[Guts]
3 years have passed since Barkha entered Golm and Guts joined the Band of the Falcon , the 100-year war continued to rage between Tudor and the Midland Kingdom and
The Black Wolves troop that had been giving Midland's forces a beating had been disbanded after its commander left three years ago.
The announcement of the young commander Barkha's departure had also come as a surprise to the neighboring kingdom, who had taken this as a signal to resume the offensive against Tudor.
Guts initially only knew that his sworn brother had gone to serve a Tudor lord to make money, and it was after joining the Falcons that he realized that Barkha was the one who had beaten them and led the frightening undefeated army of the Black Wolves.
Knowing that it was Griffith's first and only defeat, and a crushing one at that, Guts didn't find it useful to tell him that he was the sworn brother of the man who almost killed him and exterminated the troop.
Now Griffith's capable right-hand and commander of the Black Hawks, the elite squad of this band, Guts had become a more than indispensable element in the troop.
Like Barkha, he had trained and led his squad himself with Pippin as second-in-command (not Gaston as in the main reality). The Black Hawks were a heavy strike and assault unit whose objective was to do the most damage on the battlefield and only the strongest were selected.
Even if Guts wasn't at Barkha's level of combat or teaching, he had trained them enough to make the Black Hawks Griffith's sword on the battlefield. He had completely earned his place in the band and was the most respected man after Griffith himself.
Between Guts and Griffith, there was a true friendship that had been created with real mutual respect. Guts wasn't just a brute but also a good tactician thanks to his tricks, the squad was autonomous and in his total command.
He had the blind and total trust of Griffith who had even forgotten that Guts didn't belong to him and could leave whenever he wanted so well they got along, Guts had his own dream of absolute freedom completely independent of that of Griffith and he recognized Guts as his equal and friend.
This friendship was truly sincere for Guts as much as Griffith. Apart from Barkha, he had never met someone as extraordinary as Griffith. This guy had a supernatural charisma and a unique character, Griffith often opened up to him, confided his hopes to him and it touched him.
For Griffith, Guts was the real right-hand man he was waiting for, a confidant of choice to whom he spoke like no one else and the only one towards whom Griffith had romantic impulses to the point of forgetting his dream on rare occasions.
(Griffith's romantic feelings for Guts are evident in this manga, HE'S BI. Every time Griffith put his life on the line for Guts by putting his dream aside, he wouldn't have done that for anyone else, ANYONE.
When Guts asked him why he sometimes put his life on the line for him, Griffith told him that there was no reason and asked Guts if he really should give him a reason every time.
When he murdered Count Julius and then the Queen with Guts' complicity, he asked Guts each time if he thought he was a bad person for doing that. He was concerned about Guts' image of himself morally, something he openly didn't care about in general.
When he slept with Charlotte, he thought about Guts and when he was in the dungeons, he said in his monologue that the thought of Guts was the only thing he cared about was holding on.
He raped Casca to get revenge on Guts clearly and upon his resurrection after the Conviction arc, he went to see Guts at Sword Hill to see if his old feelings for Guts could still hold him back.)
Now a battle was raging between the Tudor Imperial Army and the regular Midland Army with the King on hand to watch the battle with his generals, a battle unfortunately still dominated by Tudor as after the Black Wolves split up some joined other armies of the Empire where they quickly gained prominence.
While the King complained about the fierce fighting spirit of the Tudor soldiers, he and the others watched in disappointment as the fearsome Black Ram cavalry emerged from the Tudor ranks to begin sweeping the Midland troops without any difficulty.
"So there is no one to defeat these Tudor demons? Are our armies so weak? Even the White Dragoons, our strongest army have been defeated by the forces of the Purple Rhinoceros." The King said in disappointment as Julius, the King's younger brother and General of the White Dragons was gravely embarrassed.
Julius : Your Majesty, the Purple Rhinoceros is a force led by General Boscogn, a true legend of their empire and the strongest commander after the Black Wolves. We may have lost last time but we are here with you today.
