Silent City

34. The Exoneration

    The hard part was yet to come. The vessel still had a ways to go until things would get really interesting. Still, the number of borderline gods had begun to deteriorate. It was starting to get engaging.

"My nerves are shot." The Nightmare King admitted a while after Sheo had been defeated. "Four more opponents and I'll have to go in with my physical form."

"Your physical form?" The Pale King asked. "But that's nowhere near as strong as your Nightmare form."

"Yes. I will come in as my Nightmare form later."

"That seems like a waste. Why not just go in with your Nightmare form?" He scoffs.

"Added difficulty." Grimm says simply. "More pain for me, though. I don't expect to win against them with my physical form. I've fought them before in my physical form, long ago before Hallownest was sealed off. They won pretty easily."

The Radiance looked backwards over at him, looking concerned.

"I've also fought them as the Nightmare King, but in the Dream Realm they're able to reincarnate infinitely, so there wasn't much pressure. Eventually they won, but it took a while."

The arena suddenly glows with the light of the sun, but the group was so used to it by now that none of them flinched at the sharp sound of the battleground revealing itself.

Ghost was revealed standing across from the Hive Knight, the strong and dedicated warrior tasked with protecting the Hive Queen, his eyes now clouded over with Infection. Hornet, who was standing at the railing and staring at the stage with her eyes narrowed, felt a sharp pang in her chest as an unsettling revelation washed over her.

As she watched the fight, the Radiance glanced over at her subtly, but not subtle enough that Hornet didn't see her.

"How did she die?" Hornet asks, working hard to keep her voice steady. The Goddess takes a deep breath through her nose while pondering something.

"I think we both know the answer to that."

Hornet slowly places one hand over her mouth and nose, without reacting in any other way. Her eyes are still staring emotionlessly at her sibling, and her fingers twitch at her mouth. The Radiance might have seen the slight shimmer of a tear on her cheek.

Hornet knew, truly, that the better outcome in this situation would be if the Goddess of Light won. She really did, but there was no way that she could bring herself to wish for the Radiance's victory. The Radiance, who had inadvertently taken away nearly everything that Hornet had ever held dear to her. She couldn't wish for her victory against her sibling.

Following the Hive Knight, there were three more battles. One was a dream warrior, One was the collector, whom Hornet had seen prowling around the tower of love before, and the last was the God Tamer, the gallant God of the arena, who resides in the Colosseum of Fools. They were three relatively tame battles, but Grimm was pacing for the entirety of them.

"You said to yourself that you weren't going to beat him in your physical form." The Radiance reminds him at the beginning of the God Tamer fight.

"Yes, but it doesn't mean I shouldn't try."

"Save your strength for the more important fight later." She advises.

Grimm furrows his eyebrows in annoyance. "You know that's not how it works."

"I was referring to your mental strength."

He paused. "Was that supposed to be an insult?"