Tipping the Balance:

Chapter 1: A sword broken on the battlefield

By: BukkakeNoJutsu

Disclaimer: Berserk and all its associated characters belong to Kentaro Muira. The mysterious armor belongs to Yoshiki Takaya. I'm just playing in the sandbox

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Nothing ever hurt as much as seeing her beautiful brown eyes grow dull.

Guts felt the world crash to a halt as Caska's lifeless body hit the floor in two pieces due to a particularly nasty apostle in a sea of demons and soldiers.

Hope died in his throat and fucking Griffith was feeding off it.

He could not cry.

He could not scream.

And he could never, ever kill enough of them.

Rage enveloped his body in the form of the Armor of the Berserk, taking the visage of his darkest inner demon.

He became an uncontrollable doglike beast to fight on the same level as a greater apostle.

The demonic armor pinned his broken body together, as he swung a slab of rough iron again and again to cleave and to kill.

The cursed armor forced him to move past the physical limitations of humanity.

Even moving past the limitations of humanity was not enough.

They had only been hours away from the stronghold of the elves to cure Caska's madness, but an ambush by Griffith's forces lay in wait.

Guts had been so close to finding happiness again with Caska when the brand started bleeding uncontrollably.

The flyers came swiftly led by Nosferatu Zodd and followed by Griffith's elites on the ground.

They came by air without warning, without a chance to prepare or run.

Perhaps it was a reincarnated Griffith's ploy to secure his kingdom by annihilating dissenters.

Whatever the case, it was the ascension of Femto all over again.

There was no sign of Puck, Isidro, or Schierke.

Guts vaguely remembered shouting out an order for any survivors to retreat and regroup, and also hearing the screams of Farnese and Serpico.

He sincerely hoped they had listened to his command as he felt the darkness overtake him.

With sword and bare hands, he would kill anything that remained.

Apostles, men, the guilty, and the innocent.

With Caska gone, he would kill them all.

The armored figure far removed from humanity howled with delight.

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Guts awoke with the first rays of the sun, surrounded by a few dozen hacked-apart Apostles.

The Berserker's Armor hung from his broken body in pieces, as the pain flooded in.

The curse of the armor proved potent as Guts felt himself slowly bleeding to death.

He could not manage to lift the dragonslayer that lay on the ground or even sit up.

He turned his head to see what remained of the woman he loved and spotted her a few yards away.

The mortally injured soldier rolled onto his stomach and agonizingly started to crawl to Caska.

If he would die, he would then die at her side.

Tears rolled down his face as he made his way toward her, thinking about everything that had led up to this point.

Even though they were not fated to live happily together, Guts still loved her and never regretted that.

He thought of Godo's last words to him to not waste his life pointlessly. With her gone, he had.

Finally clutching Caska to himself, Guts resigned himself to his fate.

Suddenly, the air in front Guts shifted, stretched, and then tore as the Skull Knight and his mount appeared on the battlefield.

The monstrous figure surveyed his surroundings before speaking.

"Greetings, struggler. You have my condolences."

Guts glared at the Skull Knight.

"You're too late this time, you shiny bastard." Snapped Guts coughing up a significant amount of blood.

The Skull Knight even lacking a face managed to look sheepish.

"We are pressed for time struggler. I have struck a bargain with Outside Powers to crush the Godhand. They have given me a weapon that only one such as yourself can use. With it, you can sever the threads of fate and annihilate the Godhand and its apostles."

The armored figure reached into his cloak pulling out a small object, which he then tossed onto the black swordsman's lap.

Guts looked at the curious object.

It was circular, smaller than a buckler, but thick. It consisted of three dark red plates, three smaller strips of red material between each plate, and a central silver medallion embedded in a substance that almost looked like black muscle tissue. It was the same shade of blood rust red as Griffith's behelit.

Guts felt a chill down go down his spine as the object almost seemed to writhe in his hands.

"What the hell is this!?" exclaimed the dying man.

The Skull Knight looked on almost amused despite the circumstances.

"It is an otherworldly weapon designed to defeat unearthly forces, more powerful than the berserker's armor or even my own. The price of acquiring an object of power like this was high. I can feel it now. Hahahaha. Fare thee well, struggler."

The Skull Knight started to fade away and become immaterial.

"I hope once again to meet you, black swordsman. Use the Armor of the Guyver well…"

With that the Skull Knight and his steed vanished from the battlefield.

Guts glanced at Caska's lifeless form then back at the object in his hands.

"If only I had the power to set things right. I don't even know how to use this stupid thing." thought Guts.

As if in response to his query, the medallion on the object started glowing. The plates and tissues started to shift as the object seemingly broke apart and started to engulf him. All that Guts could think about was destroying the Godhand regardless of what kind of monster he became.

Guts blacked out once again knowing that, when he awoke, he would never be the same.

End Chapter 1

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This will be about a four/five chapter story.

Yes this is a slight crossover with Guyver. And yes, Griffith's fucked.

Comments & Criticisms welcome.