What Happens
The Black Swordsman on Holy Ground
The heretics insist on bringing Casca clothing and jewels (where’d they get those?) as tribute, and both Luca and Nina are worried about being found out. Some of the Knights have arrested one of the other prostitutes, whom Luca tries to help by interposing herself between her and the leader’s whip. Then Guts shows up and demands to know if they’ve apprehended a woman with a brand on her chest. The leader insists he doesn’t know, and Guts kills the two who charge him after he tosses the former aside.
Straying
Guts kills two more of the Knights. Emboldened, someone in the crowd throws a stone at the leader. Intimidated by their glares, he backs off and the Knights leave. Luca takes Guts to their tent, but Casca and Nina are gone. The latter, who’d argued for turning Casca out, has taken her to the heretics. Isidro and Puck see them and follow them, the former planning to use rescuing Casca as leverage to get Guts to train him.
Ambition Boy
Joachim is brought to Farnese and agrees to lead the Knights to the heretics’ hideout. She is also informed that Guts is here but refuses to try and capture him.
At the hideout, the heretics plan to cut out Nina’s heart as an offering to the “witch” Casca, who will then “mingle” with the man who takes on the role of the Great Goat. Before they can kill Nina Isidro starts throwing rocks, telling Puck to fetch Guts. The heretics try to catch Isidro, but Interstice spirits emerge from the cauldron smoke, drawn by Casca’s Brand. The Knights arrive to find not only heretics, but possessed ones.
Den of Evil
Isidro, Nina, and Casca spot the cult leader and several unpossessed heretics trying to escape out a back entrance, but the horns on the Great Goat’s mask won’t fit through the entrance. Before he has a chance to remove it, something in the tunnel stings him.
Just as the Knights are about the withdraw and wait for the “drugs” to wear off the Great Goat, now a bona fide goat monster, lands amongst them. Farnese realizes it’s just like the night with the wild dogs. In the rush to escape Casca trips and is caught by the Great Goat. He wants that mingling.
The Reunion
Guts bursts onto the scene, saving Casca. Farnese orders her men to kill everyone who does not surrender. Isidro, Nina, and Casca escape through the back exit while Guts fights the Great Goat to let them get away.
Ambush
Despite his opponent’s superior agility, Guts kills the Great Goat and follows after the others. Beyond the door is a narrow path along a cliff face, and his way is blocked by Serpico. Guts fails to kill him with his crossbow, and now Serpico has him trapped; the path is so narrow he has no room to draw his sword.
Further along, Isidro and the girls reach a place where the path abruptly ends and they can only descend using a nearby rope. Nina climbs down first, then Isidro ties Casca to the rope and starts lowering her down.
The Cliff
Although Serpico has Guts at a disadvantage, the latter still manages to win by grabbing Serpico’s sword bare-handed and breaking it with his iron hand. Serpico then drops down and uses the ledge to swing past Guts, swiping one of Puck’s flash-bombs from Gut’s pocket and using it to cover his escape.
Back at the cave entrance, a pebble lands on Joachim’s head and he goes to investigate. It was dislodged by Isidro lowering Casca, and when he spots Nina he calls for the Knights. Casca manages to slip her bonds and she and Nina are captured.
Captives
Guts, Isidro, and Luca go to the monastery to try and save Casca and Nina. Puck has already snuck in and is also looking for them. Two of the torturers come to their cell and try to take Casca but instead take Nina when she doesn’t speak up against it, calling her a coward. Ashamed of her weakness, she vows to show a little resolve this time. Then they enter the torture chamber.
The Iron Maiden
Farnese learns of orders to return to the Holy See – not for the Knights, just her. What’s more, they’re at the behest of the powerful Vandimion family – in other words, from her father. She accuses Serpico of sending him reports on her activities.
Casca is brought to the torture chamber, where the desperate acclamation of the captives proves she’s the witch the heretic hunters have been looking for. Mozgus has her put in an iron maiden, but before it can be closed spirits burst out of it.
Blood Flow of the Dead, Chapters 1-2
As they approach the monastery, Guts can sense a strange presence. Luca tries to resolve things peacefully by bribing the monk who watches the garbage chute, but Guts dashes past them.
The spirits swarm through the torture chamber, devouring the monks and prisoners alive. Mozugs leads his men out one way while Serpico and Farnese escape through the main door. Guts snatches Farnese (how does nobody notice?) and intimidates her into taking him to the torture chamber.