"Humph, and what use is that? I still wonder..." the king said ignoring him as Julius clenched his jaw in frustration.
"Your Majesty, it seems the black ram is targeting you. They are charging towards us, you can't just stand there" General Laban said urgently.
"No need, my white dragons will stop them. (to his men) WHITE DRAGONS, PROTECT THE KING." Julius yelled as his troops gathered in formation more than 50 meters away from the king.
Laban: Your Majesty, I still think you should leave the battlefield. We are lost if they reach you.
Julius: Laban, do you call my men incapable of protecting the King ? Do you claim that our king is a coward who would be afraid of these Black Sheep ?
Laban meant that it was not his intention when the black rams collided with the white dragons in defense of the king and passed through their defense like a knife through butter.
In no time, nothing separated them from their Objective, the king of Midland. His majesty wanted to move away as Laban had desperately advised him but it was too late.
Suddenly, when they thought they had no choice but to fight to the death, a troop of horsemen arrived from nowhere on the left flank to attack the black rams led by a robust man with a big sword.
With this big and large sword, the leader cut in two not only the commander of the black rams but also four other soldiers with him while the rest of his troop composed of tall and sturdy horsemen, armed with large war axes, hammers and iron clubs ravaged the rest of the rams in front. It was the squad of the black hawks with their banners…
"CHARGE, SHOW THESE SHEEP WHAT THE FALCON IS CAPABLE OF..." Guts shouted to his men who, galvanized by their commander, began a massacre before the eyes of the king and the others.
"This great sword with abused measurements, this banner... it is the mercenary squad of the black hawks. That means they are here..." Laban said in pleasant surprise and the enthusiastic king asked him who they were and Laban answered that they were a very famous mercenary army with many terrifying exploits, the band of the Falcon.
"All in formation, PROTECT HIS MAJESTY THE KING AND DRIVE THE ENEMY" on his white horse, Griffith said as he arrived near the king and behind him, Ros, Casca and the others charged towards the enemy.
" Your majesty, I'm glad I arrived on time with my men. I am Griffith, the leader of this mercenary troop." Griffith said as he dismounted his horse to bow.
The King: Which lord has engaged your army ?
Griffith: I am from the Midland before I was a mercenary, your majesty (that's a lie ). I could not stand by while my king was in danger...
The King: Triumph over our enemies and I'll know how to reward you.
"It's an honor my king." Griffith said before standing up, mounting his horse and returning to lead the falcons into battle.
"The band of the falcon... incredible...." The king said to himself as Julius and some nobles saw their frustration reach new heights.
The falcons showed absolute efficiency that pushed the enemy to retreat and win this battle with only a little over 3000 men under the impressed eyes of the king because in addition to saving his life, they won this battle in his name.
After their triumph, the falcons went to the nearest castle where they were applauded by the soldiers of the regular army who thanked them for their help.
Guts led the others because Griffith was in an interview with the king . Having dismounted from his horse, the men of his squad came near him to celebrate with a beer as usual when Casca arrived.
There, the mood changed because they knew from her expression that she had reproaches to make to Guts, she always found something to reproach him since his arrival.
"Commander Guts, I need to talk to you if you have time to come down from your cloud. » She said and Guts told his men to go without him and that he would catch up with them.
"Quickly say what you have to say, I have other things to do..." he said as he passed by her and she gritted her teeth before following him to speak face to face.
Casca: Can I know what's going through your head to propose this kind of plan to Griffith ? What if the king had been killed ? The original plan was to intervene well before the king's life was in danger.
"As you saw, the plan went well so there's no point in breaking my ears with your senseless complaints. The danger from which the king was saved only strengthened his gratitude and the effectiveness of the troop in his eyes. Griffith himself had approved of this plan and it worked well." Guts said as he sat down before cleaning his sword.
Casca: You…You have a bad influence on Griffith and his choices. He always wanted to reach the heights and impressing the king was the necessary step. If the king had ever died then he would've lost this opportunity forever because of you.
