
The hole in the hull she had chosen was nearly too small for the small starship she cautiously guided through however, instead of inserting herself into the belly of the ship like the previous squad of soldiers, the one she found had been in the upper decks of the ship.
Though she hadn’t paid much attention when she last rampaged through the ship, she felt sure she had a good idea where she was. The magnetic locks on the dropship’s landing gears held it in place as she gently floated across the administrative room she landed in, her environmental suit keeping herself safe from the vacuum of space. Not that she recalled going through anything remotely administrative, Morrigan knew she had been somewhere near the bridge.
She shivered as she glanced around briefly, old blood covering parts of the floor and walls of the office spaces that echoed a long since past of terror etched by faded handprints. After eight months of preparation, Morrigan had restored the Malleus Die to it’s former glory as well as finished it’s construction turning the gargantuan warship into an ark for those exiled from her empire, both those chosen as well as those who left voluntarily. Over a million souls had departed her realm the day the ship set sail and it made her wonder how many, if any, survived before Ruin’s arrival.
Refocusing on her task, she floated to the main door of the room and touched the access pad on the wall only for it to remain lifeless within the wall.
“I guess power is in short supply…” she commented to herself, which made her wonder about the footage she saw. As she pried the door open, Morrigan wondered if there had actually been life support on the lower decks, or whether the one man who removed his helmet died of asphyxiation rather than the infestation Ruin posed, or both, which made her shutter at the thought. However, as soon as the door cracked, there was a rush of air that was sucked into the vacuum of space confirming there was some semblance of atmosphere within the ship.
The door she opened led into the maze in corridors except instead of the brightly lit, generic starship corridors that made up most of the ship, what she found was darkness that her augmented vision could barely break through only revealing the vaguest of organic shapes that clogged the walkways like a bad artery.
Summoning a single claw, the walls were lit with shades of red, highlighting the calcified mess that stretched across the length of the corridor. On top of blood that has long since dried, the membrane-like matter moved ever so slightly, glistening under the warm light her power shed.
“What the hell is this?” Morrigan inquired as she looked closer, disgusted at the design. Whatever coated the place looked both solid and soft as it moved gently, as if it were breathing, but more so because it looked as if it were carved from stone or wood but looked almost flesh-like in some regard.
I have no idea, but that girl had the idea, it’s best not to touch it, Apollyon noted.
Morrigan grunted in agreement and moved slowly down the hall. Part of her nearly appreciated the desolation Ruin had wrought upon the Malleus Die. Despite showing the perpetrators and those who immediately rejected her claim to rule mercy, she hadn’t been happy to do so. Though she hadn’t expected it in her life time, she did expect the Outcasts to return at some point and attempt revenge upon her dynasty and even try to over throw her children if not grandchildren; so leaving a loose end like the Outcasts wasn’t ideal yet she had to in order to instill faith upon those who hadn’t rejected her, or those unable to leave.
Morrigan wasn’t foolish enough to believe all of the Federation supporters had fled, but those who stayed created minimal trouble; the occasional riot or local assassination attempt upon whatever world’s government they resided on. In the end though, that small mercy stayed the hand of dissent and allowed Morrigan to prove the worth of her words of peace.
She tried not to laugh at the idea that her biggest issue aside from greed trying to circumvent the order of respect between the species were the numerous cults that had spread in the wake of her victory.
Lost in her thoughts, she hadn’t paid attention to her footing as she rounded a corner, the toe of her combat boot clipping some of the strange membrane along the floor. The next thing she heard was a cacophonous wail that echoed down every corridor of the ship.
The sound caused her to shrink as it threatened her ears, however, there was something that kept her focus; the wails were segmented in a way that spoke of their distance and some of those screams weren’t too far away.
Now you did it... Apollyon quipped.
Morrigan ignored the deity as she began sprinting down the corridor, she knew the bridge was nearby somewhere and that was where she suspected to find Ruin.
She called to her skeletal wings and curled the glowing transparent apparition around her as both a shield, light source and a battering ram if she came across anything in her path as she sprinted, trying not to trip on the masses that scaled the floor.
