Berserk: Child of Darkness

by Traves Medina

Synopsis: What do you think would happen if Guts, despite being driven by his hate and rage for Griffith/Femto, had actually recognized the Demon Child as his own. What if he had given it… A name? What could have changed? What could possibly go wrong? (God Damn it, Bubsy!)

Author's Note: Hellooooo Everyone, I am sure you are wondering why I am doing this when I have a poll that will decide my next side project, well I actually decided "Screw the Poll" and I'm going to be doing each of them for all my fans, but I will be holding off on the MHA x Kamen Rider one for a while as I need to work out some serious details, as well as get my fervor for these other fanfictions out of my system first before I can focus on it. That aside, I love Berserk, it's one of my favorite mangas of all time, and I love the hell out of it's dark aesthetic. Aaaanyway, this is going to be my take on it, but this Prologue Chapter is going to show the modifications I'm doing to the story, and where I intend to take it. So for avant fans of Berserk, please note that this is my fanfiction, i can do whatever the hell I want with it, but having said that, I'm going to do my damnedest to stick to the Canon Story with my own modifications in tow. Aaaaanyway, after this one, I'm going to be working on the first chapter of my Goblin Slayer x D&D Fanfiction, but I need your help, I need your help on deciding my OC in the fanfiction, I'll leave the details down below! Now it's time to begin the tale of Berserk: Child of Darkness! Catch you on the Flipside *CLANG*

Prologue: Out of Darkness

Guts watches in abject horror as he sees Casca give birth to a creature that isn't human, and as he watches it crawl out, he sees it is a demon. Raising his foot, Guts intends to destroy it with one fell strike, only to notice Casca jump between them, shielding the creature with her body, "MOVE CASCA!" Guts shouts, "What the hell are you doing!?"

"That… Is her child…" The Skull Knight says, riding over on his steed, looking at the woman, "She was pregnant, only recently having begun cultivating this child… However, her rape at the hands of Femto has corrupted the child, turning it into a demon…" The Skull Knight looks at the Demon Child, "It is cursed to become a monster…"

"Wait…" Guts says, shock filling his mind, "Then that thing is…" The pieces fit into place, and the one-armed swordsman falls to his knees. "That… Is my kid…?"

"Corrupted by the new Godhand, but yes…" Skull Knight says, looking at Guts, who holds his head as he looks at the corrupted child. "It would be best to kill it now, lest woe fall upon you both later on…"

"FUCK YOU!" Guts shouts at the Skull Knight, "That's my kid! Griffith did this to it! I won't kill my own child!" Casca looks to him, sensing his nature despite her addled mind, and she looks to her child, who feeds off of the blood trickling from her brand. "Is there any way to save it?"

"..." The Skull Knight ponders, never having seen a man ask for something like this, especially considering the situation he just survived. "I am unsure, however, that doesn't mean the answer does not lie somewhere in this world or the next."

"Then I swear…" Guts says, "I will not only kill Griffith, not just for the sake of my comrades and for Casca, but for my own child…!" He looks to the Demon Child, who looks to him, the branded man gently reaching his hand towards the creature, and gently rubs it's head. "I don't know whether you are a boy or a girl, but I'm going to give you a name, one that can be used by either. Okay… Alex…?" The Demon Child looks at the man with his one big red eye, and as the sun rises, a single tear is seen being shed by the demon child as it fades. "ALEX!"

"Fear not, Struggler, your child is safe… As with all evil spirits, come the light of day, he must retreat to a realm where only the dead may go…" The Skull Knight says, "He will be able to return come nightfall, but you made a very dangerous move. Giving something a Name gives it power…" Guts is shedding tears as he holds a crying Casca, "However, as you were the one who gave it a name, you have a semblance control over that creature… Your choice of name was also very wise as well…"

"What do you mean?"

