As Hughes put on Optical Camouflage Mask, turning into a strange face and sneaking into the shadow of Central City, Ian did not accompany him.
He was like a high-dimensional observer, sitting on the throne of Dimensional Space, watching the development of the situation with cold eyes.
The reason why he allowed Hughes to leave was actually a final test for "World Corrective Force". He wanted to see how much of a stir a key figure who was supposed to be dead could stir up when he returned to the chessboard.
The result disappointed him.
The inertia of the plot is astonishing. Even with Hughes's secret warning, the series of chain reactions - Mustang's Wrath, Homunculus's encirclement and suppression, and the mobilization of the army - are still like precision gears wound up, tightly buckling back to the track of the original work.
The only variable may be the attitude of Olivia·Armstrong. She did not ask Elric Brothers to take away her parents as in the original work, but asked Ian.
"It seems that there is an extremely powerful 'destiny Convergence' mechanism in this world."
Ian looked at the familiar yet unfamiliar pictures on the screen, and the data stream flashed rapidly in his eyes.
"Although there is no direct evidence, my intuition tells me that all this is in the script of 'Truth'. All resistance and all variables will eventually lead to the only ending."
In this case, there is no need to conduct unnecessary temptations.
When the moment known as "Promised Day" finally came, Ian left his dimensional fortress.
Central Command, on the ruins of a fierce battle.
Smoke filled the air, and blood dyed the rubble red.
Major General Olivia·Armstrong leaned on the command knife and gasped for breath. Her military uniform was badly damaged and her arms were wrapped with bleeding bandages, but her eyes were still as cold as the cold wind in the north.
But in that cold depth, there was a hint of sadness that was difficult to conceal.
Swish.
The figure of Ian appeared beside her without any warning.
"What? Aren't you used to death?" Ian glanced at the tragic battlefield around him and said in a calm tone, "As a commander, you should have seen this kind of scene many times."
"I can accept sacrifice, but I will never get used to death."
Olivia gritted his teeth and said in a hoarse voice, "Buchanan... He died in the battle."
The subordinate who had followed her for many years and had a heroic laugh and a huge mechanical arm chose to die together in order to deal a fatal blow to the enemy.
"I know."
Ian nodded, as if he was talking about a trivial matter, "However, if you are referring to the big guy, he is not 'completely' dead yet."
"What did you say?!" Olivia turned his head suddenly and grabbed Ian's collar.
"The moment his vital signs returned to zero, I used phase magic to capture his soul."
Ian gently pushed Olivia's hand away and straightened his collar, "Although the body is in tatters, as long as the soul is still there, we can go back and make him an alchemical prosthesis or a clone Resurrection. Of course, this will have to wait until everything is over."
Olivia's eyes instantly burst with hope, and then she asked eagerly, "What about the others? My other soldiers..."
"Don't push yourself too far, Olivia."
Ian interrupted her with cold eyes, "I am not the Chosen One, nor am I a nanny. I saved Buchanan because he is your right-hand man and valuable to the future. As for others... that is the price of war."
Olivia took a deep breath and suppressed the turbulence in her heart. She knew this man's character, and it was an unexpected joy to be able to rescue Buchanan.
"What are you doing here?"
"Take you away."
"Let's go? The battle is not over yet! Izumi Cadiz just disappeared in front of my eyes. I must..."
"No time to explain."
Ian grabbed Olivia's injured arm without any explanation.
[Alkahestry·Distant treatment]
Zizzi--!
Dazzling electric light pulsed in his palm, and huge Dragon Vein energy instantly poured into Olivia's body. The broken muscle fibers quickly reconnected, the congestion dissipated, and the bone-deep wounds healed at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Before Olivia could recover from this miraculous treatment, the surrounding scenery was instantly distorted.
The next second, they had left the noisy battlefield and appeared in the dimension observation room of Ian.
On the huge holographic screen, the final battle underground is being broadcast live.
In the picture, "Father" has torn off his disguise, and countless black tentacles are tightly restraining Edward, Alphonse, Hohenheim, Izumi Caddis, and Colonel Mustang who was forcibly opening Gate of Truth - these five "human pillars".
"The show has begun."
Ian stood with his hands behind his hands, staring at the screen intensely.
I saw "Father" slamming his hands to the ground.
Rumble--!!!
The entire Amestris ground began to tremble violently. The huge Transmutation Circle that had been buried under the country was activated, and black shadows poured out from the ground like a tide, instantly covering the entire country.
On the streets, civilians who were taking refuge and soldiers who were fighting, men, women, old and young, fell down at the same time at this moment.