A moment later, she heard the crash of a door from behind. With a glance over her shoulder, she saw the very same shambling horde that had overtook the squad of troopers in the video. Desiccated, sickly, and inhumanely alive, the horde howled and screeched predatorily as it gave chase.
The more she thought about it, the more she second guessed her decision to infiltrate the ship alone. If Ruin had been as powerful as she was, then it was quite likely that she could kill Morrigan, and even a torrent of gunfire couldn’t stop what pursued her. With both things in mind, she doubted that she could kill them fast enough. A ship full of living beings that succumbed to things like bleeding out and fear was one thing but it dawned on her that the creatures appeared to feel no fear, which meant if she couldn’t kill them all in short order, she would be overrun.
As she finished her thoughts, she turned down an adjacent corridor only to see another horde of the same creatures coming her way. Debilitation or not, the monstrosities were fast, and her boots couldn’t grip the ground fast enough to back track further down the corridor.
Then she found it, the set of ruined doors she had been looking for coming into view as the edge of her power’s light pushed back the darkness only for her to see something step out of the doors; something massive.
“Is that her?” Morrigan demanded as she prepared to strike at speed.
However, the light revealed the humanoid creature fully causing Apollyon to respond, No, not her!. What stood before her appeared to be a giant of a man as tall as any Timse’h; squat, thick legs that held up a massive, bulbous and pox riddled stomach and a mouth less, singularly horned head that held a single milk white eye that turned towards her. More so, it’s meaty, flabby arms wielded a massive weapon, a large sword nearly as long as she was tall that had been corroded and cakes with any amount of rotting matter it had once come in contact with.
“Well fuck,” she commented as she weighed her options. She knew she couldn’t stop and fight whatever it was. Despite its size, she knew that if the hordes that hunted her were fast, she had to assume it too was fast enough to be a problem. She also couldn’t run past it without risk, and with the horde on her heels, she had no real options.
Desperately, Morrigan launched herself into the air to land a mere 15 feet away from the creature and with all of her determination, summoned a spectral clawed fist and slammed it into the floor beneath her. Punching through the floor Morrigan landed uneasily on the deck below, the floor covered with the same sinuous material that made it difficult for her to keep even footing as she ran.
Something slammed to the floor behind her with enough force to cause the corridor to shudder and groan, nearly tossing Morrigan from her feet. Looking behind her, she caught the sight just in time to lean uncomfortably back and duck below the massive blade that smashed into the wall beside her, the metal wall she had to normally pry apart screeching as the blade rent through it with ease.
Morrigan’s eyes went wide as the giant pried it’s blade out of the wall with minimal effort, the milk white eye staring her down as it pulled back once again. Morrigan barely had time to shout an obscenity in her head before she raised her clawed hands and met the rotten blade. Sparks flew as she nearly crumpled under the weight of the impact and just managed to shift her body out of the way of the downward swing, and direct the blade into the floor.
Surprise nearly rooted her to the floor as she noticed the blade had barely been damaged by her claws, uneven grooves that were rent into it as she had sheered off a minimal amount of it’s edge. The howl of an approaching horde snapped her out of the brief stupor and before the giant could pry the blade out of the floor, she extended her spectral claws and ripped through the meaty arm that swung the blade severing sinew and tendons. She slammed her boot down on the spine of the blade as the creature reeled back and the incredibly heavy weapon sank through the floor.
Glancing towards the horde, Morrigan froze as she noticed that it contained creatures she had never seen before; insect-like creatures and bestial kinds mixed in with what had once been the crew of the Malleus Die all charging towards her at full speed from behind.
Look out! Apollyon roared in her mind but she barely managed to turn to see the giant left hook that caught her in the side of the head, shattering her helmet and sending her sprawling to the ground.
The daze that consumed her was shortly overridden by a terrible agony as she sucked in a breath. Spores, mold, infestation and whatever permeated the air attempted to infect her body each time she breathed in pain. She could feel her body, or her power, defend against the infection but it did nothing for the pain of her body trying to rot from the inside out.
Skeletal wings curled around her body as a defensive cage as she rolled onto her hands and knees and vomited a putrid mess of bile, the pain and rot slowly beginning to fade as she tried to cough up one of her lungs.
