Beneath the twisted sky, upon the ground paved with flesh and bone, the concept of time seemed to blur.
Every minute, every second, was an endless, agonizing torture for Guts.
"Squelch!"
Another punch.
The power of Magnetic Field Rotation at Two Hundred and Fifty Thousand Horsepower blasted out without reservation, blowing half of the Octopus Apostle's body into a foul-smelling, dark green mist of blood.
However, this was completely meaningless.
The splattered chunks of flesh seemed to possess a life of their own, squirming in midair before scrambling to surge back into the massive wound on the main body.
The wound healed at a visible rate, and new tentacles grew from the mangled flesh—slick and tough—sweeping toward Guts once again.
It acted as an insurmountable barrier, firmly trapping Guts in place.
And beyond this barrier, the hellish tragedy continued to unfold.
"Ah—!"
Another member of the Band of the Hawk was impaled from behind by a mantis-like Apostle and hoisted high into the air.
Even in death, the loyal soldier maintained his forward-charging posture, though his face was written with unwillingness and shock.
He seemingly could not understand why he had to die here.
"Help... someone..."
A young soldier was pinned to the ground by several small Apostles, his desperate cries quickly drowned out by the sound of shattering bones and tearing flesh.
These sounds viciously tore at Guts's sanity.
He could feel his comrades' lives dissipating bit by bit.
He could see the last trace of light vanish from Casca's bloodstained face, leaving her like a lifeless doll.
Her mind had completely broken.
"Why!"
Guts let out a beastly roar, his fists smashing into the Octopus Apostle like a torrential downpour.
"Why isn't my power enough!"
He frantically pushed the magnetic field power within his body, attempting to break through that invisible barrier once more.
But no matter how angry he was, no matter how he roared, that power remained like a chained beast, unable to advance even a single inch.
Two Hundred and Fifty Thousand Horsepower.
This seemed to be his limit.
Two Hundred Thousand Horsepower was ultimately not enough on a stage of destiny of this caliber.
It was still far too lacking to shake the God Hand.
At this moment, in the sky, Griffith—who had been quietly watching—finally moved.
By now, he had completely finished his transformation.
He had discarded everything human, including emotions, flesh, and dignity, exchanging them for the body and power of a demon king.
The Fifth Demon King, Femto, was born.
He gently flapped his pitch-black wings, causing the entire blood-red space to tremble.
His gaze, cold and devoid of any emotion, locked onto Casca below, whose mind had completely collapsed and who was now nothing more than a walking corpse.
It was time to make Guts experience an even deeper level of agony!
Just as Guts exerted all his strength, condensing all his anger and power into a single punch that temporarily repelled the relentlessly pestering Octopus Apostle.
A black bolt of lightning tore through the dim sky.
Femto's figure instantly appeared behind Casca.
He reached out his hand, his movements seemingly gentle, yet he directly grabbed Casca's slender neck.
Time seemed to stand still at this moment.
The fist Guts had just thrown was still suspended in midair.
He watched helplessly as the best friend who had once fought by his side through life and death turned into a demon king.
Watched as he used that cold hand to grab the woman Guts had sworn to protect with his life.
He suddenly recalled the scene of Casca being defiled in the future he had foreseen.
An emotion thousands of times stronger than all the pain he had just endured combined surged from the bottom of Guts's heart.
Holding the completely unresponsive Casca, Femto slowly flew high into the air.
He looked down condescendingly at the insignificant Guts on the ground and spoke.
"Guts, look closely."
"This is the price for abandoning me."
Guts looked at Casca's fragile and helpless state in Femto's grasp.
Listened to Femto's heartless declaration.
Recalled the scene from his dream where Casca was ruthlessly defiled by him.
The last string of reason in Guts's mind snapped.
"No!"
"I won't allow it! I won't allow it!"
"Griffith! Griffith!!"
A furious roar that shook the entire alternate dimension erupted from the depths of Guts's throat.
Contained within that roar was the purest, most extreme anger, and heart-wrenching agony.
Like a madman, he once again pushed all the power in his body, launching an assault against the barrier that restricted his strength from rising.
But it was useless.
That barrier, that shackle set by his own destiny, was despairingly sturdy.
No matter how furious his will was, it could not shake it in the slightest.
"You can't! You can't!"
"Power!"
"I command you!"
"Come out!"
Suspended high in the sky, the God Hand let out low, amused laughs of mockery.
In their eyes, Guts's struggles were like a moth caught in a spider's web—the more he thrashed, the more laughable he became.
They relished the process of inflicting pain upon such a strong mortal, admiring this slightly more powerful human's final struggles in the face of absolute power.
Endless despair.
Endless anger.
Endless powerlessness.
When these negative emotions accumulated to their peak, when all struggles seemed entirely futile.
They ultimately converged into a will of absolute purity.
Destruction!
Since it couldn't be changed, then destroy it!
Since he couldn't overcome this barrier, then he would destroy himself along with it!
Destroy everything in sight!
Destroy this damned destiny!
Guts gave up on attacking any of the enemies before him.
Slowly, ever so slowly, he raised his head.
His eyes were covered in cobweb-like bloodshot lines. All his emotions, all his madness, ultimately settled into a dead, silent void.
He condensed all his power, all his will, all his anger and despair entirely into his right fist.
And then, he punched straight up above his head!
'Shatter!'
The arm Guts swung fractured inch by inch, turning into fragments and dissipating.
"Crack!"
A shattering sound, seemingly originating from the deepest depths of the soul rather than the physical world, rang out clearly.
Then, within a perception that transcended the material dimension, Guts saw it.
Behind him, within the River of Destiny in a higher dimension, was a pitch-black star exuding an ominous aura, representing his existence as Guts.
It was forcefully... smashed to pieces by his all-or-nothing punch that denied his own fate!
"Boom—!!!"
As the star representing his destiny completely crumbled, the invisible shackle that had bound him all this time was utterly shattered.
The surging, roaring magnetic field power within his body explosively erupted at this moment!
That power geysered out madly like an explosion!
High in the sky, the mocking laughter of the God Hand came to an abrupt halt.
It was replaced by shock and a trace of... bewilderment.
They felt it.
In the instant that pitch-black Fate Star shattered, a being that had broken free from causality, transcended destiny, and should not exist had appeared!