Real-Ed refuses to take his eyes off the fight, still shaking as he tries to come to terms with what's happening. Memory-Ed/Clark has thrown a couple of punches at Greed, both of which missed, and Greed has him by the collar. "If I hadn't killed Greed..." he begins, voice very quiet. "If I..." He has to trail off as he realizes what's coming: his first use of Alchemy in the fight. Clark's about to experience what it's like, and it's not going to be easy to handle. "Oh.... dammit, I'm about to transmu—"
He cuts himself off as Memory-Ed, arms hanging limp, claps his hands together, and grabs Greed's right wrist. When he clapped, something had... come alive in him, power and energy coursing through his mind, and once he grabs Greed's wrist, there's a tidal wave of raw information flooding into his mind, all of it technical. But fortunately, Ed's mind is capable of interpreting it, and what he's getting confirms his hypothesis: Greed's skin is registering as diamond to him. But beneath that is ordinary muscle, bones, and tendons.
Ed's perception, at least in his mind, shifts slightly; he can still physically see the fight, but mentally, part of his brain is perceiving all of the molecular carbon in an area of skin on Greed's arm, including all of the homunculus's hand and a third of his arm. And Memory-Ed changes that carbon, adjusting how tightly bonded together the atoms are: from diamond to graphite. All of that happens in under a second. It's an extremely intense process, mentally speaking, and this is the first time a non-Alchemist has experienced what goes on inside an Alchemist's head during a transmutation.
The small discharges of static electricity from the transmutation cause Greed to drop Memory-Ed and stagger back, staring at his arm for a moment. Greed can't seem to tell that anything's different, and he tells Ed, "Your Alchemy's worth nothing when you're fighting me!"
Memory-Ed rises to his feet again, teeth gritted. He's only got a small window of time to act... but he's got enough of it to try and deliver a sucker punch.
Greed steps back over to him and says, "Now it's my turn for fun." He brings his arm up to punch Ed's skull in.
Memory-Ed claps his hands together again and jerks his left hand up over his right a little. There's enough metal in the 'knuckle' joints on his Automail and surrounding area to make a set of spikes—and with the second transmutation comes that shift in perception again, only this time it's the atoms of iron, nickel, and chromium in his arm that he's seeing and modifying, and he's only changing how they're arranged. As Greed throws the punch, Ed reacts with lightning speed and meets Greed's fist with his own, the new spiked knuckles on his Automail connecting and burying themselves into Greed's fist.
There's a shower of sparks, yellow this time and completely unrelated to any transmutation. But Greed's skin does start to flake off from the impact, exposing the muscle and tendon and bone beneath his hand. Greed staggers back once more as Memory-Ed rises to his feet, expression still set to grim determination, but inwardly very triumphant. Greed clutches at his arm. "What...? What the Hell is this? What have you done to my Shield, you little bastard?!"
"It's easy when you realize one thing," Memory-Ed replies, calmly. "There are no unexplainable events. Everything results from scientifically measurable actions, even your precious Shield." And Memory-Ed starts explaining to Greed what he's done: he figured out that Greed's Ultimate Shield was made by making the carbon in his body diamond-hard. How Ed exploited the sheer versatility of carbon to turn Greed's skin into something much less resistant to attacks.
Real-Ed takes the moment of reprieve that the lecture his memory-self is giving to gather himself and answer his friends' questions. "If I hadn't killed Greed..." he finally continues, taking a deep breath, "I wouldn't have learned how to kill the other homunculi. There were seven of them, and with the exception of Greed, they were all working together, pulling strings and manipulating the government and the military. Al would've been fine, since Greed had already let him go... but how long would it have taken for me to find that out? Greed refused to tell me where Al was until I delivered a fatal blow." He tries to calm his breathing, remembering what happened a bit further into the fight: another transmutation like the one he did on Greed's hand just now, this time on Greed's abdomen, and a blow that sent Greed staggering. He'd tried to get Greed to take him to Al after that. Greed refused. "I tried," he says, quietly. "I tried everything to prevent it from coming to that. But Greed wouldn't budge, he wouldn't tell me where to find Al until I killed him..." His lips part for a moment. "He manipulated me. He wanted me to kill him... so I would know how to kill the others." Somehow... knowing that helps. The guilt eases a bit; it's still there, but it's no longer overwhelming. "He wanted to die," Ed repeats. "He wanted me to do it because he believed I was the only one who could bring down the other homunculi—and knew that in defeating one homunculus, I would learn how to defeat any other. Thanks to this fight... I had the knowledge I needed to destroy the thing that Al and I created the night we tried to bring our mom back to life. This... this was the only option."
