A redeemed Solar lacks the Great Curse, and may not be subjected to it again by any means in this or any future in- carnation. Similarly, children of Dragon-Blooded freed of the Curse retain this immunity and pass it on to all their descendants. All Exalted who have been cured of the Great Curse still possess a Limit track, but no longer gain Limit by any means other than having it inflicted upon them directly by magical effects, such as the Abyssal Charm Sanity-Eroding Diatribe, or the Solar Charm Bloodthirsty Sword-Dancer Spirit. Resisting unnatural mental influence is not such an effect and does not grant Limit any longer. Their Virtue Flaw disappears. When the character's Limit hits 10, she loses one dot of permanent Willpower (minimum Willpower 1) instead of entering Limit Break madness. Lost dots naturally return at the rate of one per month since experiencing Limit Break. The original Exalted Limit track was originally designed by the gods and Autochthon to act as an ablative defense against madness-inducing Primordial magic. Unfortunately, Limit created an unintended backdoor vulnerability that the dying Primordials exploited and corrupted with their Great Curse, bypassing anti-Shaping defenses through this hidden imperfection. It is scant comfort that only the death curses of the Primordials could exploit this crack and that they cannot do so again. Alchemical Exalted, who were never subject to the Great Curse, also possess such a Limit track, though they are unaware of this as there are no beings in Autochthonia with Limit-inducing magic, and Al- chemical Charms cannot give their own user Limit. Abyssals form the singular exception to this rule—their Limit track has been twisted into the apparatus by which the Neverborn inflict Resonance on them, and any effect which would give an Abyssal Limit instead grants equivalent Resonance.
• Any Charms which rely on the character possessing the Great Curse to function (such as Stubborn Boar Defense) are converted into experience, but are considered known for the purpose of meeting Charm prerequisites. Charms that merely add Limit function as stated above.
This isn't from the Ink Monkeys (which are still basically canon) - this is from the official Errata. The weakness that limit shored up was a short-term willpower debuff, replacing a defense against madness with… madness. (And refreshed WP once it's over, to be fair).
Meanwhile, this guy has Arete 10, meaning power - energy. Something we are lacking, specifically, in this world, making our exaltation hungry - Usum said it was sucking in everything it could.
And we don't have the Curse, and our perfects are… less than.
Before author statements (or even careful non-statements), I personally feel like we'd be less likely to get fucked over if we used Shadow Spite to keep nerfing him- it doesn't prevent us from using our EIPP if we fail.
Even better, have Sophia knock him out, so he can't get off a death curse. Then coup de Grace him with MiM while he's unconscious - although it would be best if he didn't see her coming.
More work, but probably the safer option.
[] Plan Bomb Squad
-Sophia has Mental Speech, so use it. Quietly let her know the plan.
-Molly talks to the Hollow Man, lowering her weapon (but not her Shadow Spite Curse), seeming to probe for information so he thinks we aren't about to kill him. Risky, because it's best if we don't use the excellency - we want our Essence for Ego-Infused Pattern Primacy.
-Sophia transforms, and sneaks around behind him. She's going for a knockout blow, and can communicate with Harry and McCoy to try and achieve this.
-Once he's unconscious, MiM him immediately. We need the Essence in case of further threats anyways.
-After he's dead? Ask the Angel if there's anything she can help with, to make sure threats to reality (like this one) can't kill or suborn more innocent people.
I also agree, Yog, that he needs to die. But death curses tend to require a death, and while he could kill himself invoking one, if we can ninja him? Kincaid has sniping as his wizard-killing SOP for a reason. I hope this makes sense? Your plan is good, but the discussion made me re-check the Great Curse, and it's… well, it needs a flimsy reason to get in, and Alectai is right about how powerful he is (even if he isn't a world-pantheon tied into the nature of the universe, his sheer flexibility… I'd rate his Death Curse as the most likely long-term cost we could deal with).
So, caution. And Sophia should use everything she has, as long as it fits. With McCoy and Harry offering backup…?