Barrier

With her hair trimmed short and outfitted in a fresh tunic and blade by Danan, Casca rejoins her traveling companions and looks back on the road they shared while her mind was that of a child. She offers thanks to Farnese, who shielded and calmed her during those years, and to Schierke, whose spells carried the group through repeated danger. Curious about her own fighting form, Casca spars against enchanted straw figures Danan conjures, felling them with startling ease and trading practice blows with an admiring Isidro.

Nearby, Guts keeps his distance behind a tree, wary after the terror his face once stirred in Casca. Encouraged by what she glimpsed inside Casca's inner world, Farnese guides her toward him. Casca praises the bonds Guts has formed and marvels that he now mentors a pupil, but comparing Isidro's twin-blade style to Judeau floods her with the memory of that swordsman's death at the Eclipse. She crumples, and the mere sight of Guts summons a vision of him ringed by apostles, horrifying them both.

Casca proves she has kept most of her combat skill by cutting down the animated dolls, once veykings, that Danan raises for her to test. Isidro acknowledges her prowess with a bow before their wooden-sword bout. Danan later observes that only Casca can decide how to face the depth of her own scars.

The attempted reunion between Casca and Guts collapses under the weight of their shared trauma. As Guts storms away in anguish and the others tend to Casca, the Skull Knight watches the scene unfold from a distance.

The chapter arrived after a four-month pause in serialization. It appeared in issue seventeen of Young Animal and continues the Elf Island Chapter of the Fantasia Arc.