Chapter 40: Philosopher from the West

Edward and Armstrong reach Resembool, where Edward grumbles about being hauled off and is startled to be met by Second Lieutenant Breda. Breda takes the two to a coffee shop and introduces a Xingese immigration fixer named Han, recommended by Fu, and when Edward realizes the plan involves an illegal border crossing out of Amestris, he demands their destination and is told simply that they are heading east. Far below Central Command, Envy and Father question why Wrath let Mustang's group escape after killing Lust, and Bradley answers that the compassionate colonel may be able to open the Gate, so Father places Mustang under Wrath's watch.

At the hospital, Alphonse and Fuery find Roy scolding Hawkeye for letting the enemy's words shake her resolve. Fuery hands over a city map on which Riza, having counted her curving steps underground, has drawn a circle centered on Lab 3 marking where the fight took place. Roy notes that Central Command and the Führer's mansion both fall inside it and wonders whether Bradley is tied to the homunculi, though Bradley wiped out Greed's forces in Dublith and called the very ambulance that saved them. As they discuss the conspiracy threatening the nation, Havoc suddenly bows out, saying he can no longer feel his legs.

In the desert, Edward's party reaches the ruins of Xerxes and meets Fu, who explains the twin legends of the Philosopher who carried alchemy west to Amestris and alkahestry east to Xing, clarifying Ling's interest in the site. Edward spots the remains of a huge, familiar transmutation array before being called on, and at their destination he finds a living, healthy Maria Ross, whose death Breda had staged so she could slip out of the country. Back in Resembool, a bearded stranger resembling Father visits the Rockbell house, and a stunned Pinako greets him as Van Hohenheim, the Elrics' father, unchanged despite a fifty-year-old photograph.