chapter 6 : Deal...

Guts and Griffith held one in front of the other and knowing that their leader was going to fight, more and more hawks came to look at the fight and encourage.

"We start when you are ready ..." Griffith said, holding his thin sword tightly with which he made quick movements to slice through the air before taking his guard .

Guts looked at him calmly and nodded by placing his sword in front of him in his classic combat position.

Each of them observed the other for a moment in silence that settled and it was Guts who advanced towards his opponent and struck a fairly fast vertical blow that Griffith dodged to counterattack quickly but Guts was shifted to the right to avoid attack.

They crossed swords while and Guts was quite relaxed, he gave fast and quite strong strikes that Griffith could only deflect or dodge before he could fight back, he had very precise parades and counterattacks that Guts was blocking or dodged without too many problems despite Griffith's speed.

This duel had nothing to do with their first fight in the main reality where Guts swung his sword without too much strategy or technique by counting only on a poorly exploited speed and the brute force.

Here, he had been trained hard by Barkha, allowing him to obtain both technique and power like the more experienced guts in the manga which humiliated Silat in the tournament before returning to rescue Griffith with the hawks.

The exchange continued like that and Griffith was definitely serious because Guts was really a hard challenge, he pushed his speed to his entrenchments to succeed with difficulty making cuts on his arms and stabbing the left shoulder of Guts who fell under Celebrations of the hawks who encouraged Griffith even louder . Ros found the scene quite funny and made a mischievous smile in front of this situation.

"I have the upper hand, you should give up before you seriously injure yourself. You're really strong and believe me, I weigh my words . Let's stop this duel now ... " Griffith told Guts who watched him without saying anything before taking a strange combat position.

He placed his long sword on his shoulder by lowering his pelvis while his left arm hung (it was Artorias' position in Dark Souls).

"What is this strange posture?" 

"It seems exhausted"

"It looks like his left arm is unusable, Griffith stabbed his shoulder ..."

The others commented when Ros shook her head , this fight was already over.

Griffith looked at Guts's position and felt that his aura had changed slightly, as if he finally put a little seriousness.

He couldn't believe it, the boys in front of him who had given him so much difficulty in this duel had not fought seriously until now . In a way, it frustrated him and the scar in his chest began to itch.

Guts rushed to him and Griffith attempted a horribly fast strike that Guts dodged before turning on himself and there, Griffith felt that things became bad so he prepared to block a powerful blow but he underestimated the force of a sword blow from a Guts who had become serious in this duel .

*KEEGHT*

The violent metallic crash was heard while this blow stumbled Griffith on the side which felt his hand tremble but that was not all, Guts pivoted a second time and while Griffith was expecting a second Attack on the big sword , it was actually a quick and violent kick right on his ribs.

Griffith was sent to the ground to the big shock of the others and before he could even straighten up, Guts stomped on the wrist of his armed arm to prevent him from raising his sword and his second foot on Griffith's chest held down before placing the tip of his sword in front of a defeated Griffith's neck. 

"GRIFFITH, NO !! " Casca shouted when she saw Griffith in danger just like the others who rushed by believing that Guts was going to kill him. Casca immediately armed her crossbow but someone stopped her from doing anything 

"Don't do that..." Ros told her when she had already cocked her bow aiming at Casca who first looked at her before looking at Guts again the latter finally left Griffith on the ground while the latter could only contemplate the clouds when realizing that once again, he had lost to someone .

"It looks like you are even more great than I thought, I'll pay you on your terms, and you'll leave when you want . Welcome to the Band of the Falcon but could you at least give me your name?" Griffith said smiling and Guts looked at him for a few moments.

"Guts ..." He said curtly to Griffith before putting away his sword. Casca sighed in relief before putting away his crossbow and Ros did the same with her bow.

"Did you see when she took out her bow ?" 

"No, I was too absorbed by the fight"

"Incredible, she's fast !!" 

"It looks like we have new comrades, (throws him a small purse of money) that's your share . I like the scar on your nose, it's quite attractive." Ros said before kissing him on the lips , a gesture that made the others very jealous of Guts .

"Incredible, he beat Griffith !! »

"She kissed hil on the mouth !! »

"Damn, who's this Guy ?! »

Corkus: Tsk ! He only defeated Griffith out of pure chance, Griffith stumbled by himself and this coward took advantage of it.

Guts listened to this and got closer to Corkus before giving him a violent punch on his face, the blow brutally broke Corkus' nose who bleed immediately and he grabbed him by the neck.

" You are the one who attacked us and you have not stopped opening it since earlier. Go ahead, repeat what you just said " He asked Corkus who could no longer speak . Judeau approached Guts politely asking him to spare Corkus who was urinating in his clothes and Guts finally left him on the ground. 

Guts and Ros settled in a corner a little isolated from the one in the falcon camp, they were now part of this mercenary troop and for the next few years, Guts will share his talents with the others. 

The days have passed and as in the main reality, Casca has developed a sick jealousy for Guts that Griffith had longed for so much by his side. Guts didn't give a damn about Casca's bad looks and she didn't even exist for him.

In this reality, his behavior was quite different from the one he had at that time because of Barkha. Guts didn't shy away from those who were friendly to him, and they discovered that he was a fairly easy-going person, but one who should not be disrespected. 

