Spirit Road (2)

Guts pushes through the whole night without stopping to rest. Puck muses over whatever became of Isidro after they left him behind and remarks on how much the boy resembles Guts, an observation that only irritates the swordsman. His stride breaks when a towering silhouette blocks the road ahead. Puck assumes another creature needs slaying, but Guts recognizes the figure at once as the Skull Knight. The armored horseman greets him warmly while Guts answers with barely concealed hostility, and the Skull Knight seems tickled to find a traveling elf buzzing around him.

The Skull Knight reveals what brings him out: he is bound for a place where not merely apostles but perhaps the God Hand itself will gather, and to Guts' surprise that destination matches his own. He describes the Tower of Conviction as an irresistible magnet for the God Hand, currently swollen with a vast buildup of anguish and hatred. Once that misery hits its peak, an event that recurs once every thousand years, an incarnation ceremony unfolds, letting a being from the divine realm take physical form among mortals.

The knight asks whether Guts glimpsed the Falcon of Light in his sleep, noting that nearly all of humanity shares the same dream. His reading of it is grim: a figure marked by the hawk is destined to reenter the world. He then correctly deduces that Casca has been taken to the tower, where her presence works like a signal drawing Guts to the very same spot, much as the crowds yearning for the Falcon of Light all converge on one location. He warns that a coming festival will echo the horror of the Eclipse, and calls their reunion proof of it.

He insists no human hand can halt the ceremony, comparing the world to moonlight shimmering on water and both warriors to that reflection, since they exist within the interstice. Guts rejects the idea that fate controls him, pointing out that he marches on Albion under no one's command. Though Zodd and the Skull Knight alike once foretold his death during the Eclipse, he and Casca both lived. He intends to rescue her by his own power, then hunt down Griffith.

Impressed, the Skull Knight reflects on how time junction points beyond the God Hand's sight might let someone bend destiny. He rides off leaving one last warning: no matter whether Guts prioritizes saving Casca or striking at his foes, she will end up alone. Puck jokes that Guts should have bummed a ride to the tower, then privately notes an elf-like aura around the departed knight but keeps that hunch to himself. Guts renews his vow and runs on, with Isidro still trailing faithfully behind. Casca, Femto and Zodd all appear only through flashback or mention.