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Exodus12345: He'll have the poison cured long before he leaves the planet. I originally intended it to be cured around the time he meets Flora or around the time he gets the berserker armor, but I may do it a bit sooner than that depending on how things go. As for him being mortal, he still doesn't age quite the same as humans. So even if he was stuck like this forever, which he won't be, he would still be able to live forever if nothing ever killed him. Think of it as ageless but still immortal, almost like Cawl. The dude's lived for ten thousand years or more but he's still technically mortal.

After Guts and Griffith were granted their new titles, the Band of the Hawk continued to fight for Midland.

During one particular siege Griffith and some others were overlooking the battle from atop a tall hill when a messenger came riding up.

"Reporting!" He shouted. Climbing off his horse, he knelt before Griffith. "We seem to have just about finished taking the enemy fortress!"

"And the enemy leader?" Griffith asked.

"No, not yet. Baron Guts' Raiders are laying siege to the inner citadel, but… the enemy has a remarkable soldier! He's holding back the breach."

"…One man." Casca commented.

"Just one? Feh, that's just pathetic!" Corkus scoffed.

"Zodd…" Judeau said grimly. This caught everyone's attention.

"Zodd? Judeau you don't mean…" Rickert asked.

"I caught wind of a strange rumor before this battle. That Nosferatu Zodd had been added to the enemy forces…" Judeau stated.

"Nosferatu Zodd?!" Someone exclaimed.

"Who's that?"

"You don't know, Pippin?!" Rickert demanded, surprised. "Among mercenaries, Nosferatu Zodd is a legendary swordsman! They say he's killed hundreds, even thousands on the battlefield. But that's not why Nosferatu Zodd is feared. Everytime a rumor goes around that he's dead, he always shows up in some other battle. And the unbelievable thing is that people have been telling war stories about him for close to a hundred years! He's immortal… That's why Zodd's called Nosferatu!"

"Hey, hey, hey! Don't tell me you actually believe that fairy tail! C'mon little Rickert." Corkus said.

"But there are some mercenaries who revere Zodd as a battlefield God!" Rickert exclaimed.

"Something tells me that if Guts ran into him, he'd go charging in like a mad man… This can't turn out good."

Griffith stared out at the fortress, considering what he'd just heard.

"Stupid bastards! Let me go, Gaston!" Guts roared furiously, being held back by ten men.

"No way, Captain! Guys, he's too strong! Help us stop him!" Gaston shouted to the other soldiers and mercenaries. "I can't let you do it! I can't let you go in alone! A little longer! Let's just wait a little longer!"

"It's already been a whole hour, you ass! We sent almost fifty men in there and no one's come out! Now let me go!" Guts shouted.

"Then we should ask boss Griffith for reinf—"

Guts grabbed the man who dared to say that by the face and shouted, "You try it and I'll kill you! It's one man! A single enemy's got all five hundred of the Band of the Hawk's Raiders stuck like nails in a wall! Have you ever heard of something so humiliating?!"

"AAAAHHHH!" Came a scream from the citadel.

Everyone looked and saw a horrifically mutilated man come running out. His arm was missing and the side of his torso was cleaved open with his ribs and organs sticking out. Reaching out towards Guts he said, "C… Captainnn…" Before collapsing, dead.

"Dillos… DILLOS!" Guts shouted, kneeling down and catching him as he fell.

"Zodd… Nosferatu… Zodd…" Dillos muttered before his eyes fully glazed over and he went completely limp.

"Th… That rumor really was true…"

"Hey… This is big trouble…"

Guts closed Dillos' eyes and stood up.

"H… Hold on… Captain!"

"KEEP BACK!" Guts roared.

All the men around him fell to their knees, suddenly unable to support their own weight.

"Nobody come with me. I'm killin' him alone." Guts snarled, drawing his sword and marching into the citadel.

Inside looked like the aftermath of one of Guts' good days back before he and Griffith met that blind witch doctor. Dozens of bodies ripped apart like ragdolls.

Then he came to a sight that was truly hellish. Severed heads stacked in a pile with the viciously mutilated headless corpses scattered randomly around the room.

A monstrous seven foot tall giant was drinking the blood straight from a headless corpse like a waterskin with one hand. Two other corpses, both of which still had their heads, were impaled on the monster's oversized curved sword.

Guts roared and charged at the monster, sword raised.