"Alex is unisex, and can be translated into either Alexander or Alexandria, however both mean the same thing: "Defender of Mankind"." The Skull Knight explains, "A Name is one's Mission in life, and you have given your demon child, Alex, the task with defending the humans from the Godhand and their machinations…" He then turns his horse to leave, "If you wish to hunt the Non-Humans, use that brand to hunt them down, it is both a Beacon that attracts them, and a sense in which to detect them. Use it to lure them in and destroy them…"

The next morning, Guts stands beneath the Waterfall, training to utilize his ears to make up for the lack of his right eye, knowing that he must find ways to compensate for his lack of depth perception, and to avoid being taken off guard by his blindspot. After this, he goes to take food to Casca, who, though she doesn't trust men, when she looks at him, she feels somewhat at ease, the memories, though she can hardly understand him, knew he defended her child from destruction once he was told something about it. That is as far as she knows, which has helped her lower her guard a bit around him, but she still looks at him with an edge of caution, not that Guts can blame her. The two eat together, with Casca using more… barbaric… forms of table manners, while Guts tries to help her, only for her to start struggling under his touch, causing her clothes to tear and reveal some of her body to him. Guts, feeling his love and desire for Casca beginning to take hold, and attempts to lean in. "FATHER, NO!" a voice calls in his mind, snapping him back to reality, and Guts back off, with a horrified look on his face, and for Casca to give him the same look in return, but then melt into confusion.

'What was that?' Guts thinks, having heard a child's voice scream to him in his head, but then he remembers what the voice said… '"Father"...' Guts thinks, 'No… Was that… Alex?' He looks around and sees in a nearby shadow, a single glowing red eye looking at him, and Guts can feel something radiating from that eye… A single.. Primal… Emotion… Fear… 'I was about to take advantage of Casca in the state she is in… If you weren't here to stop me… Who knows what I would have done…' Guts thinks, but then smiles at the eye, to which Casca looks at the eye and tries to rush to it. "Thank you for stopping me, Alex…" Guts says, to which the eye closes before Casca can reach it and the presence of the Demon Child vanishes from the World of the Living.

Meanwhile, in Godo's Smithy, the man works hard to craft Guts a new sword, one that will stand up to whatever the man is going to be killing, as well as forging him armor that is as black as night, to not only protect him, but also hide him at night, as the swordsman had specified. The sword he crafts is of fine make, and nearby, Rickert and Erica secretly build Guts a new weapon, a magnetized left arm with a built in cannon, among other things. Once Guts is armed, an Apostle shows up and begins to rampage throughout the shop, and here guts takes up the Dragon Slayer when Godot's gift is destroyed mid-fight. As the Darkness sets in, Guts makes his way into the depths, only his will and desire for revenge spurring him on, he turns to look at the shadow he is casting, seeing where his own left eye would be in the shadow, a single glowing red eye looks at him, and the swordsman smiles, "If anything happens to your mother, let me know, I want to be there to protect her if I can."

"As you wish, Father… Happy Hunting…" Alex says from his place in the Netherworld, closing his eyes as he looks to see the corrupted woodlands of the Qliphoth, and his dark red eye glows in the night. He has a mission to complete, and come hell or high water, he is going to complete it. There is one thing he needs to accrue for it to happen, and as he floats forward, he finds a huge monstrous spider, his eye carefully planning as he prepares for an ambush. "Give me your… POWER!" Alex shouts, launching at the spider monster, wrapping his tendrils tightly around the creature, gouging deep into the creature's abdomen, tearing it to bloody pieces as painfully and brutally as possible. The essence spills everywhere, and the Demon Child wraps his tendrils around each individual piece, dragging them to him as he drinks up the blood from the monster. The creature's parts are quickly turned into a slime that is absorbed by the tendrils, to which Alex feels raw power surging through him. "Power… Give me more… Power…!"

Over the next two years, he hunts and kills every creature he can come across, growing in size and gaining the power to change his shape as he desires, until he is the size of a ten year old boy, smiling at his form in the swampy waters. He looks like any ordinary child of ten years old, with his father's white skin, his mother's raven black hair, but the only thing that makes him stand out are his blood red eyes, a sign of his demonic heritage thanks to that bastard, Femto. He may not have been born, but he knows where his power comes from. He hates Femto for what he has done, and thanks to that monster, he cannot walk in the sunlight with his father, doomed to a land of eternal darkness and ever present nightmares. However, the two years in Qliphoth have given Alex time to study and master his powers, and now, he smiles as he notices a troll across the mire in front of him, the young boy smiling as his eyes glow red, hunger setting into his stomach. The troll, knowing the fear of being eaten, prepares to run, only for the boy to lunge at him, and sink rows of razor sharp teeth into it's throat, tearing it out with one swift movement.

