Advent

A colossal visage buried in the ground begins to move, lifting into the shape of a bare woman lost in ecstasy while immense dark wings unfurl behind her. The feathers harden into something leathery and her hair coils into writhing strands as Slan finishes forming. Nearby, another of the sky faces cackles and drips downward as flowing liquid, condensing into the tiny figure of Ubik. A booming roar turns every head toward a lesser face on the earth, which hauls itself upright and gathers the faces around it into a stout body with folded hands, becoming Conrad. Last comes a spiral of darkness that hardens into the towering silhouette of Void. The Band of the Falcon can barely comprehend the sight as naked worshippers chant, and Guts recognizes the quartet as demons that the crowd hails as gods.

The slender final arrival greets the mercenaries as lambs of an ungodly God and welcomes them to the sacred nocturnal rite. A skeletal finger singles out Griffith, naming him a favored child shaped by causality and calling him kin. Griffith, unable to speak, recognizes them as the beings from the vision he had while imprisoned. Bearing Griffith's weight, Guts pulls his dagger and shouts at the God Hand, ridiculing their riddling words and insisting Griffith is no demon. The outburst only amuses them. The winged woman remarks that the loyalty Guts feels toward his friend will make him a fine offering, and when he demands an explanation, she states plainly that he and the entire band are to be sacrificed so Griffith may cross over into demonhood.

Slan, Ubik, Conrad, and Void each materialize before the terrified mercenaries during the Eclipse. Void addresses the band and marks Griffith as a being fated by causality, confirming the demons Griffith glimpsed in his prison vision. Guts openly defies the God Hand and defends Griffith. The God Hand disclose their intent: the Band of the Falcon will die as sacrifices to remake Griffith into a demon.

This installment belongs to the Golden Age Arc and ran in Young Animal issue 6, published on March 8, 1996, across twenty-one pages. It stages the first full appearance of the God Hand presiding over the Eclipse.