The monster kicked the two bodies off of its sword and threw the one it had been drinking from at Guts with immense force.

Guts dodged the corpse and continued to rush towards the monster. With a crushing overhead swing their blades clashed in a spray of sparks.

The monster returned the attack with a horizontal slash which Guts parried. Not expecting the force behind the attack, Guts was knocked back a few feet but managed to remain standing if only barely.

"You parried that strike well." The monster said.

Guts lunged forwards and tried to stab the monster. It dodged, knocking his sword off to the side and tried to slash at him. Guts raised his sword and blocked the strike just in time.

The two exchanged blows. Guts dodged a strike and the monster shattered a pillar next to him. Guts was at a disadvantage. The monster was faster and stronger than he was in this state, and by a lot.

Eventually he got thrown back by a two handed strike.

"Superb!" The monster exclaimed. "Not one man in fifty years has managed to stop my sword this long!"

'It's takin' all I've got to keep up… Damn it, it's hard to get a swing in! He's the strongest… He's stronger than anyone I've ever crossed swords with. He's nearly as strong as I used to be on one of my good days. This guy… He's beyond human! What do I do? I can't stay toe to toe with him in this state. I only parried him thanks to my sword. Any normal sword would have busted with one hit!'

Guts looked at the monster's sword and had an idea. 'So, the swords alone are evenly matched…'

He grabbed his sword with both hands and stepped into a highly aggressive stance.

"Ho! So being unable to keep blocking my sword, you're going to gamble everything on one strike!" Zodd observed. "I'll bet you're counting on the length of your arms and the size of your blade to make a difference. But will it? I'll cleave you in half and claim your skull before your blade can even touch me."

'One chance.'

"Interesting… I accept!"

'Just one chance!'

Both Zodd and Guts struck out with their swords. Their blades clashed and Guts' sword cleaved through Zodd's. The monster was caught off guard by this. Thus Guts took the opportunity to adjust his grip on his blade and slammed it into Zodd's shoulder and arms. A strike that should have been lethal.

"NGAAAH!" Zod shouted in surprise.

'Got him!' Guts thought. Only to be proven wrong as Zodd grabbed the blade of his sword.

"What a surprise." Zodd said, wrenching the sword out of his shoulder. "After being pushed back that far, I never thought you'd try to break my sword… I see now. I see what you are. You're no human. A child of the Anathema! No wonder you're the first to drive a blade so deep into my body in these past three hundred years of slaughter!"

In an instant Zod changed. He grew taller until he stood head and shoulders above even Guts, bloody red fur emerged covering every inch of him, two large bull-like horns grew on his head, his face changed to resemble that of a lion, and two large bat-like wings sprouted from his back, and his legs became digitigrade ending in hooves rather than feet.

Guts felt his heart pounding in his chest as he looked up at the eleven foot tall monstrosity towering over him. This was the first time in years he felt scared. He was terrified. Genuinely terrified. He was being hyperbolic thinking of Zodd as a monster before but now the truth was laid bare. He was indeed a monster after all. A demon.

"This is great! As Khorne's chosen ambassador to the Undivided, I'd nearly forgotten the feeling of my blood boiling! For three hundred years I have gone without a proper battle! A real challenge! NOW FIGHT! DON'T DISAPPOINT ME!" Zodd swung his claw, hitting Guts and sending him hurtling across the room from the force of the strike.

Guts felt his ribs crack as his back slammed against a wall. Falling to his hands and knees he quickly got up and dodged out of the way as the monster charged him like a raging bull, intent on goring him on its horns. He slashed at it as he moved, cutting it across the leg. The wound healed almost immediately.

The demon swung its fist, but Guts avoided the strike and swung his sword in a downward strike, intent on cleaving Zodd's head in two. Unfortunately his sword slammed into Zodd's horn, stopping it harmlessly.

Zodd backhanded him and sent him flying again. Guts crashed into a pillar hard enough that it cracked under the force. His head bashed into it and he collapsed to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut.

Zodd growled and grabbed him by the shoulders. "Was that it?! You're stronger than this! I know you are! Wait… That smell… In your blood. One of Slaanesh's poisons! No wonder… Hrrrgh… It's weakened you. Made you almost mortal…"

Suddenly dozens of crossbow bolts embedded themselves into Zodd's back. Looking over his shoulder he and Guts saw the Band of the Hawk, lined up and aiming at him. Griffith standing just behind the line of crossbow men.

