Chapter 42

Mordekaiser

"And what exactly do you desire to talk about?" Asked Mordekaiser as he looked at Morgana, her arms crossed as she gave him a deadpanned stare. "I did not slay any of those Mageseekers that pursued me and you saved all those that the Mageseekers captured. I fail to see what is wrong."

"And that is the issue." Said Morgana before explaining. "You can't, or rather refuse, to see the wrong of your actions. You don't consider the moral quandary of your actions. All you see is what benefits you and what doesn't. And if that isn't enough, you don't care about the wellbeing or opinions of others. I will admit, I appreciate that you didn't kill any of the Mageseekers and didn't give them any injuries that I couldn't have healed with my magic. What I don't appreciate is the degree of injuries that you left some of them. All you had to do was incapacitate them and nothing more. You didn't have to rip out parts of their limbs or make them cripples to varying degrees to achieve this. Just… *Sighs* why can't you be the least considerate to the feelings of others regarding your methods? Moxxie, from what I've seen, dislikes how you're so brutal in your honesty towards others not to mention your lack of social tact. I also dislike how you have no care towards the wellbeing of those that face you in battle. There's a difference in dealing with your enemies and another thing entirely to utterly obliterate them to the point that nothing of them remains."

"That is simply how I fight." Said Mordekaiser as he looked at Morgana as the two stared down at each other. "If you wanted for me to be even more restrained against those Mageseekers, then you should have advised me to more restraint than I promised. I merely said I would allow them all to live. I never said I wouldn't maim them or leave them cripples for all eternity. The fact that you complain about this is something I shouldn't be surprised at, given your constant cowardice." Morgana chaffed at his words, her temper flaring, but she willed herself to calm down. Much as she hated to admit it, his words held some truth in them. Before he returned, she thought of both his words as well as the boy from before and although she hated their words, a part of her couldn't help but wonder if they weren't ultimately right. But now was not the time to think about that. Right now she needed to talk with Mordekaiser and his constant insistence of violence and excess force to achieve his goals.

"You may be correct in your words to some extent, but that doesn't mean you are not free from any criticisms I have for you and your methods. Even more so when its clear to me that you truly need it. More than you think." Said Morgana as she stood her ground against Mordekaiser. "Whether you like it or not, your actions today against those Mageseekers will only reinforce their stance towards Mages and magic alike. They may even use the injuries you left some of those Mageseekers as propaganda for their cause. To persuade the current King of Demacia and the people of Demacia that their cause is a just one. After all, what better way to show them that than showing your people being brutally slaughtered by the enemy. Something you provided them."

" *Scoffs* If your people are that foolish enough to ignore the Mageseekers past transgressions as well as conveniently forgetting why their rebellion occurred in the first place, then perhaps they are in desperate need of your return. Regardless if it brings your sister back as well." Said Mordekaiser, causing Morgana to sigh in frustration at his words. This man.

"This attitude is what I'm talking about with you, Mordekaiser." Said Morgana, annoyed with him. This man. "You can't just handle every single of your problems with violence. With deceit and cruelty. Sooner or later, you'll learn that not every problem can be solved with violence. That there are better alternatives to achieving your desires than with your current methods."

"If there are, then they have yet to reveal themselves." Said Mordekaiser simply. "I've seen denizens of Hell, Runeterra, and Earth try to better their societies, to make a better world. But all their work has either failed utterly or have only worked partially. All because they utilized the wrong methods or did not have the courage to see do what is necessary to achieve their goals. If they have simply utilized the proper amount of force, if they had the will to do what was necessary to achieve success, they could have realized their goals sooner and more effectively. They would not see their goals fail to meet their expectations nor see their goals not even be realized. I look at my methods and they have succeeded at every turn to realize my goals. To accelerate them and ensure my enemies will not be able to stop me until it is too late. So, tell me, why should I bother changing my methods when they have done nothing but prove to be effective?"

