had seen that look in the eyes of several young men who had lived in this house and had a run-in with Susan.

’Another one bites the dust.’ He shook his head and got back to watching the special program regarding the newly created Pluto’s Japan trip package that travel agencies were promoting heavily.

He really wanted to see the Kabuki Show and the Samurai experience in Old Edo.

There was no telling who his sister would date, but he hoped it was someone who could take him on a trip to Japan at least.