Chapter Text
They had fought many gods by now. Surely one more wouldn't be--
Oh of course it was.
Ghost stood in front of the Radiance and had begun dragging their Nail across Her body and expertly dodging Her incoming attacks. She was the only one standing between them and total victory, so they slashed and stabbed at Her with their Nail. The Godseeker's form was visible to them. She was hiding away from The Radiance until She would defeat them. They knew better. They almost felt as though they had fought Her many other times. They would be defeating Her today. As they struck a supposed-final blow, their skull and cloak fell to the ground, the skull making a clunk noise as it landed and the cloak fluttered down next to it, almost on top of it but just off to the side enough that it overlapped without being directly on top. Their void, however, had disappeared from within, growing and stretching into a new god for Godseeker to revere instead of that g l o w i n g m o t h.
Simply put, they became the Shade Lord, and they grabbed The Radiance with their tendrils, rising from the void that had collected below them. They pushed at Her eye socket, breaking it open to reach for that delicious light that burned others minds. They slashed away at her to release it from her body, and drank it up before turning to the Godseeker's form. Their tendrils released The Radiance's dead body to fall further into Godhome, perhaps never to be seen again, and reached out to wrap the Godseeker in them instead, seeking a way out of the golden clouds of Godhome. On the outside, the Godseeker's mouth dripped with black void, and tendrils reached out from her, quickly taking over the Junk Pit she had made into her home. That wasn't all that the Shade Lord wanted, though. They continued reaching out from there into the Royal Waterways, twisting their tendrils around the pipes and flowing into the water. They poured their energy into and through the area, claiming the territory as theirs.
The Radiance was gone, and with it, any that had been reanimated by its infection fell to the ground, while those that had had their mind warped by it remained alive and came, slowly, back to their senses. Much like those beings, the Hollow Knight had been freed of the Radiance’s power, and released from their chains. They allowed themself a moment of rest before hobbling to the door, propping themself up on their nail. They watched as the infection left the vine-like membranes around them wilted, dired, and dead. Their half-sister, Hornet, awaited outside the Black Egg, and appeared to have been zoning out before they had startled her with their arrival from within the Egg.
Hornet pulled out her needle-like nail, unknowing that the infection had been cured across the entirety of Hollownest.
“You should not have been able to escape those bindings without the help of our sibling. I should cut you down where you stand,” she spoke to them, preparing for the incoming battle.
The Hollow Knight watched her, a bit warily, before stepping away from the egg yet not towards the entrance. Hornet was made curious by this, so she cautiously followed, her nail still in hand. The Hollow Knight sat down, though the action looked more as though they had fallen down into a sitting position. Perhaps they had. They set their nail beside them, and tapped the ground in front of them. She sighed, almost a huff, and responded, “Fine. I shall sit with you. Should you prove to be infected as you have been, I will not hesitate to strike you down.” The Hollow Knight appeared...comforted by her response. There was no fear in response to her being prepared to potentially kill them if they were infected. Was that because they were still infected, and perhaps might not mind being dead? Were they confident that they would prove themself to her? Or had they simply not heard? Whatever the reason, she remained wary of them as they rested in front of her.
As the Hollow Knight rested before her, she looked closely at them, almost studying them. She noted the missing forearm, and the crack in their skull. She noticed that their eyes were not glowing the orange of infection, but had remained black as most masks. Such details were commonly lost in the moment, and while she did not regret her wariness, she did feel a bit guilty over it. She reached out gently to trace the Hollow Knight’s injuries, to remove anything remaining from the infection that did not belong and to help them heal anything else. The Hollow Knight allowed her to continue her motions as she cleanly sliced off bits of flesh that had gone numb and grown outward, cancerous. She bandaged the skull, knowing a crack in the skull was difficult, and potentially impossible, to heal. She sewed the arm stump together, so the flesh would not simply dangle from the wound. She wondered what had done such a thing as she worked. They had been alone in there, hadn’t they? Just them and The Radiance in their head? She looked up to her half-sibling’s bandaged face. “Did you do this to yourself,” She asked, “or did The Radiance do this to you?” Their half-sibling looked speechless for a bit, before a bit of guilt showed its way through as they looked away.
“...Me,” they muttered, “I did this.”