GREED: ALL FOR WHAT?

The more souls he brainwashes and grafts, the more memories he has at his disposal to brainwash. That's why someone like the great mother was sure that no one would be able to steal the memories of her soul fragments without getting a memory backlash and being brainwashed. Unfortunately for her, he had Origin essence to maintain the integrity of his consciousness.

Malekite was bombarded with memories from different entities so she stopped struggling. Legion-7 stopped at that point and went ahead to graft her soul. Any more memory infusement would have made her mad.

His reward for his hard work came swiftly. Her soul melted into his soul force and empowered it. It is the first time that soul grafting has empowered his soul force directly. Soul fragments usually enhance his soul, not his soul force.

"This is not bad." He muttered. "I didn't need to create and fuse with a concept to increase the power of my soul force."

"This isn't the end of it either. I can absorb the godhood for its divinity or I can use it for its domain."

With Malekit dead, her godhood and domain became his to use. A close-up encounter with her godhood made him realize what was so tantalizing about godhoods. It is the divinity that they possess that is causing the longing from deep within his soul.

Divinity is formed from purified, refined, and crystallized faith. It strengthens the soul of a god thereby increasing their divine power. He realized that it could also strengthen his soul and make him evolve.

He considered his options and made up his mind. "I should keep it for now and use it to get more gods."

The divine will within the divinity is not a problem for him. He can assimilate it without any fear of being corroded. But that will weaken the godhood. He decided not to do that in favor of future returns.

This godhood has given him the domain of spores within this plane. He can use that domain to hunt more gods and if he comprehends how this domain works, he can learn how to create his own spores without the godhood.

Besides, the identity of the god of plagues will make a lot of things easier to do. It is prioritizing long-term goals over short-term goals.

So he took over the divine position of Malekite the god of diseases and plagues. Then he called back all the spores to him. Even the army at the frontlines retreated. Then he began strengthening them.

-----

Gholu the god of ghouls was perplexed by the sequence of events. The two armies were fighting. Then the Malekites froze and allowed themselves to be slaughtered. This continued for more than an hour during which the army of Malekites was decimated. Then the remaining Malekites unfroze only to retreat in panic.

They look like a sorry bunch that can be crushed with the slightest pressure. Everything makes it seem that he should rush forward with his army to destroy the Malekites. But he didn't do so. It seemed too easy.

Gholu sneered, "I have never seen such a clumsy bait in all 112,000 years of my life."

Their act was so obvious to him that he was sure that there was a trap waiting for him. He is certain of it because this battle has been too easy. The whole situation reeks of a scheme. So he will not rush forward into Malekite's territory to destroy her army and fight her. Instead, he will let her bait go to waste. He will let her soldiers that died die in vain.

He thought about it and he couldn't help but sneer. "If you think you can fool me, then you have got it wrong. I will wait here and see what you plan."

He is certain of a trap but he isn't certain of what the trap is. But that is already good enough. As long as he doesn't fall into the trap then whatever she is scheming won't succeed.

There is nothing wrong with his reason. He has made the right judgment with all the information he has at hand. After all, if Malekite were strong enough to defeat him directly, she wouldn't need schemes. And if she isn't strong enough to defeat him directly, then there is no reason to rush headfirst into her territory without knowledge of what he is rushing into.

So he planned to continue to probe her with his army. His army didn't go after the running Malekites but bypassed them and tried to enter her territory. He expected resistance but there was none. His army was able to sweep into her territory unhindered.

He chuckled with mirth, "It seems you are not willing to come out yet. I admire your determination to put up a convincing act of vulnerability but I won't fall for it. I may not be ancient but I am wise."

He still decided not to deal the finishing blow despite how weak Malekite appeared. So he controlled his army to avoid her army while destroying the infrastructure and buildings in her kingdom.

"I want to see how long you can act while I destroy your foundation."

Malekite still didn't come out to stop him. It made his army enjoy a lot of success in wiping out the race of Malekites living in the kingdom of spores. It also made him anticipate his future when he kills Malekite and gains her domain.

He thought to himself smugly, "And they said I was too young. They said I was too unruly and ambitious. Who is right now?"

He was already picturing the grand future when he would wield the domain of plagues and diseases in conjunction with the domain of spores. His rise to high god will be all but certain. Even becoming a grand god is not out of the question.

But then there was a change after an hour of wanton destruction. It brought him out of his daydreaming. Some strange Malekites appeared and confronted his army.