Rowan might have lacked the blue Aura of Ascendancy but what he did not lack was vitality and therefore essence. All the bodies of the fallen and the smaller Shiiks consumed by the mutated Shiik had granted him so much vitality that if he wanted he could have made this mortal body at least fifty feet tall.
However, that would be a limited use of this amount of power, he already had a meat shield and another one was useless, he would rather be the tactician in the next series of incoming conflicts.
Rowan was a mortal but he was hardly helpless. The Shiik might be powerful and was his primary weapon, but he was far more deadly because of his mind.
The ship that attacked a wrong position was not a coincidence, Rowan made his presence nearly impossible to detect, and when the Shiik folded its body, any sign of life was gone.
