Chapter 5 Zodd the Immortal

I just finished this so someone please read and comment

Chapter 5

Zodd the immortal

     Griffith looked down at the castle wear the Hawks had laid siege. The main front wall had a huge gaping hole in it from the nearby ballista catapults. The gates leading into the main part of the castle were in splinters and many of the Hawks swarmed up the hill towards the castle. The overcast sky cracked with lightning and was shortly followed by a roar of thunder.  Griffith stared towards the castle with an iron gaze. Judeau was beside him and looked at him from the corner of his eye. Griffith hadn’t taken his hand off of the beherit around his neck, nor had he taken his eyes off the castle. Judeau was about to say something when he heard a horseman galloping up towards them. He looked to see if the rider was friend or foe and saw it was one of the Hawks and listened closer as the rider approached he saw the man was shouting something but couldn’t hear him until the man was nearer to them. “Message! Message! Message!” the rider reigned in his horse about a yard away from Griffith, dismounted, and kneeling he reported, “We have successfully brought the enemy castle under control.” Griffith turned his head towards the messenger and asked, “And the commander?” “We have not reached him. The Raiders under Guts’ command are laying siege to the castle’s keep.” At this Griffith’s eyes widened. The messenger then continued, “But due to one immensely powerful soldier, who is fighting with the enemy they cannot clear a path.”

     Casca was sitting behind Griffith and when she heard this she muttered, “One soldier?”  Corkus hearing this message chuckled and said, “One soldier? What a pathetic commander.” Griffith however was staring at the castle again with an even harder gaze and Casca could have sworn she saw a slight twinge of fear. “Zodd.” The barely audible whisper made Casca and Corkus turn suddenly in their saddles and look around and saw it was Judeau with his head bent. Judeau continued with Casca, Corkus, Pippin, and Ricket all leaning in to hear him better, “It was something I heard about before we joined the war effort. People say that Nosferatu Zodd sometimes fights among the enemy lines.” Casca looked at him skeptically but remembering Judeau was never one to joke about serious matters. She then said, “Nosferatu…Zodd the Immortal?” This made all the men behind them start to murmur and shift uneasily in their saddles. Pippin looked down at Ricket and in his unusually deep voice asked, “Who is he?” Looking back up at Pippin Ricket answered, “Haven’t you heard of him Pippin!?” Pippin shrugged and rubbed the back of his head as Ricket continued, “Zodd the Immortal. He’s well known and feared as a legendary fighter among mercenaries. They say he’s taken the heads of hundreds or even thousands in battle. But that’s not the only reason why he is feared, sometimes he returns to battle after reportedly being killed in a previous one! Believe it or not, he’s been around for a hundred years, as far as the accounts of his exploits go.” “A hundred?” Pippin asked. “That’s why he’s known as Nosferatu Zodd.” Ricket answered. This conversation had now interested Corkus and he looked over at the pair of them and said incredulously, “Tell me you’re kidding! You aren’t going to take that kind of fairytale seriously are you Ricket? And Pippin I expected more.” Ricket looked back at Corkus obviously hurt, “You don’t know what you’re talking about! Many mercenaries believe he is the god of war!” Corkus shook his head disapprovingly and said, “Fine.”  Griffith meanwhile was still staring at the castle as Judeau said, “I don’t like the look of the sky.”

