Mortalia Closes the Distance in DEATH BATTLE!

         

Mortalia, the Masked Widow

Mortalia was created by PP it can be read on Tapas

Welcome back to the blog! Many series I've discussed so far have a large degree of superpower shenanigans or large scale combat. Here, I'm gonna tune it down a bit to focus on something much more grounded. The Soul Seer blog was pretty grounded, but the series itself has a large focus on superpowers. Here, I'd like to focus on grounded, small scale, raw violence. This is also gonna be a bit of a short one, given it's a completed series with a shorter page count. But don't assume this is gonna be a breeze. I suppose a spoiler warning is warranted too.

Background

"Unlike what you think, I am not a good person. Not a good wife. Much less a good mother."

Can anyone truly flee from their past? Wounds may heal, but what remains is a scar, a reminder of the pain experienced. And when your past catches up to you becomes a problem for those you care about more than the world, you may have to make some difficult choices.

This very much applies to Mortalia, a drow assassin and a mother of two. A young boy named Uki, and a baby girl named Nívia. The details of her past are left somewhat ambiguous, but what we do know is stained in blood. She used to be part of a droll assassin group only known as "The Business." She was able to balance her career with raising Uki with her human husband. When a second child was on its way, she decided to break ties with her organization and fully commit to her family. The Business didn't take her leave too kindly and murdered her husband. Even though she blamed herself for his death, attempted to kill her boss as revenge, but failed and was forced to flee. Since then, she's been on the lam with her children, roaming the snow-covered lands to reach her father's house to keep her children safe. The only reminders she has left of the life she once had are her kids, and a drawing Uki made of their entire family while her husband was still alive.

They don't stay in one place for too long, as Mortalia now has a large bounty on her head. While she was able to manage this lifestyle for a little while, it turned for the worse when three of her previous teammates came across the corpse of a bounty hunter she recently killed. There was the swordswoman Chin, the magic whip wielder Chico, and the silent brute Alab. The bounty hunter had her wanted poster on hand, so they knew they were headed in her direction.

Settling in a cave, she decided to sneak into a village to steal food for her children, leaving Uki responsible to keep his sister safe. As she's stealing some fish, she's jumped by the trio. Since no one can easily run away from the Business, they give her an ultimatum: come with them and rejoin them, or die where she stands. She isn't having any of that after what they did to her husband and challenges them. It's a tough fight, but she was able to flee from them. The fight resulted in her mask being scarred and her treasured drawing cut in half.

Thankfully she was able to bring back the fish she stole and provided to her young ones. After her fight with the Business, she made the decision that Uki should continue the journey without her and take Nívia to their grandfather's. She gives him her compass, which will direct them to his house. Once she settles her score with the assassins, she'll meet him at the house.

That was a lie.

Once Uki was out of sight, she burned her supply bag and tossed what was left of the drawing into the fire. She left to take the trio head on in a brutal fight. No more running from her problems, she has to face them head on. It took a while, but she singlehandedly killed everyone. All it cost was her eye.

Uki and Nívia successfully made it to their grandfather's house, and he noticed the other half of the drawing tucked in Nívia's cradle. On the back of it was a letter. It detailed how she's unable to take care of her children anymore and that they deserve a far better guardian than she could ever be.

What's become of Mortalia since then is unknown. Maybe she went off to take down the rest of her Business, or perhaps return to her life of assassination. What's certain is that her children are safe and won't be endangered by her violent past ever again.

Equipment

Sword

Mortalia doesn't need much to get the job done. Her go-to tool is mainly her sword, a decently sized blade that comes with a sheath.

Knife

Her other weapon is a small knife she keeps tucked in her boot, which comes with its own sheath.

Compass

Not only is it handy for directions, but it's also magic! It's able to pinpoint exact locations and take her there. By the end of the comic, she gives it to Uki to find his grandfather.

Abilities

Stealth Mastery

Mortalia is uncannily sneaky. Even after she's caught, she has a habit of leaving without a trace. One minute she's thrown through a wall, and the next moment she's vanished. She can use that to her advantage to catch people by surprise. She can move so quickly undetected that it might as well be teleportation.

Enhanced Reflexes

She has fast reaction speeds, able to respond to attacks faster than any normal person

Heightened Agility

While not comparable to those of I've covered previously, she's able to move quicker and jump higher than any average person

Techniques

N/A

Feats

Overall

• She slayed a bounty hunter that jumped her and her kids by slashing him in the side, then stabbing him in the head when he's weakened
• She was able to hold her own against her three pursuers at once
• She beat one of them in a one-stroke duel
• She blocked an axe swing that caused a sizable explosion, and managed to hide quickly amidst the destruction. All it cost was her eye
• One of the pursuers she killed was Alab, who was easily the strongest and towered over her in size and mass

Strength

• Her sword can cut through people with ease
• She’s strong enough to knock over a crate full of wood with a single hand
• She decapitated Chico
• Killed Alab, a man much larger than herself and is strong enough to throw her through walls

Speed

• She dodged a knife thrown at her
• Was able to react fast enough to chop off part of a magic vine whip
• Narrowly dodged a giant axe swung at her
• She’s known for getting out of tough situations really quickly, as if she vanishes into thin air

Durability

• Was thrown through a wooden wall by Alab, sending her toppling across the snow
• She was thrown through another wall of the same building
• Blocked an axe swing from Alab that blew out a chunk of a wall
• She was pinned between Alab and a wall, causing cracks in it before being falling through said wall

Weaknesses

• While she does have the concentration to take on three people at once, she's susceptible to non-preemptive surprise attacks. An example being after she cut off a part of Chico's whip, she didn't expect the severed whip to fly back across her face.
• She sometimes hesitates when touchy memories are brought up

Matchup Potential

What I'd value in a Mortalia fight is the atmosphere. Mortalia comes from a fantasy world set in a snow-covered landscape. It doesn't use many colors, so when blood appears, it really pops out. I'd want her opponent to fit into a setting like that, along with being thematic to her and matching her scale. A single parent trying to shield their children from their blood-covered past by giving them a better life than they could ever provide just sounds like it could have a lot of emotional weight to it. On top of having a small scale, the combat could be really gritty and have a gruesome kill.

A mutual of mine suggested Tobu from Frostheart. While it does seem like a sort of tonal clash and his arc seems more like a found family one than a "sacrificing for the better of others" sort of journey, it does sound interesting on paper. I dunno enough about him to dedicate a section to the matchup, but I'll just keep it as is until I'm able to learn more.

NEXT TIME ON WCAB… whenever I feel like it