Cliff

The duel on the ledge runs badly against Guts, who can hardly move, barely see, and cannot free either weapon. He is stunned by how gifted Serpico proves to be, since beyond choosing the ideal ground the young knight is a genuine master of the blade whose attacks Guts can neither predict nor settle into a rhythm against. All he can do is turn the thrusting rapier aside with his prosthetic hand. Guessing that reaching Casca is Guts' one concern, Serpico claims the knights have already seized her along with Isidro and Nina. The lie is meant only to rattle him, and Serpico presses the advantage with a furious storm of strikes, only to be caught off guard by what Guts does in reply.

At the cave mouth, Farnese scolds her soldiers for letting the Black Swordsman slip past and orders wave after wave inside. A pebble strikes Joachim's head, and a trail of them draws his attention into a shadowed cleft. The one flinging them is the mysterious being, using the stones to lead Joachim straight to Nina, who waits just below the path she came down.

Nina is glad to find Joachim alive, but the sight of her fills him with dread and he bolts back to the knights to report a heretic. Isidro urges her to run before she is captured and burned. The boy then lowers Casca to solid ground, and partway down she slips free of the rope, old instincts surfacing as she catches jutting edges to land safely before drifting off in her childlike daze. Watching from above, Isidro sees her wandering toward the knights, ties the rope to his own waist, and tries to swing down after her, only to end up snarled and dangling halfway. That accident keeps him hidden as the knights, unaware of him, gather up Nina and Casca and bring them back to Farnese.

Back on the ledge, Serpico is astonished when Guts clamps his good hand around the slim rapier blade to stop the assault. Threatened with having the sword wrenched away, Guts only grips harder, then smashes the blade to pieces with his iron fist, leaving Serpico weaponless.

Guts cranks his crossbow and fires, but Serpico slips off the ledge, hangs by one hand, and swings back up behind him. He even snatches one of Guts' explosives, lights it, and lobs it over, forcing Guts to shield himself with the Dragon Slayer on his back. By the time he turns, Serpico has slipped away into the cave's rear entrance, leaving the path clear. Reaching the bottom, Guts finds Isidro, whose averted eyes tell him Casca is lost again. Fury contorts his face and he hoists the boy by his sword sling, but he releases him unharmed and walks off to resume the search. He soon spots Casca, yet can only watch from a facing cliff as the knights escort her toward the Tower of Conviction for trial, while she gazes back at him and at the mysterious being on the plateau behind him.