Decrepit hands, claws and mandibles attempt to reach her through her protective wings without avail and after a single moment of respite in the waves of pain that coursed through her body, she summoned a domed shield to separate herself from the endless onslaught.
“This was stupid…” she thought as pain wracked her body once more, looking down at her right hand as she managed to sit up, her skull pounding under the pressure of the creatures that attacked her shield with reckless abandon. Her veins blackened for a moment before returning to their usual blue hue beneath her skin and the pain began to subside slowly as her body fought off whatever attacked her.
Just give it a moment, you’re building immunity, Apollyon said pointedly, equally concerned by their situation.
Morrigan grunted in pain as something else in her body tried to fail only to be beaten back by her power.
With the brief respite, she looked up to see that though the creatures couldn’t breach her shield, nor did it damage them either. Most things were torn apart by her power and yet, whatever Ruin had created seemed to be relatively immune to her destructive power. That train of thought was interrupted by the giant, whose left fist crashed into her shield and caused her to wince. Looking at the large creature, her attention was drawn to its dangling right arm that had been shredded by her claws and what was once an object of devastating strength, now hung by strands of flesh that rotted with unnatural speed.
“They can’t heal…” Morrigan murmured.
It appears not, Apollyon agreed. If Ruin’ s creations couldn’t heal, then it was, as far as Morrigan considered, likely that Ruin couldn’t heal either which gave Morrigan a distinctive advantage in her situation. Except she was surrounded, and despite healing and being relatively unharmed, her power would eventually give out before the creatures would.
At that thought, she noticed that some, if not all of the creatures, were slowly breaking themselves up on her shield. Broken, putridly bloody wounds opening on limbs, heads and bodies as they threw themselves at her defenses which told Morrigan two things: first, they had no survival instincts, and second, they felt little to no pain despite the giant reacting to her rending its arm.
“As nice as it would be, I can’t do this all day,” she told herself as she noticed her body felt no pain, her energy funneling into her wings and shield only meaning that her body fully fought off whatever infections there had been. Having more power to focus into her shield would only get her so far though, she had no way of knowing how many of the creatures called the derelict ship home, especially with the revelation that not all of them belonged to the Outcast crew.
Don’t forget your orders to Claire… that was kinda dumb, Apollyon added a touch of gallows humor.
Morrigan sighed at that, nearly forgetting that she was on an actual time table. With that said, she had to decide how to proceed and fast.
“I need to find this bitch and put her down,” Morrigan growled, her anger beginning to rise at the bewildering situation she put herself in, “Maybe if she’s dead, they’ll die too.”
Apollyon grunted noncommittally, not wishing to interrupt the rising anger within her.
Morrigan stood, which only served to increase the efforts of the creatures, and saw that a handful had died upon her shield. “So, they can die,” she thought to herself with a sinister undertone.
It was good news, and something Morrigan intended on taking full advantage of.
“Get out of my way!” she roared, letting her anger flood her soul as she expanded the domed shield to fill the width of the corridor, throwing her attackers back and even crushing some against the walls and ceiling.
The moment the shield faded, and the creatures began to recover, Morrigan summoned her spectral claws and sent them soaring down the corridor, ripping through all who stood in her way and even tearing apart coming reinforcements she had yet to see.
Turning back, to her delightful surprise, she saw that the giant creature had yet to recover from being knocked down; its obscenely thick legs making it hard for it to right itself without both arms. The few that had survived her onslaught lunged at her, but at the sound of the predatory shrieks, her wings flared in a defensive fan as she spun on them ripping them apart into rotting chunks and sprays of spoiled blood.
Despite gaining some kind of immunity to the infectious, stagnant air, Morrigan still gagged at the smell especially with the new smells released by the truly dead creatures surrounding her; but she couldn’t lose focus.
Turning back to the giant, she found that it had rolled itself onto its good arm and gotten a leg underneath itself. With a quick kick, the creature fell back under it’s flabby weight allowing Morrigan to approach safely. The dead eye stared up at her as it flailed its useless, now stump of an arm at her, Morrigan smirked before plunging her clawed hand into its skull.
