“Guardian Angels of Desire (4)”

“Guardian Angels of Desire (4)”
Installment	Berserk, volume 3, preludial episode 6, 59 pages
Story arc	Black Swordsman Arc
Publication	Animal House No. 03 1 March 1991
Previous	"Guardian Angels of Desire (3)"
Next	"Guardian Angels of Desire (5)"

"Guardian Angels of Desire (4)" is preludial episode 6 of the Berserk manga series.

Synopsis

As Guts lies on a destroyed pillar in defeat, the Count mocks him for having a fragile human body. Puck comes to Guts' defense and accuses the Count of being a frail human beneath his monstrous exterior. His conversation with the Count is cut short by the appearance of the Beherit, which falls out of Guts' pocket. Puck grabs the Beherit by its mouth and nostrils and attempts to keep it away from the Count, but the chase is interrupted by Theresia, who has found her way to the throne room. Terrified of her father's apostle form, Theresia takes cover behind one of the intact pillars. A furious Count turns to Puck to take his anger out on, but the latter is saved by some knives thrown by Guts at the Count. 

Guts utilizes the most effective shield.

His body broken but his mind unwavering, Guts faces the Count once more. He is easily knocked back by the Count's attack into the pillar behind which Theresia is hiding, but when the Count advances to deliver the final blow, Guts grabs Theresia and uses her as a shield from her father. The Count hesitates to attack, and Guts uses the opportunity to fire his cannon arm right into the Count's face and, wielding his enormous sword with his mouth and prosthetic hand, slices off the Count's head. 

Guts advances on the still-living Count and takes a knife to his face, in an attempt to show the Count humans' true strength. Puck notices a distraught Theresia and tries to confront Guts, whose actions are the cause of Theresia's distress, but Guts turns the knife on Puck and threatens to kill him if he doesn't back down. Guts commands Theresia to watch as he stabs the Count's face, telling her that this is the consequence of having a body that doesn't die, the body of an Apostle. Guts continues the savage onslaught until the blade of his dagger shatters and he slips in the Count's blood, whereupon Guts sits up and begins laughing in front of a confused and horrified Puck and Theresia.

The new area that appears after the Beherit's activation.

Meanwhile, as the Count's blood slowly leaks toward the Beherit, he mutters to himself that he doesn't want to die. The Beherit rearranges its facial features until they correctly placed as though on a human, and it begins crying tears of blood. Guts, Puck, Theresia and the Count are all transported to a dimension seemingly composed only of flights of stairs at impossible angles thanks to the power of the Beherit and the Count's desire to live. As Guts, Theresia and Puck look around in confusion, the Count announces the arrival of the "Great Ones".

Guts, Puck, Theresia and the Count glance up to see the God Hand looking down on them from the top of a flight of stairs.

Appearances

1. Count
2. Guts
3. Puck
4. Theresia
5. Slan (first appearance)
6. Ubik (first appearance)
7. Void (first appearance)
8. Femto (first appearance)
9. Conrad (first appearance)