Context :

Aims : Establishing precisely how stars and interstellar medium distribute within the central 100 pc area around an AGN , down to the pc scale , is key for understanding how the very final transfer of matter from kpc scale to the sub-parsec size of the accretion disc is achieved .

Methods : Using AO-assisted ( SPHERE-VLT ) near-IR images in H and Ks and narrow-band of the Seyfert 2 galaxy NGC1068 we analyse the radial distribution of brightness in the central r < 100 pc area down to the pc scale .
The median-averaged radial profiles are adjusted by a cusp ( power-law ) plus a central point-source .
A simple radiative transfer model is also used to interpret the data .

Results : We find that the fit of radial brightness profiles beyond 10pc is done quite precisely at Ks by a cusp of exponent -2.0 plus a central point-source and by a cusp of exponent -1.3 at H. The difference of exponents between H and Ks can be well explained by differential extinction , provided that the distribution of dust is itself cuspy , with an exponent -1.0 .
The derived stellar density is found to follow a r ^ { -4 } cusp , which is much steeper than any other cusp theoretically predicted around a massive black hole , or observed , either in the center of early- or late-type galaxies or in mergers at different stages .
Introducing a segregation in the stellar population with an excess of giant stars towards the center leads to a somewhat less steep exponent .
NGC1068 is shown to satisfy a relationship between half-light radius , cusp luminosity and exponent that we established using a sample of LIRGs/ULIRGs .
This suggests that the cusp is the remnant of a recent starbust .
We identify the central point-like source with the very hot dust at the internal wall of the putative torus and derive an intrinsic luminosity that requires an overall extinction A _ { K } \approx 10 , a value consistent with predictions by models and that could be explained for \approx 75 % by the cuspy dust distribution .

Conclusions :