Hallownest
Once more, The Knight awoke in the junk pit next to the Godseeker. "Gods. O Gods! Thy nature, mysterious. Uncanny. Even so for We who seek!" it said. "By attuning Ourselves We clutch at their greatness, their immortality. Their unknowable splendour. Hallownest. This kingdom is blessed with true Gods. True! All around, the corpses of pretender Gods. But! Not in Hallownest..." The Knight hit it with the Dream Nail.
Walking down the hallway in the Godhome, The Knight felt strangely drawn to a hole in the ceiling. It jumped up it, emerging on a platform on the side of the tower. A strange gold contraption was there, with four golden, oval shaped objects mounted on it. A golden orb sitting next to the device was lit up in its center. The Knight struck it with its nail, and the top half rose up. It heard a grating sound from above, and looked up to see a golden light emerging from some of the vines on the wall of the tower. It climbed up with the mantis claw and found the entrance to a tunnel, at the end of which was a hot spring. A part of the ceiling was cracked, so The Knight jumped up and hit it a few times with its nail. It broke away, revealing another hole in the ceiling leading up. The Knight jumped up it, then emerged at the top of the black tower. A stairway led up to a platform where another golden contraption was sitting. The Knight approached it, and struck the orb in front of it. A light illuminated, and the orb opened up into a small column of void. A plaque appeared.
'Pantheon of Hallownest
Seek The Kingdom's Forgotten Light.'
It stepped into the void, and its vision went white. This time the Godseeker didn't speak, and The Knight came out onto a circular platform with two Vengefly Kings hovering above it. The Knight defeated them, then went on to the Gruz Mother, False Knight, Massive Moss Charger, and Hornet, before coming into the Godmaster's small room. "Mischief beyond mischief! We can not escape thee, even in this highest, most distant of pantheons," it said. "O wielder of nail, o eater of Soul. Are thee a messenger of the Gods... or something stranger? We will not defy thee, continue thy combat. We shall be listening closely..."
The Knight went through the door, then fought Gorb, the Dung Defender, Soul Warrior, and the Brooding Mawlek, then faced the brothers Oro and Mato again. It took a short rest, then went on to Xero, the Crystal Guardian, the Soul Master, and the Obblobles from the Colosseum. It then appeared in the arena of the Mantis Lords, and began fighting the first one. Once it defeated it, it jumped back onto its pillar, but instead of the other two rising to fight the Knight, as had happened before, all three stood up in unison.
Incredibly fast, they all vanished simultaneously. One appeared above the Knight's head and plunged downward. The Knight jumped out of the way, but the other two appeared on opposite sides of it and dashed forward. Just as it was about to be hit, shadows enveloped the Knight, running up its body from the ground, and it flew right through the Mantis Lords' attacks. Two of them appeared hanging on the sides of the cage, and threw out their boomerang-scythes into the arena. The Knight was about to jump over them when the third Mantis Lord plunged down from above, striking it with its nail-lance.
As the fight went on, the Mantis Lords' attacks were perfectly in sync. The Knight was struck several times, and could only avoid most of them narrowly. Eventually though, it defeated one, then another, and finally, the last Lord returned to its throne, and all three bowed. The bell rang, and after a rest in the hot spring room, continued through the pantheon.
It fought a while longer with no abnormalities, until it entered an arena covered in honey and hex-shaped yellow glass. The corpse of a bee creature holding a thin nail was on the ground with Link standing over it. He turned his gaze toward the Knight, then the bell rang. As the Knight continued, this happened again in a room filled with red burning lanterns, then the Knight came onto a large platform in an acid lake jutting out from a wall of the cavern, where there was a door to the next fight. The Godseeker was standing on the platform looking out at some vague bundle of green lights in the distance. "Sleeping God," it said as the Knight approached, "We can barely feel thy presence amongst the green left behind. What strength thee once possessed fades beyond time and tune..." The Knight walked through the door.
