"Shadow of Idea (3)" is episode 165 of the Berserk manga series.
Synopsis[]
Guts begins a relentless series of attacks on the spirits around him, though his mind is elsewhere. He fears that, like when he left her at Godot's to engage in a two year-long Apostle-hunting quest, he won't be there for Casca when she needs him.
Zodd arrives at Albion.
The Skull Knight and Luca arrive on the very edge of Albion's outskirts. He lets her dismount his horse, but advises that she not approach the Tower of Conviction. She casually tells him that she cannot simply leave, and bids him farewell before running off toward Albion. The Skull Knight watches her run off, at first thinking that she must be foolish for moving headlong into danger, but then decides she might no be so reckless. In either case, he reflects, he would not have been able to help her. He draws his sword as, from the mist directly behind him, Zodd emerges.
The Egg-Shaped Apostle climbs up the outer wall of the Tower of Conviction. It leaves a long trail of blood as it crawls, and it can feel its life force slowly ebbing away. It intends to watch the chaos - the fruits of its efforts - from the top of the Tower. It looks down at Mozgus, who is flying around the gigantic mass of spirits on the ground, and wonders what life would have been like had it met Mozgus and been accepted by him, as the torturers were, rather than ostracized by the townspeople of Albion.
The Egg-Shaped Apostle swallows the exhausted Demon Child.
It continues its climb, eventually coming across the surprising sight of the Demon Child, which is lying in a niche created by the Tower having leaned backward. The Egg-Shaped Apostle recognizes it as the being that has on numerous occasions saved Casca, but can no longer do so as its power has been completely spent. The Apostle takes the Child in its arms and moves it around its body toward its mouth, placing the Demon Child on its tongue and swallowing it, intending to use it as a companion to watch the Egg-Shaped Apostle's goals manifest from the chaos. It then resumes its arduous climb to the top of the Tower of Conviction.