[Midland]
A month after Griffith's knighthood, the king gave him the mission to reclaim a fortress on the border and once again, the hawks had managed to retake the castle but there was an unforeseen event.
In the dungeons of this castle, an enemy remained immovable and it was none other than Nosferatu Zodd aka the immortal.
The troop had sent men there and none had returned, Guts returned from taking the upper floors of the castle and got off his horse to enter the dungeons.
More of his men wanted to hold him back but he didn't listen to them. Suddenly a bloodied and mortally wounded man, almost cut in two came out of there.
"Captain...cap...tain... it's Zodd, Nosferatu Zodd..." he said before dying and Guts gently put his corpse down before standing up, he knew the legend of Zodd the immortal but they lost too many men for such an easy battle and it was Zodd's fault.
Under the silence of his men, he calmly walked inside with his sword resting on his shoulder. He walked seeing the mutilated corpses, guts and blood of more than several hundred of the falcon's soldiers in a sight and smell of absolute horror until he saw the enemy inside.
A tall man almost 2.7 meters tall, robust and completely naked with a bestial face. He stood among the corpses of his victims while on the large saber he held were impaled the bodies of his latest victims as if he were about to eat them.
Zodd looked at Guts who immediately felt a great shiver in his body and the hairs on his arms immediately stood up, before grabbing his sword with both hands for the first time in almost 11 months.
"RAAAAAAAAAAHGH" Guts screamed before charging towards Zodd who with a wave of his saber sent the corpses like heavy and fast projectiles on Guts who dodged them without too much trouble.
Zodd's strength was such that these bodies directly exploded on the walls in pools of blood and organs with encrusted metal.
Guts got closer to Zodd and as he wanted to attack, he read Zodd's body language and knew that Zodd was going to attack him first and that's what happened, Zodd made a diagonal attack that Guts dodged before attacking but the immortal deflected the attack with more or less ease to push Guts back.
"You...you move pretty well and you were even able to dodge my blade ? Little man, you're pretty good..." Zodd said in a voice that didn't seem human at all as you could see the prominent canines of his lower jaw.
"Monster... by the hell, what is this creature...? This aura of bestial power. This guy is not…human" Guts thought to himself and Zodd attacked but it was a very fast horizontal attack that Guts avoided by ducking while the attack destroyed a huge stone pillar behind Guts who took the opportunity to perform a blow at Zodd by aiming for his stomach but the apostle was also fast and shifted to avoid the attack .
"RAHAHAHAH MARVELOUS…!" Zodd said before hitting Guts with a front-kick that sent the man flying and Guts felt his bones move despite having blocked the direct impact with his sword.
He immediately rolled over and immediately got up to avoid a vertical attack from Zodd before attacking in turn.
There, they began to exchange sword blows again and again with Guts putting his strength into it to try to match the insane physical strength of the apostle's human form.
He gritted his teeth and flexed his muscles to send out powerful attacks that Zodd blocked and was pleasantly surprised to find that Guts had even knocked him back a few steps even though he wasn't at full speed.
As they were swept up in their fight, Zodd once again pushed Guts away before telling him that he really liked him and that it had been centuries since a human had given him such sensations after 300 years on battlefields.
Guts, whose breathing was heavy, calmed down little by little before taking a calmer and rhythmic breath of force before changing his posture. Now, he had the posture he had when he defeated Griffith, that of Artorias.
"I won't always be there to watch over you so I'm going to teach you something that will certainly save your life one day, a breathing technique from my clan that will certainly save your life one day by increasing your senses and your concentration..." Guts remembered Barkha's words as he regulated his breathing.
"You must forget everything, fear, anguish, pain, anger and useless thoughts to focus only on one thing, your sword and make it an extension of your body..." Barkha's words hammered his head as Zodd felt something change in Guts' aura who suddenly charged at him at a speed greater than he had before, Guts was in the state of absolute concentration that was called "zone" in another universe.
"He's become even faster..." Zodd said with pleasant surprise and when he blocked Guts' two-handed strike...
*KLAAAAAAAANGHK*
The enormous metallic crash was heard as Zodd felt his saber vibrate violently to his surprise, Guts had an even greater striking force.
They began to exchange quick and powerful blows when Zodd saw the expression on Guts' face, there was no anger or rage apparent.
Guts obviously felt his burning emotions especially after seeing the mutilated bodies of his companions but had unconsciously channeled them into his sword to strike harder, they continued like that without either of them backing down and Zodd savored this moment to the extreme while Guts' movements and dodges became more and more mastered as the two made cuts at each other from time to time.
