The Monster

Burne couldn't believe his eyes. What he was seeing was beyond alchemy. He saw a man revive himself right in front of his eyes.

"Bloody hell…" He cursed as the cannibal started to recover. The limbs that were burnt by the explosion started to reform. 

First the bones, then nerves and then the muscles and skin. In a matter of seconds, the man's body was reformed. 

His eyes that were once rolled over, returned to their original state as he woke up. 

Waking up from his presumed death, he frowned. "Gluttony is angry. Gluttony kill alchemist."

This time he didn't say that he would eat Burne, but he wanted to kill him instead. Burne knew that this had gotten way out of hand. 

'I need to destroy him completely.' Burne thought. 'There doesn't seem to be any other way I can stop him.' 

"Alchemist strong. But Gluttony is angry." The cannibalistic man roared as his jaw elongated.

"What the-" Burne was beyond shocked. The Man's mouth elongated as his stomach opened alongside his mouth. It was not a human that Burne was fighting any more, it was a monster. His mouth has opened to his stomach with ribs sticking out in the form of teeth. But that was not all— a massive vertical eye appeared out of the opened mouth. 

"Gluttony will kill you!" It roared before rushing towards Burne. 

With the transformation, the monster's speed and strength increased as Burne was barely able to dodge the monstrosity. But despite dodging, its teeth grazed him, wounding his arm. 

'I need to think of something… and it has to be quick.' Burne groaned. 

He had walked for over five miles with a massive bag over his shoulder and now using alchemic spells rapidly was taking a toll on his body. His nerves were acting up and he knew that he had to get rid of this monster as soon as possible or he would die.

The monstrosity rushed towards him once again with its massive jaws. Burne realised that he couldn't outspeed him so he had to use alchemy. He created a series of earth wall in front of him to stop Gluttony's attack. But he highly underestimated the monster's strength. 

The monstrosity easily punched through the walls and hit Burne with a massive force which sent him flying a few meters away. 

Using his alchemy, Burne was barely able to reduce the force of impact. He coughed out blood before getting up. 

But when he took the hit, he did realise one thing. 

The monster wasn't thinking properly. His attacks— while powerful, were equally clumsy. With calculations, Burne would have dodged the attack but couldn't because of how tired he was.

'I can dodge his attacks and most probably hit him with attacks as well.' Burne thought as Gluttony regained his momentum. 'But he would recover easily… I don't have much energy left either.'

Burne frowned as he looked at Gluttony getting ready to attack him once again. 

Burne had noticed that Gluttony rushes towards the enemy without planning. And that's exactly what Burne took advantage of. 

As Gluttony rushed towards him, Burne liquified the ground which made Gluttony slip and fall face-first on the ground.

'For someone that strong, he is an idiot.' Burne thought. 'But I need to end this fast. I cannot go on for longer.' 

He thought about possible ways to defeat Gluttony when he realised something. 

'I don't have enough strength to destroy him completely but I can exhaust him… or more specifically— make him lose his consciousness.' Burne grinned as he found a possible way to defeat the monster.

"You are slow, baldy." Burne taunted but it did nothing more than drawing his attention. The monster had already lost his sanity to get angry.

Grinning with its massive teeth, it ran towards Burne. 

But this time— Burne was prepared. 

"There goes everything!" Burne said as he decided to use every last bit of his strength.

He quickly transmuted the hydrogen and oxygen and forcefully bonded them, creating water. He quickly made a whirlpool around Gluttony before reducing the temperature of the water in the negatives. 

Controlling the temperature of elements required a very advanced level of alchemy. But Burne had mastered this alchemic skill.

He trapped Gluttony in the ice but that was barely temporary prevention. He rushed towards the frozen monster and pushed his hand over the monster's head. Using the same method, he cooled the blood in Gluttony's brain, sending him in a paralysed and unconscious state. 

Once he dealt with Gluttony, he fell on the ground— exhausted. 

