Skull Knight

The Skull Knight is an enigmatic figure and a self-proclaimed "foe of the inhumans", having waged war against demonkind for a millennium. Approximately 1000 years old, he has vast knowledge of world events and phenomena, as well as remarkable foresight regarding the flow of causality. It is the Skull Knight who breaks into the fifth Eclipse and saves Guts and Casca from their demise. He later resurfaces during the Kushan invasion of Midland atop the twice reincarnated Ganishka slashing right above Femto, and with his Sword of Beherits creates an astral fissure used by the angel to trigger the Great Wave of the Astral World. An ancient being, the Skull Knight is aloof and mysterious with a great awareness of the flow of causality and foreknowledge of events which have yet to happen. As such, he possesses a brutally realistic worldview, oftentimes citing the inevitability of causality's flow. He has proven to be heroic, saving Guts, the swordsman's comrades, and Luca on multiple occasions. However, Flora has questioned whether his actions are out of genuine care or merely a means of furthering his own agenda, a query to which the Skull Knight turns a deaf ear. He ultimately values the human will to survive and defy fate, encouraging Guts to contend against causality and aptly naming him "struggler". He is also quite insightful, warning Guts that Casca's true desire might differ from the Black Swordsman's own. The Skull Knight has a long-spanning rivalry with Nosferatu Zodd, who is always excited to fight the knight, calling him "old friend". He is normally indifferent to Zodd, though he does openly acknowledge their history and rivalry. He has also known and apparently had a close relationship with the witch Flora for at least several hundred years. The Skull Knight's past is shrouded in mystery. He harbors a particular enmity toward the God Hand. Several individuals have addressed him as "king" and "Your Majesty". He has also confirmed himself to be a former wearer of the Berserker Armor, and the armor's adaptive helm possessed a skull shape prior to Guts donning it. Furthermore, according to Schierke, the previous wearer of the Berserker Armor fought until it bled them of every last drop of blood. At some point, his current armor was crafted by the dwarf blacksmith Hanarr. He also has a history with several very old individuals, such as Zodd the Immortal and Flora, the latter whom he holds dear. The Skull Knight is undoubtedly one of the most powerful known beings in the series, whose abilities allow him to oppose apostles and God Hand members alike. In all of his most recent encounters with Zodd, he has sustained no damage, and even bested the apostle during the Eclipse. Other apostles have even shown explicit fear in his presence, as seen with the Count and Rosine, and God Hand members have had to actively defend themselves when at the mercy of his attacks. As his most attributable skill, the Skull Knight's swordsmanship is masterful, allowing him to easily dispatch apostles in their released form with a single stroke of his thorned sword. Despite the sword being of normal size, he has demonstrated the ability to completely shred the monstrously large forms of released apostles, even those whose bodies appear to be too large for the sword to chop apart. Relying only on his base swordsmanship and wits, he was able to sever the arm of Zodd the Immortal in combat, and effortlessly slaughter numerous released apostles during the Eclipse. In the Qliphoth, he was to dispatch all of the creatures spawned by Slan with a similar lack of effort, including numerous ogres. Upon swallowing his thorned sword and coating it in ingested beherits to create his Sword of Beherits, its capabilities become significantly enhanced. A single stroke of his transformed sword opens up dimensional rifts into the deepest strata of the Astral World, which has various uses. For instance, during the collapse of the Qliphoth, he used such a portal to destroy all the remaining Astral creatures spawned by Slan and transport Guts to safety. He is also capable of using these portals for near instant travel. On the head of Ganishka's Shiva form, a stroke from the Skull Knight's Sword of Beherits, ostensibly intended for Femto, is manipulated by the angel and redirected at the apostle – its large-scale, space-cleaving properties ultimately sparking the Great Wave of the Astral World.