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Can you not hear them?! Every person congregated in this place now desires, as one heart, salvation. They are eagerly awaiting the time of God's victory!
– Mozgus
Mozgus (モズグス Mozugusu) was one of the Chief Inquisitors of the Holy See Religious Order, traveling the world with his group of torturers, having been sent to root out a violent cult of heretics in the city of St. Albion. He is the main antagonist of the Conviction Arc, hindering Guts' efforts in saving Casca with his excessive religious zeal.
His symbol is four Template:W, embodying his willingness to use torture as a way to cleanse people from evil.
Appearance
Mozgus when angered.
Mozgus is a tall, muscular and strong man with pale skin and blue eyes. His most distinguishing feature is his smooth, almost flat face that is the result of self-mortification from praying while slamming his face into the ground a thousand times a day. During his prayers, and whenever he is angry, his face becomes swelled with veins and he takes on a much more intimidating appearance. He wears a traditional pontiff's garb, white with gold trimming and a red cloth that has the insignia of the Holy See, and a red wide-brimmed hat with ear covers.
After the Egg of The Perfect World turns him into an apostle spawn, his transformed state being a reflection of his religious ideals, Mozgus gains large feathered wings and a hard, scaly hide.
Personality
Mozgus is an extremely devout man whose faith ventures into fanaticism. He is completely dedicated to the Holy See and an ardent follower of "God". He greatly emphasizes his religion in everything he does and acts with great zeal in his quest to purge the world of "heretics". Usually, he travels with his henchmen, whom he respects and treats as his children.
Mozgus portrays himself as a considerably dangerous man and is known and feared around the Berserk world. He possesses an intense proclivity towards the use of torture to expiate the sins of those he sees as heretical and is infamous for using many types of executions. He has tried and questioned hundreds under his brutal and intense methods of religious interrogation, but only a traumatized few have lived through the treatment. He is also highly sensitive to criticism towards his actions and brutally killed a rebel for mentioning that he would be punished by God for his acts of carnage.
Despite appearing sadistic and bloodthirsty to most who don't know him personally, Mozgus doesn't necessarily like torturing and executing people for heresy, but has no guilt whatsoever doing so because he is delusionally convinced that it is for their own good. In his mind, torturing a person in the name of God is a necessary and sacred thing; he views it as the only method of turning non-believers towards the light of the Lord. This is especially shown during his parable of the nun and the dying man, where he teaches Farnese that the religious have a mission to help others, and that as long as one has good intentions, they can't be blamed if their attempts to help have negative consequences.
Mozgus has also shown a kind side towards the downtrodden, sick, poor, and misshapen and has been quite an upstanding figure towards the people of Albion. In addition, he doesn't fear death in the slightest and demonstrates immense valor, facing Guts in single combat despite knowing the odds aren't in his favor. When faced with danger or death, Mozgus trusts that God will either save him or that the situation is a test of his faith. When he is finally killed by Guts, he expresses no cowardice or fear, instead feeling joy in the fact that he will finally be able to be with God in "heaven".
Abilities and Skills
After being transformed into an apostle spawn, believing his new powers are a gift from the divine, he displays the following attributes and abilities:
God's Armor: In his more monstrous form, Mozgus acquires a stone-hard scaly hide that covers his entire body. The armor is impervious to all weapons, even resisting damage against the infamous Dragonslayer. However, due to Mozgus' previous wound before the transformation, a chink in the armor forms around it. Guts is able to exploit this and blow the armor's crack open with the use of many explosives.
God's Breath (ゴッドブレス Goddo Buresu): Mozgus is able to breathe fire, which can incinerate anything caught up in the flames. This power also causes flames to naturally leak from Mozgus' mouth while he speaks.
Angelic Wings: Mozgus also gains a set of large, white angelic wings that allow him to fly. He can alternatively shoot the feathers from his wings as blades. In his second transformation, Mozgus can use his wings as a second set of arms to perform a variety of more devastating attacks. These include:
- God's Thousand-Strike Cannon (ゴッド千住キャノン Goddo Senju Kyanon): All of his feathers become fists while rapidly pulverizing his enemies many times over.
- God's Pressure (ゴッドプレッシャー Goddo Puresshā): Mozgus crushes his enemies with his wings.
