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In the arena, Father Cornello continues his talk about the forbidden acts of turning things into gold and human transmutation, while mocking Edward and Alphonse in the process. Ed makes a remark about losing their body parts, and then proceeds to ask Rose if she’s willing to make that kind of sacrifice, while accepting the consequences in the process. Rose becomes concerned, but Cornello reassures her, saying that he has the Philosopher’s Stone. He then asks the brothers why they even want the Philosopher’s Stone. Ed says that they need the Stone to obtain their original bodies back, with Al asking the priest to give them the stone. Cornello refuses, and using the Stone, turns his cane into a machine gun, and fires at Al & Ed!

Luckily, Ed created a stone wall to protect them. At that moment, Cornello’s guards appear, and the leader of the group tried using his gun to shoot Al. Then, Ed & Al proceed to escape, by creating their own exit at a wall. While the guards chase them, Cornello decides to take Rose to her boyfriend, seeing that she was starting to have doubts.

Alphonse and Edward managed to escape, but not for long. An announcement to the entire town stated that they tried to kill Cornello, and soon a mob surrounded them. Ed tried to convince the townspeople that they were being fooled, but Rose stepped in, saying that her boyfriend was revived. Ed tries again to persuade the people, but suddenly the statues of Leto appeared, and surrounded Ed & Al. They were quickly struck down by the statues, and Al fainted. His amplifier (which also shows proof that he’s the Fullmetal Alchemist) is also taken in the process.

The next day, a bell-ringer realized that the bell was missing. Alphonse is shown sneaking away with it. Ed is then seen in a cell. Rose brings him food, and then leaves quickly. While Ed tries to eat, he hears tapping sounds against the stone wall. Ed grins.

Cornello is then seen waking up from a bad dream, and encounters the illustrious Lust across from him. Afterwards, Rose enters the room where her boyfriend lays. She tried to approach him, when Cornello appeared. A wind started to blow, blowing off the covers hiding Rose’s boyfriend to reveal a white bird. Cornello explained the situation to her, and then leaves. The bird tries to attack Rose, but Alphonse comes and saves her.  

Cornello approaches Edward to permanently get rid of him. However, with Ed’s cunning questions, Al’s nifty wiring, and a microphone set (using the stolen bell as a speaker), Cornello unknowingly preached his entire plan of subjugating the land to the entire town! The priest tried to shoot him with his machine gun, but Ed easily disposed of it. Panicking, Cornello runs outside, to find the entire town gathered at the church. Cornello tries to reassure the people by causing the statues to move. Edward appears at this point, and uses alchemy to bring the large statue of Leto in the church to move! The statue punches the ground near the priest, frightening him. Suddenly, the Philosopher’s Stone reacts, causing a rebound, which mutates Cornello’s hand! The Stone then breaks, which showed that it was a fake.

Afterwards, the brothers proceed to leave. They are stopped by Rose, who talks about the hope of their town being destroyed, and her will to live. Ed tells her to find out for herself, and walks away. Al consoles her, and tells her about their past.

In the church, Cornello asks Lust about the Philosopher’s Stone. She states that it was obviously a fake, and then talks about how the town was only used as bait to lure those who were seeking the Stone. Gluttony then proceeds to eat him.

The townsfolk try to find Cornello, but find the dead birds he used earlier instead. Suddenly, Cornello appears! He made the dead birds fly, fooling the people into believing him again. However, they didn’t know that the birds eventually exploded above them, and that it was really a person named Envy who was impersonating the dead priest.

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Written by AuronLuvr

Picking up from the previous cliffhanger, we find Cornello and Edward in the same spots at before. Just before the first episode ended, Edward's automail arm and leg were revealed, making himself known to Cornello and scaring the living daylights out of Rose.

Rose screams and starts to shake at the very sight of Edward's prosthetics. With a serious tone, Ed tells Rose not to look away, for his arm and leg was the cost of his mistake, along with his brother's. He shows Rose that their punishment was pressured on them when they stepped into God's territory, and tried to bring the dead back to life.

This distraction leads to Ed's defeat against the phony priest, and he is imprisoned in the bell tower while Rose it lead to see her resurrected boyfriend. Little does Cornello know that Ed has a trick up his sleeve.

While Rose is lead to the bedroom where her boyfriend is supposed to be resting, Ed and Al set up a trap that will foil Cornello’s phony impersonations, and let the people of Lior learn the truth behind their peculiar prophet.

At the same time, the unbearable truth is revealed to Rose. As Cornello leaves the room and takes the foolish Rose with him, he tells her not to go back into the room because her lover needed to rest. Rose disobeys the pastor’s orders and sneaks into the room again, when she thinks she’s alone.

She pulls back the curtain to the canopy, and sees a huge bird that can imitate the very voice of her dead love. She is shocked once more as Cornello catches her red-handed in the act. From there, he plans Rose to hurt and possibly kill Rose to prevent her from telling the people of Lior the truth.

Luckily, Al comes to save the day, and he takes Rose to a save spot, so he can finish the last step in foiling the fake prophet’s plan. He creates a transmutation circle hooked up a microphone device. From there, all Ed had to do was ask, and he shall receive everything he needs to hear.

As Cornello answers Ed’s elaborate questions, his desires of greed, and fame are expressed to the whole city of Lior. Once Cornello finds out about the scheme, he immediately runs outside to claim that it was all a big joke. Unfortunately, the townspeople know better. And as Cornello tries to prove himself again by using the fake Philosopher’s Stone, his arm recoils, and the phony stone shatters, leaving the lying prophet’s arm deformed.

At the end of the episode, Ed and Al are about to leave Lior, until Rose comes up to them. She asks what to do now that her heart has been broken, and her pastor was proven guilty of fraud. Ed simply assures her that she has a strong pair of legs, and she should get up and use them. From there, the two brothers depart continuing their struggle.

In the meantime, Cornello sits in quiet room in the church, screaming in pain over his arm. His pain is suddenly ended when two odd strangers come and murder him. Little did anyone know that those strangers had a dirty little secret.

After the brothers left, Cornello is seen walking down the road to the church. He smiles and says that he heard of what happened while he was “gone” and assured the people he was the real thing by bringing a dead bird back to life. In the meantime, the strangers look from the pastor’s room and smirk at the Cornello they see before them.

The episode closes when the one of the strangers speak. They call the Cornello they see “Envy”, and she tells him to keep his form just a little longer.

My Opinion: This episode was a great continuation to the very first episode. It got me to understand a few Alchemic principles, and it made the series make sense very quickly. The religious beliefs also got me sucked in and stuck to the screen.

From here, things get even more serious and mysterious. Many questions will arise, and many tragedies will take place on the brother’s journey for the Philosopher’s Stone.

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