Chapter 93: Birth of a Warrior

As Canute's soldiers pull back to guard the king, Snake seizes the moment to slip away and hunt for Ketil, finding him wounded and unconscious but alive. He hoists the master up, warning him not to die before answering for the massacre of his own men. In the cart, Einar pleads with Arnheid not to follow the light, insisting she must live to bear and raise her child. She replies that the baby has already crossed over and waits for her, and she asks what point remains in living longer when everyone she loved is gone and life is only pain. She stops breathing, and Thorfinn begins the revival technique he learned long ago from Thors, urging Einar to keep speaking to her. Einar confesses his love and begs her to build a new life with him, but the chest compressions fail. Cradling her, Thorfinn tells the departed Arnheid of Vinland, a warm and fertile land far across the sea, free of slavers and war, and invites her to come build a country of peace there.

Snake arrives on the road with the unconscious Ketil on his back. The sight of him sends Einar into a rage, and he lunges to kill the master with his own hands. Thorfinn restrains him, saying Ketil's death will not restore Arnheid. When words fail and Einar keeps struggling, Thorfinn warns that vengeance is a curse that only breeds more hatred and drains life from the world, the very cycle he has witnessed firsthand. Unable to reach him otherwise, Thorfinn finally strikes Einar down, telling his brother he cannot bear to watch him suffer the same curse. The two weep together.

They bury Arnheid on a hill above the water and raise a stone. When Einar asks whether Thorfinn truly meant his talk of crossing the sea, Thorfinn confirms it. He explains that he had no answer when Arnheid first asked why she should keep living, since for her death was not an abyss but a mercy and release. He refuses to accept that as the final word and resolves to create something greater, a peace and salvation in the living world, even if such a thing does not yet exist. He offers Einar his hand, and the two clasp it, pledging to make a land without slavery or war across the ocean, for Arnheid.

Snake recovers the wounded but living Ketil from the battlefield. Arnheid dies despite Thorfinn's attempt to revive her with the technique he learned from Thors, and Thorfinn speaks to her of Vinland. Einar tries to kill Ketil in revenge, but Thorfinn stops him by force, warning that vengeance is a self-perpetuating curse. After burying Arnheid, Thorfinn and Einar swear an oath to build a peaceful, slavery-free land in Vinland in her memory.

The chapter closes Volume 13 and is split between the anime's Episode 44 and Episode 47. Its Japanese title, Senshi no Tanjō, translates as the birth of a warrior. The featured quote is Thorfinn's vow to give Arnheid a satisfying answer by creating peace and salvation in the mortal world, or forging it himself if it does not exist.