"By utilizing the feeling of my gold, I can transport myself to each and every piece I've made in an instant," he explained, "I visited your planet, Klein, and saw how much your people have advanced."
Klein was happy to hear that, but was still astonished by his words, "You traveled... to my home planet... in an instant? Didn't that trip take us months?!"
"That's exactly right. Only a portion of the Ruler's Greed has pierced my soul, yet the advancement I've seen is already this fruitful!"
"It would seem that due to the witch hunter's souls having part of the Ruler's Greed, he could absorb it and in turn fuse their souls into his own."
The Ruler's Greed was enough to capture and store the extra souls and combine the bits of it into his actual soul since there was nowhere else for them to exist.
He did this entirely through his own ability, so there were no side effects whenever the witch hunter's souls merged with his own.
'I need more souls to devour,' he thought without even realizing the nature of his greed.
As if they could read his thoughts, Superego pointed out the truth, "Looks like we got another soul eater amongst our ranks. This many souls should suffice, no?"
Barter's Ruler could only give a wry smile, "I spared Null out of greed. It only makes sense that I would have no qualms with my selfish desires should I feed into them."
His words revealed his true nature instantly, shocking those who once considered him to be a kind, older man.
Before anyone could respond or even react, Barter's Ruler fell to his knees as he vanished with a final golden flash.
What he was about to do, he did not wish for the others to bear witness despite his previous foreshadowing.
"We know he's not going to go on a sudden killing spree, right," Null asked to no one in particular.
The silence was deafening as no one in particular responded.
Barter's Ruler had left the crew.
"Can we even stop him," Klein looked to Superego for an answer.
"Even if we were able to guess the location in which he traveled, the time it would take to reach him would render the travel useless to stop him in time."
"What about Void's ability to cross through space? Didn't you guys reach inside It's mind or something," Z'oelo was reminded by Muni, so he asked in her place.
Superego most likely had the capability of performing a direct transfer to Barter's Ruler's location.
"What makes you think you could stop him," Theef said what the others were not considering.
All but Edmond that is.
---
On Planet Barter, the people were once again greeted by their suddenly appearing ruler.
After they calmed themselves, he said his goodbyes and headed for the prison.
Once there, he talked with the captain about gathering the prisoners with life sentences so that he could use them for his advancement.
Confused at first, the captain soon understood that they were all likely to die for one of the ruler's newest requirements.
Right he was as Barter's Ruler used each one of them to practice his control over the process of coating their souls with his Ruler's Greed.
He had a slight understanding of souls after fusing some into his own as well as Superego's finer control when probing his own.
Relying on the familiar feeling rather than starting from scratch, he easily found the way to inject the energy into the souls of those before him.
There were plenty of people who came to his planet with greed of their own, but none could match Barter's Ruler's own.
Some would commit heinous acts due to their greed and put themselves on a one-way track to the prison, some even taken down by Barter's Ruler himself.
Just like the three Immortals under his control, he only had plans for those individuals that decided to join the ranks of his test subjects.
He tested how much Royal's Greed the prisoners could take and noticed the change in his own soul once he fused the souls into his own.
As a result, he could absorb more than before when Superego had started their own experiment.
His power grew along with his control over souls and his energy.
Slowly but surely, this method would lead to complete Enlightenment as his soul was being synchronized with the Ruler's Greed that brought him to Transcendence.
'Maybe the others could grasp a Universal Rule based on the Emotions under Null's control.'
The ruler had regained his control over his thoughts and was in a state where he could think of the others.
Ever since he gained an epiphany when Null mentioned the three cores of his strength, he had pondered ways of resonating with his soul.
Now, he could even consider the soul of others.
Especially Klein and Z'oelo as he considered them to be his juniors.
Even the newest additions, Tino and Angie, had their own traits that gave them potential.
He was certain that Edmond would have an easier time with souls as he was the Devil, an entity tied to the souls of those in his realm.
As for Evangeline, she was in the same boat aside from the being that her powers came from.
She had the most potential to become Enlightened even without having a Universal Rule under her belt.
Theef was the final one he had to consider, but he was the one he had the most difficulty analyzing.
His soul was clearly tied to his own power, but he was capable of stealing others' treasures and making them his own.
Theef walked a path that was all encompassing much like Null's except he was a monster that had the potential to become something more frightening than Barter's Ruler's own self.
He was about to put the thoughts aside when suddenly, Superego and Null appeared from a black vortex.
They were not shocked to see the corpses, only the location of the event was different from what was expected.
"So, you didn't end up going on a rampage. Good! No need for the good guy speech," Null was relieved to see that Barter's Ruler's greed had not spread to the innocent.
"Did you really think I would not differ from your own approach," he was offended at the meaning of Null's words.
Null and Superego looked at each other and awkwardly laughed.
"Ouch. I'll keep that in mind seeing as we clearly weren't expecting you to do this so rationally," Null said a tad bit hurt.
"I was simply excited in the moment! How could I not be?"
"Alright! Alright. Since you've gotten a way to reach Enlightenment, I won't stop you from using this method as long as you aren't gonna change who you are."
Barter's Ruler nodded and spoke a final sentence, "It'll take a while, but I will reach a higher state of being in due time."
"Well then, I'll be awaiting your future self's arrival. You need a piece of gold to teleport places, right? Give me one."
Barter's Ruler merely lifted his hand and flicked his signature coin to Null.
Shock filled Null's face, but he knew that there must have been a reason for him to give his Universal Treasure.
He did promise Void that he could play with it after all.