Rickert opened his eyes slowly as pain gripped his body. 

He could feel Erica's body under his, but he was unable to move as the tree was on top of him. 

The tree on them suddenly moved as Zodd lifted the tree easily with one hand. 

Rickert screamed pain as his injuries were worsened as the tree was moved. 

He looked as his left leg was completely crushed and was unrecognizable, while his right arm was ripped off as it was impaled by branches of the tree. 

Rickert turned painfully around to face Zodd, as well as to get off Erica's tiny body, hoping that she wasn't injured. 

"Rickert?" she asked as she opened her eyes slowly. 

She wasn't hurt badly, but was covered in scratches and bruises.

"Rickert!" she suddenly screamed looking at Rickert who had his right arm ripped off and his left leg was an unrecognizable mess. 

Zodd picked her up by the back of her dress from behind and looked at her. 

She kept quiet and looked at Zodd defiantly although it was clear she was shaking in fear. 

"What do you want? Did Griffith send you?" Rickert asked defiantly, even though his body was wrecked in pain and trembled in fear. 

"No, Griffith has no reason to care about you. It's just my duty to get rid of all reminders of his past, including you and Guts!" Zodd said. 

"Guts....?" Rickert said, realizing that Guts was a target too. 

"Now... it's time for you to despair!" Zodd said, ripping off Erica's clothes, holding her naked body in the air. 

Then in one smooth motion, he threw her body at the war demons who jumped on her. 

"Erica!" Rickerts screamed as he watched in horror as the war demons started raping her and tearing her body apart in front of his eyes. 

Zodd walked towards him and placed his foot on Rickert's chest, cracking his bones and causing him scream some more. 

He looked at Erica's clothes and removed the Behelit from her pocket. 

"Oh... the wheels of fate is so fickle. Lets see what happens at the moments of your despair" he said as he dropped the Behelit on Rickert's body and left. 

Through the tears in his eyes, while semi-conscious, he watched as Zodd and Griffith's forces departed. There was only a pool of blood where Erica's body was thrown to. There was mo body parts, no bones, nothing was left. The war demons had devoured whatever was left of her after her rape.

--

In his semi-conscious state, he could remember being carried on a skeletal horse. 

Brief glimpses of the rider reminded him that he had met this skeletal rider before, when the Band of the Falcon encountered the count. 

But he was too injured to say anything, and his consciousness was blinking in and out. 

Finally everything was dark. 

--

He opened his eyes again, and found himself in a familiar bed. 

The sights and smell of the place was so familiar, because he had lived here for a few years. 

This was Gordot's house and his workshop, where he first met Gordot and his adopted daughter Erica!

"Erica!" he suddenly thought as he sat up. 

Just then, he looked at his body, naked on the bed. He had his right shoulder bandaged up as his right arm was missing. And his left leg was amputated as well.

"So.... it wasn't a dream. Erica..." he sobbed. 

"I am sorry. Erica is dead" came a strange ethereal voice. 

Rickert looked up and saw the Skull Knight in the room with him. 

"Thank...thank you for saving me" Rickert finally said quietly.

"You are an oddity in causality, like Guts. You are an unknown factor, and might be useful to the battle against the God Hand. That is why I am able to help you" the Skull Knight said. 

He then took up the behelit and started walking off with it. 

"Wait! I have use for that!" Rickerts said. 

"Are you going to..." the Skull Knight asked. 

"No! But I have use for it. I want to use it as a weapon to strike the Apostles" Rickert said 

"Very well. I wish you well" he said as he dropped the Behelit on the table next to Rickert and exited the house, disappearing into the forest. 

Rickert sat on the bed, staring at the Behelit in deep thought. 

--

Two weeks later, Rickert was walking stiffly in the workshop. He had a metallic right arm and left leg, and was getting used to it. 

He limped everywhere as his left leg was made of metal and had no feeling in it. His right arm also moved stiffly, as it was artificial and could only hold tools due to a magnet he built in it. 

He looked at the ugly face of the Behelit as he held it in a clamp in this workshop. 

The Behelit filled him with a feeling of dread, but as he had his knowledge from his previous life, he knew the Behelit was somehow connected to the Godhand. 

He started turning the clamp even more, squeezing the clamp tighter and tighter.

Suddenly, the Behelit screamed and the whole workshop started shaking. 

Rickerts grimaced and continued turning the clamp. 

The screamed got louder and louder, and Rickerts felt like he was losing his mind, but he continued in a manic manner. 

The Behelit shot out a symbol that flew at him but he blocked it with his left hand.

The symbol branded itself on the back of Rickert's left hand, causing him to yelp in pain. 

He looked at the symbol branded on the back of his hand, realizing that he had seen it on Gut's neck before. 

With his knowledge of his previous life, he realized that he had been branded. This meant that he would now be hunted by all manner of evil spirits and apostles every night for the rest of his life. 

"You bastard! You branded me!" he yelled and twisted the clamp with all his might. 

Just as the clamp completely flattened the Behelit, there was a mini explosion, throwing Rickert against the wall. 

A portal of some sort was formed and it destroyed the clamp.

Rickert felt as if his soul was being sucked into the portal, and he saw another person's soul being dragged into this dimension. 

Suddenly, Rickert's body flew towards the portal and he flew into the portal!

However, to his surprise, he didn't get transported anywhere. 

Instead, he flew into the portal and exited out the other side, as if the portal wasn't there!

He landed on the floor on the other side of the room and looked back at the portal, surprised. 

Suddenly, the portal exploded and threw him face first, smashing him through the door of the workshop.

His head throbbed in pain, as he rolled on the floor clutching his head in pain. 

Slowly, he recovered and realized that he had alot of new ideas and memories in his head. 

"What is going on?" he asked, looking at his metal hand as he opened and closed the fingers smoothly. 

He suddenly realized that his artificial arm was working alot smoother than he remembered, nearly like his real arm. 

He looked at his left leg which similarly was working better. As he got up, he realized he wasn't limping awkwardly anymore. 

He walked to the mirror and looked at himself. 

Long blonde hair, same height, same colored eyes, same handsome face....

"Wait a minute" he thought to himself. 

He was himself, yet he wasn't. He looked like someone else as well. 

"I'm Rickert" he said, and found it sounded familiar and true, yet wasn't 100% true. 

"I am...Edward Elric!" he suddenly said as his mouth completed his name by itself.