Chapter 48 - Ending Basque

Well Shit just hit the fan. I did think that there could be a prototype Philosopher's Stone. I just thought maybe R&D would, you know keep it until its tested.

No one would use the Atomic Bomb without knowing its destructive capabilities, that would be dumb.

But it never occured to me that a fist fighter could suddenly, and very dangerously go terrorist style gunner in mere moments, if they have infinite power.

It just might be the exihiliaration that is felt when you become superior in both range and power.

For this guy who was looking to squash me to abruptly transform his entire f.u.c.k.i.n.g armor to a ballistic weapon.

A Cannon to be exact, and one with no limits on ammo. It was as if the metal shielding him had suddenly turned into grotesque appendages that came onto his arm, transformed into about 7 to 10 Bazookas. Look I didn't have the time to count okay, it could very well be more than a dozen.

Then he stared at me in silence for a while, as if a predator which had been wounded by prey had finally hunted it down, reinvigorated.

Which was pretty odd if you think about it. There stands a hulking giant with his multiple cannons staring, beyond the horizon, as if he had achieved the impossible, the defeat, the conquest of a monster. The monster which turns out to be a bunny.

Even though its a demonic bunny, it doesn't really give you the feeling of a glorious kill that perhaps a Tiger or an Elephant would give. If you want to be more fantasy like, then a Dragon or a Demon General.

More so since not many know my name, they just know I exist and that I am f.u.c.k.i.n.g smart. That's it and you know, glory of a victory rises when people know about you and your adversary. Your challenges and lore behind it makes it even more appealling.

If Hercules fought just chickens instead of any of the legends he killed, it would mean his story would be pretty much over.

But this bunny has life in it and enough insurance that he would never be prey. Thus the scene actually felt monumental, when you see me standing across him, as his adversary. My broken body accentuating my near loss and him gazing at me showing his utmost d.e.s.i.r.e ro fight and win.

My calm smirk that gives you the feeling that even after all this, this guy still hasn't lost. All's well and like this, until a mad grin covers my face.

Then I laughed, I laughed so hard, it felt like I could hurl rockets with just my voice. Never mind the madness that I had finally let loose, it even creeped the hell out of Basque.

Basque is admittedly one of the most notable characters in FMA, without many to even dare show him contempt. It just shows to how strong his entire being is like, his confidence and decisiveness all strike out.

But then my laugh creeped him out, enough to make him take a step back and contemplate what was wrong with me.

Then without losing out in momentum he clearly asked "Whats so funny ???". I must have come out like a madman to him, my creepy grin never leaving my face.

Then without much ado I silently took out my knife, tore off my sleeves and started carving on my skin. Carvings that work should actually be impeccable but I wasn't short on the body control or any type of control really.

Thus my job went smoothly, well at the least for a few seconds. Because the next moment a huge amount of ballista came at my face.

As expected of a veteran, he did not know what was wrong, but he instinctively knew that it was dangerous and unlike amateur villains, he actually went forward to directly kill me.

With his endless power, he really was going all out and creating every kind of armament he knows. He was literally burning, bursting, and gunning everything down.

Dodging was getting harder every moment, you know. I had to choose the optimal blindspots of all the bullets, explosives and what more, and it was really unpleasant.

Because there was literally very less, a very miniscule amount to maneuver around, like the size of about a small cardboard box. Ones where they leave kittens or dogs.

It was even more exhausting when you realise that I had to calculate all possible trajectories and minimal damage to my body in a matter of milliseconds, and still work on my carving without rest. That would give me the chance to fight back and progress on it could not be delayed.

This went on for about a minute and my body was burned up. It had literally heated up till you could see my skin heated and baked up. But most of it was due to skimming explosions as if they were just leaves.

My first carving was nearly done and I just needed a bit more time. I sighed, my legs unable to exert even the miniscule amount of movement to dodge the next attack. They needed a momentary rest before they could function again.

Thats when a shot nearly hit Basque who was engrossed in our battle. He turned and saw all my troops gathering, he might have been confused, but he clearly simulated what might have happened inside his mind.

