Chapter 33: Showdown in Rush Valley

At a Rush Valley cafe, the Xingese traveler Ling Yao demands the brothers reveal what they know about the Philosopher's Stone. When Edward and Alphonse rise to leave, two bodyguards materialize to block them, one holding a blade to Ed's throat and the other calling Alphonse a serf. Ed and Al fight back, quickly sensing an unfamiliar combat style but judging the pair weaker than their own teacher. The scuffle splits into two chases across the town. Ling merely watches his hotheaded companions depart and orders dessert while the pursuit tears through the streets.

Edward follows the hooded fighter into a factory and up onto the roof, where his transmuted staff is snapped and his arm nearly broken before he shoves the warrior off. He discovers the fighter loses composure whenever their master is insulted. Meanwhile the second guard chases Alphonse over the rooftops until Al crashes through a warehouse roof, where Paninya drops in to help and joins his plan to turn on the pursuer.

Edward destroys the hooded fighter's mask with alchemy and is stunned to find a woman beneath it. She severs the wires of his automail with a thrown kunai and hurls a bomb, while across town Paninya reveals a carbine hidden in her leg. Explosions erupt on both sides. The male guard is snared when Alphonse rockets up a transmuted pillar and coils the Rush Valley sign around him, while Edward springs a rabbit-style trap on the female warrior. Ling reappears offering to make the brothers his servants, only for an angry mob to demand payment for the damage and dining bills, and Ling flees pretending not to understand the language. With Ed's arm broken, Alphonse repairs the wrecked scenery, and Edward realizes with dismay that his brother can now transmute without a circle.

The brothers return to Atelier Garfiel to find Ling already there, and Winry pummels Ed over his ruined arm before sharing tea with Ling. Ed insists on refusing Ling's company on the trip to Central. Elsewhere, Yoki transports Scar toward Central by carriage and asks his name, only for Scar to say he has cast it away. The chapter marks Alphonse's first circleless transmutation and introduces the question of Scar's discarded name.