"Fire Dragon" is episode 227 of the Berserk manga series.
Short Summary[]
In the Berserker Armor, Guts overwhelms Grunbeld, forcing the apostle to transform. Through broken bones and significant blood loss, Guts advances, driven on by the armor.
Long Summary[]
Schierke attempts to reach Guts through thought transference, but is unable to enter his mind, the Od of Guts and the armor too intense for her to breach.
Grunbeld recognizes Guts as a formidable foe and swings his war hammer at the swordsman. Guts counters with a vertical slash of the Dragon Slayer, bending Grunbeld's hammer shaft and rendering it useless. Executing another vertical strike, he cuts completely through Grunbeld's raised hammer and deeply wounds the apostle's shoulder, with the exertion causing blood to spray from Guts' armor.
Acknowledging defeat in his base form, and Guts as a superb warrior who exceeds his already exceptional reputation, Grunbeld assumes a massive corundum-covered draconic form to finish Guts. With devastating force, he lashes his corundum tail at Guts, who catches it in his arms and breaks one of his legs while stabilizing himself, though the swordsman remains undeterred. Guts then stabs the Dragon Slayer into Grunbeld's humanoid face atop the dragon's head. Sustaining a cracked face, Grunbeld repels Guts with his corundum head spike, sending the swordsman tumbling to the base of Flora's tree.
Despite having severe injuries and twisted limbs, Guts advances, his body forcibly realigned by the Berserker Armor. Schierke explains to Isidro and Serpico that the armor prolongs combat by realigning broken bones with internal spikes, sharing a story of a past user who fought until his last drop of blood. Overcome with guilt for giving the wounded Guts the armor, Schierke hesitates until she hears Flora's voice. Flora reassures her, stating that only Schierke can save Guts from the influence of the Berserker Armor.