The Abyss

Scar's group presses on through the mines, discovering old dynamite that Yoki judges too damp to detonate. At Fort Briggs, Miles orders his men to eliminate Kimblee and his remaining soldiers at the first opening, but Edward objects, arguing they should disable Kimblee and interrogate him rather than kill. Miles counters that Kimblee is too dangerous to keep alive and that the harsh law of Briggs leaves no room for such mercy, though he privately admits envy that the Elrics can still choose the harder path. Deeper in the tunnels the fugitives translate more of Scar's brother's notes, and Alphonse catches up after circling the mountain, bringing word that Central's forces have seized Briggs and summoned Armstrong away.

With Al gone, Ed stages a decoy using a hollow armor dummy manned by a Briggs soldier so Kimblee will not grow suspicious. Kimblee, however, reads the whole scheme through his battle-honed bloodlust, deduces the group fled into the mines, and conjures mist from the snow to blind the waiting snipers. Darius and Heinkel in chimera form pin Ed down, but he transmutes ammonia in the cold to knock them out with their own sharp senses and reaches Kimblee. Ed kicks away Kimblee's Philosopher's Stone and slashes his palm to stop his alchemy, only for Kimblee to reveal a second Stone hidden in his mouth and trigger a massive explosion that buries them all. Ed wakes impaled by a metal girder and bleeding badly; hearing Winry's voice in his mind, he frees the trapped chimeras and has them pull the girder out, then sacrifices some of his own lifespan through medical alchemy to seal the wound before passing out. Disgusted by Kimblee's betrayal, Darius and Heinkel recover the Stone Ed knocked loose, resolve to become free men, and carry the wounded boy off to find a doctor.

The episode adapts Chapter 76 and Chapter 77. Its title card bears the sun symbol from Kimblee's right hand. From here on, the bandage and bloodstain on Scar's sleeve quietly vanish. Ammonia is really colorless, but the transmuted gas was tinted green for visibility, and Ed's wound lands in the exact spot where Lust once stabbed Mustang, both men injured by a foe wielding a Philosopher's Stone.