Barely a week after joining the troupe , Guts and Ros were going to participate in their first mission, the objective was to attack the enemy base at night to burn their provisions and their armor. Griffith had scheduled positions for each and Guts was in charge of covering the rear guard and taking care of their pursuers. Seeing no problem with this, Guts asked to plan his own maneuver to complete his task .

Griffith asked Guts if he had a plan and Guts told him that he only needed a few skilled archers with Ros to complete this task and after watching him for a few seconds, Griffith gave him permission for the operation. 

Casca, listening to them, was firmly opposed to it because Guts was only a new one and giving him command of some of theirs was certainly a mistake but Griffith told her that he trusted his intuition in Guts.

For Griffith himself, it surprised him to have so much confidence in someone because Guts was different from his men , they were like pawns that were happy to be guided by him but Guts was différent. None of the others had ever had the courage to try to bring something to one of his plans like a herd following him. 

The evening of the attack, everything went as planned. By following Griffith's orders, they were of coordination and efficiency that impressed Guts, he sincerely found Griffith's leadership excellent for this attack and now it was his turn to do his part.

After reaching their goal, the hawks retreated to a path in the forest which led to the castle where their camps were. Guts riding at the rear saw the pursuers arriving and slowed down his horse before turning strictly to sit in the opposite direction of his horse with his large sword on the shoulder.

The enemy fired crossbow bolts at him and only two of them could have hit him but he deflected them with his sword , a frightening prowess knowing that it was dark.

The enemy riders were starting to catch up with him and with a smile, he asked them to come closer . They started attacking him with their swords but Guts killed them one by one, he was fast but it was his terrifying strength that brought down the enemies one by one without making any unnecessary movement or by wounding their horses to panic them. 

None of them were able to hurt him and he didn't let anyone through despite a few light cuts but when they arrived at a certain level of the road, Ros and the hidden archers posted on both sides of the forest road began to shoot arrows on the enemy.

In addition to having guts who massacred part of them, the enemy dealt with ambushed archers and all this in the middle of the night, it was too scary for the few remaining riders who decided to retreat .

Guts replaced himself properly on his horse that he congratulated, a particularly intelligent animal, easy to order, difficult to frighten and that he had bought a fairly expensive price one year and a half ago from a trainer that had guaranteed him the reliability of the animal, the horse trainer had not lied .

When he had almost arrived at the castle where the others were waiting for, Ros and the other archers left the forest on their horses to catch up with him. 

"You did a great job" Guts congratulated them and Ros told him that the credit goes to him because it was his plan. 

When they arrived, the others welcomed them , their retirement had cost no loss thanks to Guts and Griffith on his horse looked at him in a significant way, he finally had someone on his side on who he could count seriously.

Casca was brave and intelligent but had her limits but Guts was something apart, he had beaten him in battle and Griffith knew his own level.

Guts was the key to carrying out his projects, the gear that was missing so that machine could work at its full potential and now for Griffith, its path had never been so well traced.

He smiled at Guts who gave him a nod , that night they drank and eat together in a good atmosphere when Judeau didn't have to look for him with the others to join them. Unfortunately for them, their night was seriously disrupted later by Ros' loud moans in her romps with Guts. 

The next day when he was lying with Ros completely naked in their tent, Judeau called him outside and told him that Griffith wanted to discuss something important with him and that he was waiting for him in the well.

Guts came out of there with only a fabric that covered the lower body and the others saw all scars that he had following his training with Barkha and the very worked physique he had at this age.

He found Griffith at the well and he was completely naked to take a bath. He suggested that Guts shower as well as it was excellent for getting a clear head after a night of drinking , Guts just nodded to accept but without taking off his cloth .

As he took water, Griffith sent him a jet of water from his bucket and Guts looked at him significantly.

" Seriously ?!" Guts asked him with boredom and when Griffith gave him a childish smile, Guts sent him a jet of water in turn and followed a water battle where the two had fun. After these childishness, the two had a discussion and everything was said as in the main reality. Griffith spoke to him openly about his plans and told Guts that he was important. 

He asked Guts if he had a dream and Guts told him that it was to be free. He dreamed of going wherever he seemed and tracing his freedom by the thread of his sword, of being so strong that even the kings could not tear this freedom to him to join the legends who traced their own destinies and he will do it by his sword.

Griffith knowing that Guts had his own dream and projects looked at him with even more interest, the boy in front of him had his own interests and it was not someone who belonged to him like the others gave him printing.

Guts was strong, intelligent and had his own motivations, his own ambitions detached from Griffith's and at that moment in front of his determined gaze, he saw Guts as an equal to him.

Griffith : From today on, you will have the rank of captain in the troop and command about a hundred men . You'll have the freedom to act as you see fit but in the realization of my battle plan.

"It suits me but some will not be happy, I'll train my men myself to be reliable at my orders and my way of doing things. We'll run your goals in our own way. That's fine with you ?" Guts asked while looking at him. 

Griffith: That's fine with me, don't ask me why but I know I can count on you. As for the others, let me take care of calming their discontent, we'll go far, Guts and you will only have to answer to me and me alone. 

Guts: Deal…

*********

Writing about a work as complex as berserk is really a challenge because some events are forced to happen because of causality, ignoring this important element of the work is like removing its backbone and distorting the universe itself.