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The Incarnation Ceremony (肉体化の儀式) is a sacrificial ceremony that occurs once in a millennium to give one from the divine domain (神の領域) a fully corporeal body once a force field (力場) -known as a "concentration" in the Dark Horse translation- of negative human thoughts reaches a critical point. This force field is known as a festival (祭り), which is a divine work that traces a phenomenon in the divine domain. Imitating the Eclipse without being exactly the same, humans cannot change its course. The Incarnation Ceremony is an instrumental plot device to bring back the Falcon.[1]

Story[]

Due to being a huge body of thought, God Hand members can't physically interact with the world even if they may exist in any place where negative human thoughts swirl in a large concentration.[1]

Having been the site of numerous atrocities, the Tower of Conviction and the city of Albion gradually gained an increase of restless spirits of people who died of numerous causes from unjust deaths to starvation, plague and disease.[2][3][4] At the same time, many plague and famine refugees had flocked there, desiring the "Falcon of Light" as the savior they dreamed of.[5][1]

At one point in the two years that preceded the festival, a deformed wretch in the city who desired a new world became an apostle.[6] This being, calling himself the Egg of the Perfect World, began to orchestrate various events in the city in preparation for the Incarnation Ceremony. Through the means of causality, the preparations were met when Luca brought Casca into the city with Guts following soon after.[7][8][9] Large masses of spirits begin appearing then. First possessing the members of a heretic group, the mass is identified by Isidro "like the smoke swooped down on them like it was alive".[10][11]

Mozgus and his men surrounded

Mozgus and his men witness the beginning of the ceremony.

When Casca is captured and taken into the Tower of Conviction, her presence within its walls brings forth the spirits of those who have suffered antagonizing and unjust deaths under the Holy See.[12] These spirits take residence in a blob made of human blood which consumes all humans within reach with the exception of Casca, as the Demon Child was using its energy to protect her.[13][14] During that time, Mozgus and his men end up being turned into pseudo-apostles by the Egg of the New World with the inquisitor attempting to burn Casca at the stake on the notion that her death will put an end to the monstrosities and show God's victory to the masses.[14][15]

Guts and comapny prepare to hold out

Guts and company prepare to survive the ceremony until daybreak.

At the same time, in the hideout of the Egg of the Perfect World, mounds of corpses appear. According to the Skull Knight and Puck, it's the essence of the malice that permeates the place, but they ponder on how unlikely it is for it to materialize in such a shape and size in this world even if both Branded individuals are in the same place.[16][17]. This malice absorbed the feelings of bitterness and desire for salvation coming from the people it swallows, steadily expanding.[4] The mound then makes its way outside of the tower, which is then partially damaged and crumbles into the shape of a giant hand.[16]

Meanwhile, the refugee slum falls into chaos as possessed refugees slaughter everyone. The fires in the surrounding camps formed a giant Brand of Sacrifice. The Holy Iron Chain Knights fend off the possessed people while Mozgus uses his flames to create a barrier to keep the corpse mounds from advancing further.[15] In the tower, the mounds take the corpses of Mozgus' torturers and reshape as the God Hand members (minus Femto) as a "shadow" of the real ones.[18] The fire eventually dies out and the corpse mounds soon converge on the refugees as Mozgus is killed;[19] his burning body enabling those surrounding him to be spared. Though a group of lucid refugees managed to take refuge into the tower, get to a high place and lock the gate, the corpses breach it and soon flood in.[20]

The tower crowds then fall down and are subsequently swallowed by the malice, which converges on the tower and forms an outer layer. As Puck notices, the living and the dead are "crying out in desire for one thing".[4] By that time, having swallowed the body of Guts and Casca's dying demon child before reaching the "palm" of the tower,[21] the Egg of the Perfect World conducts the final phase where the child's body fuses into the vessel for Griffith before "hatching" from the apostle's dying body. The voices of Saint Albion's living and dead people desiring the "new world" brought forth by Griffith's incarnation make Guts' beherit resonate. Both Guts and Casca feel a intense pain coming from their brands and the tower collapses anew.[22][23] In the end, only Guts and a handful of people survived the night-long ordeal.[24]

Notes[]

References[]

  1. ^ a b c Berserk :: Volume 18, "Spirit Road (2)"
  2. ^ Berserk :: Volume 18, "Children of the Shadows"
  3. ^ Berserk :: Volume 18, "Spirit Road (1)"
  4. ^ a b c Berserk :: Volume 21, "Resonance"
  5. ^ Berserk :: Volume 17, "To the Holy Ground (1)"
  6. ^ Berserk :: Volume 20, "Unknown One at the Bottom of the Deep"
  7. ^ Berserk :: Volume 17, "To the Holy Ground (2)"
  8. ^ Berserk :: Volume 19, "Straying"
  9. ^ Berserk :: Volume 20, "Omen"
  10. ^ Berserk :: Volume 18, "Zealot"
  11. ^ Berserk :: Volume 19, "Ambitious Boy"
  12. ^ Berserk :: Volume 19, "Iron Maiden"
  13. ^ Berserk :: Volume 19, "Blood Flow of the Dead (1)"
  14. ^ a b Berserk :: Volume 20, "Spider's Thread"
  15. ^ a b Berserk :: Volume 20, "Shadow of Idea (1)"
  16. ^ a b Berserk :: Volume 20, "Collapse"
  17. ^ Berserk :: Volume 21, "One Who Clings, One Who Struggles"
  18. ^ Berserk :: Volume 20, "Shadow of Idea (2)"
  19. ^ Berserk :: Volume 21, "Tsunami of Darkness (1)"
  20. ^ Berserk :: Volume 21, "Tsunami of Darkness (2)"
  21. ^ Berserk :: Volume 20, "Shadow of Idea (3)"
  22. ^ Berserk :: Volume 21, "Falling Sky"
  23. ^ Berserk :: Volume 22, "Beast Swordsman vs Black Swordsman"
  24. ^ Berserk :: Volume 21, "Dawn"

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