Assassin (4)

Adonis slips away in Guts' grasp, choking on his own blood before his hand goes slack. The weight of having slain a child barely registers before two sentries find the swordsman, and he cuts them down and runs. Elsewhere, Hassan answers word of an intruder and discovers both Julius and the boy lifeless. Branded a thief, Guts carves through a swarm of guards on his way out, clears the estate's outer wall as a crossbow bolt bites into his shoulder, then kicks in a low barred grate and drops into the sewers below. He strikes his skull on a jutting rock and blacks out.

In the dark, he relives a boyhood duel with Gambino, pleading that he only ever craved the man's regard. Zodd's towering silhouette interrupts the vision, lopping off Gambino's head and running the young Guts through the gut. When light touches the beast's face, it wears not Zodd's features but Guts' own, echoing his killing of Adonis. He jolts awake, the head wound leaving him retching and bleeding as he gropes toward an exit.

At a tavern in Wyndham, Casca, Corkus, Judeau, Rickert, and Pippin share drinks, guessing that the absent Guts is off training. On cue the door swings open and he staggers in, filthy and near collapse. He demands Griffith's whereabouts, and Casca tells him the commander is at a gathering thrown by Charlotte, noticing the bolt wound in his arm as he turns away. Guts climbs the long staircase to the banquet hall and, by its glow, spots Griffith and Charlotte sharing a private moment beside a great fountain.

Adonis dies of his wound, and Guts fully grasps that he has killed a child. Guts fights his way out of the mansion, taking a crossbow bolt before escaping into the sewers. A nightmare merges his image with Zodd's monstrous form. He rejoins the Band of the Hawk and climbs toward the banquet, witnessing Griffith and Charlotte together.

Printed in Young Animal issue 7 with a March 26, 1993 release, this twenty-three-page chapter falls within the Golden Age Arc. It resolves the four-part Assassin sequence and features flashback appearances by Gambino and Zodd.