A group of survivors struggle to exist as a virus begins to turn the entire human population into flesh eating zombies.

This arc is a flashback showing Guts' youth and what led him to become the "Black Swordsman". Guts grows up as a young mercenary until his enrollment in the Band of the Hawk. He develops complex relationships with Casca and Griffith, the Band's charismatic leader and holder of the Crimson Behelit, who leads the Band to its rise to prominence within the Midland army. Griffith is elevated from his commoner status to the nobility, causing some resentment, and after sleeping with the King's daughter, Griffith is imprisoned, and the Hawks are declared outlaws. The Hawks manage to rescue Griffith, only to find him broken mentally and physically. From a conventional medieval European background, the story shifts to fantasy and horror, with the apparition of the Eclipse ceremony that ends with the destruction of the Band, as per Griffith's sacrifice in order to become Femto, the fifth member of the God Hand, and reclaim his path towards his dream. Only with help from the enigmatic Skull ... Written by http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berserk_(manga)

At the turn of the century, the young lord Vlad and his family live a peaceful life ruling over their small kingdom, but when a Turk warlord demands from Vlad a thousand boys and his son to create an army Vlad seeks a terrible power that will allow him to protect his kingdom and family from the Turks at a terrible cost. Written by Blue_EagleUK