Harry Potter and the Berserker

Chapter 54

Disclaimer: Harry Potter is owned by J.K. Rowling and Berserk is owned by Kentaro Miura. I own nothing.

What was actually a moment, seemed like an eternity. No one spoke, nobody moved and even the chirping of crickets seemed to have gone silent. All pairs of eyes were directed solely on the boy who wore his usual impassive but still curious expression. To him, it was as if he hadn't just said the name of the once emperor who united all of the continent and earned names like, "King of Galloping Death." And then there was all he had said about Griffith being in some city called "Falconia," or something like that.

Guts had traveled the land as a mercenary even before going out to hunt and kill apostles, and he had a pretty good layout of Midland to know that there was not a town or city with the name of Falconia.

But, then again, this was Griffith they were talking about. With him being a God Hand and all, creating a new city should be a breeze for someone like him. He was probably back there right now picturing the confusion they all must be feeling right now at hearing all of this. He knew Casca was worried that their kid was somehow connected to Griffith or being used by him in some way, and here was the proof of that. Griffith was using the boy as some sort of messenger.

And Griffith had been here, too. That blonde girl, Luna had seen him, chased after him, only to have him disappear without a trace. If he wanted, he could have leveled that entire castle and killed all the students and faculty alike. He could have sunk the Sea Horse and have everyone aboard drown in the lake. But no; instead he sends a child to deliver some cryptic message about staying away and being able to live out the rest of their lives in peace.

Perhaps that was what had him feeling a mix of anger and disbelief. He knew what kind of person the God Hand was. Harry knew and Casca knew too. It was that idea that Griffith was trying to take some sort of moral high ground and offer them something that sounded too good to even be true. It had to be some kind of taunt, right? He obviously knew they were here and as such, probably knew they were without a way of even returning to Midland as of now.

But even if they did somehow manage to get back, Falconia would be the next stop after meeting back up with Rickert at Godo's mine. If Guts was sure for certain of one thing that the kid said, it was that the God Hand would indeed make good of any promise to do them harm. Or, more harm than had already been done. Casca was still recovering mentally and physically as well and it would be the biggest slap in the face for one of the God Hand to undo all of that and have her revert back to Elaine.

Guts was ultimately the one to break the silence that had fallen over them. "Casca, are you believing this?"

Casca answered with a question of her own. "How does he know that name, Guts?"

"What?" that was what she was focused on? He was equally stumped on that one too, but Skull Knight wasn't one to just appear to anyone.

But this boy wasn't just anyone. He was something else altogether, maybe neither demon or human, but still here right now. Just like Skull Knight himself. It still didn't make sense. If Skull Knight had met with this child, he probably would have tried to kill him, it was what he warned Guts to do when Casca gave birth prematurely. Unless Griffith and the rest of the God Hand had some sort of plan for Skull Knight that he was trying to warn them about, Guts didn't know how that fit in at all.

The closest to Gaiseric would be the Holy See founder, Gunderic who was now serving as mastermind for the God Hand, so unless he was trying to warn them about Void, Guts was left without an honest answer.

"I don't know," Guts answered a concerned Casca. "I've never called him that name, just Bone Head so I don't know how he would know it." He could guess, but it would probably be wrong.