Howl from the Darkness

As Guts' fever climbs, the Beast of Darkness rouses and jeers at him. It claims that the talisman's hold is only a passing thing and that its true release came the moment Guts donned the Berserker Armor. Turning to his new companions, it warns that every bond he forms will sharpen the pain when it finally seizes control and slaughters them, all to clear anything standing between Guts and his vengeance on Griffith. Then the Beast quiets itself, content to wait for its moment. As its pressure lifts, Guts wakes, alarming Schierke, Farnese, and Serpico by sitting up, though he cannot recall the nightmare. Isidro bursts in raving about Roderick's clash with the pirates, and at Guts' urging the group climbs to the deck, where the elated crew draw them into the victory celebration, Isidro drinking merrily and Serpico bashfully taking a cup.

Off in a quiet corner, Magnifico speaks with Roderick alone. He has overheard that the Seahorse is bound for the island of Skellig, and though he once wrote off the elven homeland as legend, recent events have convinced him it is real. He proposes turning the ship's firepower on the island to capture its elves and sell them to the nobility, opening a lucrative trade. Roderick feigns consideration, then decides he is not the one to consult and lifts the lid of a nearby barrel to expose Puck, frozen mid-bite in an apple after hearing everything. Puck tries to flee, but Magnifico stops him with an offer to crown him king of Elfhelm once Skellig's elves are enslaved, and Puck embraces the title at once, perching atop Magnifico's head as a throne.

Wandering off, Roderick notices a pair of shoes on the bulwark near the rigging and looks up to find Farnese in the crow's nest high above. Serpico watches him climb to join her. Draping his coat over her shoulders, Roderick asks why she has come up there. She recounts how, during her training, she soared above the ship's tallest mast and gazed down like some all-seeing being, and how, returned to her body, she now feels like a tiny fragment of a far greater world, useless among her companions. Roderick answers with an analogy: a ship needs every hand to run at full strength, and on the vessel that is Guts' party her role is to look after Casca. That is no small thing, he says, since Casca is what Guts treasures above all and he willingly places her care in Farnese's hands. Not wholly convinced, she thanks him anyway. Later that night, Guts sits on a lower rail watching Schierke sleep before turning his gaze out to the open sea.

The Beast of Darkness taunts the feverish Guts, warning that it will eventually seize control and kill his companions to clear the path to his revenge on Griffith. Guts wakes without memory of the nightmare and joins the crew's victory celebration. Magnifico proposes to Roderick that they conquer Skellig and sell its elves, offering Puck the crown of Elfhelm. Roderick consoles Farnese in the crow's nest, framing her care of Casca as a vital role because Casca is what Guts values most.

This twenty-two-page chapter of the Millennium Falcon Arc was published in Young Animal issue nineteen on September 28, 2007. It reinforces the ongoing menace of the Beast of Darkness while introducing Magnifico's greedy designs on the elven homeland.