I'm not entirely sure either, but I think this was different. It was intended to hop from one living being to another. The spirits that stay behind to guide us accepted death. He tried to cheat it.

[ A humorless smile. ]

I wonder if he thought everyone was greedy like him.

[ Clearly he expected Ezra to accept his offer. To want more. To deny death.

It still saddens him to think of the lives destroyed. ]