Their bodies were intact, but their souls were forcibly stripped away and turned into countless red light spots, converging into a torrent of energy that reached the sky and the earth.
"This... this is..." Olivia looked at the scenes of the dead city on the screen, feeling cold all over.
"The souls of fifty million people." Ian explained coldly, "They were harvested instantly and used as fuel to open the road to the gods."
"Asshole! Armstrong family's people are still down there! Alex!" Olivia shouted in despair.
"Don't worry, as long as the ceremony is interrupted, the soul will still have a chance to go back. Now, just watch quietly." Ian's voice carried a calming magic power.
On the screen, with the injection of 50 million Soul Energy, a huge Black Hole appeared in the sky.
That's a door.
A "Earth's Gate" that belongs to this planet.
"That's it..." The blue light in Ian's eyes went crazy Blink, Tower Spirit Morgana was analyzing this process at full power, "The planet is also a living body, and naturally it also has Gate of Truth. Father used the door of the five pillars to resonate, pry open the door of the planet, and swallowed the 'god'."
Immediately afterwards, an even more incredible scene happened.
Above the huge body of "Father", Void burst, and another door with a huge eyeball appeared.
"Gate of Heaven".
That is the source of Alchemy, the high-dimensional space where the little white man was born.
"Father" used the near-infinite energy of Earth Gate to force the "being" in Gate of Heaven - the God in his mouth - into the mortal world and swallowed it in one gulp!
"Even if you look down on humans, you still end up looking like humans. How ironic."
Looking at the "father" on the screen who had shed his black shell and transformed into a handsome young man, Ian let out a sneer.
At this moment, my father became a god.
The body of "god" is imprisoned in his body, and the outer layer is wrapped with fifty million Amestrians souls as shackles to suppress the god.
That's it now!
Ian's eyes suddenly opened wide, as if there were ignited flames in the depths of his pupils.
"Morgana! Start the 'Parasite' program!"
"Yes, Master! Full power output!"
In the five corners of Amestris, the Transmutation Circle buried before Ian lighted up at the same time. They did not interfere with the father's process of becoming a god, but at the moment when he connected with the god Fusion, and the thinking network and Gate of Truth--
Wiretapping.
My father had just obtained the Authority of God, and a massive amount of Alchemy ultimate secrets poured into his mind like the Big Bang.
And in his Soul Circuit, a hidden "diversion pipe" quietly opened.
The ultimate knowledge about matter, energy, soul, and dimensions that belongs to God is intercepted and copied by Ian's formation, and is continuously transmitted into Morgana's database.
"Warning! Data volume is overloaded! Spare core is being activated!" Morgana's voice became shrill.
Ian closed his eyes, and his brain suffered a sharp pain that was like tearing apart. That was the price a mortal brain paid for trying to accommodate Divine Knowledge.
But he didn't cut the connection.
He was devouring it all greedily.
A few minutes later.
Ian opened his eyes suddenly, sweat had soaked the back of his clothes, but his eyes were frighteningly bright.
He slowly stretched out his left hand, which was the hand holding Philosopher's Stone.
Then, he raised his right hand, with the palm facing upward and his five fingers empty.
"Fusion."
No spells, no complicated Transmutation Circle.
Buzz--
A ball of light the size of a table tennis ball appeared in his palm.
That's not a ball of light.
It was an extremely compressed miniature star undergoing controlled nuclear fusion.
The dazzling light illuminated the entire Dimensional Space, and the terrifying high temperature was perfectly locked in the palm of the hand by a thin layer of gravity field. Even so, the overflowing traces of heat radiation still made the Olivia next to him feel burning pain in his skin.
"This... is this the sun?" Olivia took a few steps back, instinctively feeling fear.
This is the power of "god". Creating stars with bare hands, ignoring Equivalent Exchange (or leveraging huge energy at a very small cost).
However, there was no ecstasy on Ian's face.
He looked at the "sun" in his hand, and his brows furrowed more and more tightly. He even felt that the blood vessels on the back of his hand began to bulge, the magic power in his body was losing at an abnormal rate, and Philosopher's Stone was also getting hot.
"Something's wrong..."
Ian dispersed the miniature stars in his hands.
The feeling of "successful" is very real, and so is the knowledge.
However, the lingering haze in my heart became more and more serious. This feeling was like a thief who successfully stole a gem from the dragon's treasure house, only to find that the dragon was watching him leave with one eye open in a joking manner.
"Could it be that... even so, is it the tacit approval of 'Truth'?"
Ian looked at his hands and fell into deep thought.