The encounter with Link occurred once more by the corpse of the Broken Vessel's dream version, then the Knight came onto another platform, this time a balcony between two walls of an enormous cavern filled with fog. The Godseeker was staring off the edge at a faint image of white roots, long and branching, in the distance. When the Knight approached, it spoke. "O tragedy! This majestic god evades Our attunement with such ease. We live only to serve the gods, to seek them out. Why does she frustrate Us? How does she hide from Us? Does she diminish herself by choice?" The Knight walked through the door.
The Knight encountered Link three more times, next to the corpses of the dream versions of the False Knight and the Soul Master, and a strange bug cloaked in red, then it came onto another balcony. It had a set of stairs on it leading up to an empty white throne, which the Godseeker was once again staring at. "Even long departed, We feel the afterglow of the God-power that sat this throne..." it said. "It lays heavy upon this kingdom. That lingering power alone was beacon enough to draw Us to Hallownest. How bright it must have been to mortal bug stood before it."
Suddenly, a white light began shimmering on the throne. Slowly, it grew, until the silhouette of Link could be made out as if it were sitting on the throne. The Godseeker looked down and sighed before speaking again. "We can no longer ignore this invader to Hallownest and Our mind. How can such a pretender lay claim to this power's throne?! We pray that thee cast it out! Though something about the two of thee feels similar... Ah! Blasphemy! Thou may have proved thyself against the gods of the pantheons, but We doubt that even thee could defeat the one greater still, the God of Gods!" The Knight walked through the door.
It came out into a dark arena just like the one from the end of the pantheon of the Knight, only now it was empty. The same vessel in a grey cloak, the 'Pure Vessel,' dropped down from above, threw back its head, and roared. It was obvious that this was the Hollow Knight in its prime.
It turned to the Knight, then began a quick three-slash combo with its nail. The Knight dashed out of the way, then hit back. The Pure Vessel jumped into the air, then slammed down with its nail. Pools of white light appeared all over the floor, and the Knight only had a split second to move out of the way before huge white blades sprang up from each of them. The Knight shade dashed through them and attacked the Pure Vessel, but it blocked with its nail and countered. The Knight jumped over it, then slammed back down into the ground. A black fireball blasted outward.
The Pure Vessel staggered back, then held out its hand. White daggers shot out, and one of them hit the Knight, knocking it over. The Pure Vessel leaned back and its cloak opened. The Knight jumped just in time to dodge a tendril of void that whipped out from its body. Wings of white light came out from the Knight's back as it moved toward the Pure Vessel and slashed down with its nail. It dashed away as the Pure Vessel jumped across the room. White particles began to surround it as it focused soul. Glowing glyphs in the shape of spheres appeared, one surrounding the Pure Vessel, and others around the arena, including one overlapping the Knight. They all pulsed with energy simultaneously, staggering the Knight. The Pure Vessel approached with its nail, but as it was about to hit, the Knight shade dashed through it, and stabbed it in the back. It fell to a kneel.
The Knight, the Pure Vessel, and the Godseeker all looked up as if expecting something to happen, but suddenly, the Godseeker felt a great pain in its mind, and the two vessels collapsed. Slowly, the Godseeker's vision went black.
The Knight woke up in a dark cavern surrounded by other vessels standing around it. It looked up to see a young Hollow Knight looking back down at it, and it stood up. In the middle of them all was a tall, slender figure dressed in grey. It had white hair under a pointy gray hat, and its face was covered in blue and red war paint. It seemed to not notice all the vessels, and was looking straight up with its arms crossed. A golden light began to shine from above, and a deafening roar reverberated down. A cloud of void began to rise from the ground, getting thicker by the second, and a second, deeper roar emanated from the ground below the vessels. The void rose to the light, and the vessels' vision went black. The tall figure's stony face was the last thing that could be made out.
The void cleared, and suddenly, the Knight was alone, standing on the top of a huge black pillar in the Godhome, surrounded by fog. On one side of it, the Godseeker sat on its throne atop another, smaller pillar, also alone. Two more pillars rose high above both of them behind the Godseeker, and behind them, in the background was a sun. The Knight watched as slowly, wings emerged from the sun, then it disappeared. A moth-like creature appeared above the Knight. It had a small black face, wispy, flowing wings, a crown-like protrusion on the top of its head, and legs that looked like molded white metal. She needed no introduction, as she projected her name into the minds of all who beheld her.
