9 Hell Leaves It's Mark

The Skull Knight stopped inside the nearest forest for Marick and Guts to dismount. Guts lost his left arm and it needed to be treated as soon as possible to prevent him from dying from blood loss. He wrapped his arm's stub firmly with cloth torn off his clothing, keeping Marick, the Skull Knight, and Casca's body, in the corner of his vision.

The Skull Knight was more preoccupied with Marick in front of him. He had lived a long life and fought against the demonic apostles for more than a millennium. He had seen and done a lot, knowing things that none may ever come to understand. He could read the flow of causality to some extent, so he was interested in Marick, who seemed like a blurry fog, lacking causality.

Marick was also interested in the Skull Knight as not much was mentioned in the story other than him remaining a mysterious savior of Guts during Griffith's ascension. That coupled with the newfound ability he called 'Sight' he gained from the Blade of Sustainance's absorption of the Kulkan demon, he could 'see' some information surrounding those with an astral presence. 

This is why he knew the name of the godhand members. And why he knows more about the Skull Knight in front of him.

Marick and the Skull Knight remained silent, as neither took the opportunity to talk first until Marick broke the silence and spoke.

"Your Majesty." Marick nodded with respect towards the Skull Knight.

The Skull Knight looked at him more closely, his eyes flashing red.

"I don't recall having met before." The Skull Knight said.

"I've heard of you," Marick replied, inspecting the broken Sustainance Blade in his hand to see if it was still useable.

The Skull Knights's attention slowly shifted from Marick to the shattered Sustainance Blade in his hand.

"I am not familiar with your shattered blade." He commented.

"It's nothing important anymore," Marick responded.

"May I?" The Skull Knight asked, already reaching for the blade.

It seemed he already expected agreement and Marick didn't care too much either way. He was in a good mood and planned to let the ancient kind take a look at the blade.

He was finally free from hell and even accomplished his secondary objective of damaging Void. The entire playing board had shifted with him having lost his total control over causality. It could be said that the real-time strategy games of Marick's past life were a good way to explain what he achieved.

In those games, there is generally what is called a 'fog of war', in which the enemies of the players' faction can hide in. Normally, nobody can see into the fog of war without sending allied factions into it to scout it out. But all this time, the god hand had unrestricted visibility through the 'fog of war' in history. They could see every move their enemy made through causality.

But now, after Marick damaged Void, the god hand didn't have unrestricted visibility any longer. They could still see much of causality, but now there were patches of 'fog of war' left from the gaps in the wound left by the Sustianance Blade and Marick had gained an intrinsic sense of the direction towards these areas. He felt it through a sort of sixth sense, pulling him north.

Marick shook his head and handed his broken blade to Skull Knight's open palm.

However... the moment he let go of the broken blade, he felt a familiar burning sensation begin to boil his insides.

"Impossible, I LEFT!" Marick screamed as his flesh began to boil.

Blood-filled smoke filled the air as his body began to cook.

Skull Knight watched all this with an interested look, before handing the broken blade back into Marick's palm. The burning sensation ceased and the pain retreated as quickly as it came. He clutched the broken blade harder out of habit and calmed his breathing.

*Huff* *Huff*

"You're body has begun to combust as soon as you let go of this broken sword." Skull Knight commented.

"If you've been to the deep astral, perhaps your body has been exposed to a strange element. I witnessed many who walked out of the Bogwoods not knowing the poison their body carried with them." He continued, adding his thoughts.

*Uff Uff*

"Hmm?" His attention was drawn away from Marick by his undead horse, patting the ground with its hoof.

"Right, I must leave. The god hand can find me like a moon in the sky at night. " The Skull Knight took one last look at Marick before reaching into his armor and pulling out a small glass vial of a potion of blue sludge.

"Take that and bring it to the Witch of Mystra of the North woods. She can help you." He explained before launching himself at incredible speeds.

Marick caught the vial and rubbed his forehead in annoyance.

*Woooooo* *AAAWoooooo*

The sounds of strange animals, like wolves howling, sounded in the near distance. 

He glanced at Guts near him before deciding to follow the pull of the feeling leading him north. Guts had already packed his things and bandaged his missing arm, but he looked concerned at Casca near him. She was unconscious and showed no signs of waking up any time soon. He had bandaged her wounds and tenderly removed her broken pieces of armor, but it would be difficult to move if he had to carry her.

He stubbornly held her in a princess carry and stepped north at the same time as Marick.

They both walked next to each other but didn't say anything.

They were both headed in the same direction... it would seem.

...

Throughout the physical world, all those who were asleep at this time shared the same nightmare.

When the grey wave of energy exploded from Void, it caused every person, spirit, and animal asleep to dream. It was an incredibly vivid dream that every person would remember when they woke up and could describe in exact detail.

In the dream, they were like a 3rd person view, watching a person's story from a different perspective. 

They didn't know who this person was, except for what the horrible demonic creature he killed called him. He was an unkillable nightmare. An unbreakable swordsman and his evil blade devouring the souls of those damned to hell.

Even some of the apostles hiding on earth had this dream, except they were from the perspective of the demons he slaughtered.

That night, everyone who slept had a nightmare. A nightmare of demons screaming one name in anger, rage, excitement, and fear.

"HELLWALKER!!!"