Bonus Chapter: The Military Festival

At East Area headquarters, Jean Havoc sparks an idle debate over whether Mustang or Edward would win in a fight. Fuery quickly backs Mustang, while Falman counters that Edward is a formidable close-quarters brawler with unmatched alchemical talent, and the argument soon spreads through the whole building. Mustang shrugs it off at first, citing Edward's youth and the difficulty of pinning down the ever-traveling boy for a match, until Hawkeye informs him that Fullmetal is in fact in East City for his annual State Alchemist evaluation and has already declared he would love to fight his despised superior.

Mustang protests that a duel between two so-called human weapons would tear the town apart, but Maes Hughes arranges for the military parade grounds to host it, and when Mustang bets that King Bradley would never permit such a thing, the Führer promptly gives his blessing. Amid jeers from watching soldiers, the two square off, and Mustang's flame alchemy hands him an early edge. Rattling off strategic maxims about striking first and about anger blinding a fighter, he blankets the field in fire and baits Edward into lowering his guard, but Edward slips in behind a decoy and destroys the ignition glove that powers the flames. Mustang then reveals a spare ignition glove on his other hand, quoting a maxim about keeping deception in reserve, and a final enormous blast finishes Edward off. Bradley congratulates the Colonel, then orders every soldier present to clean up and repair the ruined grounds, leaving Mustang to lament his prize. Havoc notices Hughes has vanished, and Armstrong later finds Maes calmly drinking coffee in defiance of the order, excusing himself with a maxim about knowing when to retreat.

The chapter accompanied Volume 3, published in Japan on September 21, 2002, and in the United States on September 6, 2005. Details such as Edward's annual assessment and Hughes noting Elicia's second birthday place its events around 1913, roughly a year ahead of the series proper. It also marks the earliest unofficial glimpse of Führer King Bradley, predating his formal debut in Chapter 15, and the twin-glove trick shown here reappears against the homunculus Envy in Chapter 94. The 2003 anime folded the material into its thirteenth episode, Fullmetal vs. Flame.