Alex smiles as he devours the Trolls's blood, feeling more like a living person as he takes the blood into his body. He knows what he is… Thanks to his endless experimentation with his powers, Alex has discovered he is what is known as a Revenant, an undead being that, like a Vampire, feasts on the blood of the living to survive, only difference is that unlike most undead monsters, who have only a fragment of a soul within the bodies of a host, he has his own soul, and due to his corruption, he died before he was born. When he was "born" he was born as a Revenant, and now feasts upon the blood of his prey to survive, and there is only one thing Revenants desire more than blood, and that is revenge, and Alex knows this, as he seeks to aid his father in the death of Femto. As he finishes his feeding, Alex can't help but lick the blood that had spilled on the rest of his naked body, and once he is clean, he decides to look in on his parents, closing one eye and looking into the swamp's waters… The ripples begin, and Alex begins to see what is happening with his parents, starting… With his mother…

As he peers into the water, he finds her moving, outside the protection of the mine, and this brings fear back to his heart for the first time in two years, and he continues to search but cannot find her, and he knows the only way to locate her is to inform his father, to which he uses his power to find his shadow or one near him, and fortunately, he finds him, after he had escaped the Holy Knights of the Iron Chain. "Father!" he calls to him.

Guts stops as he looks to the nearest shadow, beneath a set of rocks "Alex, what's wrong!?"

"It's mother! I just went to go find some food and now I can't find her! I can sense her brand and she is going somewhere dangerous!"

"Oh no!" Guts says, but then hears a loud creaking and looks to the Dragonslayer. "Damn it! Of all times!"

"Go get the Dragon Slayer repaired father, I'll keep looking for mother!" Alex says, vanishing "Hurry before she is burned for being a witch!"

"Right, and if I don't make it in time, use any means necessary to protect her!"

"Yes father!" Alex says, vanishing from Guts's sight, the Black Swordsman turns his sight back towards Godot's smithy, knowing he needs to have the Dragon Slayer fixed. Meanwhile, Alex stands up and notices an ogre making it's way towards him. "Good… I needed to gather more power…" he then concentrates as he created a copy of himself from a hair he pulls out, "Search for Mother, I'll cover you!"

"Yes, sir!" the duplicate says, sitting through the pool as Alex's eyes glow a burning red, and rushing forward at the Ogre. With one swift move, he breaks off one of it's tusks and proceeds to tear it apart limb from limb over the course of several minutes, it's blood flowing into his mouth as he does what he needs to do. The smell of the ogre's blood attracts several predatory denizens, a toothy grin flowing across his face as he gets down on all fours, snarling. Unbeknownst to him, all of the God Hand watch him from their seats, each of them taking a unique interest in the boy.

However, it is Femto who takes the greatest interest in the child, for he can sense his own power flowing through him, and the boy's desire for power, bloodshed, and vengeance are perfect for an apostle, but in his corrupted mind stews another, darker plot. However, that is when the child, finishing his slaughter, turns to them with a glare, his eyes glowing with anger. Void looks at the child, "Femto, this child, it is amazing to see he has survived this long in Qliphoth and grown this strong in only two mortal years. You must be proud of your progeny…"

"I am proud, but that is not my child…" Femto says, "It is the son of Guts, the human who seeks to destroy me… I only corrupted him while he had freshly formed in his mother's womb." Femto explains.

"Oh how beautiful, a child born of love yet corrupted by hate, and yet he still fights to protect those he truly loves!" Slan says, "It's beautiful beyond recognition!"

"Kiiihihi!" Ubik says, "Griffith, what do you plan on doing with this child?"

"I intend to offer him a bargain he cannot refuse… However, I wish to invite him to meet with us, though I am unsure if that is a good idea…" Femto says, mulling over his decision outloud.

"Kiihihi! I think we should invite him here, but what do you intend to offer him?"

"Something he cannot refuse, and in exchange, I shall be able to further our goals in the Material Realm, by gaining a new body in the Material Realm!"

"Splendid, Femto, you have certainly devised a scheme worthy of your position, however, we ask you once again, what will you offer him?" Void asks.

"Allow me to show you…!" Femto says, raising his hand and opening the palm of their seats, and reveals that there is a Behelit, one of greater size, "Egg of the Perfect World, I have a task for you…"

"What be thy will, Lord Femto?" The Egg asks.

