The day had arrived.

In just one day between the formation and eventual fight day, the build up had grown tremendously and immediately had spread nation wide as many civilians from Leanbox, Lastation, and Lowee had made their over to Planeptune to watch the highly anticipated fight.

The Planeptune Coliseum was initially seen as a risky thing to make as obviously fights wouldn't be hosted there 24/7 so there would need to be other amenities as well to keep revenue up and maintain the area.

Thankfully on opening day a ton of fun amenities were indeed added such as a virtual training simulator for travelers and adventurers as well as small little arenas for sparring and little PvP session all underground as a basement floor beneath the main floor which was the host for big money matches that were scheduled in advance.

In fact on opening day the main attraction was a Fatal Four Way battle between all 4 CPUs which wound up ending in a draw.

Regardless of the outcome though the match was a huge hit with the crowd and solidified the Coliseum as a huge attraction for Planeptune.

As time went on other matches have been hosted there within the populous however this one was more than just a simple fight.

It was the two prodigies of Alchemy going head to head.

Not only did this get everyone excited, it also was gonna put the power of Alchemy and Black Ops HQ into the national spotlight.

Hell it was so huge that for the first time the CPUs themselves decided to attend the fight as spectators themselves.

Needless to this mostly everyone was not gonna miss this fight.

Shortly after the Coliseum had opened for the day, the stands were packed almost immediately with the vip suites left for special guests for the combatants.

Alex obviously had only invited Akari while Ed had obviously Alphonse though the two had essentially sat together to watch.

Roy himself had offered to be the ref to begin and overwatch the battle to make sure nothing extremely wrong happened.

As the crowd anxiously waited for the combatants to arrive, Roy was up in the suites calming down Akari and Roy who were both anxious and what could happen during the scuffle.

"Worrying about it even now will only add more to the anxiety. We just gotta hope for the best that the two play nice." Said Roy.

While Al simply nodded, Akari gave him an unamused look as she wondered how he could be so calm about his top two alchemists essentially about to have a death match.

Regardless Akari knew that she couldn't do anything but watch.

After a few more minutes passed, Roy had left the vip suite and walked down the stands and entered the main floor as the arena slowly roared to life as after a final adjustment to his microphone, he flipped the switch on.

"Greetings ladies and gentlemen! My name's Roy Mustang, leader/ Führer of Black Ops HQ in Lastation! Welcome to the Planeptune Coliseum!" He said as the crowd exploded into cheers.

After they calmed down a bit he resumed talking.

"Starting right now, we'll introduce the combatants." He said as turned to one side as the gates opened.

"From this corner, we have the young alchemical prodigy! The Alchemist of The People! And half of the Elric Brothers! Here is Edward Elric!"

Out came Edward as he stepped into view of the raucous crowd as everyone cheered.

It was clear that is title of Alchemist of the People was no joke as Edward was unanimously beloved by many people in Gamindustri.

Roy then turned and pointed at the other side

"And from this corner, we have an even younger alchemical prodigy! The apprentice of King Bradley! And my own nephew! It's Alex Mustang!"

Out came Alex and to say he got the polar opposite reaction of Edward was an understatement.

The crowd jeered LOUDLY with some fans in attendance even cussing him out which caused Alphonse to hold back Akari from attacking anyone.

Even Roy had to admit that he didn't expect this type of negative reaction towards him.

The two combatants walked up to the middle and faced each other as Roy made sure to keep the two back until the fight had officially started.

"Alright you two. I want a good, clean fight. No low blows beneath the belt. Aside from that, anything goes." Said Roy.

The two continued to stare at one another as Roy slowly stepped back to get out of the way of the initial strike and eventually he was far back enough.

From his pocket emerged a Flare Gun as he pointed it into the sky.

Eventually, Roy pulled the trigger and shot the flare up into the air as the match was underway.

He immediately left ground zero as the two dashed forward and clashed fists before backing up.

Alex pulled out a dagger as Edward transmuted a blade from his automail.

The two charged again and began to clash weapons back and forth.

Both were so familiar with the other's fighting style and tendencies that it was gonna be hard for on to land a decent hit.

This was shown as the two clashed when Alex had immediately tried to spin around and kick Ed in the head but the blonde alchemist saw this coming as he ducked and immediately went to have his blade stab at Alex.

Only Alex managed the grab his wrist and barely hold the blade away from his head while keeping his dagger at Ed's neck.

The two were already in a stalemate and proceeded to back up giving the other space.

That was until Alex had immediately snapped his fingers causing Edward to immediately run away and then jump as he barely managed to avoid the fire explosion Alex had created with his Flame Alchemy.

"Hey! That was a cheap shot!" Shouted Ed only for him to immediately run and then jump away again as he avoided another explosion from Alex.

"You heard Uncle Roy. Anything goes. Besides, I prefer haste over cleverness. That means there are no cheap shots. Strike quickly and you'll end it quickly too." He said.

Edward practically couldn't get any rest as he was constantly on the run to avoid getting torched.

Unfortunately he finally slowed down too much from exhaustion as Alex managed to get Edward with an explosion.

The crowd were ready to jeer loudly if that had been the end of the fight.

