Beyond the Inferno

A flashback to 1909 shows Major Mustang finding Cadet Hawkeye burying an Ishvalan child at the war's close. Burdened by having entrusted her father's flame research, tattooed on her back, to the man who became the hero of a massacre she joined willingly, Riza asks Roy to burn the notes away so no new Flame Alchemist can be made from them, and he agrees.

In the present, walking the tunnels beneath Central, Hawkeye levels her gun at her commander's head. Her trap works: she points out that the true Roy would always address her by name whenever the two are alone, exposing the disguised Envy, who drops the ruse and tries to flee. She empties pistol after pistol into him, but the homunculus refuses to die until the true Flame Alchemist, drawn by the gunfire, erupts from an adjacent corridor.

Roy scorches Envy until his body can no longer regenerate, then pins the squirming larval form under his boot. As he prepares a final flameburst, Hawkeye aims at him instead, declaring he has done enough and vowing to finish the creature herself. Edward and Scar arrive, and Fullmetal seizes Envy through alchemy, urging Roy to confront his own rage-twisted expression and ask whether that is the visage he wishes to wear as Fuhrer. When Hawkeye swears she will follow Roy into death if forced to shoot him, he finally releases his hatred.

Edward recognizes the root of Envy's cruelty, that the homunculus envies humans for supporting one another as his own kind never could. Humiliated beyond bearing, Envy tears the Philosopher's Stone from his own body and crumbles to dust. Above, Alex batters Sloth back into place while Olivier rallies the Central soldiers, and Buccaneer captures Klemin's office after Falman guides the Briggs troops and Izumi digs an entry tunnel by hand. Deep below, Hohenheim at last reaches Father's sanctum.

The episode weaves together several manga chapters, including the hero of Ishval, the reunion of alchemists, the flames of vengeance, and beyond the inferno. The flame sigil on Riza's back appears behind the title card. Although manga clues place the Ishval war's end in 1908, this episode fixes it at 1909. The Adult Swim broadcast moved the credits early and cut every word exchanged between Hohenheim and Father for time, and Envy receives a silent title card.