[Malik's brow twitches as he's yelled at, and while he's still in too much residual pain to really bark back, his words are cold and firm enough that it has the same effect.]

The Rod doesn't work from a distance. I needed soul fragments in order to control the Ghouls and others from afar. My plans wouldn't have worked without them. It hardly matters anyway...as long as I can finish what I set out to do.