Emperor Ing

The Emperor Ing is the absolute leader and commander of the Ing Horde, their alpha and omega. It was the first Ing to come into existence, and the most powerful. While it commands the Ing Horde from its lair in the Sky Temple, it also works to absorb as much Phazon and planetary energy as it can, mutating its body and becoming ever more powerful.

Biology
Like lesser Ing, the Emperor is a metamorph, and fights in several forms. The first resembles a massive, twisted tree trunk topped by an orb, which sprouts numerous tentacles. The Emperor Ing can attack physically with the tentacles or launch powerful energy attacks. Once all the tentacles have been damaged or destroyed, the creature’s out shell retracts, revealing a glowing "eye" of almost-pure energy surrounded by a protective shell.

When damaged sufficiently, the Emperor Ing sheathes its lower “trunk” with the crowning orb and hardens it into a nigh-impenetrable shell. The shell protects the Ing ruler while it mutates and regenerates. The shell is magnetically charged, and Spider Ball technology can be used to cling to it. While immobile in this state, the beast is far from helpless; it produces a thick fog of highly toxic purple gas, can spawn Inglets from a structure atop the shell, and attack with short tentacles through small holes in the shell. The tissue around these holes is softer than the surrounding shell and can be damaged by explosives, though the shell loses no actual structural integrity until all of the weak spots have been destroyed.

This gives the Ing ruler enough time to complete its metamorphosis into a creature resembling a massively overgrown Warrior Ing. Through gaps in its carapace, the creature’s glowing "heart" can be seen; this is actually concentrated energy absorbed by the Emperor Ing and bonded with its body. The red light signals a durable energy barrier.The Emperor can alter the polarity of its “heart” between light and dark energy at will; doing so renders it resistant to its own polarity and permits the use of certain abilities tied to that energy type. If the heart is destabilized with opposite-polarity energy, the Emperor Ing dies.