     Meanwhile in the courtyard of the castle bodies were strewn all over the ground. Several bodies were covered in arrows, and there were five men fallen on a cannon in front of the now splintered main gates, and the men all had a large slash across their chests. Five men were restraining Guts and were about to lose their grip on him when another man jumped in front of Guts and heaved but only succeeded in halting his advance momentarily. “Let go of me Gaston!” Guts shouted. “No way Commander!” the man called Gaston responded. “I’m not going to warn you again! Now step aside before I do something we’ll both regret!” “I need some help over here! You all have to help me stop the commander.” Gaston shouted beginning to lose his ability to hold Guts back. Guts hearing what Gaston had said pushed forward with even more ferocity and swung at Gaston screaming, “Get out of my way!” Gaston ducked just barely missing the blow from Guts and shoved on Guts’ breastplate as two more men jumped in to help restrain Guts. “Why don’t we just wait a little bit longer.” Gaston pleaded. “How can you say that!? They’ve been in there for two hours! Those are my men in there, Gaston! Now move it!” with that Guts surged forward and broke free of all the men’s hold on him and stormed towards the castle’s keep. Gaston then jumped and grabbed hold of Guts’ right leg and clung to it begging, “Then please, ask Captain Griffith for reinforcements!” Guts had finally had all he could take and reached down and picked up Gaston by his neck and shouted his eyes narrowing, “If you contact Griffith, you’ll die for it! One soldier. If there is one soldier in there killing all five hundred of the Hawks Raiders I can’t live with it!” Guts then tossed Gaston down on the ground and roared, “This is a complete disgrace!” He was prevented from continuing his tirade by shouts coming from the men outside with him. They were all shouting, “Delos! It’s Delos! Delos!” He then turned and saw the man called Delos limping out of the corridor that led into the castle’s keep. He was covered in blood and his right eye could not open, Guts assumed it was because it had been gouged out. Delos staggered towards Guts with his arm outstretched but he did not seem to be looking at them but rather beyond them. “It’s Delos!” Guts said breathlessly. Delos then collapsed just in front of Guts but was caught by Guts before he hit the ground. “Just hang on!” Guts said. Delos couldn’t move his head but gasped, “Zodd.” “What did you say Delos?” Guts asked. “Zodd the immortal!” and with that he  died. “Did he say?” Guts gasped and as the men around began to murmur he lifted Delos off of himself and then placed him gently on the ground, and then rose wordlessly. Guts then walked towards the entrance to the keep with renewed anger. Gaston seeing Guts was about to enter said, “Hang on a minute! Commander!” Guts then snapped his body around and shouted, “Stay back! Make sure no one follows me. I will settle this alone.” He then turned and walked into the darkness of the castle’s keep. A few seconds later he came into a torch’s light and his eyes widened at what he saw. There were at least twenty bodies strewn about the ante chamber. They had all been slaughtered with wounds from a humongous sword that must have rivaled his own in size. What startled him the most though, was that the bodies all had been ripped apart as if whoever had killed them delighted in completely destroying his opponents. Blood was splattered across the walls and  pillars in the chamber. Guts proceeded to walk deeper into the keep but paused to press his hand against one of the blood stained walls and realized the blood was still wet, meaning that these men were slain shortly before he entered the keep. He then drew his sword and walked past the gruesome sight. He stepped over a mound of dead men and began to wonder what kind of man could kill this many men so savagely. He then heard a scream from down the hall and gritted his teeth, and ran into the dark hallway. What awaited him was far worse than what he had seen earlier. The bodies in this room were skewered on the pillars and chandeliers. But the worse thing of all was that these bodies had been gnawed on. There was a  pile in one corner of the chamber of all the men’s heads. Guts’ breathing became shallow in the flickering torchlight of the chamber as he saw how his men had been torn apart so easily by just one man.  Guts then turned and saw a great beast of a man standing with his back to him. The man wore no shirt and had a thick leather belt and boots that went up to mid-shin. The man turned and Guts saw that this man could not be human. His ears were pointed and his eyes had no pupils and were blood red. His jaw was set low and his canine teeth jutted up giving him a demonic look. His skin was a dingy greenish brown and his hair was a long tattered black mess. He surveyed Guts for a moment his eyes never blinking. Guts shuddered when he saw that the sword Zodd was holding was dripping with blood from the two soldiers that were impaled on it. This final sight put Guts over the edge and he gripped his blade with both of his hands and charged at Zodd. Zodd then swung his mighty cutlass down towards Guts who could just barely block in time but was sent hurdling back and slammed into a column with the two men who had been on Zodd’s blade earlier. Zodd walked over to where Guts was looked him over again. Guts raised his head and stood with his blade in his hands. Zodd’s eyes then seemed to change for a moment as Guts stared into them with a feral look in his own eyes. “What is that?” Guts thought beginning to feel the effect of Zodd’s blow. “You evaded my attack successfully. Well done.” Zodd stated. His voice was low and echoed in the hall. He then gripped his sword tighter and swung it down at Guts. Guts lifted his blade just in time to block his blow. Zodd attacked him repeatedly but to no avail. Guts finally took a knee after an attempted cleave at his head and having blocked the blow he rolled just in time to avoid a crushing attack made by Zodd aimed at Guts’ torso. The force of the blow shattered the column Guts had just had his back to, and as the rubble fell around him Zodd stabbed at the ground where Guts lay. Guts rolled out of the way and continued to roll and then stood. He was prevented from launching an attack by Zodd’s sword. Just as he stood, Zodd raised his arms back and swung at Guts’ torso. Guts blocked, but was sent hurdling through the air and crashing into the wall. He landed on his feet with one hand on the ground and the other on his sword. He shuddered as he tried to stand. He could feel his head bleeding from where he had just struck the wall and as he tried to regain his senses he saw Zodd approaching him. He had never paid much attention to Zodd’s weapon but he saw it was actually shorter than his own but was shaped like a backwards cutlass and was sharpened on both sides. As he looked up at Zodd, the burly man said, “Impressive.” Guts couldn’t stand the way he spoke. It was as if Zodd took great relish in fighting him. Guts muttered, “It’s a monster!” realizing that there was no way any normal man could have done this.

