Template:Chapter One Unknown in the Depth of the Depths (底の底の知られぬ者 Soko no soko no shirarenu mono?) is the 158th chapter of the Berserk manga series, written and masterfully illustrated by Kentaro Miura.
Summary
Luca thinks that the circumstances she finds herself in are utterly surreal: she is atop a gigantic armored horse, a man in skeleton-themed armor who she thinks is Death has his weapons drawn and is bidding a small mysterious being to come out and fight. She feels an unearthly air around herself.
Skull Knight stands several feet from the being, ready to fight. It tells him that living humans aren't welcome among the burial grounds. Skull Knight steps forward regardless, so the being extracts its tentacles and lashes out at him. With barely an effort, Skull Knight swings his sword around, cutting the ends of each tentacle off. Suddenly fearful, the being leaps over Skull Knight entirely but is still struck on its underside by his sword. The being never loses its composure, and aims its landing directly at Luca. It uses its front bug-like legs to pick her up and leaps away. Skull Knight doesn't give chase, knowing that it can't get too far with its wounds. He has, however, taken an interest in the specific form that the creature is.
Luca wakes up in a small cave that is filled with lit candles. She is disturbed by the grim centerpiece which bathes in the light created by the candles: a large cross-shaped figure reminiscent of the hawk symbol used by the Holy See, except this one is much bigger and is made of human skin and bones. Luca's internal questions about the statue's nature are answered by the mysterious being, which is at its foot. The statue is made of the skin and bones of priests.
When Luca asks who the mysterious being is, it replies with a story: the being has no name. Back when it was human, it lived in the shadow of the Tower of Conviction, away from the other people who lived in St. Albion. As a human, the being was quite deformed and ugly, and thus couldn't go out during the day lest the population of St. Albion be frightened and throw stones at it. It dug a hole in the ground at the foot of the hill where St. Albion is located, sitting inside it all day, completely still. Every day, it would deepen the whole to further hide from humanity. As it rummaged around at night, it came across a small oval-shaped object. One day, as it sat in its hole, the first of many corpses was thrown down its hole by the humans above; they intended to make it a burial hole to dispose of their dead. As the corpses came falling in, the being was buried in dead bodies. As it started to lose consciousness, five angels appeared before it. They offered an exchange: they could grant one wish to the being in exchange for something that was dear to it.
In exchange for the current, grim world, the being wished to be the one to birth the "perfect world". As a result, it has taken on the form of an oversized Behelit on four spindly legs.
Characters in Order of the Appearance
Template:Tower of Conviction Arc