Eclipse

Kneeling in the river under the setting sun, Griffith gazes at the beherit dangling from his outstretched hand, recalling Zodd's prophecy that a treasured belonging would return to him and Wyald's plea to summon the God Hand through it. A breeze begins to move across the water. Pursuing Griffith in his own cart, Guts wonders whether leaving the band a second time is truly wise, replaying his duel with Griffith outside Wyndham and blaming himself for the leader's condition, while the rest of the mercenaries close in on horseback.

All at once the band, Guts, and Griffith notice a black disc slowly creeping across the sun, a solar eclipse. Blood trickling from Griffith's neck runs down his arm until it touches the beherit, whose eyes begin to open. Griffith hears Guts calling to him and tries to keep his distance, producing only loud grunts and screams aloud while inwardly shrieking at Guts not to approach. Guts then spots countless naked silhouettes of men and women lining the river behind Griffith; Casca takes them for Midland's army, yet their builds and features carry an unmistakably inhuman quality.

Ignoring Griffith's silent, desperate pleas, Guts leaps from the cart, wades into the water, and closes the distance until he grips the leader's shoulder. At that touch the beherit's face rearranges itself and weeps tears of blood, and in a soundless scream it casts the Band of the Falcon into another dimension, a realm where the sky is filled with humanoid specters and the ground rolls with enormous faces. The Eclipse has begun. The chapter belongs to the Golden Age Arc and first ran in Young Animal issue 4, with Zodd and Wyald appearing only in recollection.