Berserk Vol.1, P.95-166 P.95 (Gatts stands on guard in a shadowy forest, clutching his injured left arm) voices: You cannot escape us. voices: You cannot escape us. (blood drips down his face from scratches on his cheek) P.96-97 (title pages) title: The Brand (Gatts grabs the hilt of his sword, as phantoms swarm around him) P.98 (elsewhere, at a higher altitude, Puck flies through the air on the back of a bird) (the bird sets down on the branch of a tree) bird: Coo coo. (Puck climbs off the bird's back, waving) Puck: Thanks, mister! P.99 (the elf stares down a dirt road that snakes around the edge of the forest) Puck: How strange. I was sure that he went this way. Puck: That's the only road that goes in this direction. Puck: Sighhh. Puck: Maybe he was eaten by wolves......? (the branch shakes wildly, throwing the him off) Puck: [dowaah] (Puck lands facedown on the ground, next to a knee and a mechanical arm) Puck: ........ (he looks up at the person clutching the mechanical arm nearby) P.100 (Gatts stands up shakily) Puck: Gatts!! Gatts: (blank-faced) ! You-- Puck: Hey, how are you doing? P.101 Puck: (fluttering around Gatts) What happened? Were you attacked by a pack of wolves? Oh no, your injuries from before have opened up again. Gatts: ........ Puck: It seems like everytime I see you you're a complete mess. Want me to heal you again? (Gatts grabs Puck by his wings) Gatts: Insect! Gatts: Why are you here? Puck: My name is Puck. Try to remember. (Gatts eyes him coldly) Puck: ........ Puck: Ahhh, well-- Puck: You seem pretty interesting, like a "monster" or something. Puck: It's something I've only heard about in myths or epic poetry. But you're the real thing! (Puck pats Gatts on the nose) Gatts: Should an elf be saying something like that? P.102 Puck: I feel like if I hang around you I'll get to see a lot of things... (Gatts drops the elf into the puddle in front of him) {splsh} Puck: Glub... Puck: [bwa!!] Wha...what's the big idea?! Gatts: Sorry, but I don't feel like keeping a pet. Puck: Who asked you to make me your pet?! Gatts: I'll tell you straight out. Puck: ........ Gatts: I don't like you elves much. P.103 Puck: Wh... Puck: Why? Gatts: Because you're weak. Puck: ........ Gatts: It irritates me to watch weak people. I feel like I want to wring their necks or crush them. Gatts: Even though they can't do anything, they hang around others buzzing like flies...... Gatts: It makes me want to smash them, "splat"...... Puck: ............ (Gatts steps into the puddle, knocking Puck over again) P.104 (Puck shouts at Gatts' back, as it walks into the distance) Puck: You... you idiot! Puck: ........ P.105 (Rain begins to pour down, while Gatts walks along the uncovered road. A horse-drawn wagon approaches, with an eldery man at the reins.) old man: (to Gatts) Want a ride? old man: It can't be much fun walking around in this rain. P.106 Gatts: No thanks. old man: There's no need to be polite. Another person in the wagon won't make any difference for us. Gatts: I'm not good with people. (a young girl peeks out from behind the old man) old man: Haha... it's better than catching a cold isn't it? Gatts: .......... Gatts: I'm saying this for your sake. P.107 Gatts: I'm being pursued by evil spirits. old man: ! old man: Wahaha... that's the first time I've heard that one. old man: Well then, there's nothing for you to worry about. God is with me. old man: Besides, we also have a "lucky spirit" here too. Gatts: Spirit...? (Puck makes a face at Gatts from above the girl's head) P.108 Gatts: ........ old man: Hop on, hop on. Gatts: ...... Why not? Gatts: It's not my concern what happens to other people... (he glances back at the forest, where eyes stare at him from the trees.) Gatts: (holding his neck) Hnn. P.109 (Gatts sits in the back of the wagon, toweling off his hair) Puck: (glaring back at him) ........ What?? Puck: I was here first, so I don't want to hear any complaints from you. P.110 (Gatts drops the towel on top of Puck) Puck: [bwah] (the girl approaches them, carrying a drink skin) girl: (shyly) Um... girl: If you'd like, you could have some of the wine we brought from home. girl: It might warm you up. Gatts: (drinking) ............ (the girl smiles softly) Puck: (drooling) Ah, me too! Me too! [here! here!] (the wine skin lands on his head) P.111 girl: Such terrible wounds...... What happened to you? Gatts: Didn't you hear me before? Evil spirits are after me. (Puck attaches his mouth to the end of the wine skin) girl: You mean you were serious...? old man: Hey now, try not too scare my daughter too much. old man: ... By the way-- old man: Is that thing behind you............ a sword? P.112 (note: I'm pretty sure these next few lines are wrong, but they'll do well enough until I'm able to replace them...) old man: I suppose there's nothing that can't be made in a forge. old man: But that thing is big enough to cut a horse in two. Puck: (to the old man) Maybe you should go into a different line of work. This wine sucks-- (Gatts kicks the barrel Puck is sitting on) old man: When I first saw you I thought you looked like a mercenary... old man: Is that the case? Gatts: ......... Huh, I guess you could say that. old man: Can't say I'm too impressed by someone making their living through killing other people...... old man: Violence only reaps more violence. The future is in our hands, young man. (pretty much guessed there, just tried to write something preachy that sort of related to the kanji...) Gatts: Christ! That's why I don't like priests. old man: (jovially) Come now, don't say that. P.113 old man: My nephew also decided to live his life by the sword, and left home in order to do so. old man: 5 years ago he was killed on a battlefield, just another nameless soldier... old man: If he had lived, he could have had a family and home of his own. old man: How foolish it is to throw one's life away without ever knowing that kind of happiness... Gatts: (staring out towards the back of the wagon) ........ Gatts: And what's wrong with that? Puck: ! P.114 Gatts: No matter what happened, he died doing what he wanted, right? Gatts: I think he was fortunate. Puck: ........ Gatts: ... Of course if you die your life ends there. Gatts: There's nothing beyond that. (err, this line confused me) Puck: ............ P.115 Gatts: Sorry, but would you let me sleep for a bit? (Gatts closes his eyes and leans his head forward) Gatts: ............ (someone places a blanket across his front) (he looks up, and the young girl sits down nearby rather sheepishly) girl: (blushing) I thought...... you might catch a cold! (he looks at her blankly, then pulls the blanket up to his chin and goes to sleep) P.116 (the girl smiles in pleasure, then turns to the elf merrily) Puck: [wh...what? why are you lookin' over here?] Puck (drunk and twiddling his thumbs) [umm...] (Time passes. Above Gatts, something drips down from the roof of the wagon. The droplet bounces off the floor, and an eyeball reflects within it.) P.117 (in Gatts' dream, he's trudging naked through a narrow water-filled corrider with tall stone walls. A huge eyeball stares down from above.) P.118 (Gatts leans against the wall for support, panting) Gatts: {haa haa} (he hears a noise) Gatts: ........ Gatts: (looking behind him) ! P.119 (the corridor seems to be empty) Gatts: ........ Gatts: Ug...!!! (he grips his neck, where the brand has begun to bleed) (Gatts continues to make his way along the corridor) {splish sploosh} Gatts: {haa haa} voices: You cannot escape us. P.120 Gatts: (halting in his tracks) Ggh!! (he looks down, and sees that his foot has been skewered-through by one of many spikes sticking out of the ground) Gatts: (falling back to the floor) ......!! (the water ripples elsewhere) Gatts: ! Gatts: Uh... (he tries to pull his foot off the barbed spike) P.121 Gatts: Ahh...!! (a creature slithers through the water behind him) Gatts: ........ (Gatts grimaces in fear. He lifts his arm up, and sees only a stump left where the mechanical arm used to be.) Gatts: ! voices: You cannot escape us. (this eyes widen as he watches the thing approaching him) P.122 (the creature, that had appeared before him in the cell, looms above Gatts with mouth gaping) Gatts: [uwaaah!] P.123 (Gatts wakes up abruptly, and shoves a knife into the tentacled monster lunging at his head) Gatts: ......!! (the creature's blood spurts onto his face) Gatts: Ug...!! (he slings the creature onto the barrel where Puck is out cold) P.124 Puck: ... Ah? (the elf opens his eyes drowsily, with a tentacle draped across his chest) Puck: (turning his head to the left lazily) ? (Puck stares into the dead monster's oozing eye) Puck: ......!! (he freaks out, and starts bouncing off the wagon walls) Puck: [BWAAAAH!] girl: (waking with a start) ! (she reaches for Puck, who's fainted onto the floor) girl: Wh... what's the matter?! (then she notices the dead monster on the wine barrel) girl: ! girl: Kyaaaa!! old man: (leaving the reins) Wha... what the hell is that?! P.125 (Gatts wipes his forehead with the hand wielding the knife) Gatts: It's an "incubus"! Gatts: An evil spirit that gives men nightmares then feeds on the "fear" that results. Gatts: Damn! They won't even give me a chance to sleep, eh?! old man: An evil spirit...? Then what you said earlier was...... Gatts: So you believed in god, but not evil spirits? Puck: (sitting in the girl's cupped hands) Bu... Puck: but why did it...? P.126 (Gatts holds his neck, grinning) Gatts: ... It's because of this. Gatts: The brand summons them to me. Puck: The brand... did...? Gatts: ...! (he stares at the fresh blood on his hand, from the brand) Gatts: ......!! P.127 (Gatts puts his sword on his back, and opens the back curtains of the wagon) Puck: ! Puck: What? Gatts: Don't come out!! Gatts: Incubi are born from hatred mixing with the spilled blood and fluids of dead humans. Gatts: ... In other words, their must be some corpses around here that gave birth to it. P.128 Gatts: The evil spirits will use those to attack me. Puck: ........ (the horses in front of the wagon begin to rear) girl: Kya!! old man: ! (he tries to calm the horses with the reins) old man: Woah!! Woah!! P.129 (the girl runs out of the wagon to grab the bridles) Gatts: (yelling at her) You idiot!! I told you not to come out!! girl: ... But!! (she reels forward in shock) girl: ... Hah! (Gatts' eyes widen) old man & Puck: [!] (the girl leans forward, skewered through the middle by a long spear arising from below) P.130 old man: Colette!! (Colette hangs limply, supported by the spear's shaft) (a skull emerges from the ground, with a bony hand gripping the base of the spear) P.131 (more skeletons arise from the ground all around the wagon, brandishing spears, swords, and whatever else was left with their carcasses) P.132 Puck: Ahh... Gatts: Looks like this is the remains of a battlefield!! (Gatts eyes the corpse of the girl, lying in a pool of blood on the ground) P.133 (he grins, clenching his teeth) Gatts: ............ (two skeletons lunge at him to attack, and he fires darts at them) P.134 Puck: It's pointless...! They're already dead, so you can't kill them!! Puck: We better run away!! Gatts: If you want to leave, then be my guest. Puck: Why are you staying?! Puck: It's impossible!! Puck: There's too many of them... You be killed for sure, right?! Gatts: (smirking) This is how it always is. P.135 Puck: ...... (Gatts pulls out his sword) P.136 (and smashes it through a row of skeletons) Gatts: [ahhh!] P.137 (Puck watches in alarm, while he breaks the skeletons into splintered bones) P.138 (Gatts stands on guard, as the undead surround him) P.139 (he charges again and attacks) P.140 (slicing through one pointing a spear at him) P.141 Gatts: (attacking) [uohhhh..!] Puck: ......!! P.142 (Puck hides behind the wagon curtain) Puck: ...... Wow. Puck: It doesn't matter to him whether the enemy is alive or dead........ voice: Uwaaaah! Puck: [yee!] (the elf flies further inside the wagon) Puck: Are you alright, old man?! Puck: ! (the back of Colette's head is seen dimly in the dark in front of Puck) Puck: (horrified) ... Ah. Puck: ... Ah...!! P.143 Puck: (from inside the wagon) Uwaaah! Gatts!! Gatts: Shuttup!! I'm busy now......!! (Gatts freezes as he looks at the wagon out of the corner of his eye) (blood drips to the ground, and