Attack of the Demon Army

The party watches Ganishka hurl a third bolt at Guts, and when the smoke thins he is still standing, having jammed the Dragon Slayer into the boat's planks between himself and the strike so the metal draws the current away like a rod. Amazed at such toughness, the emperor insists the Black Swordsman must fight for Griffith, given that the new band is built largely of Apostles. Deeply insulted, Guts denies it and declares himself nothing more than human.

Ganishka then spots the Brand of Sacrifice on Guts' neck and grasps that he has endured being offered to the God Hand. Seeing an opening, the emperor invites Guts into his army, arguing that nearly every Apostle now serves Griffith, so joining would open a path to revenge, and adds that he himself stands against the God Hand. He does not know that Griffith was the one who sacrificed Guts.

Though struck by the idea of an Apostle who defies the God Hand, Guts turns the proposal down, to the relief of his companions and Schierke above all. Accepting the refusal, Ganishka states that he must destroy Guts' group as payment for the makara and the Kundalini killed in the harbor, and sends a mental summons across Vritannis ordering every Daka back to the water. His plan falters at once: the Band of the Falcon has reached the city and is tearing through his troops, while the Apostles able to fly break off and speed toward the emperor himself.

The nineteen-page chapter belongs to the Millennium Falcon Arc and was published in Young Animal issue 12 on June 9, 2006. It clarifies a key irony of the confrontation, that Ganishka pitches revenge against Griffith to the very man Griffith betrayed, unaware of that history. Zodd is listed among the arriving forces, foreshadowing the aerial assault on the fog emperor. Guts using his own sword as a lightning conductor becomes one of the battle's defining survival tricks.