The feeling nearly made her stomach heave as she felt the rotten insides of the creatures, everything having a cold, soft texture even its skull.
There was nothing she could do the second she pulled her hand free as an oppressive force threatened to cause her own skull to implode. A deafening wail of fury and agony coming from everywhere and nowhere simultaneously.
Morrigan’s vision had blurred and she nearly blacked out as she doubled over only for the sound to subside instantly only for her skull to threaten to split but a more precise pressure.
You! Came a voice within her mind. The voice had a rasp to it, like a woman’s voice who spoke with strained vocal cords.
Morrigan shook her head and felt her senses begin to return to the chittering, clacking of teeth and mandibles as she looked up to see herself surrounded by near frozen creatures of all shapes and sizes.
The keyword was near, as they seemed capable of tracking her every motion yet for some reason they made no effort to attack her. She looked down cautiously at the dead giant and wondered if it had been some kind of general to them only for the voice to return, less painfully.
You will answer for the death of my son, the voice spat vehemently.
Morrigan’s eyes widened in both surprise and confusion as she looked up from the massive body, silently mouthing “oops” as she looked into the dead eyes of her enemies.
Come to the heart of this vessel, I will see to your death a second time, progenitor, and this time, you will not escape death! Ruin commanded within her head.
I think you pissed her off, Apollyon quipped lightheartedly.
Morrigan let out a shaky breath as she watched the creatures all begin to move out of her way, carving a path in the direction she knew she needed to go. Then again, Morrigan had no idea what was considered the heart of the ship.
This was what Morrigan wanted though, and she needed to remind herself of that purpose. Steeling herself, Morrigan began to stride forward, holding herself high amidst dozens of creatures that wished to tear her apart. None moved though as she walked though, standing stock still as their heads merely turned in her direction which told her something else interesting. Ruin had control over the creatures which meant that if she managed to kill Ruin, the creatures would die as well. That was her hope, at least.
Morrigan continued to walk the guided path, guided being that each corridor she went down was lined with the undead creatures and the directions she wasn’t meant to go where blocked by entire hordes of them, truly highlighting the sheer amount of the rotting creatures there were. If it had been up to Morrigan to destroy them all, she hadn’t had a hope in hell to accomplish such a feat. There were hundreds of thousands all standing vanguard to ensure her arrival to their creator, and if she hadn’t killed Ruin’s “Son”, she would have eventually been overrun and killed by numbers alone.
In the meantime Morrigan stripped her ruined helmet off her head, no longer functional it was of no use to her and she left it in the middle of a corridor amongst the rest of the discarded filth that called the ship home. If she were to face Ruin, it wouldn’t be through shattered glass, but with her own eyes.
Eventually, Morrigan came to the midsection of the ship and was guided to a semi-familiar door that Nora had once reported. What was surprising was that the midsection of the ship still had power which meant the generators were still working to some capacity.
Inside the open door was not what Morrigan expected though. Instead of the massive shield generator that once took up the center of the room, the one that Nora had disabled to near uselessness, a massive pillar of the weird organic material that lined the inside of the ship took its place.
Within the center of that pillar was a pair of glowing pale green eyes that bore down on Morrigan as she stepped into the room.
You are not my progenitor, Ruin stated pointedly within Morrigan’s mind. The telepathic communication made Morrigan’s eyes hurt, however she noticed she was getting used to it though she had no idea how to respond the same way.
“I’m not, no,” Morrigan stated.
Don’t worry kiddo, I’m here. I like what you’ve done to the place, Apollyon snickered causing Morrigan to pinch the bridge of her nose in exasperation.
What is this? Ruin hissed, her mouth less head tilting to the side with narrowed eyes. The large, flat crown that grew from her head like the cap of a mushroom scraping against the pillar making a nearly haunting scratching sound that caused Morrigan to cringe.
After a moment, Ruin added, I see, you have taken this creature as your vessel. Much like I this one.
Morrigan snorted at that, though she believed it to be true at one point.
Not so much, actually, daughter dearest, this is your sister, Morrigan, Apollyon stated proudly.
Morrigan couldn’t help but give a hint of a smile at that, though she still hasn’t come to terms with anything Apollyon had told her, but she couldn’t deny how good it felt to feel the deity’s pride.
