Chapter 4

'You cannot escape us!' The forest seemed to sing for him. 'You cannot escape!'

Guts clutched his wounded arm, blood pouring from various cuts on his body.

Once again, Izuku was greeted with a bloody start for the second chapter. I guess these will be common… Even though he himself had shed much blood, it didn't mean he was used to the sight of it.

Izuku flipped the page, and thankfully, found Puck. He smiled at the innocent elf creature. Though he found it a bit odd why he would go after Guts… I mean he hurt him, called him weak and pathetic, a small fry… He was a bully. Why did he follow Guts?

Why was I lenient with Kacchan?

Izuku quickly flipped the page, unwilling to think of it.

Guts had bumped into the tree where Puck monologued.

'Guts!'

'You again!'

'Hey how ya doin'?'

Guts seemed to grunt in favor of replying to the small being. Why bother talking to him at all? He'd just belittle or ignore Puck. Puck was just too nice.

'What happened to you? Did wolves attack you? Uh oh, those wounds from before are opening up again. For some reason we meet, you're all torn up. Want me to heal you again?'

After all that, Puck still wanted to help him?

He's pretty heroic.

'Hey bug! What are you doing here?'

And he's not.

'The name's Puck. Try not to forget it!'

"Yeah you tell him!"

Abashed, Izuku looked around him, even though he was in his own room.

'...It's interesting! All this monster stuff.' How is it interesting?! 'It's the kind of thing you only hear about in myths or epic poems but you're it! The real deal!'

Wel… I guess I am quite hooked on the series. I'd say Guts fits the part of a mild-villain instead of a hero, though.

'Is this more of that elven sense of duty?'

'Nah, I figured if I hung around you, I'd get to see all sorts of neat things…'

Guts glared at the little creature, before flinging him into a pond.

Izuku felt like punching Guts. At least at twenty percent of his strength.

'Wha-whatcha do that for?!'

'Sorry, but I'm in no mood to keep any pets. I don't like elves, and I don't like you.'

Make that thirty percent.

'But… But why?'

'Because you're weak. Pisses me off when I see weaklings. I feel like I wanna crush them. They can't do a thing on their own. All they ever do is talk and buzz around people like flies. Makes me wanna squash'em.'

We protect them so that one day they themselves can become the protectors. They aren't weak. They never get the chance to live in your world.

With feelings swirling and creating a storm in his mental sky, Izuku flipped the page. Strength was more than just physical prowess. Heroes had to be more than that. Guts seemed to lack it.

Guts had been offered a ride by a nice old man, his daughter – he thought so – in tow. And not particularly shocked, Guts declined the ride.

'I'm telling this to you for your own good.'

Guts looked oddly melancholic.

'I'm being pursed by evil spirits. A legion of them.'

After a panel of silence, the priest laughed. 'But don't worry my friend, I have God on my side. Not to mention a lucky spirit.'

'Spirit?'

Puck stretched his face into something he'd expect to see from an old cartoon.

Wait… If the music of Berserk was made in the twenty-first century. Then–

"I can't believe I didn't see it!" Izuku facepalmed. "Of course it's old!"

Forehead still smarting, he sighed and focused back onto the pages. 'C'mon, get on, get on.'

What a nice person.

Where are they headed to anyways?

'Well why not? What do I care if something happen to them?' Guts' thoughts had him annoyed and angered once again.

Must he always be so dark and apathetic to others? He was just like a villain.

Eyes were in the trees as Guts covered his brand. Izuku put two and two together and realized that the Brand bled whenever those… creatures were nearby.

The panels skipped ahead to Guts and Puck talking to each other. Well more like Puck talking to a brick wall.

The daughter of the priest appeared holding a bag. 'Have some if you'd like. It's homemade wine. It'll warm you up.'

They're all so nice! No reason for Guts to be so rude now!

Thankfully, he wasn't and accepted the wine. Though he didn't say thank you. It irked Izuku a little, though the girl seemed happy. So Izuku didn't think much of it.

'Those awful wounds… What happened?'

'Like I said, evil spirits are after me.'

'That can't be true can't it?'

