Chapter 2: The Price of Life

Grasping why Edward carries the fearsome nickname Fullmetal, Cornello berates the boys for having attempted alchemy's forbidden act. Alphonse tells Rose that the brothers once tried to bring their dead mother back, and when the ritual failed it stripped away Ed's leg and Al's whole body, the forces they could no longer command tearing them apart. Edward, having sacrificed an arm to fix his brother's soul to a suit of armor, warns Rose against meddling with life and death. Cornello unleashes the power of his Philosopher's Stone, yet the Elrics fight through his guards and flee the hall with Rose. Passing Cornello's broadcast room, Edward hatches a scheme, staying behind while Alphonse and Rose head outside to transmute a loudspeaker. Rose asks whether the sacrifice revived their mother, and Al admits the thing born of the ritual was not even human, and that the brothers now seek only to restore each other.

Cornello finds Edward lounging in his office, and Ed urges him to give up since Rose will spread the truth regardless. The priest instead boasts of brainwashing all of Reole and dreams of molding them into fearless followers to conquer the whole nation. Edward reveals the microphone has been live throughout, with Alphonse broadcasting every word across the town. Ed forms his automail into a blade to wreck the priest's weapon, and when Cornello strikes back his arm mangles in a rebound and his stone crumbles to dust, leading Edward to conclude it was a counterfeit. Furious, Ed transmutes a huge statue of Leto to knock the prophet out. He tells Rose she must rise and walk forward under her own strength, grateful for two sound legs.

As Reole riots, Cornello returns to his hidden hall for revenge but meets Lust and Gluttony, who scold him for collapsing his plan at the finish and admit they merely used him, supplying the stone to stir unrest. When the enraged priest lunges at Lust, her extending fingernails impale his skull, killing him instantly, and Gluttony devours the body while Lust frets that Father will be displeased. The chapter introduces the ouroboros mark, on Lust's collarbone and Gluttony's tongue. Edward's assumption that Cornello's stone was fake reflects his ignorance at this stage, since genuine Philosopher's Stones disintegrate the same way once drained.