      Outside of the keep all of the Hawks were gathered and Griffith was dismounting from his horse as he turned and said, “I’m going in. The rest of you wait here.” Everyone around him began to whisper and Judeau volunteered to go with him but Griffith calmly said, “Don’t worry I will bring Guts back. Now move out!” Casca merely looked at him not knowing what to say or do.

     Back inside the keep Zodd was laughing a deep throaty laugh and as he wiped the drool from his mouth he said, “During the past fifty years not a single warrior has been able to defend against my attack, except you.” Guts gritted his teeth and thought, “He is far stronger than any swordsman I have ever stood against. He is the strongest! No more than that. His strength is not human. What can I do? I’ve only been able to defend myself so far because of the size of my blade! One strike of his would easily shatter a normal sword. So the strength of our weapons are at least equal.” Guts then pulled his sword back to strike at Zodd. Zodd seeing this grinned revealing all of his teeth. Guts noted they were all pointed and that the two that jutted up were really more like tusks than actual teeth. Zodd then said, “So you intend to gamble your life on a single strike. Ha, ha, ha! You’re relying on the strength of your blade to launch one final attack, but your logic is flawed! Your brains will be scattered before your sword even reaches my body. Interesting. I accept your challenge.” Zodd then raised his blade over his head as Guts charged towards him. They both swung their mammoth blades at one another but Guts’ sword cut through Zodd’s. Zodd watched as his blade went flying through the air and embedded itself in a nearby column. “My sword!” Zodd stammered. Guts then jumped and stabbed Zodd in his chest. Blood poured from the wound as Zodd staggered back. Guts grinned but was instantly stopped when he saw Zodd grab hold of his blade where it had pierced his chest and pulled it out causing blood to begin to ooze from the wound. Zodd’s eyes then seemed to gain an almost iridescent glow which paired  with their already blood red color only made Guts more certain he was not human. “This is the first time that I have been so deeply gored by the sword of a human!” With that he began to change as his veins bulged and as his muscles began to grow so did he. His hair grew into a mane and from his fore head sprouted two bull-like horns. His fingernails turned into claws and his skin grew dark brown hair. His teeth all grew to match his tusks in size. “Throughout my three hundred years of slaughtering, you are the first one to wound me like this!” Guts then realized that Zodd had now grown to over twenty feet in height with huge hooves for feet and a ten foot tail; and for the first time in several years, Guts felt true fear. He began to sweat and his breath grew shallow as he gazed into the two black slits that had formed in the middle of Zodd’s blood red eyes. “Now this is getting exciting! You’ve made my blood boil! It has not boiled in many years! To feel like this again! To face an opponent like you! For the past three hundred years I have lived for this! Now fight with me! You must not let me down!” With that Zodd raised his hand and swatted Guts into a nearby column. Guts fell to the ground and as bits of stone and mortar fell around him Zodd lifted his head and roared. Guts raised his head and half audibly gasped, “It’s impossible. There’s no way a monster like this can exist! Not in the real world!” He then forced himself to stand and grasped his sword. Zodd ran at Guts intending to impale him on his horns. Guts lunged to his right to avoid him and saw Zodd smash into the column and shatter it. Zodd then struck out at him with his arm, Guts dodged and then sliced with his sword but was blocked by Zodd’s horn. Guts tried to force Zodd back but was struck by Zodd’s left arm and smashed into a wall, blood seeping down his face. “What are you doing!? Giving up already!?” Zodd exclaimed reaching forward and grabbing Guts with an arm in each hand. “Is this the limit to your strength!? Is that it!? Well I suppose you’ve done admirably for a human, but if you cannot fight anymore, I will tear you limb from limb!!” Zodd then opened his maw and roared as he squeezed both of Guts’ arms causing him to scream in agony. 