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He cuts himself off as Memory-Ed, arms hanging limp, claps his hands together, and grabs Greed's right wrist. When he clapped, something had... come alive in him, power and energy coursing through his mind, and once he grabs Greed's wrist, there's a tidal wave of raw information flooding into his mind, all of it technical. But fortunately, Ed's mind is capable of interpreting it, and what he's getting confirms his hypothesis: Greed's skin is registering as diamond to him. But beneath that is ordinary muscle, bones, and tendons.
Ed's perception, at least in his mind, shifts slightly; he can still physically see the fight, but mentally, part of his brain is perceiving all of the molecular carbon in an area of skin on Greed's arm, including all of the homunculus's hand and a third of his arm. And Memory-Ed changes that carbon, adjusting how tightly bonded together the atoms are: from diamond to graphite. All of that happens in under a second. It's an extremely intense process, mentally speaking, and this is the first time a non-Alchemist has experienced what goes on inside an Alchemist's head during a transmutation.
The small discharges of static electricity from the transmutation cause Greed to drop Memory-Ed and stagger back, staring at his arm for a moment. Greed can't seem to tell that anything's different, and he tells Ed, "Your Alchemy's worth nothing when you're fighting me!"
Memory-Ed rises to his feet again, teeth gritted. He's only got a small window of time to act... but he's got enough of it to try and deliver a sucker punch.
Greed steps back over to him and says, "Now it's my turn for fun." He brings his arm up to punch Ed's skull in.
Memory-Ed claps his hands together again and jerks his left hand up over his right a little. There's enough metal in the 'knuckle' joints on his Automail and surrounding area to make a set of spikes—and with the second transmutation comes that shift in perception again, only this time it's the atoms of iron, nickel, and chromium in his arm that he's seeing and modifying, and he's only changing how they're arranged. As Greed throws the punch, Ed reacts with lightning speed and meets Greed's fist with his own, the new spiked knuckles on his Automail connecting and burying themselves into Greed's fist.
There's a shower of sparks, yellow this time and completely unrelated to any transmutation. But Greed's skin does start to flake off from the impact, exposing the muscle and tendon and bone beneath his hand. Greed staggers back once more as Memory-Ed rises to his feet, expression still set to grim determination, but inwardly very triumphant. Greed clutches at his arm. "What...? What the Hell is this? What have you done to my Shield, you little bastard?!"
"It's easy when you realize one thing," Memory-Ed replies, calmly. "There are no unexplainable events. Everything results from scientifically measurable actions, even your precious Shield." And Memory-Ed starts explaining to Greed what he's done: he figured out that Greed's Ultimate Shield was made by making the carbon in his body diamond-hard. How Ed exploited the sheer versatility of carbon to turn Greed's skin into something much less resistant to attacks.
Real-Ed takes the moment of reprieve that the lecture his memory-self is giving to gather himself and answer his friends' questions. "If I hadn't killed Greed..." he finally continues, taking a deep breath, "I wouldn't have learned how to kill the other homunculi. There were seven of them, and with the exception of Greed, they were all working together, pulling strings and manipulating the government and the military. Al would've been fine, since Greed had already let him go... but how long would it have taken for me to find that out? Greed refused to tell me where Al was until I delivered a fatal blow." He tries to calm his breathing, remembering what happened a bit further into the fight: another transmutation like the one he did on Greed's hand just now, this time on Greed's abdomen, and a blow that sent Greed staggering. He'd tried to get Greed to take him to Al after that. Greed refused. "I tried," he says, quietly. "I tried everything to prevent it from coming to that. But Greed wouldn't budge, he wouldn't tell me where to find Al until I killed him..." His lips part for a moment. "He manipulated me. He wanted me to kill him... so I would know how to kill the others." Somehow... knowing that helps. The guilt eases a bit; it's still there, but it's no longer overwhelming. "He wanted to die," Ed repeats. "He wanted me to do it because he believed I was the only one who could bring down the other homunculi—and knew that in defeating one homunculus, I would learn how to defeat any other. Thanks to this fight... I had the knowledge I needed to destroy the thing that Al and I created the night we tried to bring our mom back to life. This... this was the only option."