Sister? Ruin asked, her tone sounding perpetually sinister as she inspected Morrigan’s form. You dare! I will destroy this vessel in which you survived, and then I will kill you with certainty. You will not survive a second time!
The level of vehemence Ruin had nearly surprised Morrigan and Apollyon both, yet it hadn’t. A black cloud formed within the room and began to surround Morrigan before she could react and to her pleasant surprise, she didn’t need to react. Whatever the cloud was had to have been something similar, if not the same, as what had infected her before and all she could feel was the slightest tingle of power fighting off whatever it was.
Ruin’s eyes narrowed again before there was a disgusting, near squelching sound as her head began to rise from the pillar. Soon after came an arm, then a leg as Ruin pried herself from the pillar. She fell to the ground and stood. Standing nearly ten feet tall, Morrigan felt in awe of the daughter of destruction. Despite her body having the same look of the material on the walls, there was an oddly elegant, feminine form to her body, especially how whatever hung from her hips surrounded her legs like the skirt of a dress.
“I want to know why you’re here,” Morrigan demanded as she watched Ruin feel out her own ligaments.
Ruin’s eyes snapped to her with their pale glow, I felt it… I felt you, many cycles ago. Anger, power, destruction… I thought my progenitor had returned, but it was you, I see now.
Morrigan’s brow furrowed at that. Assuming Ruin meant years by cycles, Morrigan couldn’t imagine what it was she had done to draw her attention, or how.
I remember that, Apollyon noted, drawing her attention. It was when your father died, and you truly came into my power.
Morrigan’s eyes widened as the memories of that day came back to her in a tidal wave. She remembered the anger she felt, the instinctual need for revenge and the power she forced into herself that nearly tore herself apart, nearly killing her.
But you have come back, and I must protect my children from the likes of you, Ruin mentally spat. You denied me my ability to birth my own progeny, but I found a way, and you will not threaten them any further.
“Hold on,” Morrigan called out before Apollyon could respond, “I’m sorry about earlier but I could give two shits about your kids. You came to my home and threatened my people, if you leave, we can let this go.”
Mori, Apollyon growled immediately.
However, Ruin ignored her father and shifted a wrist towards what seemed to be a mass of rotting flesh and soon it quivered before a long, carved sword of bone flew from the mass and into Ruin’s open hand.
The death of my child will not be forgiven!
Morrigan flinched into a defensive stance, her claws glowing brightly in the dim lighting. “Well, I tried,” she thought to herself as she prepared for Ruin to attack.
Yeah, well, you shouldn’t have! We have our deal, ya know! Apollyon complained though Morrigan could tell the deity was pleased that the deal was back on.
Their deal was more than on. Morrigan didn’t truly wish to back out of it but she had hoped Ruin would let her guard down on the guise of forgiveness; however, it turned out to have the opposite effect.
With very little warning, the drowning buzz of thousands of insects filled the room and Morrigan threw up a shield as a swarm of bugs crashed into it, smashing themselves to pieces against her shield. With what she could tell they were some kind of beetle though she had no intentions of finding out what sort of damage they would do to her.
With no success, Ruin waves off the insects and dashed towards Morrigan, essentially floating towards her with great speed before the odd bone sword smashed into the shield and shattered it with a cacophonous sound.
Morrigan barely had the time to catch the sword in her clawed hands, shocked that Ruin destroyed her shield with ease when high explosives couldn’t manage to do anything but annoy her.
Ruin still connected with her ribs and even though there wasn’t a cut, the sword not having an edge to cut with, the impact shattered two of her ribs and sent her sprawling with yelp of pain.
Morrigan hissed as she felt the bones reconnect and fuse back into place. She realized even though she could heal, Ruin was far stronger than she was which would make the fight quite difficult.
Before she could get up though, skeletal hands and rotten sinew stretched out from the pile of flesh she had landed near and attempted to hold her down but Morrigan’s wings flared out in a brilliant show of light and destroyed whatever had tried to grab her, allowing her to get to her feet.