Nina, who confessed everything before she could be tortured, is back in her cell and very ashamed of herself. She is rescued by Luca, Isidro, and Jerome. Everyone can sense a strange presence, and Isidro lets the other prisoners out as a distraction so the group can escape. But then they spot the spirits crawling towards them, blocking the passageway out.
In the torture chamber, nothing but skeletons remain. And Puck, whom Guts finds hiding in a helmet. He tells Guts that Casca was devoured by the spirits, but he could still sense her – she’s probably still alive.
Mozgus and his men have gathered in the chapel, but the door is unable to hold the spirits back. Mozgus declares that they must stand firm against this trial of faith and not fear death. Unnoticed behind him, something spider-like descends from the ceiling.
Commentary
I was going to write something pondering why all the heretics we’ve seen so far in this series are baby-eating orgy-lovers engaged in some form of Baphomet worship, when most medieval heretics were theologians or movements that taught a variation of Christian theology, not pagans or devil-worshippers, but really, this world has indisputably (to the reader) extant forces of evil who shape their agenda around human cruelties and base desires, it only makes sense that a cult they’d form wouldn be focused on such things. Rather, the satanic imagery may be stereotypical, but it fits with the nature of the cult and the Godhand, being concerned with “those possessing power”, whom the cult consider “truly deserving of reverence.” Sure, Casca has no power beyond an involuntary ability to draw spirits to her, but that’s not what it looks like to the cult and she’s not about to correct them (they’d probably twist it around to be proof of her special status anyway). It’s still a more tangible manifestation than the Tower of Conviction which, in the words of the cult leader, has “failed to manifest a single miracle” and “[uses] sophistry in an attempt to oppress and control us.”. If there’s one thing the Godhand loves to do, it’s get people to embrace their own selfish desires and seek tangible power in the here-and-now. Not that the example offered by Father Mozgus, which is all about denying oneself in the service of a greater need, and how the impact of one’s actions are not always readily apparent, is any better, leaving little to no room for individuality, but the dichotomy is the point – extremes aren’t healthy.
I like the fight between Guts and Serpico. After watching Guts plow through enemy after enemy, it’s nice to see a situation where he actually comes close to losing, and to a human no less. It shows that being a heavily muscled guy (as Serpico points out, Guts’s size makes him less maneuverable in a narrow space than his slimmer opponent) with a gigantic sword who hacks his way through his opponents isn’t always a winning combination. He’s used trickery before, in his fights against the Count and Wyald (both much bigger and stronger than him), but even with more agile opponents such as Rosine he used the smoke once to get the drop on her but otherwise did the same old hacking and blasting her to death. Humans have been even less of a challenge; before now Griffith was the only one who’d even beaten him. His fighting style is a perfectly good one for his usual opponents, but it doesn’t work in every situation. In one where the terrain works against him and he can’t use his strengths, he doesn’t fare so well. Sure, Serpico didn’t quite account for every trick Guts has, but he still tries to outmaneuver and outwit him rather than overpower him, and it almost works. Even when Guts was captured by Farnese, he didn’t so much lose as succumb to his injuries (tellingly, I’m certain it was Serpico who threw that piece of wood). That did show that for all his strength he’s still mortal and can be worn down, but this time he’s at the top of his game. It’s a nice reminder that he’s good, damn good in fact, but not invincible.
Really, I just like Serpico. He’s clever, laid-back, and more skilled than he looks, at both fighting and being a knight. He’s like a more developed Judeau. Maybe it’s repetitive to be recycling a character type, but Judeau was with us for too short a time (poor guy…) and it’s nice to have a more upbeat character to lighten the gloom and cynicism.
I thought of maybe talking a little about Nina, but all she really does is epitomize a lot of what the refugees are feeling – anxiety, desperation, and a sense of powerlessness. Her situation may be a bit worse due to her low social status but it’s the same basic idea that’s already been shown and that I talked about last time. And maybe it is pathetic and cowardly of her to crack after only a bloody fingernail, but who wouldn’t piss themselves after seeing a place like Mozgus’s torture chamber; quite frankly, I can’t really blame her – I’m sure I’d start thinking about confessing pretty quickly too. As much as anyone might like to think we wouldn’t so quickly sell out our friends, or those we’ve already wronged (and some of us wouldn’t, to be sure), survival and avoiding pain are pretty basic instincts, and no one can know what their breaking point will be.
And that’s pretty much all I have to say. See you next time!
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