"For one, your son." Said Morgana as she stood her ground. "I don't know the full story, but doesn't he believe that you are trying to make life in Hell better for everyone? Wouldn't it make him feel better to know that his adoptive father is only using violence when it's the last option available and he's exhausted all other possibilities? He loves you. He believes in your vision. I hate for the love between you two be ruined because of your methods." Upon hearing that, Morgana sensed a surge of emotions from Mordekaiser when she mentioned Moxxie. A faint one, but it was there nonetheless.

"He will come to understand why I do what I do." Said Mordekaiser simply after a moment of thought. "I do not expect my actions to be praised and loved by people, especially ones like you and Moxxie, nor do I care for it. I commit my actions so that I will achieve my destiny in ruling over all things in this universe. If I must sacrifice the love and respect of my son to do so, then so be it." Morgana frowned when she heard this. Morgana said nothing as she looked at Mordekaiser, feeling both disgust as well as sadness at the Iron Revenant for his unbending stubbornness towards his beliefs and morality.

A part of her wanted to demand him to leave so that she can wallow in the fact that he refuses to change but another part of her wanted him to stay so she can keep on trying to make him see her point of view. She wanted to help him so much, to nurture that seed of change within him into some beautiful, but it was becoming more and more clear to her that she needed a lot of help to nurture it. A lot of it. Along with a lot of patience and stubbornness on her part. Fortunately, or unfortunately depending on how one views it, she can be quite stubborn.

"You say that, but I don't believe you mean it." Said Morgana as she walked over to Mordekaiser. The Iron Revenant said nothing as she got closer to him until she was mere inches away from him. He didn't even stop her when she placed a hand on his rib cage, feeling the dark energies that made up his being now, as she looked him in the eye, not caring about the massive height difference between them. Starring defiantly at Mordekaiser's sickly green eyes, Morgana spoke again. "You care about what he thinks of you. You care about if he is hurt or in danger. I seen it today with how you rushed to his aid when you were informed that he was in danger. I seen it before with how we meet again when you tried to comfort me after revealing the Exterminations to me. And, I suspect that the same thing occurred today with how you immediately came to my aid in saving my people after our fight. All this shows me that you do care for the opinion of your son has for you. That you care what he thinks of you. That you want him to be proud of you. I'm right, am I not?" Mordekaiser just gave a grunt at her words yet he didn't push her away nor did he immediately rebuke her words.

"Do not presume to speak for me or my actions today. I merely did what I did to both ensure that you won't be an enemy of mine, thus forcing me to expend resources combating you, and ensure that my son's loyalty does not falter." Said Mordekaiser after a minute, causing Morgana to smile at bit at his words. She couldn't help but smile at his insistence that he didn't care much about the feelings of those that he was close to. It did, however, made her wonder why he continually did actions that hurt those he was close to but then later on do something to make up for his past actions. Perhaps…perhaps this was something she needed to look into. As far as she knew, no one has ever attempted to befriend one of the undead before. Then again, they all tended to murder and corrupt the living every time they saw one. Mordekaiser was perhaps the very first to actually form bonds with the living. Something that Morgana wasn't sure if she should be thrilled at knowing this.

"I'll try not to." Said Morgana as she sighed before retracting her hand from his torso. "Just ponder on this for me. You want to rule Hell, Earth, and Runeterra through the methods that you utilized before during your first rule of it, but ask yourself this. If those methods you claim to have worked for you in the past and continue to do so today are as effective as you believe them to be, then why did your previous empire fell?" With those words, Mordekaiser's sickly green essence began to glow brightly and the dreadful aura that always came with him began to grow colder and more threatening. Like before however, Morgana stood her ground and simply starred him down as the dreadful aura got bigger and more threatening. Seeing this, Mordekaiser gave another grunt before standing down.

"That was a result of a betrayal from my inner circle." Explained Mordekaiser as he looked at Morgana as she starred at him, showing no fear, thus earning his respect. "A betrayal that I foresaw and have planned accordingly to use to my advantage. When the time comes for my return again, my empire for the living will be stronger than ever and will not fall as the previous one. And those that betrayed me will pay the price for their foolishness." Morgana just sighed at that before speaking.

