Records of Rebirth

Chapter 217 - Bloody Sarcophagus

By the time Arsinoe returned with Typhon, it was already too late.

When they came into the underground, they saw Morgana laughing. This was especially hard for Arsinoe because it took all of her strength to bring Typhon back and now her injuries were more severe.

But she should've remained here because it seemed her efforts were all for nothing. If she had stayed, she could have interrupted the process, because according to Typhon, Morgana had done something to the hatchlings which meant they would only follow her in the future. 

Morgana saw her dumbfounded expression and turned to look at Typhon.

[What can you do now?] She laughed mockingly. [You should return to your plans, because you're too late. They belong to me now.] 

Typhon took a look at the spacious underground and the collapsed stone barricades. Without speaking or acknowledging any of Morgana's words, he immediately started to attack. 

Morgana barely managed to slip through the rocky boulder that shot across the space, as it imploded with a loud crash not far from where she once stood.

Perhaps, she didn't think he would attack her so openly, because Arsinoe noticed there was a slight delay before she reacted.

Morgana gave Typhon an incredulous look, but he was nowhere to be found. 

In the cloud of dust and debris, a harsh tremor spread over the ground, causing everything around her to break down. Several cells were reduced to rubble and Morgana was knocked off her position, and slipped down below before she could figure out what was going on.

As she was still reeling from her fall, cracks began to form on the ceiling above her and soon, a chunk of it collapsed onto Morgana, striking her with their full force. And buried several feet below the ground, Morgana's body ached severely. 

Fortunately, her new form was much more resilient. She quickly cast aside the heavy rubble over her and looked up to glimpse a large shape hurling down at her with unfathomable speed.

She scrambled away from the boulder right before she was crushed, but the ground around her collapsed and sent her sailing through several destroyed cells.

Morgana coughed with all the raised dust. 

[Are you trying to kill me?!] she screamed at Typhon who said nothing.

Was he trying to bury her alive?

Her outburst was short-lived, however, as the pitfall she had fallen into suddenly exploded in a series of deadly spikes.

She couldn't avoid them in time and they pierced through her body and wings, much to her dismay. 

She was pushed against a wall, and in the next moment, a hole opened up in the ground revealing ravenous waves of bottom feeders spreading out to target her as prey.

It was then that Morgana knew Typhon had lost it.

He was really trying to kill her! 

She was forced to break through the spikes trapping her to escape and took off into the air away from the bottom feeders, before rushing at Typhon's figure in anger.

As the serpents collided, the ensuing havoc left several cells broken and the entire underground space became unrecognisable.

Morgana was able to keep up with him, evenly trading blows and her attacks were slowly becoming even more fierce as she gained more experience, while using her aerial capabilities to her advantage.

Typhon, on the other hand, was using his magic skilfully to his advantage.

And no matter how well Morgana fought, without the proper grasp of her abilities, she was quickly pushed into a corner.

A disoriented and confused Morgana stared at the spacious underground that was suddenly too small. Everything was shifting around her faster than she could adapt, as Typhon predicted her moves and countered them perfectly. 

Typhon raised stone walls to hinder her movements and seal off her escape points, even crushing her on one occasion when one of the walls met up with the spikes he created along the ceiling.

Morgana was trying to escape his attacks but couldn't react quickly enough, and even though she expertly weaved through some, she was struck down by something else every time.

They were underground and this was completely Typhon's domain. If she was going to win, she couldn't do it here, so she frantically stared at the underground exit, mapping out all the possible ways to get out of there. 

But as time went on, the exit was like a trap making her moves even more predictable.

Typhon knew where she was headed every time and he purposely left the path wide open only to turn around and keep her on the short end of a desperate escape. Soon Morgana found herself battered and at the mercy of his cruel tactics. 

In the end, she was too exhausted to fly, and after getting knocked down so many times, she was covered in bruises and several of her ribs were broken. She looked at Typhon in anger, and then at the cells containing the creatures that were peering around curiously. 