"You're wasting my time yelling like that when things went well, I told you I had other things to do so see you later…" He stood up and wanted to leave when Casca held him by the arm telling him that she wasn't done with him but immediately, Guts looked at her coldly asking her to let go of his arm.
This expression she had never seen on his face and clearly, Guts was seriously fed up with her and it was clearly visible on his face.
Intimidated by this side of Guts, she couldn't say anything as if she was paralyzed and that's when Griffith came to lighten the mood by telling them that everything was going more than well and that it was not time to argue.
Casca let go of Guts' arm and left them but not before looking at Guts one last time before disappearing.
"It seems like she really pissed you off this time, even I had never seen that expression on your face." Griffith gave Guts a cup before serving him wine.
Guts: She didn't stop looking for troubles since I joined the gang, she's been after me for three years now to pick a fight. I no longer have the patience to put up with her useless provocations so please keep her on a leash.
"Let's leave this unfortunate subject, your plan has worked wonderfully and the king wants to integrate us into his court and his service exclusively.
I'll be knighted in Wyndham in a week and if we are victorious in another battle in his name then I will be Baron, He was really afraid for his life to the point of rewarding us like that and our efficiency really marked him ." Griffith told him while raising his cup.
"To Baron Griffith !" Guts said and they joined their cups before drinking in good humor. On top of a wall, Ros watched them with amusement while counting the gold coins in a purse that she had stolen from one of the lords who accompanied the king.
At this moment, she was even thinking about leaving the band of the Falcon to look for Barkha and join him. Three years ago, he left the Tudor army and disappeared completely for two years.
Normally for a character as famous as Barkha, information about his activities would be followed. We are talking about the strongest fighter of the Tudor Empire who was at the head of the terrifying Black Wolf Brigade capable of defeating armies ten times their number but he had disappeared just like that.
When she thought after two years of silence that the worst had perhaps happened to him, she heard rumors about a certain brotherhood of shadows. Mercenaries, assassins, adventurers and treasure hunters led by none other than Barkha himself who at that moment was in Vritanis and working with the richest man in the world.
It was just rumors but apparently, this brotherhood was strange. The members of this order were all said to be extraordinary fighters with silver eyes, lightly tanned skin and giving off a mysterious atmosphere around them.
It had been barely seven months since she heard about them and they were scattered all over the continent for escort, assassination or other activities.
There were other more frightening rumors about their activities, some said that they asked for information on strange phenomena or creatures, as if they were monster hunters but these were only sordid and ridiculous rumors because people tend to exaggerate.
As Griffith said, he was knighted and during the ceremony, all his men were there except Guts who like in the main reality was training except that this time, he was not training with his sword.
On a hill , Guts, completely soaked by his own sweat, was doing repetitions with a metal plate in the shape of a larger and longer sword than his own, a little over 4cm thick.
This heavy bladeless sword was very dense and horribly heavy, Guts had his muscles contracted and almost all his veins were visible. He swung his sword while practicing the Tapasa breathing exercise that Barkha had taught him and despite the heat, he had steam coming out of his mouth as if it were winter.
He finished his series of 100 repetitions of vertical strikes before practicing rotational strikes, 50 repetitions to the left and 50 repetitions to the right before lying down on the grass holding his combat sword (the same one as in the manga at this point in the story).
"How far are you going to trace my path ? Only by wielding you do I feel truly alive and I want to know what real freedom is. (sighs) Big brother, where are you now? How strong have I become compared to you? " Guts said while pointing his blade towards the sky while contemplating the vast blue above the men, he had been thinking about his sworn brother for a while and wanted to measure himself against him.
(Somewhere in a ruin of the kingdom of Randel)
*ROAAAAAAAAARGH*
A deformed monster roared with a large number of wounds on it and it was an apostle. The creature had the appearance of a salamander with a very large and especially wide mouth filled with sharp teeth, a human face with an unhappy expression on its broad back and a scorpion tail with its stinger.
