After reading Wrath's memories, Edward realized that he was wrong about something. In the anime, Wrath is one of the most powerful villains that the protagonists faced, and he was not even an alchemist. He relied purely on his physical abilities and peak swordsmanship, and even a powerful Alchemist like Colonel Mustang was not his match.
Edward always assumed that his physical prowess was due to the Philosopher's Stone, but he was wrong. Wrath's enhanced physical abilities came purely from training.
He waved his hand and a dissecting table appeared in the room; he laid Wrath on it before opening him up like a cadaver at a medical school. After a brief analysis, Edward muttered:
"Your muscles are five times denser than humans, and so are your bones. Your organs are shock-resistant, and your life force is incredible. On top of that, your neural receptors are at least 10 times faster than humans.
"And all of that was achieved through pure training; how incredible."
After doing an initial analysis on Wrath, Edward had Morgana scan all of his body down to the atomic level, then he left--leaving Wrath alone. He knew that a few hours later, the latter would be able to move on his own.
After returning to his house, Edward took two swords and started training. With each swing, he would control certain muscles in his body to exert a certain amount of force; each swing was exact.
Then, Edward felt a strange energy from the ground entering his body, nourishing his body; to be exact, it was increasing his life force, thus also enhancing his body.
"I was right; the people of this world can passively absorb life energy from what the people of Xing call Dragon Pulse; the life energy will nourish them thus enhancing their bodies beyond normal range.
"And it seems that Wrath has developed the optimal method of training."
He then continued to use Wrath's memory of training to fully digest it. A few hours later, he stopped and muttered:
"This world is different from Earth, so it should not be possible for the citizens of the Empire to passively absorb life force to increase their physical fitness. However, after studying the concept of Dragon Pulse from Xing, I should be able to create a method to actively do so.
"Unfortunately, there is a bigger problem at large: whether Earth has any life force to absorb. Only living things have a life force, as such, this entire world or planet is actually a living organism; it might even be a part of Truth's body.
"But, the same cannot be said for Earth."
Edward paused for a moment as he suddenly remembered a theory made by a wizard from Hawaii. The theory stated that Earth was a living creature, and the leyline nodes that travel through it were its magic veins.
"This theory is similar to the concept of the Dragon Pulse; however, instead of Qi traveling through the ground and connecting everything, it's magic instead."
Edward went through his memory to review that wizard's theory. Many people disagreed with him, with the main argument being that if Planet Earth was alive, it should have a consciousness; without it, it cannot be classified as a living organism.
As such, the Hawaiian wizard has been researching to discover the consciousness or will of the Planet.
"That wizard might have been right," muttered Edward. "After all, Truth can be considered the consciousness of all living things, including this planet. If he can exist, why can't the planet's consciousness exist--even the entire universe might have its own consciousness.
"Alright, I can research these things when I get back."
After that, Edward placed his focus on the homunculi, Pride. He was interested in its ability to absorb other homunculi and gained their powers and abilities.
--Scene Break--
"So, you're saying that this Alchemist dissected you, left you alive, then proceeded to take Pride away?"
"Yes, Father."
"Why would he do that?"
"From the brief conversation we had, the Alchemist seems to be unable to kill us for some reason. However, he is also interested in our abilities," replied Wrath calmly.
However, his hands that were clenched showed his true emotions. What he did not say to his father was that this Alchemist seems to want to humiliate the homunculi, showing that they are as weak as ants in front of him.
Just like they despised humans, the Alchemist despised them.
Father frowned after hearing this, paused for a few minutes before saying: "As long as he does not mess with our plans, we will leave him alone for now. However, afterward, I will deal with him."
…
Days passed and Edward finished studying the homunculi that he captured, he then released them. Since he wanted their plans to succeed and promised Truth not to kill anyone, he did not bother with them after getting the information he wanted.
Even Gluttony was released after Edward learned how to make a large dimension from him. Meanwhile, Father was once again surprised once he learned that the Lust and Gluttony that he has been interacting with the past few weeks was a fake one.
After realizing that Edward was a much greater threat than anticipated, he gave up the idea of making him one of the sacrifices and ordered the Homunculi to avoid confrontation with him.
Central City, inside a booth, a man lay on the floor bleeding, a picture of his wife and daughter was next to him. Looking down on him was the homunculus, Envy.
"You humans don't make any sense to me. You throw away your lives for nothing."
After saying that, he turned around to leave. However, what he did not notice was that as soon as he did that, the bleeding person--who was Lieutenant Colonel Maes Hughes--suddenly plunged into the ground, before another person that looked exactly like he appeared.
As for Envy, after turning his head, he saw a man with blue eyes standing in front of him; the man was wearing a suit with a long trench coat that floated with the wind.
"You're Edward Bones," said Envy as he unconsciously took a small step back.
"That's correct. Now, do you want to go willing with me and be dissected, or do you want me to drag you there by force? You can take your time to make a choice, I don't have any plans for the rest of the night."
Envy gritted his teeth after hearing this; he hated the eyes that this alchemist gave him. Because it was similar to when he toys with the lives of humans when he watched them squirm before dying in despair.
"Don't be cocky, human," said Envy as he revealed his true form which was a giant green four-legged beast with countless souls on its body.
"So, you've chosen the hard way. Fine by me."
Edward snapped his finger, massive blue lightning traveled from his hand to hit Envy. He screamed out loud after being electrocuted, with burns all over his massive body.
Envy heard another snape, then flames enveloped him and burned his massive body. In just two attacks, he lost dozens of souls to regenerate himself.
Afterward, for the next 30 seconds, only Edward's hand snapping and Envy's scream could be heard in the area of the booth. For a sadistic thing like Envy, his screams were nothing but music to Edward.
After playing for a while, he used a spell to place Envy to sleep before capturing it and leaving.
Title: Funeral