She reached down to her thigh to grab her pistol and quietly swore to herself realizing the high caliber pistol Nora got her was sitting in her desk back on the Void Star.
“Fine!” Morrigan growled angrily as she stalked forward only to see out of the corner of her eye a mass of flesh rise from the ground.
Instinctively, Morrigan tossed another shield up as shards of disgusting bone slammed into it and disintegrated.
She felt her shield shatter once more and before Morrigan could turn, she felt the long shard of bone that made up Ruin’s sword pierce her kidney. As it were, over a foot of bone pierced her stomach and pain wracked her body as Ruin lifted her by the blade.
Morrigan cried out in pain which faded to a yelp as Ruin flung her across the room with a swipe of her blade. With luck, her wings broke most of the impact but blood flooded her throat as she coughed, her organs and skin already growing back and knitting back together.
“Where the hell did she learn to fight?” she asked internally, not really asking anyone in particular as she tried to rethink her strategy.
Yeah, that’s my bad, Apollyon answered regardless.
Morrigan snorted at that, managing a mild, amused smirk as she got herself off the floor only to wince as she felt a familiar pain begin to spread throughout her body.
You, are a resilient one. I see why our progenitor chose you… Ruin said as she stepped closer with an alien grace that seemed unfitting.
Morrigan managed a chuckle through the pain as she felt the burning heat of her power eat away at whatever plagued her. If a direct fight was futile, then Morrigan had to try range and summoned her spectral claws.
To her annoyance, Ruin dodged and weaved around Morrigan’s assault with supernatural grace that Morrigan hated but began to envy.
Without a word, Ruin lunged forward with a thrust and Morrigan put the pointed sword between her claws and guided the thrust towards the side allowing Ruin to stab the wall with the bone rather than her.
To her surprise, the bone sword shattered against the wall and Morrigan couldn’t help but let a laugh slip out as she felt the easing of her power. However, two more flew into Ruin’s hands making Morrigan jump back.
“You’re shitting me,” Morrigan said with disgust and she could’ve sworn Ruin smiled if she had a face to smile with. Ruin’s face was akin to Apollyon’s original face, a smooth featureless face with only burning eyes to punctuate any form of sentience.
The air shimmered around Ruin and a second later, her body distorted out of existence causing Morrigan’s eyes to go wide with panic.
“Are you fucking…” her thoughts left unfinished as she realized Ruin had teleported through the fabric of reality a moment too late. As she spun to defend herself, she caught the sight of Ruin thrusting both swords forward and could do nothing to keep either form skewering her.
Blood instantly rose to her mouth and splattered Ruin’s face as she lifted Morrigan high enough to meet her at eye level. In that instant, Morrigan realized Ruin was toying with her. With a fanged snarl, Morrigan lifted her arms and slammed her fists down on both swords, shattering both and dropping her to the floor.
Morrigan prepared for her fall though and as soon as her knee slammed into the metal floor she slashed out with her claws and caught Ruin in the thigh, catching the deific woman by surprise.
She looked up to see putrid green blood bubble out from the three slash marks across the woman’s leg and let out a triumphant hiss as she noticed her assumption was correct; Ruin couldn’t heal.
Prying the bones from her torso with a savage grunt, Morrigan threw them to the ground and prepared for whatever came her way. Now, Morrigan was just pissed.
However, Ruin looked at the wound curiously, as if she hadn’t felt it and despite seeing the wound, she appeared bewildered by it. But when she looked up at Morrigan, her featureless face still managed a sense of curiosity.
Morrigan was assaulted with no warning. Those beetles from before appeared out of thin air and began to tear at her flesh sending Morrigan into a infuriated panic all the while shards of putrid bone began to assail her, piercing body with no precision.
Morrigan’s wings curled around her to protect her however, the assault made Morrigan’s instincts kick in and she covered her head protectively and just like that, everything ceased.
Breathing heavily, Morrigan slowly uncurled her arms from her head as she felt the diseased bones fall from her skin and clatter to the ground, the bugs gone from her body.
I see, Ruin said curiously which made her look up at the woman.
The next thing Morrigan knew Ruin’s hand was wrapped around her throat and she dangled in the air once more, her head well above Ruin’s this time and what she held in her hand was a long, needle like bone that aimed right for Morrigan’s head.