Suddenly, Griffith entered the room to help Guts with the falcons behind him but neither Zodd nor Guts paid attention to him because they were in their world and that's when it happened, with a powerful strike from Guts Zodd's saber broke in two.
Of course, Guts wasted no time and sent a horribly fast vertical attack at Zodd who avoided it by backing up but not completely because he noticed the cut on his chest.
Overjoyed at this moment, Zodd let out a roar so loud that everyone had to cover their ears and they even felt the compression of the air on their skin but while Zodd was jubilant, he suddenly saw Griffith interpose himself between Guts and him.
Guts: WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERESY ? IT'S TOO DANGEROUS, LEAVE... DON'T PUT YOUR LIFE ON THE LINE, YOU HAVE YOUR OBJECTIVES.
"Do you think I'm going to let you face this monster alone ? " Griffith answered Guts as the others arrived and Zood seeing these people interrupt his fight with Guts put him in a black rage which pushed him to attack Griffith directly which Guts pushed to take the blows of Zodd full force which he tried to block with the flat of his sword but Zodd was angry, this blow even in his human form was serious and so strong that it broke Guts' sword which was sent flying coughing up blood while his ribcage was cracked.
"GUUUTS" Griffith screamed and tried to attack Zodd with his thin sword but the immortal grabbed his arm which he broke with a simple pressure of his hand before violently throwing Griffith on one of the pillars to make him lose consciousness.
Guts, seriously damaged by the blow crawled towards Griffith to defend him while his consciousness wavered. Zodd approached Griffith but a volley of arrows was fired at him by the hawks and Ros but the arrows had barely penetrated his extremely hard skin and before their eyes Zodd's small wounds closed.
The immortal grabbed Griffith on the ground to dismember him when suddenly, he saw the red Beherit at his neck and his movements stopped.
"THE EMPEROR'S EGG !!" Zodd said looking at the object then at Griffith himself. He wondered out loud why a kid like Griffith would have a Crimson Beherit since it belonged to the God Hand, the pieces of the puzzle came together in his head and he understood everything before laughing out loud as he finally transformed into his Apostle form, a huge Minotaur-like monster with the head of a black lion, two huge horns, long sharp claws and bull hooves, all with a long tail and extremely dark black fur.
A pressure immediately weighed on everyone, preventing them from breathing properly as the monster let out a roar incomparably louder than the previous one as terror froze the bones of all the hawks who found themselves on all fours on the ground in uncontrollable fear of what they were seeing, only one thing existed in their minds sending the second strongest Apostle and that was absolute despair. Zodd ignored them and looked at the half-conscious Guts on the ground…
"We'll unfortunately end our fight here, human. However, you have amused me greatly and I will give you a warning… no, a prophecy. If you call yourself a true friend of this man then be prepared because when this man's dreams and ambitions collapse, you will face your death. An inevitable death that you will not escape." Zodd said before spreading his large black bat wings before taking off at a phenomenal speed, easily breaking the stone ceiling under the terrified eyes of everyone and there, Guts lost consciousness.
(Yes ladies and gentlemen, I made Zodd stronger. I'm sorry but in the manga the attitude of the other apostles leads one to believe that he is the strongest and most respected but Zodd's performances are really disappointing and pathetic.
In his human form, he was deeply injured by Guts and in his apostle form, Griffith whose size is very thin easily cut off his arm with a THIN SWORD. Do you see where the problem is or not ?
Compare his human form with that of Wyald who easily broke the skull of an adult man with two fingers, he was even able to easily block a full power blow from a much stronger Guts with his teeth, HIS TEETH.
Compare Guts' fights with the two apostles in human form and you will have a migraine and his apostle form of Zodd gets an arm cut off by a one-handed blow from Griffith, GRIFFITH this TWINK.
Do you seriously think that this Zodd even transformed can win against the apostle Grunbeld in his human form with his hammer? This guy is a giant who even without transforming rivals in size with Zodd's apostle form and if the latter gets his arm cut off easily by a human Griffith then imagine the damage of the giant's hammer on him.
I had to make him stronger even in his human form and he wasn't even fighting at 30% of his strength against this still young Guts although stronger than in the main reality. In this reality, the apostle form of Zodd it's extremely powerful and especially scalable.)
They were evacuated from there and if Griffith had a broken arm, Guts had even more damage with a broken leg and damaged chest.
He woke up two days later in a bed with bandages on him and Ros who was sitting in the room watched him wake up without much reaction.
