The Brand of Sacrifice (生贄の焼印) marks those anointed for the Invocation of Doom, a sacrificial ceremony in which those consecrated by the laws of causality transcend their humanity,
resulting in the creation of an apostle or a God Hand member, as well as severing an apostle's last ties to humanity.

The lives of the sacrificed, someone close and important to the summoner, are then offered to creatures of the darkness and ritualistically murdered. At least in the case of God Hand members, the deceased's life force is used to complete the summoner's transition.

Branded humans who survive these ceremonies reside in the Interstice between the physical and astral worlds, forced to fend for themselves against creatures of darkness and the nightly attacks by the restless souls of the dead who desire flesh. In response to these fell entities, the brand will bleed and cause pain. Around ordinary evil spirits or apostles, the blood will only trickle out, and the pain will be relatively minimal. Around a member of the God Hand, the brand will shoot blood out in huge gushes, and the pain inflicted will be agonizing. If the evil is too great, it can supposedly kill the Branded. A branded individual can also feel it react to people such as Flora (causing a faint ache during Guts's meeting with her) or Daiba (causing a "sizzling feeling" to Guts).

So far, is the only individual who has been seen administering a Brand of Sacrifice.

In the case of a human being reborn as an apostle, the sacrifice required is determined by its importance to the ascending. These are usually family members or other loved ones, and the number of apostles present to feast is unknown. However, in the special case of the Eclipse, the sacrifice demanded could be much greater, and apostles are drawn to arrive, closing in even before the ceremony begins.

However, the sacrifice need not necessarily be someone that the ascending loves, nor must it necessarily even be a specific living human or humans. Griffith, whose camaraderie with them was questionable, sacrificed the Band of the Falcon to become Femto. The Egg of the Perfect World sacrificed his "world"; interestingly, his own body seems to have become branded. In addition, a Brand presents itself in the form of fires as the Egg's wishes come true. What matters is the value or importance of the sacrificed to the apostle-to-be.

Two factors can cause an intended sacrifice to be refused: Guts was refused as the Count's sacrifice on both of these, the first being that his importance to the God Hand was irrelevant; it was his importance to the Count that could have made him a viable sacrifice, and Guts was merely an enemy who sought his destruction. Second, Guts had already been branded in a previous ceremony and could not be sacrificed a second time.

Guts and Casca are the only known branded survivors to date. When the two traveled together, they attracted an unusual amount of evil spirits, causing catastrophe to every human settlement that they passed by. The witches Flora and Schierke are able to mitigate the effects of the Brands by inscribing temporary seals over them.

• The corpses under the Tower of Rebirth all possess Brands on their foreheads.

• The Lady Priestess of the Cherry Blossoms's Brand was on her right shoulder.

• The Count's wife had her Brand on her upper chest, above and between her breasts.

• Guts's Brand is on the right side of his neck near his jugular vein.

• Casca's Brand is on the upper-middle part of
  her left breast.

• Judeau's Brand was on the palm of his left hand.

• Gaston's Brand was on his left shoulder.

• The Egg of the Perfect World's Brand was on his tongue.

• Pippin's Brand was on his right arm.

• Edvard's Brand was on his cheek.

• Sigur's Brand was on her abdomen.

Benedikte (left) and Sigur (right)

• Benedikte's Brand was on her left breast.

• Corkus's Brand was on his forehead.