'Griffith…' Guts thought. Terrified that his brother and the other Hawks would be torn apart by this demon.

"H… Hey, what the hell is that?" One terrified mercenary asked.

"Is this some kind of nightmare or something?"

"Heeey… Is… Is that Nosferatu Zodd?" Corkus asked, looking back at Rickert.

"DON'T LOSE FOCUS! SECOND VOLLEY!" Griffith ordered.

Zodd dropped Guts and crossbow bolts slammed into his bare chest.

"Did… we kill it?" A mercenary asked.

"This musn't be… I won't have this! This battle has been defiled by Slaaneshi cowardice and trickery already! None may defile it further! I WON'T HAVE IT!" Zodd roared furiously as he charged the Hawks.

"Forget it! Fall back! RUUUUN!" Guts shouted, trying to push himself up off the ground

Zodd fell upon the crossbow men and began tearing through them. Goring them on his horns, smashing them with his fists, tearing them in half with his claws and teeth, and stomping them with his hooves.

"It's no use! No human can fight this thing!"

"Wha… What a monster!"

"Casca! Have everyone withdraw!" Griffith said as he ran deeper into the building..

"Griffith, where are…" Casca asked. Then she saw. Griffith was running to go help Guts.

Reaching Guts, Griffith grabbed his arm and threw it over his shoulder, trying to help him up. "Hey, can you stand?"

"Dumb bastard! Why're you here?!"

"You can complain after we've escaped from that monster." Griffith said, struggling to haul Guts up onto his knees so he could get up the rest of the way.

"Why?" Guts asked. "Why's it gotta be like this? God damn it!"

Zodd stomped over to them. "Where are you going?! Your heart's still beating. We're not done… I won't have this… This dishonor of killing you in such a weakened state… You will face me at your strongest! KHORNE! GRANT MY ENEMY STRENGTH! DISHONOR ME NOT, BY ALLOWING ME TO FACE A WEAKENED ADVERSARY! ACCEPT THE OFFERING OF BLOOD AND SKULLS WITHIN THIS HALL AND ELIMINATE THIS ACCURSED POISON WITHIN MY ENEMY! LET US TRULY REVEL IN THE GLORY OF BATTLE! BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD! SKULLS FOR THE SKULL THRONE!" Zodd shouted.

The blood soaking the ground rushed towards the piled skulls which caught fire and was quickly reduced to ash. An eerie red glow enveloped Guts and he cried out as he felt his blood boiling in his veins. It was agonizing! He was being burned alive from the inside out! "AAAAAAGH!" Guts screamed, falling back to his hands and knees..

"Guts!" Griffith called out. Pointing his sword at Zodd he demanded, "What have you done, monster!?"

Zodd said nothing, merely backhanding Griffith and sending him hurtling across the room where he crashed into a pillar. "STAND! FIGHT ME! FIGHT ME UNTIL ONE OF US IS TORN APART!" Zodd reached a hand out to the side and in a flash of flames a horrific demonic cleaver with viciously serrated teeth appeared in his grasp.

As the eerie red glow faded, Guts felt strong. Stronger than he had in years, ever since before he had ever encountered the Band of the Hawk. No poison was holding him back.

Getting up he took a breath and dropped into a fighting stance, holding his blade out in front of him. "Griffith, are you okay?" He asked.

"Gah… Yes…" Griffith groaned, getting up.

"Then run! Get out of here, now!" Guts shouted before rushing towards Zodd faster than the eye could see.

Guts and Zodd clashed and the force of their blows caused the entire fortress to quake.

Griffith could barely remain standing in the presence of this titanic clash between demigod and demon. As much as it galled him to abandon Guts to face this monster alone, he had no choice but to rush out of the fortress with the rest of the Band.

Both of their massive blades moved like lightning, each clash booming like thunder, causing the walls to crack and crumble as they shook from the force of the impacts. It was a duel between legends. Each at the peak of their physical prowess.

Zodd laughed with malevolent glee. "Yes! YES! HAHAHA! Finally, a proper battle! Give me your all, child of the Anathema!"

Guts didn't respond. Instead he grit his teeth and delivered a powerful downward blow that caused the ground to crater beneath their feet. Zod blocked the blow and responded by kicking him in the gut hard enough to send him crashing through a wall.

