Guts and the others have to escape somehow, so Isidro offers to smuggle Nina and Casca out of the cave. This is a huge thing for Guts – he’s only just gotten Casca back, and now he’s entrusting her safety to a kid he barely knows. Isidro leaves with the women so Guts can focus on fighting the goat monster.
Farnese commands her knights to kill everyone, including the Black Swordsman, although Azan would prefer they capture him alive because that’s what their original orders were. Serpico is able to see that even in the midst of battle Guts is still a huge distraction for Farnese.
Guts shoots arrows from his new modified crossbow at the monster, but they do minimal damage. It’s only when Guts tries one of his new small exploding bombs 
that he’s able to wound the goat creature enough for him to cut its head off.
And throughout it all, two amber eyes are still watching…
Guts leaves the cave and follows Isidoro, but is stopped by Serpico. While Farnese has been tied up with the battle inside, he’s slipped away to follow Guts. Here on this very narrow cliff edge, Serpico is at an advantage. The limited terrain means Guts can’t draw his sword, use his crossbow, or even move really. All the while Serpico is thrusting quick jabs at Guts in an effort to do some damage.
Finally Guts has had enough. He knows Isidoro and the women are up ahead and he’s wasting time with Farnese’s sidekick. Guts grabs hold of Serpico’s sword and shatters it to pieces. Left with no weapon, Serpico swings behind Guts and grabs one of his bombs in the process. He detonates it, and the resulting explosion is enough of a cover for him to slip away. Guts acknowledges that Serpico is much more formidable than he’d originally thought, then rushes onwards to catch up with Isidoro’s group.
Speaking of that threesome, they’ve had some difficulties. The little ledge they’ve been walking on has a dead end, and the only way down to the ground below is with a rope pulley system. Isidoro gets Nina lowered to the ground, but it’s Casca who’s the big issue. Isidoro is in the middle of lowering Casca when Nina is discovered by Joachim, who’d been summoned by little pebbles being thrown at him from something in the darkness.
It’s the Egg of the World, although Joachim doesn’t see it. Instead he keeps walking into the cliffs and discovers Nina. He screams, then runs back to the Holy Knights yelling about heretics being in the rocks. Nina is too paralyzed with shock to move so she is caught, and Casca releases herself from the rope in order to run down and be with Nina. Isidoro tries to scurry after them, but in his rush he gets himself tangled in the rope and is stuck.
The Holy Knights leave with Nina and Casca, leaving Guts to once again chase after them. Guts is furious beyond words with Isidoro, and it’s easy to see that if Isidoro wasn’t a kid, Guts would waste no time beating the absolute shit out of him for losing Casca. Isidoro is scared by Guts’ display of anger, I imagine, and feels horrible for letting Guts down.
There’s a small skip forward showing Guts’ return to St. Albion. Luca and Isidoro are both with him, and together the three of them are heading to the Tower of Conviction. Luca’s girls are worried for her safety, but Luca advises them to leave the refugee camp if she doesn’t return by morning. Up atop the Tower, the Egg of the World is watching and waiting…
Inside the Tower, Puck has gotten himself seperated from Nina and Casca and can’t seem to find them again. He has to be careful flying around because he can still be seen by most humans, for some reason that’s not yet revealed. It turns out Nina and Casca have been locked in a cell together.
Eventually one of Mozgus’ torturers comes to retrieve one of them, and while he originally selects Casca, he changes his mind and picks Nina because she didn’t try to help Casca. She’s terrified of course, and she has a lengthy conversation with herself as she’s lead towards the torture room. Upon her arrival she wets herself when she sees all of the blood and death inside.
Outside the Tower’s walls Guts’ brand is starting to ache, and he realizes that something is very wrong with St. Albion. Is his brand reacting to the Egg of the World, or to something else inside the tower? Maybe Mozgus? Guess you will see next episode. ^_~
My thoughts: I fucking hate Nina as a character, and I suspect she’s one of the subconscious reasons why I dislike this arc in Berserk so much. She is extremely selfish and repeatedly thinks only of herself. Even when she lashes out at Casca yet again and then attempts to make amends, when backed into a corner she still puts herself first. Ugh. Just a whiny, selfish bitch from start to finish.
That being said, for the first time the ending theme (“Meimoku no Kanata” – “Beyond Closed Eyes”) is in English! The original Japanese lyrics are included off to the side, for those who want to follow along. It’s a neat touch and a beautiful version of a song I’m already head over heels for. *0*
We’ve got 4 episodes left, so I’m curious to see how the big boss battle of the arc will go down.
* Susumu Hirasawa song of the week: “Strange Night of the Omnificence“, from his 1998 album “Technique of Relief”.