Berserk : The Deviant

"Are you going to stop what you're doing ? Your disgusting manners are preventing me from working properly..." Giorgio complained about Barkha eating in his office, purposely exaggerating the chewing noises to tease him.

"I'm your bodyguard ; you have to put up with my manners for your safety. Besides, you work too much...we should go relax and explore this city." Barkha told him boredly while gnawing on a chicken leg.

Giorgio: It's through work that my family has achieved this level of prestige, but I suppose that's quite difficult for a throat-slitter like you to understand.

"It's a job just like yours, my dear Giorgio. Tomorrow morning, 15 ,000 gold pieces will fill my pockets when the head of good old Emperor Theodore is delivered to me." Barkha told him amusedly before throwing a grape, which he caught with his mouth to eat.

 Ros entered the room and immediately moved closer to Barkha.

"It's done, Guts is gone. Did he come to say goodbye ?" she asked, and Barkha sat her on his lap as Giorgio cleared his throat, a reaction that made Barkha smile.

"He came to see me before leaving for his duel. We talked, and I sent him to Tudor to progress. I left some rather formidable wandering warriors there, and he'll find a reason to live by his sword in this empire." He told her calmly.

Ros: When do we set off ? I want to leave this kingdom too.

"We'll leave the day after tomorrow in the morning when I've finished negotiating new agreements regarding our affairs here. I promise you won't be bored, Lady Ros..." Giorgio replied, and Ros smiled after thanking him. Vincent, Leo, Kail, and Marco arrived to take over Giorgio's close protection, and Barkha left with Ros to have a little fun in the city.

(far inland to the east of the continent)

Above the Forest of Rot, a huge winged shadow passed over the trees, and it was that of Apostle Zodd in his transformed form, landing outside a huge old Gothic castle covered in rotten vegetation, just like the trees in this forest.

He regained his human form before entering the castle completely naked, equipped only with his sword. Humanoid creatures with bodies ravaged by pestilence, grubs, and rot got in his way, and he killed them almost effortlessly. There were hundreds of them, but he didn't seem to care.

"MILLENIA, ARE YOU GONNA FIGHT ME OR LET ME PLAY WITH YOUR WASTE ?" he yelled at someone, and seconds later, a woman who was the spitting image of Malenia from Elden Ring appeared before him.

"Zodd, Why are you here ? I don't want to fight you, so go away..." She said in a dull tone as Zodd crossed his arms.

"Few apostles can give me a real fight, and you are to my knowledge the strongest after me . I lack a valiant opponent to fight, so I came to challenge you. Come, brandish your thorn and let me taste your sword skill once again..." Zodd said as a smile appeared on his face when he saw Millenia pull out of the palm of her hand a long, sharp, red thorn similar to a blade.

The truth was that Millenia loved feeling her blood boil against powerful opponents as much as Zodd did. Her power was only slightly inferior to Zodd's and her swordsmanship greater than his except in the latter's ultimate form, which was Calamity, a form that very few apostles had the chance to see and which earned him the respect of all. 

The two opponents were about to begin their confrontation when a voice interrupted them.

"Korsa left us, and no one...no one seems to care...poor Korsa..." A very high-pitched male voice was heard as a handsome, androgynous man who looked exactly like Millenia appeared. His hair was long and blond, while Millenia's was blood red.

"Mirkellia...the twin apostles are never far from each other. Tss, DON'T INTERRUPT OUR FIGHT..." Zodd told him with displeasure as Mirkellia, still floating in the air like a fish in water and completely naked, moved closer to Zodd and began to circle around him seductively.

"Zodd my dear, your virility still makes me shiver so much... I beg you, share my bed for the days to come..." He whispered in Zodd's ear, putting his tongue inside before Zodd sent a sword slash that pierced the image of Mirkellia, which was in fact an illusion.

Millenia: Brother, why are you awake ?

 "Things are starting to fall into place, I saw it...I saw the advent of our fifth lord the one who carries the red egg...it's coming soon but I also saw...the shadow that erased Korsa...a powerful deviant like never before...conceived of an apostle and born of a dead woman...Slan our Angel tastes his virility and I feel her pleasure..." Mirkellia said while caressing her body in an erotic way with excitement.

"Korsa was one of the 20 most powerful apostles, the deviant must be an interesting opponent..." Zodd said with interest while Millenia remained silent.

"Our angels warn us about him, he's dangerous and unpredictable... it makes me want to meet him even more. I want to taste the pleasures he offers to Slan, our angel, but she'll destroy me if I lust after him too much..." Mirkellia said sadly as Zodd immediately transformed to leave, destroying part of the old castle.

He wanted to meet and confront the deviant of this era even though he had no specific information on Barkha.

"He's always so rude and unmannered..." Millenia criticized Zodd as Mirkellia's illusory image disappeared with a laugh as he returned to Slan's realm of pain and pleasure through the Nexus. He was the only apostle who could reside in a Godhand's domain.

(Tudor Empire) 

That night in the capital of the Holy empire of Tudor, the Imperial Castle was silent as corpses of guards littered the bloody floor.

The Imperial Chamber was open as a tall figure dressed in black with a cape covering its head emerged with a round, bloody object wrapped in black cloth.

This figure was Duro, who held the decapitated head of Emperor Theodore while the latter's headless corpse lay in his bed with that of a concubine with a broken neck. 

Duro walked calmly through the palace corridors as his men emerged from the shadows to join his march, disappearing into the night.

After this massacre in the Imperial Palace, the Brotherhood of Shadows had just struck Tudor, who was already weakened after losing the war against Midland.

The cursed raven was summoned to bring Theodore's head back to Barkha in Midland as proof of the assassination mission's success, and they could have succeeded just as well without killing the guards, but Duro wanted to spill blood and shock to increase fear of them. 

A decision that would pay off given the chaos this massacre would cause. Duro's physical appearance was quite atypical; he was taller and more muscular than Guts, Darkskin, slightly pointed ears, icy grey eyes, and several scars on his face from the cruel and intense training given by Barkha.

Obviously, the dark skin, pointed ears, and grey eyes were due to the physical changes brought about by the almost exclusive consumption of monster flesh and the fruits of the dark elf trees in the underground of Golm; they were becoming hybrids between humans and dark elves, with all the physical advantages that this entailed.

The package arrived in Barkha at first light, the Midland King himself saw the severed head of his old enemy with satisfaction before paying the 15,000 gold pieces to a delighted Barkha who had just started a wonderful day. Giorgio and he spent their last day in Midland before leaving with Ros.

A few days after their departure, there was a heavy rain during which Griffith came to see Princess Charlotte in her apartments and sleep with her, the ultimate act that would cause his downfall and that of the falcons just as in the main reality.