The weakened fortress started to collapse and Zodd came charging out from the hole Guts' body had smashed through the wall.

Guts had already forced himself up and swung his sword to meet Zodd's cleaver. There were screams as men who just so happened to be too close to the battle stumbled or were tossed back by the concussive force of their strikes.

As their blades locked, Guts smashed his head into Zodd's skull, dazing the demon and forcing it back. He then slashed Zodd's stomach open. The demon roared as his intestines spilled out from the wound. Holding his demonic cleaver in one hand, he swung at Guts with that hand while forcibly shoving his intestines back inside with his other hand. The wound closed moments later.

Guts deflected Zodd's strike and countered with an attempted stab to the throat. Zodd managed to react in time and move just enough that the blade cut a deep wound into the side of his neck rather than completely impaling him. It would have still been a lethal wound if Zodd was human, but he was most decidedly not human.

Zod then slammed his head down and bit Guts' shoulder hard enough to bite through his overly thick armor and into the flesh underneath. With a twist of his head he ripped a massive chunk of flesh out of Guts' shoulder.

Guts responded by punching Zodd in the chest hard enough to splinter the demon's bones and bruise the organs within. The concussive blast of the impact was akin to the explosion of an artillery shell and this time Zod was the one thrown back.

To the mortal spectators, what little they could even see of the lethal blur of motion, rather than a noble knight valiantly battling against a demon it was more akin to witnessing two demons trying to rip each other to shreds. On one side a cleaver wielding blood soaked monstrosity with horns and wings, on the other a raging hellhound forced into human form.

Guts' aura was so intense all but the strongest willed of witnesses collapsed or completely fainted on the spot.

Guts slashed up and across, attempting to bisect Zodd from his hip to his shoulder. Zodd smacked the blade out of the way and delivered a powerful slash across Guts' left leg, cleaving through his armor as if it was barely even there. It only stopped on the bone of his thigh, which was far stronger than the steel of his armor.

While Zodd's cleaver tore into his leg, Guts slammed his sword down into Zodd's shoulder very nearly cutting his right arm off. He ripped his blade back out of the demon and attempted to strike again. Zod met his blow with his cleaver and this time, Guts' sword snapped, The mortal steel no longer capable of surviving the immense stresses of this battle, especially while pitted against demonic metals.

Guts' eyes widened in surprise.

Zod took the advantage and delivered a powerful slash across Guts torso. His armor split and fell off of him as his flesh was rent open by the demonic blade.

Ignoring his wound, despite its severity, Guts dropped the broken blade and grabbed Zodd's hand. He tackled the demon to the ground and began wrestling him for the intact cleaver.

If he could just get the cleaver from the demon, he could regain the advantage and slay Zodd. He just had to get the cleaver!

Zodd laughed, absolutely elated as the two of them grappled and brawled on the ground. Punching, biting, kicking. Bones shattered, flesh bruised and tore, the ground broke and trembled beneath them. Craters and trenches formed as the ground exploded and was ripped open. The cleaver was completely lost somewhere in the scuffle, meaning both of them were now completely unarmed as they attempted to tear each other limb from limb.

The only problem was any wounds Guts inflicted on Zodd healed within moments, while the reverse was not true. Guts was getting more and more hurt and he was steadily losing steam while Zodd was losing stamina much more slowly, if he was at all.

It was a war of attrition between two equally matched opponents and Guts was steadily losing.

So he fought even harder, pushing himself to his absolute limits. Unfortunately it still wasn't enough.

His wounds were starting to become too much. Even the most durable of the brothers Guts didn't know he had would have started to give out from the damage he had accumulated.

Eventually Zodd managed to punch him and send him crashing backwards into the rubble that used to be the fortress.

He tried to get back up. Pushing himself as hard as he could, but his legs gave out and he fell back on his ass. Only the rubble behind him kept him propped up in a sitting position, letting him stare at Zodd as the demon slowly approached him.

Griffith rushed over to Guts and helped him back up again. Having help get his feet back under him and having some support to lean on for a moment, this time Guts stayed standing.

"Here, I know it's a bit light for your tastes but it'll have to do." Griffith said, handing Guts a large two handed flamberge, likely borrowed from one of their men.

Guts accepted the sword. It was long, for a normal sword, but it may as well have been an arming sword as far as Guts was concerned. Furthermore, it was so light he barely felt it.

