Flames (2)

Through thought transference, Schierke presses Flora on why she so urgently wants Guts to have the black suit of armor. Flora replies that Guts is badly outnumbered outside and will not survive without help, then gently reveals that her own time has come. She reminds Schierke that death is a different thing for those who wield magic, but the girl still dreads the loneliness of losing her mistress and her burning home. Outside, Grunbeld's hammer sends Guts flying and coughing blood; the swordsman grasps that this apostle is stronger in human form than many are while transformed. The renewed mention of the Band of the Falcon stokes his rage, yet Grunbeld blocks his lunge with a shield, rams it into him, and cracks several of his ribs with another hammer strike that Guts only partly cushions with the flat of his blade.

Grunbeld notes with surprise that the Dragon Slayer remains unbroken after two heavy hits, then grows disappointed at how little Guts fights back, unaware that Slan's wounds have begun bleeding freely again. The apostles watching from the sidelines abandon the spectacle to finish burning the mansion and killing Flora, but the enraged Skull Knight slaughters them before they can move. When more close in on him, Zodd transforms and demands their fight, though the Skull Knight stays fixed on protecting Flora's final moments while Zodd merely means to stall him. Meanwhile, an apostle breaks into the mansion and confronts Schierke, Serpico and Isidro, demanding Flora's whereabouts. Schierke blows a strand of her hair onto it and sets it ablaze, Serpico blinds it with twin gusts to its eyes, and the three slip past, hurrying toward the treasure room that holds the black armor.

This twenty-page chapter of the Millennium Falcon Arc appeared in Young Animal issue fourteen on July 11, 2003. It underscores Grunbeld's monstrous strength even before transforming, and frames Flora's acceptance of death against Schierke's grief as the group races to reach the Berserker Armor.