You may heal, but you are not immortal. Your mind cannot heal like the rest of you, Ruin stated observantly.
Morrigan struggled to breathe within Ruin’s powerful grip but she did manage to grin viciously as she failed to pry Ruin’s hand from her throat.
“Think… again… bitch…” Morrigan croaked out, after taking stock of her situation. Without giving warning, Morrigan’s wings reappeared in a thrust, the tips of her skeletal wings piercing Ruin’s body like that had Tyrus’s. The wide glow that came from Ruin’s eyes made Morrigan grin more as her claws severed the deific woman’s hand and the motion of her fall shredding Ruin’s body as her wings were yanked out.
Morrigan didn’t bother breathing as she watched Ruin double over in shocked pain, with the moment coming to a close, Morrigan used what strength she had and plunged her claws deep into Ruin’s chest, piercing and shredding her heart.
All went still as Morrigan felt the weight of Ruin’s body grow heavier, then she let out a scream that shook the ship.
With all her efforts Morrigan pulled her hand free and watched as the putrid green blood of Ruin absorbed into her veins. The blood didn’t stop there as it’s green putridness snaked between her and its fallen host and the moment it touched her, she screamed again.
It was pain, but also euphoria and every fiber of Morrigan’s being wanted to pass out from it all yet she couldn’t. The moment the last drop of blood was taken Morrigan collapsed to the ground barely conscious.
Welcome to godhood kid, but we don’t have time to lay around. You did good but you need to move your ass! Apollyon announced in her head.
The ship shuddered violently and what lights were present turned into flashing claxons. Morrigan could barely think through her exhaustion but she couldn’t imagine Claire had begun her attack, yet in the end it didn’t matter. Morrigan knew Apollyon was right but she was so tired.
“How do I teleport?” She asked weakly in her mind, not having the energy to even speak.
Damn it, we don’t have time for training! Ugh! Fine, focus on where you want to be and consider everything that is between you and that space. Pull the two points together and focus your power! Apollyon instructed reverently as the howls of the hordes echoed throughout the ship.
Morrigan supposed she was wrong about that. Instead of thinking about that, she pictured the view of Claire’s bridge and considered as much as she could of the Malleus Die. She knew how it was designed given she had torn through half of it, and without a moment to reconsider, she winked out of existence.
I know morrigan has never been the best fighter, but I guess she got a little rusty in peacetime, also feels kindaaaa... weird? for her to be hesitating to shred the creepy crawlies? Like on one hamd I'd get if it was to preserve stamina, on the other, morrigan, you shredded several entire starships before, why *exactly* did a left for dead boomer/WoW 3 abomination catch you so off guard it actually got hits in before you made paste
Haha maybe slightly rusty, but also fighting something tens of thousands of years older than her specifically made to destroy life, the disparity between fighting prowess would be staggeringly different. Similarly why she had the introspection moment considering why Apollyon got beat by its own creation though still underestimated just how effective Ruin would be.
As for your other point, yeah there's multiple reasons, one of them conserving energy of course. Getting thrown off by the cyclopean creature was the first instance of coming face to face with an unknown creature in a ship she knew had been filled with close to a million Federation humans likely turned into hive creatures. When touching the hive material causes the entire ship to react, the numbers are already against her lol then quickly finding out not only had the crew turned, but there were an unknown amount of additional species brought with? Stopping and fighting isn't much of an option.
With the video she saw she knew (which maybe I should have added this part) tearing through a ship of humans is easier because they're predictable and succumb to self preservation where as the creatures hadn't even reacted to pain, the likelihood of being swarmed and dying a very slow, painful death is almost guaranteed lol
I suppose it also highlights that as she got older, she didn't necessarily just keep jumping into issues head first but instead, learned to be a tactician, or at least consider what she was getting herself into. Whether she was right, well, that's the mystery of life.
Plus, the creature came out of the bridge, which didn't turn out to be Ruin, and poorly thinking about it, she aimed to find Ruin else where though there was always the possibility she had been in bridge as well but being chased by an unknown sized horde already time isn't a factor that was on her side.