Well traps and ambushes are still what my troops specialise in. No fool would destroy their own abilities to just, you know, maybe prove a point. Also cultivators don't count, they are the dumbest people I have ever seen or heard.

Back to the situation at hand. Basque clearly understood that either all his troops were dead or totally incapicitated, otherwise my troops couldn't possibly have entered our battle zone.

A minute should have been very less, but that was unaccounting the Shadow Snipers and the Loud Snipers actually ending the team sent to interfere with them.

What did you think that my troops would ambush the second segment without even wiping out the free to hunt team, near their eyes. You underestimate their intellect.

A battle is all about preparation, timing and advantages. I took half the amount of advantages Basque would have gotten, had he prepared like it was his last stand, and now finally it was.

But against all odds, the air shifted and I instinctively knew. Basque was ready to let loose, all his rage. You might think of many reasons to criticise his actions or his decisions but Basque is still a competent commander and thus keeps his level head.

Now he was ready to unleash the entirety of his arsenal. Trying his best to drag as many of my troops as possible in his hell like rage. Boooom.

He did start for a moment, at least untill his remaining troops came and engulfed in skirmish with mine. But that mere moment was enough to leave devastating effects on morale and tempo.

Till now my troops had lead the momentum and kept it that way with our ambushes and instant retreats. Now it had been evened the battlefield but similar to chains, his troops had also shackled him.

Now he was unable to actualise the near devastating effects that he could have caused. Though his troops surviving might be a relief, its also his cage.

That six second delay was enough for me to finish my First Circle "The Energy Storage". Alchemy in this world or the west part of it, entirely runs on the souls of the dead.

The worst part of it is that a unique energy like that can be inhibited. But with my First Circle, based on King Solomon's way of using Alchemy and the Fifth Magic together, it became a circle that stored heat and used it as a conduit instead of soul energy.

Energy is best efficient if it has no other data, and just properties. That is probably what I believe and opted to choose instead of relying on an entirely new way, I adapted it to follow my beliefs.

As soon as the Circle was completed, I felt it, the connection of a door to my being. A door that contained immense amounts of data but was just there in my subconscious, conected to me. As long as it was provided energy, regardless of who it was, it would allow me the basic access to creation.

That is Alchemy or what it entails at the highest level. A pursuit so beyond mortal sight that it lead to the creation of the Philosopher's Stone without even meaning to.

Creating anything and everything with just energy alone is the pinnacle of Alchemy.

Basque was about to burst in anger at his troops, when I finally spoke, after an entire minute of obsessively dodging, and carving on my hand, which not only teriffied his entire being for an unknown reason but also made me look like a mad man.

The first lines I said was "I now know Alchemy".

Basque had still not completely digested that his troops had cucked him, and I had thrown another bomb at him. At first his eyes held disbelief.

Then he looked at my carving on my right hand and at first dismissed it as a crude circle, until he realized the positions of the David star and all pentagrams and related symbols were there but positioned in an entirely different structure and shape. But what hit him was that he could not understand what the circle was for.

Special circles like mine are the hardwork and research of more than half a century, for most Alchemists and that is when you include genius levels of talent.

He finally said "What a beast I have met ?".

It was probably the best compliment Basque could give anyone. Yet it was at his deathbed that he was serving it out.

Then he roared and entered his cocoon like armor and started bombing out.

"All troops escape the vicinity, you are holding me back".

Now I know that was not a nice thing Basque said but its the truth, any and every casualty that he and I worry about will hold us from the true power that can be unleashed.

Basque's ballistic attacks were already causing immense damage to my troops even though they were a bit out of his range. Though enter his zone and forget living in one piece.

Damun was the first to order the retreat once he saw the damage Basque could cause and his actions of brraking the shackles he was chained with, while all the others followed suit. They held their worries for their commander but still left the vicinity at full speed.

As soon as that happened, Basque also focused his entirety on me. Trying to end me in a volley rather than drag this out as he first wanted to.

