Vision of Death

As the armor tightens its grip, Hanarr chains Guts in place and tells him he is about to witness one of the blood memories fused into the plate, a scene showing how its former owner met the end of his mortal life. With Molda and Schierke looking on, the smith strikes the armor to release the memory, and Guts is swept into a dreamlike realm where the Abyss looms behind Void and four unfamiliar figures presiding over a sacrificial rite.

Within the vision Guts sees a dying woman cradled by the armor's previous wearer, her front right shoulder bearing the Brand of Sacrifice, while a vast burning brand spreads across the land around them. The imagery cuts close to his own suffering, and he strains to break loose.

Schierke seizes the moment while Guts is absorbed in the phantasm to pull his mind back to normal. Once he recovers, the Skull Knight explains that what Guts saw marked both the downfall of a foolish king and the birth of a specter doomed to roam the endless night.

This chapter introduces Void in flashback along with the first appearances of four unnamed beings and the Lady Priestess of the Cherry Blossoms. It ran in issue twenty-one of Young Animal during the Elf Island Chapter of the Fantasia Arc.