Template:Manga Episode Infobox The Depths of Hellfire (業火の底 Gōka no soko?) is the 228th numbered episode of the Berserk manga series, written and illustrated by Kentarou Miura.
Summary
Schierke readies a circle made of rope and asks Serpico and Isidro to take care of her body while she attempts to bring Guts back to sanity.
Guts walks back towards Grunbeld, ready for another round against the Apostle. Several fledgling Apostle's under Grunbeld's command ask their commander if they can join the fight, having been unable to find and kill Flora and looking for something to do. The Apostles have the misfortune of attracting Guts' attention, who rushes over and beheads most of them with a single swing as they transform.
Guts showcases his new speed.
One of the few surviving Apostles charges at Guts' back, but the latter is able to quickly dodge the attack, land a strike on the Apostle's side, climb onto its back and stab the back of its head. Another mantis-like Apostle sees an opening and strikes at Guts, the attack being able to break several of Guts' ribs. The Apostle's victory is short-lived as it realizes that Guts' wolf-shaped helmet has bitten down on its arm, preventing Guts from being sent flying from the attack. The Black Swordsman promptly stabs the mantis-Apostle in the face.
As the Berserker Armor drives several more spikes into Guts' body to mend his broken ribs, Serpico and Isidro watch in horror, their admiration having completely vanished. They've noticed that Guts' fighting style is slowly becoming more and more animalistic, favoring quick, brutal kills over skill and self-preservation. Their thoughts are interrupted when several Apostles wander over, and they prepare to defend Schierke.
Schierke herself is in the Astral world, where she enters the "mind" of the Berserker Armor, which manifests as a giant void full of fire. Schierke wanders through the void in search of Guts until she comes across the form of a giant Beast of Darkness. Instinctively knowing that Guts is imprisoned within the Beast of Darkness, Schierke steels herself and charges headlong into it.
Inside the Beast, Schierke discovers small points of light which, when she looks into them, seem to contain Guts' memories. She peers into a few lights, where she sees the old members of the Band of the Falcon, Casca in her prime, and Griffith before he became Femto. Schierke wanders deeper into the Beast until she is engulfed in darkness, whereupon she comes across a single, enormous memory of the Eclipse. Schierke is drawn into the memory and is horrified by what she sees. She calls out for Flora out of fright, but soon notices the talisman that Flora drew on the Berserker Armor. Schierke wanders over to the talisman, which acts as a calm haven in the midst of the turbulent Eclipse memory.
Schierke comes across Guts' ego inside the Berserker Armor.
Once close enough to the talisman symbol, Schierke comes across a single, human-sized silhouette made of wispy fire. The only discernible feature of the silhouette is its left eye, which is shaped like a bolt of lightning.