Griffith drew his own saber. "I don't know if I can keep up with the speed and ferocity of this fight, but I doubt he'll just let me leave now that I've interrupted your duel a second time. We're in this together, Guts."

"You should have just left me and ran…" Guts grunted.

Zod stopped a short distance from them and roared at them.

"Can you move?!" Griffith demanded.

"We're dead if I don't!" Guts shouted back.

"You from the left! Let's go!" Griffith shouted.

Guts forced his struggling, heavily wounded body to dash left while Griffith dashed right.

Guts forced Zodd's attention on him, by trying to decapitate the demon. Zodd had no choice but the focus on him and smack his blade out of the way, or the fight would have ended right then and there. That gave Griffith the opening he needed to deliver a slash to Zodd's arm.

By some miracle or twist of fate Griffith's blade somehow managed to cleave straight through Zodd's arm, severing it exactly at the elbow where it was the weakest.

Guts was knocked down as his attempt to decapitate Zodd failed. Zodd roared in pain as his arm was severed. He then looked at the stump in surprise, the blood crazed grin forming on his monstrous face growing even wider.

Griffith rushed over to Guts and reached out to him. "Come on, let's make a run for it!"

"Griffith, behind you!" Casca called out.

Griffith turned to look and Zodd's massive tail slammed into him, sending him crashing into a particularly large bit of rubble sticking out of what used to be the main keep of the fortress.

"GRIFFITH!" Guts shouted in horror. Pushing himself beyond whatever limits his transhuman physiology may have had, he forced himself to stand up and was about to hobble over to Griffith to check on him, only to notice Zodd standing next to him.

"What a day today has been… To meet not only a child of the Anathema in the best battle I've fought in centuries, but to meet a human who could wound me…"

Guts raised the borrowed flamberge, pointing it at Zodd. He prepared to stab Zodd in the heart but the demon acted first.

Using his own severed arm as a club, he hit Guts hard enough to immediately shatter the sword and send him crashing back one final time.

Guts forced himself halfway into a sitting position.

"And that both of you…" The demon reattached its arm, and the wound healed pretty much immediately. "would be lost at once."

Zodd marched over to Griffith and started reaching down towards him. "I'll start with this man…"

"Griffith!" Casca cried out.

"It's no use Casca!" One of the other soldiers exclaimed, holding her back.

As he knelt down to grab Griffith, Zodd suddenly froze. "What? What's this…?! The Egg of the King?!"

He stood up and took a step back. "It… can't be! The egg of the king…?! A cub like him… with the crimson behelit…?! The Godhand…"

Everyone paused.

"Huh… Huhuhuh!" A deep rumbling laughter emanated from Zodd. Different from the blood crazed laughter from before. "So… That's what this is… HUHAHAHA!"

Zodd turned and stared at Guts, who had managed to force himself onto his knees. "Our battle is on hold for now, boy. But… I wonder if I'll ever meet with you again? Here's a word of warning… No, a prophecy. If you can be said to be a true friend of this man then take heed. When his ambition collapses, death will be upon you. A death you can never escape! Your only hope will be to surrender yourself to the Blood God!"

With that, Zodd spread his wings and took flight, flying off into the horizon.

'Another prophecy…? Am I really going to die?' He wondered to himself, thinking back to that blind witch doctor he and Griffith had met in the woods.

"Griffith!" Casca shouted, rushing over to the unconscious form of Griffith.

Guts looked over at the scene.

"Griffith! Hang on!" Casca said, picking him up and cradling him in her arms.

"You okay, Captain?" One of his soldiers asked him, as he and a Corkus helped Guts to his feet.

"Yeah… Guess so."

"God… Those wounds… You're lucky to be alive!"

Guts shook his head. "Forget that, how's Griffith…?" He tried to reach towards Griffith but Casca slapped his hand back, stopping him.

"Don't you touch Griffith… It's your fault… This never would have happened to Griffith if it weren't for you!" Casca growled with tears in her eyes.

I've had this chapter most of the way done for awhile now, I just needed to finish it.

Most of the next few chapters will play out almost exactly the same. Except for the fact Guts is a baron so he could probably get an audience with Griffith without any issue, but I guess Casca would still stop him, for fear of him fucking up Griffith's chances of earning favor with the other nobles. She doesn't have a high opinion of Guts or his social skills right now. So I'll be skipping to the point where things will start to deviate from canon to a more significant degree.