"Perhaps it will." Said Morgana as she began to walk away from him, intending on checking up on her people. Before she left her cave, she spoke to Mordekaiser one last time. "But ask yourself this, is the path you commit yourself to really the best way for everyone? Or is it simply the easiest way to obtain what you desire?" Mordekaiser said nothing as Morgana looked back at him, awaiting a response. Rather than respond to her question, Mordekaiser opened a portal to his realm and began walking to it. Before he fully went to it, Mordekaiser spoke to Morgana one last time.

"My methods may perhaps be the easiest way to obtain my prize, but that does not invalidate them by any means." Said Mordekaiser. "Besides, do you honestly believe that the denizens of Earth, Runeterra, Heaven, and even those of Hell will want to be lead by someone like me? An immortal being from another realm entirely that seeks to rule over them all, despite not being born or having truly live in them aside from one. Do you think they'll accept being ruled over one that is not like them at all? Not without me forcing them to accept it? You are living proof that any alternatives are doomed to fail. All we need to do is look upon your Sylas and how you failed to prevent him from losing sight on what you desired for Demacia. Am I not correct in that?" Mordekaiser looked at Morgana as she stared at him, not giving her own answer to his question aside from the clenching of her fists at the mentioning of Sylas. Shaking his head, Mordekaiser told her that they'll meet again next week before going through the portal. Once he was fully gone, Morgana sighed to herself.

"Perhaps if you showed them that you mean no harm and that you are not a monster and a tyrant, then maybe you could see the other methods are just as effective as your current methods." Said Morgana as she crossed her arms as she looked at where the portal was that Mordekaiser took. Eventually she looked at the location with a look of sadness.

"Why do you have to be so stubborn?" Said Morgana sadly as she thought of Mordekaiser. Despite her annoyance and anger at Mordekaiser for what he did to those Mageseekers as well as his general attitude towards others, Morgana couldn't help but feel saddened with Mordekaiser and his stubborn belief that there was nothing wrong with how he conducted his actions and methods.

She wanted him to change. She wanted to change him for the better. She wanted…she wanted to know if she can change Sylas. Change him back to what he was before the Mage Rebellion started.

As much as it pained her to admit, Morgana can see a good deal of Sylas within Mordekaiser. The stubborn drive to his goals. The care towards those that he was close to. The uncaring nature of who gets hurt in his drive to achieve his goals, even those that he was close to. She could see it all within Mordekaiser and it hurt her to see that he was following a similar path to Sylas. A path of tragedy and darkness.

Perhaps that was part of the reason that Morgana had wanted to have weekly meetings with him. She subconsciously saw a resemblance of Sylas within Mordekaiser and refused to see another like Sylas fall to a path of darkness when she could have prevented it. And perhaps…perhaps if she could change Mordekaiser, an undead warlord that, for all intents and purposes, was seen as beyond redeemable by most of the living world according to history, into someone better than she could do the same with Sylas if she ever finds him. And then, with all that done, perhaps she could finally be ready to face her sister.

Thinking of Kayle, Morgana sighed as she soon sat on the ground, pondering on Mordekaiser's past words about her cowardice and that of her fear of her sister.

"If you truly cared about the people of Demacia still as you claim and fear your sister's judgement on them, why haven't you done anything to help prepare them from the shadows?" That was what Mordekaiser said previously to her today along with disguising her cowardice with concern and care for the people of Demacia. Then that boy that she saved later said similar things as well, demanding how she can call herself a figure of justice when she lets injustice run rampart around Demacia, the kingdom she helped create. Pondering on their words, Morgana thought long and hard on them.

"My life has gotten harder recently." Thought Morgana, feeling a sense of longing for the days she could simply adopt the persona of the Veiled Lady and that was that. And yet, a larger part of her couldn't help but welcome it.

Later

Mitna Rachnun/Grey Realm

"Inform my underlings that the yearly report on our operations is within the next two days." Said Mordekaiser once he sat on his throne within the Grey Realm, addressing Keira, who was ever present for her lord.

"Understood." Said Keira as she bowed before her lord. "I believe that you will me most pleased with what they all have to say to you." Mordekaiser gave a hum at that before ordering her to leave. Once she did, Mordekaiser thought of Morgana and wondered if she was thinking on what he said to her today.