His attacks, although destructive, hadn't touched any of them and the underground was completely devoid of wreckage in that area.

Morgana was frustrated that he could still deal with her while being so careful, and she cursed her bad luck.

However, seeing them still alive gave her hope that maybe he won't kill her?

After all, if he did, who would control those monsters?

[What are you trying to do here?] She started to approach him. [It's clear you don't want to kill me.]

Typhon remained silent and only stared at her with a mix of rage and disappointment.

[I can help with raising them.] She pleaded. [They are still weak right now – it shouldn't matter who they follow, we can still fix what I've done. If we train them properly, they will become our greatest force. Think about it.]

Typhon stared blankly at her as he considered his options.

She wasn't entirely wrong, as some of the damage could be fixed with few corrections, since it was still early.

But Morgana was waiting for that exact pause in his attacks and swiftly made a break for the exit.

But alas, that turned out to be the wrong move.

Typhon lost all of his patience and crossed the gap in an instant and pulled her back before she could reach the exit, targeting her wings as he twisted behind her and constricted her in a chain-like grasp.

Morgana felt herself unable to move and she even felt something crack right before her head was pierced by a pair of fangs. 

What was he trying to do? 

While she knew their venom was harmless, she still panicked.

However, before she could speak, her face was pressed against one of the tunnel barricades and her vision was filled with numerous, squirming bottom feeders.

[Let me go right now! You - ahh!] With her head held over the tunnel, her eyes went wide with panic, and she could only scream.

At that moment Morgana could see Typhon truly wanted to kill her.

Yet she wasn't dead, which meant he was holding back.

So, she tried to appeal to his weakness and good nature.

[Do you think she'll be happy to come back and see you've killed one of us? You won't get away with it!]

[She'll understand once I explain to her.] Was all he said and Morgana hissed in rage because she knew that may very well be the case. 

In the grand order of their cave Typhon was favoured way above her, as 'she' even left him and Ophelia in charge. 

And thinking about the caring, sweet Ophelia... 

[What would Ophelia think when she learns you killed her friend? Is this the kind of thing you want to show her?]

At the mention of her name, not only did Typhon hiss – he also dunked her head further into the tunnel and Morgana screamed as the bottom feeders feasted on her flesh. 

Arsinoe, who was watching from the exit, was horror stricken as the tunnel echoed with Morgana's screams.

Hearing Morgana suffer should've made her happy, but somehow it only made her more terrified of Typhon.

She was so stunned she didn't even notice Galahad had come down and stood beside her.

Eventually, the screaming died down as Typhon pulled her out, but she was in such a bad state that she could not even speak and only glared at Typhon.

Typhon saw the anger and hatred within her eyes, and threw her aside in contempt. 

Morgana was right that he couldn't kill her, because Ophelia would be upset and also because 'she' would find some fault with him for making the decision without her permission. 

Typhon could only consider Morgana lucky to have those two on her side, if not, he would've definitely killed her for the blatant disregard for the rules and punishment 'she' enforced.

But, he wasn't going to let her off freely either.

For the time being, he raised an earth tomb around the dazed Morgana and locked her within. He purposely made the cage just a size bigger than her and left a few tiny holes at the top for air circulation so she wouldn't suffocate inside. 

He then lined the surrounding walls with sharp spikes protruding towards the centre, essentially pinning her in place without even giving her any room to move about. 

And that would force her to remain in there until 'she' returned to properly deal with her.

As Morgana became aware of her situation, she became livid at the humiliating way Typhon was treating her. She screamed out in blind rage and tried to break free but ended up stabbing herself into the spikes. 

But the pain and helplessness only made her more irate and she trashed around in the earth tomb with no regard to the injuries she was sustaining.

After a few bouts of struggle, her injured body couldn't keep up with her rage and she fell limp and slipped into unconsciousness.