"There is a being with my power in Qliphoth, bring him to me, I wish to speak with him."

"Yes my lord…!" He then vanishes… In Qliphoth, Alex has found his mother and smiles proudly. However, before he can contact his father, he feels a burning in his left eye, to which his eyes glow and he bares his fangs at the Egg. "Wait wait, I mean you no harm!"

"We'll see about that…" Alex says snarling at the Apostle, "I will make scrambled eggs out of you if you don't tell me why you are here!"

"I merely wish to bring you an invitation to the Profound Layer, to speak with my Masters…"

"The God Hand!?" Alex shouts, his eyes glowing with rage. "I refuse! I will not speak with them, I'd sooner die!"

"Well, you don't have a choice…!" The Egg says, wrapping Alex tightly in his tendrils, then sinking into Qliphoth, vanishing into the Astral World to the Profound Layer, the revenant struggling the whole time as his eyes glow with fury. They soon find themselves standing upon a raised stone platform, the boy dropped to the floor, to which he snarls as his eyes glow like that of a fire, and he turns around angrily, looking for the Egg. However, that is when he sees it, five raised thrones, in which five entities sit proudly, looking down at the boy. However, there is only one that Alex's eyes lock with, and his fangs begin to ache, his belly rumbles with hunger, and his heart pounds as fury burns through his body.

"GRIFFIIIITH!" Alex shouts, jumping at the winged God Hand, who simply looks at him, using his own will to stop him mid-air. However, like his father, he shocks all the god hand members as Alex fights off Griffith's control and quickly raises his hand, creating a sphere of magic that crackles with eldritch power. "DIIIIE!" He releases the blast, which rips across the Profound Layer, destroying everything it comes across, however, only one thing is left unscathed. Femto, who sits there with a smile filled with pride, not for himself, but for the boy, and turns to see the damage he had caused, having destroyed a massive amount of the Profound Layer with just one blast.

"Magnificent, Alex…" Femto says, flicking the boy lightly on the forehead, sending him flying backwards, destroying the boy's human image, and returning him to his form as a corrupted fetus. "You are simply magnificent!"

"DAMN IT! DAMN IT DAMN IT!" Alex shouts, his voice high pitched and ragged. "THAT WAS EVERY LAST OUNCE OF POWER I ACCRUED OVER THE LAST TWO YEARS! AND IT STILL DID NOTHING!" Alex screams in anger and despair at this, feeling like he had failed his parents for not being able to kill Griffith.

"Child of Darkness…!" Void says, "You have impressed us all with your display of power… You have been summoned here to receive a great gift from all of us!"

"I want nothing you wish to offer, you took my future and family from me! I hate you all!" Alex shouts.

"You misunderstand us, sonny! We actually have an offer to make of you!"

"I will say it again, I want nothing you wish to offer me, I won't sacrifice my parents for your schemes!"

"What if I could give you your humanity back?" Femto asks, which silences Alex, who looks to the man who damned him in the first place. "What would you trade to become a human?" Alex looks at the God Hand he hates so much, and looks down, his now underdeveloped gut telling him this is a trap, but… It might be a trap worth springing.

"What do you offer?" Alex asks, remaining cautious, but internally, the God Hand Members all smile.

"We offer to make you human with your demonic powers intact, but I want something in return…" Femto explains, "I will give you a human body for your soul to host, and in exchange, you give me that vessel of yours, which I will mold and shape to suit my purposes…" Alex looks at him, and looks down, pondering on what to do, but then asks one fatal question that may seal his or their fate.

"Will I still have my free will?"

"Yes, and if you still wish vengeance upon us, you are free to pursue it…!" Femto says, "None of us shall have any form of control over you, you will be completely free to decide your own fate." Alex looks down one last time, but then internally smiles, as his fetal lips can't, which works to his advantage.

"I will agree to this, but with one more condition on my part…!"

"Oh?" Void asks, "You are wise for an infant… What are your terms?"

"I wish to have a blessing from all five of you… You will obviously be receiving more out of this than I will, so I wish to milk this cash cow whilst I have the chance." Alex says, to which the God Hand, starting with Femto, all begin to laugh boisterously.

"You clever little sneak!" Ubik says, laughing, "KIIIHIIIHIII! I am in favor of this term, children such as you are rare, and you know when to push your luck and when to cut your losses, as we have seen many times before during your development! Only the truly clever take risks they know they can survive!"