'Hey, hey! Don't frighten my daughter too much. By the way… Is that some sort of sword?'

Even I don't know any heroes who wields a sword like that. How strong is Guts? And without a quirk no less. Just how much training did he go through to swing that around?

'Nah, I use it for my cooking.'

'It looks like you could cut a horse in half with that thing.' The priest said.

If only he knew.

'Why not just open up a roadside grill. You can earn a better living that way, you bum.' Puck was drunk – and on dangerous territory.

Guts kicked the barrel he sat on, sending him tumbling away.

Rude.

'By the looks of it, you appear to be a mercenary. Is that what you are?'

A mercenary? A soldier for hire? He'd never heard of any in this day in age. Maybe bounty hunters… they might be similar.

'Well something like that.'

' don't have much respect for that profession– killing other people for a living.' Preach it priest! "Live by the sword, die by the sword.'

'Hmph. This is why I don't like priests.'

'Please don't say that.'

Well… you started it.

"My nephew also chose to live by the sword and left home as soon as he could. Five years ago he lost his life on a battlefield. Just some lowly soldier with no name.'

Izuku felt his heart go out to the priest. It was a horrible thing to happen.

'If he were alive today, he'd probably have his own family now. He could have enjoyed the simple pleasures of life! How foolish of him!'

Izuku thought about why heroes fought. To protect people's lives and dreams. About the losses that would come without them. People with families, children, a partner. Parents.

His mind drifted to his mother. Just how would she feel if he had died?

'What's wrong with that?'

Izuku felt annoyed once again, sighing at Guts' antics.

'He died doing what he wanted, no matter what, right? I bet he was happy.' Guts looked oddly serene. Calming.

Then his mind fell back into why he wanted to be a hero. Even if he had died… he wouldn't regret it if he died a hero.

'Of course, once you die, that's it. Nothing comes after that, nothing at all.'

Nihilistic.

Guts then tried to catch a wink, and the daughter had put a blanket over him. How sweet! She even blushed. 'You– you could catch a cold!'

Guts seemed to accept it, and fell to sleep.

She smiled at Puck as if to keep a secret.

Izuku smiled at the panels. The world isn't all dark and horrible like Guts thought.

But then came Guts' nightmare

A thin, constrictive corridor that seemed to never end. A pool of what Izuku thought was blood was ankle high.

'You cannot run from us!'

A spike protruded from the ground, piercing his foot. He couldn't help but wince at it.

The malformed creature from when Guts was imprisoned appeared. Is it a part of the Godhand?

'You cannot run!'

Its appearance sent shivers down his spine, and frightened Guts, 'AAAAAH!"

He woke up, steel flashing only to find itself embedded in a creature swaddled in tentacles. Its singular eye rolled into the back of its socket and Guts dropped it on the barrel.

'What– what is that thing?!'

'It's an incubus! They're evil spirits that give people nightmares and feed off their fear.' Guts replied, wiping sweat off his brow. 'Damn! They won't even give me time to sleep.'

'What you said before was true?'

'You're sayin you believe in God but not in evil spirits?' Guts smiled.

'Wh– why did it come after you?'

'Because of this.' He pointed to the brand. 'This thing summons them.'

It also attracts them? So he fights these evil spirits all the time?

Izuku stilled. It might explain why he's so rough around the edges – always fighting to stay alive… It might explain a lot about his behavior.

It started to bleed. 'What the– stay inside!'

Oh no. Guts had told them that demons would possess the corpses the Incubi were born from. It only meant things would go wrong.

The horses had turned crazed and the girl had run out to them– 'Stupid girl! Don't get out of the carriage!'

Listen to him! Please!

'But– ugh.'

A choked sound left Izuku's throat.

The panel right after… A spear had pierced through the girl's chest. A child! Only a child!

Tears welled in his visions, and he quickly wiped them away. "Just a child…"

'COLLETTE!'

Their carriage had been surrounded by skeletons, and Guts had his hand ready on his sword.

He knew! He knew they were attracted by his brand!

His fists clenched the panges, crumpling the edges. "You're horrible!"

