Guardian Angels of Desire (1)

At a public scaffold, an official named Dahl condemns a woman as a heretic, and she is beheaded despite her pleading. He quietly questions his master, the Count, over the mounting executions, but the ruler insists the killings protect his other subjects. Watching from the crowd, Guts scoops up the head as it rolls free and spits in the face of a guard who demands it. He then flings the head to the Count, who catches it and recoils on seeing a Brand of Sacrifice inked in blood across its brow. Guts drags a bloody line over his own throat and departs, a gesture the Count reads as an open challenge before crushing the skull in his grip.

Fleeing into the streets, Guts is boxed in by guards yet cleaves through their armor with ease, while Puck blinds two crossbowmen with a burst of light so their platform can be toppled. The captain Zondark, an enormous figure encased in plate and swinging a massive hammer, wades in and cuts down his own men by mistake. He pins Guts to a wall and brings the hammer down, but the greatsword shatters the weapon, sending fragments into the captain's face, and Guts follows with a kick.

With soldiers still pouring in, smoke grenades explode between Guts and his pursuers, thrown by a small bandaged man who waves him toward a barred drain. Guts follows him to a hidden workshop crowded with strange skeletons and jars, including preserved elves that horrify Puck. The stranger, a former physician, saw Guts defy the Count at the execution and guesses at a private grudge. When his wrappings slip, they reveal a face half gone and two artificial legs. He begs Guts to slay the Count, whom he names a demon, then works a concealed lever to open a back room. Inside, on a lone pedestal, sits an egg marked with scattered human features, and Guts realizes at once that it is a Beherit.

Guts openly declares war on the Count by returning a branded heretic's severed head. He carves through the Count's guards and destroys the hammer of the captain Zondark. A bandaged rescuer, later named Vargas, shelters Guts and reveals a Beherit hidden in his laboratory.

This chapter introduces Dahl, the Count, Vargas, and Zondark to the Black Swordsman Arc. It plants the first Beherit of the storyline and establishes the Count as an Apostle whom Guts intends to destroy. Puck's light magic and Guts' brute strength are both showcased during his running battle through the town.