     Suddenly a volley of arrows embedded themselves in Zodd’s back. He then turned and saw fifteen crossbowmen in two rows, one group kneeling and the others standing, being led by a man with long white hair and piercing blue eyes wearing white armor. Guts mustered himself to open his eyes to see what had caused Zodd to stop in his torture and he saw who it was, “Griffith.” He gasped. The crossbowmen were all gasping at what they saw, “What is that thing! Is that, Nosferatu Zodd!” Griffith narrowed his eyes and said, “Ready the next volley.” The men raised their crossbows and let loose a hail of arrows but Zodd blocked them with his arm, throwing Guts to the floor in the process. “Did we get him?” One of the men asked hopefully. He then saw Zodd move his arm stare at Griffith and say, “Inexcusable! I will forgive no one who interrupts our fight!” He then roared and charged at Griffith and then men, his horns lowered and his hooves shattering the floor where they struck. Guts knew what Zodd was intending, but was only able to gasp, “No...get out of the way…run away!” He was too late as Zodd rammed through the group of archers blood dyeing his horns crimson.

     Outside the keep the members of the Hawks were waiting impatiently outside the keep. Corkus then asked, “What  is going on in there? Griffith or someone should have been back by now.” Gaston looking towards the keep replied, “I wonder, if Zodd already killed off Guts, Sir Griffith, and the others by now.” Ricket looked over at them and said, “Don’t talk nonsense Gaston they couldn’t have both been killed its not possible.” “So what’s taking so long?” asked Pippin. “What should we do Casca?” asked Judeau leaning toward Casca. She bowed her head and said, “We keep on waiting.” Judeau was unsatisfied by this answer and said, “Aren’t you worried about them?” “Griffith ordered us to wait here.” Casca answered firm in here resolve.