Alex knew however that with as clever as Edward was, that blast wasn't gonna end it.

Sure enough from the smoke Alex saw Edward's silhouette and chuckled.

"Well how was that? Want more?" He said before Alex was shocked to see that it wasn't Edward after all

'A fake!?' He thought to himself.

From behind Alex turned around and barelt stepped aside as Edward had charged at him and with his blade cut his right cheek as blood had been spilt.

The fans roared to life when they saw this and were cheering.

It was very clear that the crowd pro Ed and anti Alex.

The two took a sec as Alex touched the cut and felt blood before simply wiping it away.

"Nice job. I didn't think you were that crafty." He said. "Guess I gotta kick it up a notch."

Alex clapped his hands and transmuted a sword from the ground as he swung it around a bit before getting into a stance, breathing in and out slowly.

Edward took no caution as he ran straight at Alex and went for a slash only for Alex to easily parry it.

From there Edward knew he was screwed.

Alex began the assault as began getting in quick, fast, and precise sword stabs as Edward tried his best to dodge each jab.

Unfortunately Edward just didn't have the reaction speed needed as Alex's speed and precision got the best of the exchange as stabs and cuts were now on Ed's body.

Needing time to rest, Edward immediately transmuted a wall to separate the two as he jumped away panting.

'Crap. Now I know why he was Bradley's protege. He practically adopted his swordsmanship.' Though Ed as he saw Alex with ease cut his wall apart in two.

"Wanna throw in the towel now? You know you won't last." Said Alex as he wiped the blood off his sword.

Edward meerely smile as he slowly stood up, still determined as ever. "Like hell I am."

Ed got into a stance he himself pointed towards himself telling Alex to charge first.

Alex took the initiative as he dashed forward.

The two clashed as this time Edward grabbed Alex's wrist keeping the sword away and then with his automail, metal fist had sucker punched Alex right in the face.

This dazed Alex as Edward continued landing his physical attacks, adding more punches and then kicked Alex away.

Alex was heavily dazed and struggled to get up as Edward cleaned the blood that was smeared onto his metal fist.

The crowd cheered again as it seemed the battle had ended only for Alex to slowly rise back to his feet.

His face was battered and bruised but be still hadn't been knocked down yet.

Now, Alex was gonna do anything he could to win.

He discarded his sword and began to transmute another weapon.

This time he pulled out his former weapon, the Buster Sword from the ground.

Seeing the massive blade intimidated Edward before he immediately eased up a bit.

Battle BGM: The Almighty from Persona 4

That was until Alex began channeling alchemy into the sword as the weapon was then coated in blazing flames as it burned bright red.

Ed immediately jumped away as Alex had shot out a flame slash towards him that had barely missed.

Alex wasted no as he immediately charged at Edward and began to strike at him.

While it was easier for Edward to avoid the hits since the sword was bulkier and took longer to land, the burning heat was getting to him as he was slowly getting fatigued.

Edward eventually got himself tripped up and wide open for a hit as Alex took a horizontal slash at Edward.

Though he was off the mark he managed to clip Ed's red cloak as it caught fire.

This caused Ed to scramble and remove the cloak as he had to jump away as Alex stabbed the cloak, completely burning it away.

The two looked at one another again before Ed saw that this flaming behemoth of a sword was exhausting Alex as he was panting heavily.

'He's constantly having to channel his alchemy into the sword. If I can last for a bit longer, I can end it.' He thought.

Alex knew he wasn't gonna last any longer as he ceased the flames away and charged at Edward.

The two clashed again and went back and forth once again.

As the two continued to clash eventually their got too exhausted to keep their weapons as the sword was knocked away and Ed's blade and retracted back to normal.

BGM ends here

The end was drawing near as the two looked at one another.

Edward tried to charge again only for his fatigue to get the best of him as he ended up falling down.

Alex ran up and kicked Ed hard in the head causing Ed to land onto his back.

He sat on top of Edward and just began to land punch after punch on Ed's face as the blonde one could only do so much as he took the hits, leaving his face bruised and battered.

Ed then grabbed Alex's collar and delivered a massive headbutt as it knocked Alex back as Ed kicked off him.

The two were now laid out on the ground and both slowly began to stand up again.

"J-Just, give up already." Said Alex as he ran at Ed.

Edward stood up and ran at Alex as well.

The two then met and just began doing whatever they could.

Punches and kicks were landed as the two went back and forth, just having a pure brawl, neither blocking and just taking turns to hit the other.

More blood was spilt as their faces were battered up even more.

Eventually it got to the point where the two could barely stand were just weakly throwing out soft punches and blows.

The two were then hunched over, Ed softly placing a fist on Alex's gut, and Alex softly placing a fist on Edward's forehead.

BGM: The Alchemist from FullMetal Alchemist: Brotherhood

These two were friends.

Friends who in just hours had turned into bitter enemies.

Whatever this fight resulted in, their relationship wouldn't be the same regardless of whether they made up or not.

Time ticked slowly, everyone waiting to see who would fall first.

Then, it happened.

Alex had fallen down, knocked out, leaving Ed the last one standing.

Chapter 39: End