Major Armstrong

**Major Armstrong** is Edward Elric's closest friend and chauffeur who formerly worked as his personal bodyguard and Head of Security of Elric Industries. He was almost killed during Kimblee's War, leading to Edward going on a revenge mission. After recovering from his injuries, Armstrong continued to faithfully serve as Edward's friend and employee and oversaw Edward's mentorship over Kirito, aiding the young hero on his trip to the Hidden Leaf Village and acting as their liaison when Kirito continued his superhero activities. Armstrong, however was irritated by him and abhored the job and ignored Kirito. However after Kirito fought Death Gun to prevent the cargo in which Armstrong kept certain valuable items to be transferred to the Jump Force Facility from getting hijacked, the young hero earned Armstrong's admiration and respect.

## Abilities

Remarkably talented in many fields, Armstrong excels in such eclectic practices as portraiture, tracking, cross-country running and wood-chopping, taking the time after each of these extraordinary feats to remark that his skills have been "passed down the Armstrong line for generations."

**Combat Prowess:** Armstrong is also a highly formidable hand-to-hand combatant, able to fight on equal grounds with such highly skilled and dangerous fighters as The Scarred Man and The Chimera Roa. Befitting his large and well-defined physique, Armstrong possesses tremendous strength and endurance bordering on superhuman, able to endure with only minor damage blunt force trauma that would render most people unconscious or crippled. His punches are able to easily plow through solid surfaces and his strength is able to nonchalantly move large and heavy objects out of the way. Despite his size, he has been noted to be deceptively fast and agile, able to dodge and maneuver against close-range attacks with surprising balance and efficiency. Armstrong's combat style resembles boxing using strong and swift punches to overwhelm an opponent and agile dodges and swift footwork to evade attacks.

**Combat Alchemy:** Major Alex Armstrong utilizes a style of combat alchemy that has apparently been passed down the Armstrong line for generations and mixes alchemical skill with physical prowess. With the aid of two metal gauntlets strapped to his fists (both marked with transmutation circles), Armstrong transmutes objects mainly by punching them. It is possible that this method transfers the kinetic energy of his blows into the alchemical energy, enhancing the speed and force of his transmutations, since he mainly uses alchemy to rapidly produce large stone spikes, walls or other objects from the earth at a rate among the fastest in the world. Additionally, the Armstrong style allows Alex to double as a source of heavy artillery, transforming raw stone or brickwork into projectiles which are then launched with the force of his punch. With his Alchemy being combined with hand to hand combat, it is notable that Alex is the first of the few State Alchemists to survive a direct fight with Scar.

Armstrong's gauntlets both are inscribed with encircled triangles and a trio of runes. Inside the triangle appears to be the Hebrew word often associated with "God". Additionally, there is a ring of inscribed text around the outermost circle on each gauntlet. While difficult to make out, the text on the right gauntlet reads "***Laufet, Brüder, eure Bahn, Freudig, wie ein Held zum Siegen***" while the left gauntlet reads "***Froh, wie seine Sonnen fliegen Durch des Himmels prächt’gen Plan, Laufet, Brüder, eure Bahn, Freudig, wie ein Held***".