      Inside the keep Zodd let loose a mighty roar as he shot his arm forward and smashed one of the men’s head against a column. He crushed another man with his other hand and howled once more. The men were now in a panic and Zodd was taking full advantage, if not pleasure, in it. Zodd lifted up one of his hoofed feet and smashed a soldier beneath him. Griffith then looked to his men and as he drew his sword he said, “I want you all to retreat. All of you go!” He then ran to where Guts was lying on the ground and knelt beside him. Meanwhile some of the men in spite of Griffith’s order had mustered themselves to attack and charged at Zodd. “Guts!” Griffith said hearing the men’s cries for mercy as Zodd ripped them to shreds. “You fool! Why’d you come?” Guts snapped. Griffith then placed Guts arm around his shoulder and hoisted him to his feet saying, “You can complain all you like, after we escape.” Guts never looked at Griffith and with blood seeping from his lip and head he said, “It can’t be! How can this possibly be happening!?” Griffith was stopped from possibly answering by Zodd approaching them shouting, “Where are you going? I can still hear your heart beat! Fight on! You must fight with me until your body is torn apart!” Griffith looked at Guts and asked, “Can you move?” “I’ll die if I don’t!” Guts retorted. “Good, take the right and I’ll take the left. Ready? Now!” As Zodd threw down his fists in an attempt to crush them Griffith and Guts jumped out of the way and  as if pre rehearsed they both struck at Zodd’s arms. Griffith cut Zodd’s left arm off while Guts stabbed Zodd’s right. Zodd reeled back howling in pain, with blood gushing from his wounds. Guts fell when Zodd had moved and Griffith rushed over to him, “Guts, let’s get out of here!” Guts began to rise, “Let’s go!” They were stopped from escaping though by a sweep of Zodd’s tail which slammed into Griffith’s chest and sending him flying into a column. His red beherit was forced out from under his armor by the force of the blow and rested on his chest as he fell to the floor unconscious. “Griffith!!” Guts screamed supporting himself by his sword. Zodd meanwhile had picked up his severed arm and muttered, “What a glorious battle this has been! Amazing! I found two men who were able to wound me.” Then wielding his arm as if it were a club he struck Guts sending him falling to the floor. “What a shame I’ll have to destroy them both at once.” Zodd said holding his arm up to the bleeding stump where it had been. As his severed arm touched his shoulder it began to steam and moments later was rejoined as though it had never been cut off. He then walked towards Griffith and leaning over him he said, “I’ll take this one first!” But instantly he stopped when he saw the beherit around Griffith’s neck and stepped back, “No! The egg of the king! That cannot be! A lad like him possesses the crimson beherit of the god hand!” He then stopped and looked at Griffith for a moment and then began to laugh. Zodd then continued, “I see, I’ve seen this double edged ploy before!” With that he slammed his fist into the floor by Griffith causing the entire ground to quake with the strength of his blow. While outside the Hawks mounts were rearing from the force of the blow. At this Casca dismounted and ran into the keep followed by Ricket, Pippin, Corkus, and Judeau as well as the rest of the Hawks. Zodd then turned and turned to Guts saying, “Well boy I’ll have to forgo our duel for the time being. Unfortunately I doubt we will have another chance to fight but I will leave you with this bit of advice. Or rather I will foretell your doom. ‘If you think this man your friend then know this, when you regard one another as brother and this man’s ambition crumbles it is your destiny to face your death.’ You cannot escape your fate!” With that Zodd sprouted wings and with a great heave lifted himself from the floor and shot up through the ceiling where he had just punched and flew out bursting through the castle’s keep and flying through the sky with a great roar.

     Guts was left looking up through the hole Zodd had made, at the overcast sky unsure if the thunder he heard was from the storm or Zodd’s wings. “Death, I had forgotten.” He thought. Guts looked over at Griffith lying on the floor unconscious. Guts stared at the red beherit hanging from Griffith’s neck remembering what Zodd had prophesied. He then heard the clanking of armor and weapons from down the corridor and turned to see Casca running ahead of Judeau, Corkus, Pippin, and Ricket. “Griffith!!” she cried throwing her sword aside and rushing over to his limp body. Guts began to succumb to his blood loss and realized he was about to pass out. He was caught by Pippin’s massive arms and heard Ricket say, “Are you all right Guts?” “Yeah.” He replied weakly. “Are you the only two survivors?” asked Pippin hoisting Guts to his feet. The group surveyed the entire chamber and saw at least thirty men shredded, crushed, or impaled littering the floor and walls. “Dear God, what really happened in here?” Corkus exclaimed. “Griffith! Hold on! Griffith!” Casca sobbed kneeling by Griffith’s unconscious body and cradling his head in her arms. Guts then stood and half dragged himself over to where Casca was, using his sword for support. Guts leaned down to offer his hand to help her but she stopped him saying, “Get away. Leave him alone.” Guts was dumbfounded as she continued, “It’s your fault. You put Griffith in danger. You almost got him killed! It’s because of you!!” Casca then turned to face Guts and he saw she had tears streaming down her cheeks. Guts however was unable to respond as he remembered the words Zodd had spoken to him.