the severed head of the old priest hangs in the air) P.144 (Colette's corpse stands shadowed within the wagon, gripping a bloody sword in one hand and her father's head in the other. She smiles) P.145 (Gatts watches, stunned) Puck: ........!! (Colette drops the decapitated head onto the floor of the wagon, and steps out onto the ground below) P.146 (She and Gatts face each other, while Puck watches from above. The undead surround them, waiting.) P.147 (Gatts pictures the smiling girl holding the wine skin. His face contorts and he can't seem to move.) Puck: Gatts...? Puck: (eyeing Colette with the bloody sword) ......!! Puck: Gatts!! P.148 (Colette thrusts the sword into Gatts, striking him at the belt) (he looks down at the tip of the rusty sword stabbing into him) P.149 (then he swings his sword and cuts the girl in two through the waist, sending her torso flying) P.150 (the skeletons return to life) Puck: ........ (the elf shivers, and tears well up in his eyes) Puck: ... Uu. Puck: Uu. Gatts: ............ (he touches the blood dripping down his cheek, and looks at his reddened fingers) Gatts: ... Ah? (a skeleton attacks from behind) P.151 (Gatts slices through it with his sword) Gatts: (holding a hand over his mouth) Oog...?! (he throws up) Gatts: Ugghu...!! Puck: Watch out...!! (Gatts dodges a spear thrust) P.152 (then throws up again) Puck: ......!! Puck: Gatts...!! (Gatts barely dodges more attacks while continuing to throw up) Gatts: Hagk...!! P.153 Gatts: [haa haa] Gatts: [haa haa] (he gets up to his feet shakily) Gatts: (gripping the sword) [haa haa] Gatts: [... AHHH!] P.154-155 (the skeletons swarm around Gatts, as he slashes through them ferociously) P.156 (some light breaks through the clouds in the sky above) (Puck sits on a branch of a tree, crying and whimpering) (he looks down at the figure standing among scattered bones below) P.157 (Gatts leans on his sword in exhaustion) (the phantoms inhabiting the bones drift up into the trees and vanish) P.158 (Puck flies down closer to Gatts) Puck: ........ Puck: ... It seems to be over... (Gatts glances over at the severed torso of Colette) Gatts: ............ Puck: ............ P.159 Puck: ...... It's not...... Puck: your fault...... (Gatts starts giggling) Puck: ! (then bursts in laughter) Gatts: Hahahahaha...! Gatts: Hehe...... Yeah, that's right. You got it exactly. P.160 Gatts: (grinning) Didn't I tell you? People who perish in other's battles are worms. Gatts: If one can't live their life the way they want, they might as well die. Gatts: Those two didn't have the power to protect themselves from "the destruction that is me". Gatts: That's all there is to it. Gatts: If I have to worry about the ants I crush beneath my feet, Gatts: I couldn't even walk around. P.161 Puck: ............ (a moaning resounds from the trees) Puck: ! {rustle rustle} Puck: Wh...what? voices: It's futile. You cannot escape. voices: Heehee. voices: No matter where you go, we'll be there. voices: Hehehe... voices: We're always around you... voices: You cannot escape. voices: We're always watching you. voices: Hahaha... voices: You belong to us. voices: You are ours. voices: Heeheehee... voices: Your blood, your flesh, your bones... voices: Your ears, your eyes. voices: Your heart. I desire your heart. P.162 voices: As long as you have that brand...... voices: Yes, as long as you have the brand. Gatts: ... Shut up... voices: You cannot escape us. voices: No matter where you are, you belong to us. voices: Your anger, your sadness, your pain... Gatts: Shut up... voices: Your fear too............!! voices: They all belong to us........!! Gatts: Shut up!! (Gatts raises his metal arm into the air) Puck: ! P.163 (and fires straight up towards the sky) Gatts: ........!! P.164 (a wind blows through the trees, rustling the branches and Gatts' battered cloak) (he turns and walks away) Puck: ! Gatts... Puck: ........ P.165 (Puck looks at the mess on the ground) Puck: ............ Puck: This is Puck: Gatt's world...... (the elf looks solemn) P.166 (then Puck turns around, and flies after Gatts, who returns to the main road)