Seeing how his moves were being constantly neutralised by Max, Angakok decided to take a very drastic step and cut his losses short. 

Max's ascended tier6 soul was way too strong within his own body and was exerting a soul drain that was getting increasingly difficult for Angakok to bear. 

Taking over a god's body was never an easy task, however, with the betrayal of Khnum and Max showing unexpected resilience, Angakok knew his plan was a bust. 

If he did not wish to perish now and be absorbed in full by the young boy, he needed to smartly acknowledge his defeat here today and retreat. 

Gathering the last bit of tier7 divine essence he had left in his body, Angakok began retreating away from Max's soul vessel as the repelling force of the soul vessel helped him in accelerating his retreat. 

Before Max could even begin to realise what Angakok's ploy was, he activated the return skill and exited Max's soul space in hopes of going back to his own body. 

This time, he was using his own essence to power the soul stone instead of Khnum doing it so even this return process was extremely taxing on Angakok, however, just when he thought things couldn't get much worse than this and that he would just regroup to fight another day, things got even more worse for him as he found himself within the constraints of an old withered body. 

Instead of moving back to his own body as he had intended to, he was taken back to the only empty body that was available in the third pod which was Khnum's. 

The dastardly sea god had already taken control of his body and exited the ritual pod, leaving only one option for Angakok's soul to take root in. 

The frustration that Angakok felt in having to inhibit the body of the weak old sea god was indescribable. 

The sea god's bones were weak, his muscles lacked the proper density, his organs were barely functional and his stature at 5'10 was not enough to be an elite warrior. 

" I don't care about the boy, Khnum you bastard I'll kill you first when I wake up, I swear " Angakok said with pure hatred In his voice as he had never felt as angry at someone as he did today. 

The old geezer had double-crossed him despite all the threats that he had given him about the consequences of cheating him. 

If Angakok did not kill him here today, his aura as the ever dangerous shaman god would completely cripple. 

******* 

( Meanwhile Max ) 

Max woke up groggily once Angakok left his body as he felt immense pain in his neck and abdomen where he had been punched by Angakok, but otherwise he felt okay as he dizzily sat up amongst the pool of liquid that he was in. 

" Master Kremeth? " Max asked questionably as he saw an old turtle fighting against a sea of water using wind moves and assumed it was his master Kremeth. 

It was the first time since the white dragon attacked their hideout in the dragon's paradise that Max was seeing his master Kremeth in full armour and his complete muscular form instead of his old shrivelled body. 

If one could see past the white chest hair and beard, they would notice that Kremeth would have been extremely handsome back in the day and would have been undoubtedly popular with the ladies. 

" Boy, is that you? " Kremeth, who noticed Max waking up mid-battle said, as his voice contained a trace of worry. 

Max who understood the question said " It is indeed your cowardly disciple master Kremeth, He has successfully repelled the attack of the dastardly shaman god " 

Kremeth still did not believe Max, as a true coward he needed to further confirm Max's identity, so he said " Immediately speak the fourth rule of the way of the cowards" 

" Way of the cowards, lesson 4 - If your gut says something is wrong, then trust the goddamn thing and run " Max replied instantly, as Kremeth nodded. 

" May the cowardice be with you - " Kremeth said 

" Amen " Max replied instantly as he clapped his hands together. 

With this interaction Kremeth was assured that it was indeed his disciple who was speaking. 

The mannerism and the knowledge was perfect. 

Even if Angakok took over his memories and body, he would need time to organise them to pretend at this level and would not seem so natural. I think you should take a look at

This meant that it was indeed Max who had came out on top. 

" Hahahaha, the cowardice is indeed with you my boy, otherwise I'd have to put your body 6 feet under today " Kremeth said as he blocked a massive attack from Khnum. 

Max, who saw how happy his master was to see him alive, couldn't help but chuckle too. 

When the chips were against him, his master was one of the few people he could always count on. 

He did not need to imagine what would happen if Kremeth was not here to counter Khnum. 

He would most likely already be dead. 

" I'll give you a hand master " Max said as he began to rise up towards the point where Kremeth was fighting Khnum in the sky, but was met with a gale of wind from Kremeth which forced him to pause. 

" Are you mentally redundant boy? Why the hell should I or you spend a second more on this planet? 

I was only fighting to keep you safe, Khnum and Angakok can rot in hell for all we care " Kremeth said as he reprimanded Max for his stupidity. 

Sometimes Kremeth felt that apart from the combat training that he gave Max regarding the wind and how to block attacks properly, his student had learnt nothing from him regarding the way of the cowards. 

His fighting style reeked of arrogance and he used brutish methods to deal with his enemy with a single minded approach. 

That was not how cowards should fight or behave and it frustrated Kremeth to no end. 

Thankfully, under his reprimand Max did understand the assignment and began flying out of the planet bailing out of the fight as Kremeth sighed in relief. 

He was not afraid of not being able to retreat himself as being a wind user he knew he was the fastest when he wanted to be. 

However, before he ran away, in an unmissable turn of events he saw Khnum's old body rise from the pod it was in as the eyes of the old sea god's body burned with an intense purple flame that was unique to Angakok. 

" I told you there would be consequences of double crossing me " Angakok said as his voice sent goosebumps down the spine of Khnum who realised he was screwed now that Angakok was awake. 

" You can't do anything to me with that weak body of yours. I'M THE STRONGER ONE NO- " Khnum said as he tried to sound brave and threatening as he wished to reverse the dynamic between himself and Angakok, but before he could even complete his sentence his body erupted with a purple flame as Khnum howled in pain. 

[ Painful Soul Drain ] 

Both Max and Kremeth watched in horror as Angakok practically devoured his own body as a purple flame slowly reduced Khnum to nothing and released a trail of divine energy that Angakok absorbed to improve his complexion within Khnum's body. 

Angakok had planned for this long ago, even if he woke up in Max's body and everything went well, to recover his lost soul strength he was going to use this very move and devour Khnum. 

It wasn't an attack move as much as it was a planned move with Angakok having already inscribed the insides of his soul space within his old body with these soul drain inscriptions which could be activated upon his command, however, to make the process painful was his own vengeful touch. 

Khnum who was so happy to take over a young body just moments ago and was on-top of the world was now howling in pain as he constantly begged Angakok for mercy. 

" Please spare me, I'll forever be your loyal slave…. Please I'll never go against your will ever again, I was foolish, blinded by my desire to become young again, please…. Oh great shaman god spare me" Khnum begged and begged but his pleas fell on deaf ears as Angakok showed him no mercy. 

In two minutes, the previous body of Angakok was reduced to nothing as he himself recovered a significant portion of his lost soul strength albeit now in a weaker vessel. 

Standing up, Angakok scanned both Max and Kremeth with an expression of extreme focus and anger as he said " This is not over yet. We will meet again " 

Angakok knew he needed to acclimatise to this new body before he could fight properly and that with Khnum's old body it would be hard to fight against both Max and Kremeth together, but before he retreated he reminded the duo that although he was leaving today their business had not been officially concluded. 

On that ominous note, the soul saga finally ended with Max managing to retain his body and Angakok forced on the backfoot.