Beasts of Dublith

Impressed that the boys survived the Gate yet bound by principle, Izumi formally expels them as students. On their way out, Sig points out that dissolving the mentorship lets the Elrics finally speak to her as equals, so they hurry back and lay bare everything about the Gate, the Truth, and the Philosopher's Stone. Izumi reasons that Al likely glimpsed far more within the Gate, since his whole body was the toll, yet Al recalls nothing between the rebound and waking in his armor. She suspects the shock buried his memories and resolves to consult a physician friend. All the while, a shrouded man with a reptilian tail watches the household, scaling walls like a lizard.

In East City, Mustang secures his transfer to Central over a chess game with his mentor Grumman, who lets him bring his loyal officers along. In the Ishvalan slum, Scar rebuilds his strength as his old master urges him to break the cycle of hatred, but bounty hunters tipped off by the beggar Yoki force Scar to dispatch them and move on.

A secret message lures Alphonse to a meeting with Dolcetto, Roa, and Martel, who mean to bring him to their boss. When Al refuses, Martel slips inside his hollow body to slow him while Roa overpowers him, and the boss reveals the group as human chimeras. Introducing himself as Greed, he explains that Martel, Roa, and Dolcetto were fused with the traits of a snake, ox, and dog, then bares an Ouroboros mark and declares himself a homunculus. To prove it, he has Roa smash off his head, which regrows in seconds. Greed covets the near-immortality of Al's bound soul, since despite two centuries of resilience he is not truly deathless. Edward, hunting his missing brother, beats the location out of the tail-bearing Bido and storms in. Greed offers to trade the method for building Al an artificial body in exchange for the soul-binding secret, but a furious Ed refuses and starts a fight, coating the room in violence. Greed shields himself with an impenetrable film he calls his Ultimate Shield, and Ed deduces it must be carbon, restructuring it to graphite so his blows land. Learning Greed cannot armor and regenerate at once, Ed presses his advantage until Izumi bursts in and joins the assault.

The episode adapts Chapters 25 through 29 of the manga and unusually aired without a title card. Grumman's remark about Roy marrying his granddaughter is cut, along with side trips to South City and Armstrong's meeting with Sig. Mason makes a brief first cameo, and Greed's Ouroboros appears upside-down compared to the manga.