The Return of the Fuhrer

A flashback shows Hohenheim collapsing in the desert after fleeing Xerxes, rescued by merchants from Xing. In the present, he reveals that the souls of the people he once knew, including a master carpenter named Sergence, now reside within Father's body and have allied with him to bring their host down. Having spoken with every one of the 536,329 souls he carries, Hohenheim drives spikes through Father from within, vowing to shatter the flask and end him for good.

Rather than break, Father absorbs the assault, discards his container, and takes on a new form resembling his old flask self. He declares that he too has evolved over the centuries and conjures a vast eye in the ceiling, intent on becoming a perfect being.

Above ground, Wrath storms his own fortress head-on, batting aside the Briggs tank fire before destroying it and cutting down the soldiers in his path. He wounds Buccaneer and shatters his automail arm, and when Falman tearfully holds him at gunpoint, Buccaneer chides the officer for showing fear in the heat of battle. The standoff breaks when Greed arrives, unwilling to leave these people to die.

Greed and Wrath clash, with Ling's knowledge of the Fuhrer's fighting style letting Greed target his blind spot. When Buccaneer sacrifices himself to jam Wrath's sword, an enraged Greed charges anew, and Wrath resorts to a pair of scavenged knives. Fu then arrives, scattering Gamelan's reinforcements with smoke bombs and joining the fight to protect Ling's body. Learning the enemy is King Bradley, Fu realizes with fury that this is the man who took his granddaughter Lan Fan's arm.

The episode adapts the manga chapters covering the two philosophers and Greed without limits, with the five-point human transmutation array from Xerxes behind the title card. The manga assigns this part to Storch, while the anime hands it instead to a 3rd Sovereign Battalion officer called Gamelan. Unlike the manga, which only alludes to them in text, this version shows genuine flashbacks of the Xerxesians Hohenheim recalls. It is the sole Brotherhood episode in which neither Edward nor Alphonse appears at all.