He didn't pay much attention at first, but he had gotten badly injured from Gluttony's attack. The muscles of his right arm were torn and it was going to take a long time to recover. 

As he laid huffing on the ground, he heard a man's voice.

"Are you alright, young man?!"

 He turned his head around without standing up and found a middle-aged man with a scar on his face walking towards him. The man wore a blue uniform with a pocket watch hanging from his hip belt. 

'That symbol…' Burne focused on the symbol of the stopwatch. 'He is from Amestris.'

The watch had a symbol of a cross with a serpent draped about it, as well as detached wings and a crown above it. It was the famous Flamel symbol and on the side was the symbol of Amestris, a rampant dragon. From his clothing, Burne figured that he was a state alchemist. 

"Not really…" Burne groaned in pain as he tried to stand up. 

The man looked shocked as he saw the massive ice sculptor next to Burne.

"You defeated this monster?" He asked in astonishment.

Burne nodded as he was barely able to stand up. "Do you know what it is?" He asked.

The man nodded. "I am Major Rodriguez, from the Amestrian State Alchemic Board." He introduced himself. "Thank you for capturing this… monstrosity." He said in disgust as he looked at Gluttony.

"I am Burne Adley." Burne introduced himself. "So… what is it?" He asked, not caring that the man in front of him was a high ranking official. 

"I don't know." Rodriguez shook his head. "But the board says that it is the result of an alchemist trying to revive his son."

Burne frowned. "Human transmutation?"

Rodriguez nodded. "Indeed. The alchemist who made him was killed by this monster… and it later escaped the faculty. Since then it had murdered over twenty state alchemists." He paused to look at Burne. "I didn't expect a young man like you to be able to stop it." 

"Me neither." Burne answered honestly. "But he was not very smart as compared to the immense strength he possessed."

Rodriguez nodded. "Indeed. But state alchemists were unable to stop him because of his strength. You have done the impossible, young man." He said. "You will be rewarded by the state for this."

Burne didn't care about the Council. If anything, he wanted to stay as far away from them as possible. 

"It's alright." He said. "Now what are you going to do about him?" 

"He will be dissected to check the transmutations used to create him. And after that he will be disposed." Rodriguez answered making Burne nod. 

'It is common for the state to deal with such experiments.' Burne thought. 'But I had never seen a human transmutation like this. And that regeneration… if I am able to replicate the property, I might be able to regrow my limbs.'

"I don't want the reward." Burne said. "But can I receive the reports after you dissect him?" He asked but Rodriguez instantly rejected. 

"I can't. The results will be kept a secret by the board and to get a look at them, you will require permission from the board." He said before pausing for a bit. "But since you were the one to stop him, you might be given access to the results. I will talk with the council about this." 

"Thank you." Burne nodded. 'I cannot go against the council but there is the chance that they will allow me to check the results.'

Rodriguez looked at Burne's injured arm. "You didn't go unscathed." He said making Burne nod. "So where are you going?" He asked.

"Amestris." Burne replied, shocking the man. "I have something that I need to take care of."

The man nodded. "Then we can go together." He looked at his arm and sighed. "Your arm requires treatment and I don't think you can go on like this." He said. 

Burne nodded. "Thank you… if that wouldn't be much of a bother."

The man smiled. "You are a hero, young man. The council will be proud of your achievement." He looked at the frozen monster. "I will need to carry this… thing." He scoffed in disgust. "Can you walk on your own?" He asked Burne.

"I can." Burne said. "But can you really carry that thing?" He was not sure if the man was joking but that thing weighed over a ton, he didn't think that a man could lift so much weight.

Rodriguez grinned. "Young man, I am the Major for a reason." He said before walking towards the statue. He placed his hand under the statue before lifting it.

"*Arrgh*" He yelled as his shirt tore and the veins started bulging from his arms. The man lifted the state over his arms, shocking Burne.

He grinned and huffed. "So, should we get going?" He asked as Burne nodded in astonishment.

"Y-yeah."

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[A/N: Nothing much to say other than— "Thank you for your support."

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