Guts almost seemed to smile at the sight of Collette's dead body – only serving to fuel Izuku's boiling rage.

'If you wanna go, go by yourself.' Guts said.

'But why?! It's pointless! There's too many… You're going to get killed!'

Guts had a ferocious look on his face. 'Comes with the territory.'

His anger turned towards the skeletons, as with each panel Guts swung his sword. He wanted him to destroy them. They were just evil spirits. Just the damned, You can't reason with them. They killed a child!

'HAAAAH!'

Guts was a whirlwind of destruction, and Izuku appreciated it.

He flipped the page to Puck, 'UWAAAUGH!'

'What happened old man?! AHH!'

'UWAAAAUGH! GUTS!'

'Shut up– can't you see I'm bus–'

Please not the priest–

His decapitated head was held by the hair. But the sight of Collette holding it…

"Damn it…"

Collette marched towards Guts, dropping the head of her father without regard.

The image of her shyly offering wine appeared in the next panel. A tear escaped his eye, falling onto the paper.

Guts adopted a look he couldn't quite understand.

This time she offered not wine, but a stab.

She might be saved! There might be a chance! He hoped.

Guts cleaved her in two, as he did all his opponents.

"Shit..." His voice was strangled.

Puck trembled and cried. 'Ooh… uhh…'

Guts stared at his prosthetic hand, 'Huh?'

He swung wildly at a skeleton sneaking up behind him.

'Guggh!' Guts heaved bile. 'Uguuggh!'

'Watch out!'

He continued vomiting as he fended off the skeletons. 'Gaagh!'

Guts fell onto his knees, panting. 'Hahh. Hahh.' His hands quivered at the hilt of his blade. 'Hnn. Hahh.'

'YAAAAAAAHH!'

Guts' face was shrouded in darkness, his single eye glowing in fury and hate. He fought hundreds of them… All throughout the night. He leaned on his blade, bleeding and panting.

Puck looked from Collette to Guts, 'It wasn't… Your fault.'

Izuku wanted to believe it.

'HAHAHAHA!'

"Haha… Yeah, that's true. You're absolutely right.'

Guts was smiling. Izuku wanted to think he wasn't at fault. But why? Why would you know and travel with them anyways? Collette even… she helped him. 'Likes I said, anyone who gets killed cause they got caught up in someone else's fight is a small fry. If they can't live freely, they're better off dead. Those two didn't have the strength to protect themselves from a walking disaster like me. That's all there is to it.'

They were so nice and yet he defiles their memory. Their lives. He calls them weak… small fry. He was never worth their help. They shouldn't have helped–

But it was right. To help. His heroic mind said.

But they died because they helped him! His rational mind said. Guts is a disaster! A villain who doesn't care about anybody himself!

'If you're always worried about crushing the ants beneath you… you won't be able to walk.'

These were words Izuku would expect from a villain. Never a hero. Never.

'It's useless! You cannot run from us. Heeheehee. Wherever you go we will find you. We are always watching you. Hahahaha. You belong to me. You are ours. Heeheehee. Your blood. Your flesh, your bones… Your ears. Your eyes… And your heart. We want your heart. Yesss, so long as you have that brand… You cannot run away from us. Wherever you are. You belong to us. Your anger, your sadness, your pain…'

'Shut up…'

'Even your fear…'

Guts' eyes quivered and he trembled. Everything felt as if it were happening in motion in front of him even though it was just a picture.

'ALL OF THEM BELONG TO US!'

'SHUT UPPPP!'

BOOOOMMMM

Izuku shivered and the feelings of anger wisped away – though never left. He… Guts was in pain.

Guts whisked his dark black cape away and marched off, a look of apathy back on his face.

'This is the world. Guts lives in…' Puck ended.

Izuku thew the book away, it clattered freely on the floor. He jumped back onto his bed, headfirst. Burying his face as he screamed for just a while.

Collette, The priest, How many more have to die?

Why did Kentaro Miura want the readers to hurt?

He flipped around in his bed, hoping the manga would quickly leave his mind. Even though they were just fictional characters… The feelings that poured out of them just felt too real.

Damn it… Why did they have to die?