"Pandemonium" is episode 336 of the Berserk manga series.
Summary[]
With Griffith busy and not able to converse with Rickert, Locus asks Owen if he can bring Rickert away from the room, wanting to show the original member of the Band of the Falcon something. Though at first Owen is reluctant, he acquiesces when two guards run over and inform him of intruders in Falconia. He departs with the guards while Locus and Rickert leave together.
Locus leads Rickert out of the citadel's back entrance. Outside, they find themselves on a long bridge that spans a huge, foggy chasm. On the other side of the chasm is a huge black dome, which Locus calls Pandemonium. As they cross the bridge on horses they've procured, Locus explains that Pandemonium is the domain of Griffith's war demons for as long as they live in Falconia. While Rickert silently makes the connection that the war demons are monsters like Zodd and Irvine, Locus asks to know why Rickert traveled to Falconia to meet with Griffith. Among Locus' guesses as to reasons include Rickert looking to reconnect with Griffith, or else looking to network with people of higher status than himself, now that he lives in Falconia. Locus' final guess is nearest to the correct one: Rickert wants Griffith to answer questions about the Eclipse.
Rickert responds that he already knows the details about the Eclipse, so Locus hypothesizes that Rickert wants Griffith to confirm them. Locus turns to look at Rickert and proclaims that he does not see hatred in the boy's eyes. Rickert is reminded of Guts' words on the hill of swords, which stated that Rickert could never bring himself to fully hate Griffith. Rickert and Locus have arrived at the gates of Pandemonium, and they open slowly.
Erica, along with two other young boys, amuse themselves by trying to sneak into the barn behind Luca's inn, in which a monster is said to live. Inside the barn is Daiba, who frightens the children. Knee pain prevents him from chasing after them. Erica wanders back over to him to see if he is alright. Daiba promptly hypnotizes her into helping him do his chores, and also to dissuade her from entering the barn.
With the chores over, Erica still shows interest in entering the barn. Daiba is confused as to why, even after being made to work hard, Erica is still set on sneaking into the barn. She explains that, as the daughter of a blacksmith, she is no stranger to manual labor. Then, telling Daiba to wait where he is, she runs off to find the wagon in which she arrived at Falconia with Rickert and two other refugees. She rummages through a chest that was left in the wagon and, finding a leg brace, she brings it back to Daiba. Fastening it on his leg, she explains that the leg brace was her father's before he died.
Luca wanders over to inspect Daiba's new leg brace and berates him for not informing her of his leg pain. She then asks Erica if she was the one who built the leg brace, but Erica says that its inventor was Rickert, who also created small bombs and a repeater crossbow. She then begins to reminisce about her father, saying that he forged an enormous sword. Daiba dismisses the notion as impossible, saying that no person could wield the sword. While Erica attempts to convince him that it's true, both Daiba and Luca silently reflect on one man they both know who does wield such a blade.
Rickert and Locus enter Pandemonium. Inside, they find a giant arena. In the arena itself, an apostle fights against an ogre while other apostles occupy the seats above, cheering on the battle. While the battle in the arena rages on, Locus explains that Pandemonium is meant to satisfy the apostles' appetite for bloodshed. He then reveals to the horrified Rickert that all apostles were once humans who were given new bodies and lives by the will of causality and that, normally, they work independently of each other. However, Griffith has rounded them up and, in exchange for granting them a place to which they belong, they act as his fighting force to defend humankind.
Thanks to Griffith, Locus says, humans no longer fight each other and no longer need to fear death.
Characters[]
- Griffith
- Rickert
- Locus
- Owen
- Guts (flashback)
- Irvine (flashback)
- Zodd (flashback)
- Erica
- Daiba
- Luca
- Borkoff