A piece of sad news for fans of the iconic manga Berserk, publisher Hakusensha has announced through Twitter that manga creator Kentaro Miura has passed away at the age of 54 on May 6 due to acute aortic dissection.

Kentaro Miura was a Japanese manga artist considered a legend and master artist especially for his dark fantasy manga Berserk, which was first serialised in 1989 and has continued ever since for 40 volumes.

Set in a medieval European dark-fantasy world, Berserk follows Guts, a lone mercenary fashioned with his iconic large sword and his fateful encounter with Griffith, the leader of the mercenary group “Band of the Hawk” in a world filled with bloodthirsty demons.

The death of Miura is saddening for most as Berserk is often seen as an inspiration to many games, animations and manga we see today. This also leaves many fans disheartened as the fate of the manga remains unclear since it was still ongoing.

This article was first published in Geek Culture.