"I am also in favor of this!" Slan says, "Despite your outright hatred of us, your love for your parents is greater than even that, and I can only see great things coming out of your down the road. It is truly a beautiful thing, love and hate intertwined!" Conrad only nods in approval, to which Femto smiles as he looks at the boy and nods, then they all turn to Void, who appears to be pondering as he rubs his chin with his left hand, and after several minutes, he nods.

"This is the Will of Causality, and for me to stand against it would be blasphemy… I shall also give you my blessing…!"

"Then we have an accord…!" Femto says, "The Egg of the Perfect World will come to you again when it is time for our debt to be paid… In the Meantime, we shall deliberate upon what blessings we shall give your new body…"

"Alright…" Alex says, the Egg taking him back to Qliphoth.

Some time, and shenanigans later, Alex lies on the ground near the Tower of Conviction, exhausted and near the point of death, having used up every last ounce of power he could muster to save his mother, allowing his father to rescue her, and Alex sees the Egg approaching him. "It is time…"

"I know… If I had fingers, I would cross them now…" Alex says, being swallowed by the Egg of the Perfect World, finding himself in a stew of dark energy and fluid. Taking a chance, Alex subtly begins to feed, parasitizing the Egg as it makes it's climb up to the top of the tower to finish the Ritual. Soon enough, the ritual is complete, and Alex finds himself facing Griffith, who smiles at the boy.

"You have kept your end of the Bargain, and now… I shall keep ours…" Femto says, "From Void, you have been given the Blessing of Nothing… Slan grants you the Blessing of Beauty… Ubik grants you the Blessing of Charisma… Conrad grants you the Blessing of Blood… and I… I grant you the Blessing of…" He leans into Alex and whispers into his ear what he blesses the boy with, and with that five orbs of darkness rush into Alex.

Come the dawn, Guts and those who survived the night with him look out to the rising sun as the Skull Knight, on his steed, points with his sword out to the sun, revealing Zodd with Griffith, holding an unconscious child in his arms. Tossing the boy aside, he quickly mounts Zodd with Guts in hot pursuit, whilst Casca is on the back of the horse with him. However, as Isidro, Farnese, and Serpico attempt to follow, Farnese turns to the child that was tossed aside, and walks over to him, gently reaching for him. "Boy, are you alright?" Farnese asks, to which a hand grabs her and she turns to see the face of a Childlike Guts, with Casca's wild mane of hair, but his eyes are glowing red with fangs in his mouth, and a demonic snarling coming from his lips as the boy transforms into mist and vanishes.

"So the Demon Child has returned, and he seems to have made a deal with the God Hand for humanity… I wonder… Will it mean their defeat, or our destruction?" The Skull Knight ponders as he rides off, and unbeknownst to Guts and Casca, a creature follows them on the wind, watching them with it's glowing red eyes, and a gleeful smile as he feels the sunlight on his skin for the first time, the softness of the wind, and the texture of the earth.

"I'm alive… Mother… Father… I'M ALIIIIVE!" Alex shouts, happy to finally be a human once again, but unbeknownst to him, resting between his shoulder blades is something he had fails to see… A recognizable mark, the Brand of Sacrifice…

Author's Note: Phew! I can't believe i managed to get this whole thing done in about 24 hours, man it was a rush, both in how i felt and how fast I worked on this fanfiction, to get this done, but I did it, the first steps into my fanfictional version of Berserk! In any case, sometime ago, a fan of mine, going by the name of Dracus7, suggested I do the Goblin Slayer x Dungeons and Dragons Crossover, and despite my having a poll, I couldn't believe somebody wanted me to actually to do it, and be bold enough to do it in a review of MHA: Life Foundation. This boldness moved me so much to actually take on doing 4 different stories at once, but do them each individually. So… The next Fanfiction I will be doing will be called Ballad of the Goblin Slayer, my Goblin Slayer x Dungeons and Dragons Fanfiction, but I need your help on deciding what I should do for my OC's Class from D&D 5e. I will be introducing 3 different classes that I like from 5E that best reflects it's inherent powers. I leave it up to you to decide my OC for Ballad of the Goblin Slayer. Catch you on the Flipside *CLANG*