The Absolute Radiance
Images of black and white screaming faces shot up as the Knight casted its abyss shriek spell at full force and hit the Radiance, but she didn't move. Thin lines of light beamed out from her face for a moment, then, along those lines shot out thick pillars of light that vanished into the distance. The Knight jumped up and hit her with its nail a few times, then she teleported to another place above the platform and sent out three globs of yellow essence, one after another. The Knight jumped over the first, but the other two arced up to follow it. It used the wings of its mothwing cloak to avoid them, but all three turned around and came back at it. It dodged them again, and they finally dissipated.
The Radiance then summoned a circle of white nails and sent them out. The Knight dodged them and hit her with its nail. She leaned her head back slightly, and suddenly a huge wall of light appeared at the edge of the platform and began moving toward the Knight. It used it shade cloak to dash through it, but a white nail followed it through. It jumped over it, and the light wall passed the Radiance, revealing that she was once again preparing her light beam attack. The Knight tried to use its wings to avoid it, but that only brought him into the line of another beam, which instantly fired and hit the Knight full force.
As it fell, the Knight shot off a black spell at the Radiance, then began weaving through three more globs of essence that came its way. The Radiance shot out three rounds of beams, and the Knight dodged them as it approached her and hit her with its nail several more times. The Radiance leaned back again, and suddenly a wall of light began approaching from one side, while three walls of nails came from the other. It dashed through the light, then dove through openings in the nails. It used abyss shriek again, and the Radiance teleported back to the center of the platform.
The Knight approached her again, but she leaned back, and endless nails began raining down from the sky in waves. The Knight managed to move through the gaps in the nails and hit the Radiance with its nail every few seconds, and eventually, she had had all she could take, and fell down onto the platform.
The Knight focused soul to heal its injuries as a cloud of void rose up through the dream world and to the very edge of the platform. Bending to the Knight's will, spiked vines of void reached up and bound the Radiance, but suddenly, she broke out, and teleported high above. Floating platforms made of gold formed a path up to her and surrounded her, and the Knight climbed up to meet her, leaving the Godseeker behind. The platforms on the way up disappeared behind it, and the void followed it up.
Upon the Knight reaching her, the Radiance began attacking again, and with less room to maneuver, and the Radiance using her attacks more quickly, it was hit several times. Eventually it hit her enough that the teleported away even higher, to the top of the two pillars. Alone, the Knight climbed up a series of platforms to her as she fired beams of light down at it. It climbed to the top, where it jumped unto one of the two pillars.
The Radiance began to attack with her globs of in quick succession, and the Knight had to jump from pillar to pillar to avoid being hit. In the gaps between attacks, it was able to hit the Radiance with its nail, and eventually, this was enough to drain her stamina. In a tiny opening, the Knight jumped up, swung its nail, and broke through her defences. She staggered back, the void rose up to the pillars, and the Knight's shell shattered. Its shade, the void inside it, fell into the void. Tendrils of void reached up and ensnared the Radiance.
Suddenly, the void rose up, and a huge figure formed from it. Its features were vague, but it had eight white eyes and four arms with claws on its fingers. It reached out with an arm and, with two of those fingers, pried the Radiance's face open, revealing a globe of pure light. With its other hand it bared it's claws, then slashed the light, then again, and again. Again and again and again until it burst and essence erupted out. It spread out everywhere, then it and the Radiance disappeared, totally annihilated.
The Godseeker sat on its throne, watching as the clouds above it turned dark, and a black liquid began falling down in thin streams. A black creature flew down and stopped in front of it, extending tendrils of void that wrapped the itss neck. The Godseeker only looked on in awe as this god of gods broke into its mind.
Back in the junk pit, the Real Godseeker was trembling as void leaked from it's eyes. It spread to cover the Godseeker's entire body, taking it over as long tendrils lashed out.
In the Black Egg Temple, Link and Hornet watched as the orange glow faded from the vines around the egg. Link looked down to consult the Fierce Deity's Mask, only to see it turn to dust before his eyes. They heard footsteps, and both turned around, battle-ready, as the Hollow Knight stepped out of the Black egg, bearing it's nail.