Immense Strength: In his original human form, Mozgus displays a large amount of strength when he kills one of his would-be assassins out of anger with only his bible. After his transformation into an apostle spawn, Mozgus' strength increases to inhuman levels.
History
Mozgus killing a heretic with his bible.
When the Holy See Religious Order hears of unrest in the city of St. Albion due to the rise of a pagan cult that has murdered some of their priests there, Mozgus is sent to root them out. Mozgus personally requests the Holy Iron Chain Knights as his personal guard to escort him among the refugees heading to Albion to escape the plague. On the way, the group is attacked by rebels who are out for revenge against Mozgus for slaughtering their loved ones after their village decided to restock their food supply rather than donate to the church. Ultimately, Mozgus expresses content that none among his faith died in the fight, the rebels failed and those that survived were lined up so the inquisitor could give them a lecture that dispatching their "heretical people" is part of Holy See doctrine. When one of the rebels vows that God will punish Mozgus for his actions, the inquisitor snaps and smashes his bible on the man's skull for speaking such blasphemy. Mozgus then regains his composure before ordering his disciples to execute the remaining rebels with death by Template:W and resuming their journey.
Mozgus atop his horse.
Once in Albion, making residence in the Tower of Conviction, Mozgus rules the city with an iron fist. Though the pagan cult have taken to practicing their faith in the mountains surrounding Albion, Mozgus focuses on torturing those among the poor and starving population whom he sees heathens that must be cleanse through pain and death. Though Farnese attempts to convince him to be less strict with his methods to keep the people from being disillusioned with their faith, learning he is not as evil as he appeared upon learning more of his disciples, Mozgus uses their scripture to justify his actions to be in the right.
Mozgus about to be sired into an apostle spawn.
After the pagan cult is finally discovered with its surviving members captured, Mozgus assumes Casca to be their leader and considers torturing her for information on Guts. When Mozgus sees her Brand of Sacrifice, he concludes that she is a witch and has her placed in an Template:W. Believing what occurred soon after to be God's work, Mozgus unknowingly causes the first phase of the Incarnation Ceremony as the blood of countless victims within the tower stir to life. Mozgus is taken by his men to the chapel on top of the tower to protect their leader, who welcomes the threat he considered to be a test of his faith. As the blood surged into the chapel, Mozgus and his disciples all end up being sired by the Egg of the Perfect World.
A partially transformed Mozgus with Casca in his arms.
The inquisitor, believing the transformation he and his men underwent is God choosing them, captures Casca after freeing her from the blood blob and spirits her off. Mozgus assumes at that time that the raising dead are Casca's doing and that the chaos will cease once she is burned at the stake. When Guts arrives to save her, Mozgus was anxious to fight him until the Bird advise his mentor to let him and the other disciples deal with him while he and the Twins to carry out the execution. Proclaiming himself as God's chosen, Mozgus leaves Casca in the custody of the desperate refugees as they build the pyre while he and the Twins hold off the mounds of animate corpses from reaching the city. But after creating a barrier to keep them out, Mozgus notices Casca being saved by Isidro and goes after them before he finds himself impaled by Guts. But Mozgus' bible shielded him from the blade as he fully transforms into an apostle spawn.
A fully transformed Mozgus offering Guts a final chance to recant.
Mozgus has the upper-hand in the beginning of the battle, nearly killing Guts as the flames keeping the corpses at bay die out. Mozgus, focusing more on Guts than the greater threat, offers the swordsman a chance to live by putting the lives of the refugees wanting salvation ahead of Casca. But Guts, having found that the attempted deathblow he inflicted on Mozgus left a weakpoint in his armored body, refuses and uses his bombs to open the crack on Mozgus' chest wide enough to drive his sword in. His body being consumed by his own flames, Mozgus accepts his death as him getting to meet God soon while grabbing Guts as a final attempt to kill him. But Guts uses his weight and flips Mozgus over the wall of St. Albion, the burning inquisitor falling his death. Ironically, the flames from Mozgus's charred body enabled some refugees to survive being consumed by the dead.
Gallery
Trivia
- Mozgus is the only main antagonist that isn't an apostle, instead being a weaker apostle spawn.
References
Template:Main Antagonist Template:Supernatural Beings Template:Conviction Characters