The Hollow Knight's eye sockets, filled with orange-red, flickered with a faint black light.
The Pure Vessel's will was resisting The Radiance's manipulation.
All those terrifying attacks earlier were executed by The Radiance, borrowing the Pure Vessel's body.
For the same mission, as the previous generation's Hollow Knight, he would not strike at his own kind; on the contrary, he would try his best to help the Little Knight and Simon.
However, the Pure Vessel was ultimately old and frail; after a long struggle with The Radiance, his rock-solid will developed a flaw.
A Vessel without thought is a good Vessel.
A creature with thought has its greatest weakness: an inability to resist The Radiance's corruption.
For the Pure Vessel, thought was a blemish.
But he was, after all, alive.
The living will think.
Thought is the root of all suffering, but often suffering is the ultimate pursuit of thought.
The Pure Vessel's will was suppressed again, and The Radiance took control of the Hollow Knight's body.
This time, he stared intently at Simon.
Simon also stared fixedly back at him.
His mask.
Earlier, The Radiance's volatile will had already cracked the Pure Vessel.
Now, after enduring Simon's furious blow, although his body was intact, that crack had widened.
Scattered fragments of the mask, like bone dust, sifted down.
Dream Essence seeped out from within.
This meant that the Pure Vessel's indestructible dream seal had developed a leak!
Now the Little Knight could enter his dream to challenge The Radiance!
Simon turned to ask the Little Knight, "Are you ready to face your ultimate destiny?"
The Little Knight also saw the crack and nodded slightly.
"Good, I'll hold him back; you take the opportunity to enter the dream."
The next moment, Simon tossed aside the Nail in his hand, teleported behind the Hollow Knight, spread his arms, and a sealing spell expanded, binding the Hollow Knight.
"Hurry! His resistance is fierce!"
The Little Knight rushed forward.
The Dream Nail swung gently.
"Swoosh—"
…
A golden world.
A vast and magnificent dream.
The Little Knight stood on a grand and elegant platform plaza.
In the distant layers of clouds, there was a brilliant sun.
That was The Radiance.
The forgotten light.
One of Hallownest's supreme ancient gods.
The Little Knight leaped onto the suspended platform above his head, drew his Nail, and challenged The Radiance.
The sun on the horizon expanded wantonly, forming a pair of outstretched wings, and a body extending up and down; it was approaching, majestic and imposing like a god descending to earth.
The golden light receded, and The Radiance revealed its true form.
Its entire body was pure white, unstained by a speck of dust, with three sharp, crown-like spikes on its head, a deep face set with a pair of brilliant golden eyes, shining brightly, thick, cloud-like fur on its chest and abdomen, vast and constant wings on its back, and legs like white jade plates, standing straight and together.
A creature flawless in every aspect.
A creature made of light.
A dazzling halo rotated behind it, radiating divinity.
It let out a sharp, flute-like wail, proudly accepting the challenge.
The suspended platform dissipated, and the Little Knight fell back to the plaza.
The Radiance's divine body hung high above, its wings gently fanning, and the pervasive light condensed into long swords, falling straight down like an iron wall.
The Little Knight dodged into the gaps between the sword arrays, evading this overbearing strike.
But as light flickered, long swords converged from all directions, rushing in like a tsunami.
The Little Knight leaped up and down, dodged left and right, dancing between the blades.
The Radiance's second strike followed, a golden wall of light pushing straight from the edge of the platform, hissing as it scorched the air, vast and inescapable.
The Little Knight rushed to the light wall, and with a Shade Cloak, he effortlessly appeared behind it.
The Radiance flapped its wings, teleported above the Little Knight's head, its eyes blazing with golden light, and several scattered laser beams shot down, combined with the omnipresent sword thrusts, further compressing the Little Knight's dodging space.
Suddenly, the Little Knight seized an opportunity, landed with a Descending Dark, and the void shockwave rebounded towards The Radiance; at the same time, the Little Knight entered an attack-immune soul state, hastily releasing three Abyssal Shrieks, large plumes of phantoms burst from his mask, these phantoms were black and white, like a half-dyed blue lotus, passionately vibrant, mixed with terrifying wails.
The prototype of this spell was Howling Wraiths, created by a deceased Snail Shaman, which the Little Knight obtained in a plant-covered hill in Fog Canyon, and later, at the bottom of the Abyss, it merged with the power of void ghosts, transforming into the even more lethal Abyssal Shriek.
The Radiance was struck by this terrifying pure energy attack, its divine body dimmed slightly, but instantly brightened again.
It seemed enraged, flapping its wings violently, and numerous white spikes shot out from the ground of the plaza, leaving no standing room.
The Little Knight could only down-strike on the spikes to gain leverage, flying through the air, while still dodging the constant sword thrusts from all directions, dodging light walls, dodging light beams.
This was an utterly unreasonable situation.
No wonder, even with the power of the Pure Vessel, it could only hold The Radiance at bay, not kill it.
Finally, although the Little Knight had done his best, during a brief interval after one of his Shade Cloaks, he was impaled by a long sword, pinned to the ground, with a spike from the ground piercing his thin back and emerging from his front.
Gradually, several more light swords pierced the Little Knight's body, almost covering him.
Torso, limbs, even his head.
The Little Knight was completely immobile.
The Radiance's power raged within his body.
His mask was shattering.
Pain.
It was simply too painful.
…
Indeed, can mortals not kill gods?
Would the Little Knight's hard heart also shed bitter tears?
At the last moment of life, even time itself gives a reprieve to the dying, allowing them to especially feel the miracle and brilliance of the world's every tiny operation.
The Little Knight knew he was dying.
The Pure Vessel was a complete being; his strength was greater than the Little Knight's.
And what did the Little Knight have?
He was merely one of the many discarded failures.
His fate, his end, was no different from the endless wreckage at the bottom of the Abyss.
Had he struggled for so long only to be a puppet performing diligently on the stage of the god of destiny?
With eyes open, what he saw was The Radiance's world, a golden spectacle so pure, so magnificent, so alluring.
But this light was so detestable to the creations of the void.
The Little Knight's mask eye sockets stared blankly.
His thoughts sank to the bottom of his heart.
Into that small, thin darkness.
Mission failure was a foregone conclusion.
He was still that pathetic little fellow, hiding in his insignificant inner world, his naive mind tucked away in that dark, damp corner.
In a trance.
Countless presences whispered in his ear:
"No will to break"
"No voice to cry suffering"
"You shall kill the blinding light!"
"You are the Vessel!"
"You are the Hollow Knight!"
The Void erupted!
-----------------------
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