Creating a landscape that looked ravaged by the icicles around me. Ice in a desert and in an area so vast, it made for a contrasting look. But that Ice served as a two way block.

It stopped me from sapping out his heat and it made it difficult for him to shoot at me. Well if you consider that the ice was thick as almost an skycr.a.p.er forcefully packed in 12 meters space together, it would make sense.

The barricade was 25 meters tall and it made everyone gasp in wonder. Well all but me and Basque, our next thoughts were to end the fight at the earliest possible.

Basque had started creating huge levels of destructive armament to force his way through. Ever since the Ice wall had appeared, all he felt was increasing levels of danger.

It made him no happy that his enemy seemed to be exploiting for time which he was somehow always giving a lot of recently.

Meanwhile I just used the heat values gathered in my arm for a body heat laser surgery on my other arm. It was done to tattoo out my Second but only Circle that transformed energy into what I required.

You could see sudden red lines coursing to a point in my arm and tracing along a circle and conjoining in various shapes, only to finally craft a circle that oozed destruction and creation.

Then the lines started to heat up leaving dark lines twisting and surrounding my arm and it cooled down in an instant as well. Leaving me with a tatoo that looked sinister and gentle at the same time.

All this was done using my first circle. Since it stored heat and could use it as conduit, I made a pathline for the heat to follow along.

Then after the pathway was made with vicarious and inhumane levels of control I allowed it to heat up enough to cause laser like functions. But not enough to slice through my hand.

Then I absorbed the extra heat gathered on my body back in the circle. Though easy and long to say, it was faster to use. Well until Basque destroyed the entirety of the Ice wall in a volley of extreme area wide effecting armaments.

But I was finally ready and I shouted out "Chaotic Order".

At that same moment the extra heat stored in my first circle was instantly absorbed then fed to my second circle which molded it into what I required. Blazing Beams of heat that suddenly manifested mid air and soared from a point in a 45 degree angle.

Basque had barely dodged the beams as he was in an extreme level of focus right now. But even the graze was enough to burn down patches of his skin.

Basque had never been so surprised as he was today, or thats what he believed. If someone had told him that such a monster was infesting the battlegrounds, then even without orders he would have carried out an immediate attack on it.

"Sigh". Basque looked tired but that should not be possible with the amount of energy he has at hand. Or that could have been me making a mistake.

He then glared at me and suddenly his aura rised and it kept soaring until I was left gasping. But even I could somehow tell what this guy had done. He had just made himself a potential bomb.

Then he looked out in the horizon and said "Even if I lose I won't let a monster like you roam the battlefields so easily".

After looking at me for a while he continued "The only weapon I could dream of but never realise. I have reached it near my end. I won't explain it to you, since that would be giving information to an enemy but as a fellow Alchemist I will ask, what happens when you split an Atom".

In that instant an insane amount of energy was sent to his circle and as if in conjunction his Philosopher's Stone literally burst into smithereens, signifying his readiness to destroy military secrets and also his resolution to be silent until the end.

Basque would never give an edge to his allies and freinds alike but he would serve his nation proudly. To the point that he would readily end his life without remorse at any decisions good or bad he ever made.

I stood there and saw him get vaporised with his own decision and all of this was insanely slow in my view only due to the insane amount of complicated calculations I was making.

But after a few minor adjustments to the formula in my First Circle I was able to hastily absorb and store all the heat values that were being generated in this explosion.

Shockwaves were counted as frictional and kinetic and potential energy values readily, and were speedily converted to heat values and stored inside my first circle.

Even then the speed of the explosion and the displacement of the air was enough to send me flying across the desert.

After falling a few dozen meters away from the epicenter of the explosion, my first thoughts weren't to check the amount of harm on my body but make an insanely strong metal dome for myself.

The explosion was hastily absorbed and as such it had already devolved to an odd power wave that randomly jolted out shockwaves. Shockwaves that razed the ground around or some that only sent something flying.

The metal I chose was Vibranium.