Ros: I won't hide from you that you worried me. How are you feeling ?
"I hurt all over and the pain in my chest is stopping me from breathing properly. Where are we ?" Guts asked exhaustedly.
Ros: At the great care loge of the capital, the one where only nobles are treated in emergencies by the royal Apothecary . Griffith fought tooth and nail to have you taken care of properly, since he has the king's favor, they took care of you .
"Griffith... How is he doing ? That idiot threw himself into this battle without thinking..." Guts said while trying to sit up painfully but Ros forced him lying down.
Ros: He's much better than you, just a broken arm but it'll be fine and he'll be made Baron too. Tell me, do you remember what happened there?
"Zodd...I saw him...that horrible creature...no, maybe it was the fruit of my weak conscience at that time"
Ros: I reassure you, you didn't imagine anything. We all saw that beast straight out of hell and I'd like to tell you about a certain rumor concerning Barkha and the group he created after disappearing for two years according to the rumors. I thought a few days ago that these were just fables but what I saw two days ago proved me wrong.
Guts:…
(…)
For the next three days, he stayed in bed and had visits from many of his comrades, especially Griffith and of course, it warmed his heart as if he had a family of some sort. Only Casca didn't come to see him but he didn't care at all.
In the blink of an eye, a month had passed and Guts had resumed his training even though his chest was still sore and there, as if he knew where Guts was, Griffith arrived with a basket of provisions that a noble girl had given him so he found Guts with whom he began to chat.
Guts finally asked him why he had rushed like that to try to save him and exactly like in the main reality, Griffith turned his face away to ask him if there really had to be a reason for him to do it for him and if in the manga we didn't see Griffith's face at that moment, here, he had a thoughtful and smiling expression at the same time.
"You know Guts, you are certainly my only friend in the gang." Griffith said while placing his hand on his cheek.
Guts: What are you talking about ? And the others ? They follow you and shed their blood for you since the beginning.
"And that's why they are not my friends but my comrades. The hawks, they follow my dream with faith and devotion but even if it suits me, I feel more like they belong to my ambition than anything else. I know that I am a character that fascinates, I am fully aware of it and I could ask them to accompany me to hell that they would do it without hesitation... for my dream, that of a single person. They put their existence on hold to become the steps of the staircase that will help me reach the heights that I aim for. Sometimes I see them more as assets than individuals"
Guts:…
"So many hawks died to follow me and if at first it worked for me, it doesn't even bother me anymore. They fight of their own will, it's their choice to shed their blood for me because they made their dream my elevation and for all those who died following me, I can't stop.
However, you are different…you don't seem imprisoned by my dream and tell me what you think but moreover…moreover I have the impression that you complete me. You are the right arm and the friend that I was missing, thanks to you I don't have the impression of being alone in my world"
Guts: Why so much sentimentality ? You and I don't need all that to understand each other, right?
Griffith: A little over a month ago we found ourselves facing this monster, facing certain death and in fact I-(interrupted)
"The white falcon in the service of the crown and his intrepid right arm. It's good to see you in good health." The king said interrupting them, he came with a few guards, Count Julius his brother as well as a few servants.
"Your Majesty" they greeted the king by prostrating themselves with Guts who did it after a few seconds of delay which annoyed Julius and the king asked them to forget these formalities before discussing with Griffith the same things as in the main reality without failing to make the introductions with Julius who looked at them with contempt and Princess Charlotte who was hiding shyly behind.
He eventually took his leave of them and left with his followers but Charlotte, intimidated by Griffith and lagging behind, hurried to follow her father but as she passed Griffith, she tripped and he caught her as she fell. As if hypnotized by Griffith, she stared at him intensely as he held her and it did not escape Count Julius's eye.
"BASTARD, YOU DARE TO TOUCH THE PRINCESS ?! " Julius yelled at Griffith and wanted to slap him with the back of his hand at Griffith but Guts grabbed his arm effortlessly before tightening his grip, making Julius moan in pain and Griffith asked Guts to let him go.
"Please forgive us, Sir. The princess tripped and I had to catch her. Would you have been satisfied if I had dropped her into the dust of the ground ?" Griffith asked and Julius snorted in contempt before leaving with the princess.
"You were reckless, if you had broken the count's hand we would have been in trouble, Guts." Griffith scolded him.
Guts: And what did you want ? Would you have been satisfied if I let him beat you instead of protecting you or should I also give you a reason to come to your rescue ?
Griffith looked at Guts who used his words against himself before starting to laugh as did Guts who found the situation hilarious.