Guts

Guts is the main protagonist of the Berserk anime and manga.

Guts is renowned by his epithet the "Black Swordsman", is a former mercenary and branded wanderer who travels the world in a constant internal struggle between pursuing his own ends and protecting those dear to him.

In the AWA fics, Guts is a student at the AWA Academy and is part of Class 12.

Appearance
Guts is rather tall with a strong, heavily scarred muscular frame, he has a short black hair with pointy spikes, brown eyes with the right eye closed and a scar crossing the bridge of his nose. He wears a dark full body armor and steel boots with a gray ragged cloak crapped around his upper body.

Personality
Known for his air of austerity, Guts is a gruff, cynical man holding an overall bleak outlook on life. This is a consequence of having endured waves of suffering and numerous betrayals since his youth, with nearly all highlights of his life having, in time, become lows. In spite of his guarded, brooding exterior, he shows a more easygoing, compassionate side around the people he trusts, appearing markedly less unsociable and distant, though still retaining his dry candidness. Even as his inner darkness festers deep within him and its temptation becomes increasingly harder to resist, he retains his empathy and compassion, refusing to completely discard his humanity.

In his formative years, Guts was devoid of true purpose in life, killing as a child mercenary merely as a means to survive. As a blank slate, he often found himself seeking validation from those he respected most, content so long as "one person had looked [his] way".[14] His precariousness slowly develops into individuality upon meeting Griffith, however, someone whom he eventually seeks to stand beside as an equal, rather than be looked down on by. The swordsman then embarks on a journey of self-discovery, in which he comes to acknowledge his lifelong bond with and passion for the sword. Upon realizing this, he begins devoting himself to honing his craft and fighting ever stronger adversaries – having a newfound purpose in life through this.

Abilities
Guts has been a struggler of the battlefield since the raw age of nine, and as such, has had nearly two decades to refine himself into the formidable warrior he is. During his days as a mercenary in the Hundred-Year War, he became famed for slaying one hundred Tudor soldiers single-handedly, and even garnered the respect of the legendary swordsman Nosferatu Zodd for being the first human in three centuries to wound the apostle. Following the Eclipse, his strength and reflexes improve drastically even still, honed to their peak in his constant struggle against fiends of the Interstice as one branded. Guts' combat prowess becomes so great as to rival the base forms of the most formidable apostles, allowing him to contend with them on equal footing. Donning the Berserker Armor, the Black Swordsman is able to transcend the natural limitations placed upon his body and is capable of decisively overwhelming apostles even in their true forms.

Guts possesses an indomitable will which enables him to persevere in the face of seemingly insurmountable obstacles. His force of will is so great that he has unconcernedly mutilated his own body in pursuit of his goals, and let himself be injured in order to create openings and execute counterattacks on opponents. It is specifically his personal determination that pushes him forward in the face of opposition as one branded, and that which factors greatly into the retainment of his humanity.

Though much of his survival is predicated on his sheer determination and willpower, Guts' life has been littered with instances where his survival was largely coincidental. For an unspecified amount of time, he is left to die beneath the corpse of his hanging mother, yet he still releases a healthy cry upon randomly being discovered by Gambino and his mercenaries at a later point.

Dragon Slayer - Having been made with the "ultimate steel", Guts uses this enormous sword to easily cleave through humans and demonkind with ease. In conjunction with the Berserker Armor, the cutting power of the Dragon Slayer increases significantly. During the Berserker's bout with Grunbeld, Guts is able to shatter the knight's cannon fire-deflecting shield and the corundum skin of the apostle's true form. The Dragon Slayer has been tempered by the malice of the innumerable demons slain in Guts' journey, and is capable of dealing extensive damage to astral and physical beings alike. It also has defensive uses, broad enough to act as a shield from arrows and bolts, and capable of diverting lightning into the ground as a lightning rod. Guts also uses it to mitigate blows by holding the sword level with his body and letting it absorb the brunt of impact.

Cannon Arm - The cannon in Guts' mechanical arm is one of Rickert's inventions, given to him for his hunt on demonkind. It has been of invaluable use to the swordsman, having saved him from peril many times in his journey. The cannon has a highly effective blast radius, capable of tearing into even the most sizable of monsters and apostles. When unable to use his right arm, Guts instead uses his teeth to pull the cannon's ignition cord, often fooling enemies into believing he has been outdone before blasting into them. He has also used the velocity produced by the cannon's recoil to blast into one target and perform a reversing slash into another with the Dragon Slayer, effectively eliminating two enemies in a single motion.

Berserker Armor - Gifted to him by Flora, the Berserker Armor acts as the Black Swordsman's last resort against overbearingly powerful enemies. It allows him to fight with superhuman agility and ferocity, granting him the capacity for annihilating swarms of mammoth monsters and even decisively defeating apostles in their true forms. The drawbacks of the armor outweigh its advantages, however; with the overriding of his pain receptors, Guts is at constant risk of losing bodily functions and even his life. Additionally, when a debilitating injury, such as a broken bone, is received, the armor extends metal spikes deep into the user's flesh, forcibly reconstructing the impairment while causing significant blood loss in doing so.

Projectiles - The Repeater Crossbow is another weapon Guts receives before setting out on his war against demonkind. He uses the crossbow by attaching it to his mechanical arm and filling its magazine full of bolts, releasing a volley of bolts upon turning its crank. The Repeater Crossbow is wielded extensively up until Guts' acquisition of the Berserker Armor, at which point its use is seemingly deferred. Having been taught the basics of knife throwing by Judeau, Guts has acquired remarkable accuracy and precision with them over the years. Their greatest use is dependent on vital points being hit, being of minimal effect against larger foes; against smaller targets, however, they are quite lethal. Miniature bombs are a later addition to Guts' arsenal. These small, mine-shaped bombs are remarkably powerful for their size, but within a very contained radius, usually only killing targets if vital areas are hit. As such, they are typically used only to slow down or distract larger enemies. Guts has given these bombs to Isidro for the foreseeable future.

Trivia

 * Guts is the first character from Berserk to be introduced in the AWA fics.


 * Guts suffers from haphephobia for much of his teenage years, having developed the phobia after being raped by Donovan. During this time, only Casca's touch manages to escape his immediate ire.
 * Guts has developed a progressive and noticeable visual impairment from using the Berserker Armor.
 * Guts has expressed a seeming belief in a "God" but bears no reverence or respect for such. On the contrary, he would like nothing more than for the entity to "leave [him] the hell alone".
 * Guts still carries the Slug Baron's beherit. It has not been confirmed to be his, however; both Flora and Gedfring have suggested that he may merely be its means of arriving to its predestined owner.
 * Guts has proven successful in gambling and won against several opponents ten times in a row at Chō-Han Bakuchi during his time in the Band of the Falcon.