Colonnade Chamber

Schierke lulls the gate guards into a trance so the party can cross into the courtyard unhindered. As they move, both she and Guts sense something wrong, he through his Brand of Sacrifice and she through her tie to the astral world. A dense fog, the same kind that rolled in at the beach, spreads across the square, and before the sentries there can react, a demonic creature tears them apart just out of the group's sight. Rounding the corner, it reveals its silhouette, then breaks into a run straight past the party and into the banquet hall.

Knowing the intrusion means chaos is near, Guts urges everyone forward. They reach the main entrance, held by nearly a dozen guards, but rather than have Schierke charm them all, she redirects the group around the building, having caught a telepathic call from Serpico, who still wears her hair around his finger and waits at the side door.

The side entrance stands unguarded, and the party steps into a dim, torchlit room crowded with columns as thick as a grown man. Serpico emerges from behind one and recounts the chamber's past: the Kushan once seized Vritannis and raised this hall during their rule, and after the city's people drove them out, they kept it as a monument to that triumph. Fully aware of why Guts has come, Serpico declares he will not let them reach Farnese and offers Guts the rematch he wanted.

Though Schierke and Isidro can scarcely believe Serpico means to fight, Guts steps up and accepts, calling their clash inevitable, and the children grudgingly allow it, certain neither man will go all out. Drawing the Dragon Slayer, Guts finds every stance blocked by the pillars, and Serpico explains that the tight forest of columns favors his jabbing rapier. Complimenting the strategy, Guts swings hard enough to demolish the nearest pillar, and Serpico dodges the follow through.

The colonnade is modeled on the two tiered arches of the Mosque Cathedral of Cordoba in Spain. This nineteen page chapter belongs to the Millennium Falcon Arc and ran in Young Animal issue 9 on 22 April 2005.