In front of this monstrosity, Barkha stood with a smirk, he was a little over 2m tall now and had a magnificent, very elegant moustache while in his right hand, he held Durga which had the shape of a Talwar, a long, thin curved Kushan sword .
The apostle attacked with his stinger at lightning speed but with a very simple dodge to the left, Barkha shifted his body before cutting the tail with a quick movement but in pain and anger, the apostle jumped opening his huge mouth to devour Barkha.
The deviant remained calm and pulled something out of his back with a big jump backwards, it was a hand cannon with a handle slightly similar to that of a shotgun and a sturdy cylinder for the barrel.
With a squeeze of the trigger, there was a detonation and three large metal balls were expelled from the barrel with fire on them to seriously tear the inside of the monster's mouth which screamed in pain because the damage was not small.
Barkha looked at the apostle smiling as he spat a lot of blood into his half-destroyed mouth, he ignored the pain to want to charge again at Barkha when suddenly, the monster's head exploded violently, causing his death at the same time.
"I'm so proud of my invention, I did well to learn the dwarven arts..." Barkha said with a satisfied smile as he walked towards the carcass of the monster which began to disappear in the form of astral energy absorbed by Durga.
Barkha whistling a melody picked up the Beherit which he put in a pouch. The hand cannon had been created by himself after an intense apprenticeship with the dwarves for two years , he had become a talented blacksmith and a frightening inventor.
The mechanism of this weapon was similar to that of a flintlock cannon but instead, it used an explosive ore used by the dwarves. It looked like red crystal and there was a whole mine of it connected to the verdant gardens of Golm.
He used this crystal to create the detonation instead of gunpowder, this allowed him to reload faster by only putting the ammunition in the barrel. The manufacture of these explosive ammunition was also his work with the explosive ore.
The process was both simple and delicate, he selected a small fragment of this red crystal on which he poured a very thin layer of lead to make a perfect ball with this crystal as a core with a very precise amount of lead.
Upon detonation, the intentionally thin layer of lead cracked on the ball and the crystal caught fire to explode violently a few seconds after reaching its target. This invention was pure genius and the fruit of the ingenuity of Barkha himself and it wasn't even the only thing he had done.
"One more, that makes 4 of these monsters in only seven months. I am not disappointed to have found you, Lord… "A female voice was heard and it was Corell.
This woman had found Barkha's trace with her people on her own, she told him that she wanted to serve him and that was truly the case.
Corell was not a witch like the others, the witches of the west practiced black arts and the invocations of powerful spirits from the astral world to allow them to remain in the world of the living but at their service under a form of contract.
They left from there to join Barkha's metal wagon which had had some modifications and was still pulled by 6 horses but strange horses. They wore protective armor for mounts with black cloth on them to cover part of their head and the rest of their body just like S.K.'s mount.
In fact, his horses were possessed by spirits summoned by Corell, they fed on flesh, didn' t tire, much stronger than trained horses and were incredibly fast .
When Barkha had first seen this as a demonstration of Corell's usefulness, he thought he was going to get sick. These cursed horses with almost human features allowed them to move much faster.
They got into the wagon before leaving there with two of his men in front to drive the horses. Corell was useful and in his people made up mostly of women now living in Golm, there were exactly 11 other Hexa (witch of the west) like her and the deal was that they help them so that they live in peace and safety with them in Golm which was a paradise for them.
For the gray eyes and slightly tanned skin of the members of the brotherhood of shadows, it was true. Consuming the flesh of monsters from the forest of the lost woods and other foods charged with astral energy caused physical changes in them. They also consumed the fruits of the spirit trees from which the dark elves were once born, their slightly tanned skins came from there and some had very slightly pointed ears.
Harder bones, their muscles too, resistance to diseases and resistance to poisons. All this with the infernal training of Barkha, they had become Incredibly strong even if they were all inferior to their leader (For their physical prowess, they are similar to lore accurate witchers).
The Brotherhood of Shadows was born and although very secret, their name was already on the lips of the greatest lords and nobles of the continent. Barkha had created an organization that would mark the world.