Berserker Armor (2)

The sight of Guts standing over a ruined apostle thrills Isidro, who asks Schierke why she hid such a mighty suit when it so plainly boosts his strength; only she, among the three, knows the armor carries lethal costs. Grunbeld doubts the fully enclosed figure is really Guts, the sole clue being the Dragon Slayer in its grip. Zodd, however, turns from the fight with a fearful look, recognizing the armor, while the silent Skull Knight radiates grim resolve; Zodd understands the Knight accepts that Guts may destroy himself to wield it. Guts, meanwhile, fights without feeling his still-bleeding wounds, and a dark impulse from the chest injury Slan gave him draws him toward the will of the Beast of Darkness.

His inner shift reshapes the armor: the skull helmet's brow swells into the snarling head of the Beast of Darkness, its lightning-shaped eyes becoming his new sight. Guts springs at Grunbeld with impossible speed, landing on the upright shield and driving the shocked apostle skidding backward, then vaults off the Dragon Slayer to crash a blow down that Grunbeld barely blocks. He leaps again, plunges the sword straight down to wreck the shield's face, and when Grunbeld aims his cannon, Guts fires his own arm-cannon into it without touching the trigger, blasting the shield to pieces. As Grunbeld's shock curdles into fear, Schierke tells the awestruck boys that the suit is the dwarf-made Berserker Armor, granting immense strength and a bottomless pain threshold at the price of the wearer's sanity and, ultimately, his life. Blood seeps from every joint of the armor, yet Guts remains standing.

This twenty-three-page chapter of the Millennium Falcon Arc appeared in Young Animal issue sixteen on August 8, 2003. It formally names the Berserker Armor and spells out its curse, links Guts' rising ferocity to the Beast of Darkness, and shows the Skull Knight and Zodd both recognizing the artifact's fearsome history.