Quote Originally Posted by Delta4907 View Post
The firing replacement ring for Installation 04 wasn't what killed the Flood. It was the resulting explosion from the huge amount of energy that ripped it apart, completely destroying itself and as Cortana states, "did a number on the ark". In a way, it was the same way the Flood on the original Installation 04 perished, from the rings destruction.
Quote Originally Posted by ejburke View Post
Guilty Spark thought activating the ring to counter the local infestation was a good idea.

Guilty Spark thought DESTROYING the ring and the Ark was a BAD idea.

There you go.

Intent.
Somehow 343 thought that activating Halo would stop the Flood there, even though it's been pretty much hammered into us that Halo only kills the Flood's food and makes them burn themselves out when they run out of hosts.