Ning sat inside the carriage, ready to hear so information surrounding everything. There had been a few too many things being kept at bay and he didn't like it.
Shara sat next to him and Matthew sat not far from them.
The woman, healer, sat adjacent to them, looking at both of them.
"First of all, let introduce myself. I am Marina Ann Glow, daughter of Torris Ann Glow. You can call Marina or just Mari," the woman said.
"Nice to et you, sister Mari," Ning said from the side.
The woman nodded softly. "I am sorry I have been keeping everything to myself, but I see that we must talk. I do not know if it is by fate or by coincidence, but we have co together unexpectedly."
"I am sure this is just a coincidence," Matthew said. "I do not believe in things such as fate."
Ning didn't say anything. Fate… was a complicated topic to explain, even for him. It existed, but at the sa ti, it did not.
Fate was usually either manipulation by a higher power that governed the world or simply a coincidence that was predicted earlier than it happened.
"Sister Mari, you are the first person I have t who knows what I am. Can you please explain it to ? Why are people hunting ? What is so bad about that I must die?" Shara asked.
"I'm… sorry?" Mari looked confused. "You are a Reaper, are you not? Why would people try to hurt you for that?"
"That is why they have co after ," Shara said. "That was why the army today was here. They were following because we fought their allies and left."
Mari frowned for a mont, turning to look at Ning. She had heard part of the story from Ning back in the city when she had healed his arm, but she had never even begun to think that the person they had fought could possibly be a battalion commanders.
"A Reaper?" Matthew asked. "What is that?"
"Do you not know?" Ning asked, curious. "If the Empire's soldiers knew, I would've assud you knew too. You have been fighting in a war for so ti now, haven't you?"
"I have, but I have never heard of this term before," the man said. "Maybe it's not sothing I am supposed to know about?"
"It is the information passed down through the nobles only," Mari quickly said. "Reapers are the strongest sort of Spirit Awakener. They are sotis even considered the antithesis to a normal Spirit Awakener."
"While a regular Spirit Awakener's power is the make use of spirits or take care of them, a Reaper's whole identity is to taking away agency from anything spirit related, be it the Spirit itself or the power one gains from a spirit."
"Unlike a regular Spirit Awakener who has 2 powers, a Reaper has 4. Spectral Destruction, Spectral Harvesting, Spectral Binding, and Spectral Negation."
"Spectral Destruction allows a Reaper to destroy a Spirit they co into contact with. I believe that you cannot see a Spirit, right?" Mari asked.
Shara nodded. "I haven't yet seen or felt a single spirit.'
"Yes, this power of yours can only be used when a Spirit takes over soone else. When you have a physical dium to contact the Spirit, you can destroy it completely."
"Oh!" Shara said. "That's why I can destroy the raised dead. So it is a power I have to use. I feared all souls that ca into contact with would die."
"They don't just die by being around you," Mari said. "Spectral Harvesting is just that, but for Spirit Awakeners instead of Spirits. You can take away all of their energy, leaving them with no power."
Shara nodded.
"Spectral Binding is when you take the energy from a Spirit Awakaner and bind it into an object," Mari said. "It creates artifacts that only Spirit Awakeners can use at the cost of their own energy."
"That is what I did today to make the spear," Shara said.
Mari nodded.
"Why aren't there more Spirit Artifacts in this world?" Ning asked, joining the conversation. "If making an artifact is as easy as that, shouldn't we go around finding people who aren't happy with their own powers and ask them to give it to a Reaper so that you can make more artifacts?"
"Oh!" Matthew chid in. "That's right. But, I know of Spirit Artifact's existence. There aren't that many. Even the Republic has no more than 42 in total, and not all of them are useful in war. Even if there is a single Reaper in this world, shouldn't there be a ton of Spirit Artifacts?"
"It's not that simple," Mari said. "Spectral Binding doesn't just take away one's Spirit energy. It takes away their Spirit Awakening itself."
"What?" Shara asked, surprised.
"Yes. To make a single artifact, you would need to waste a capable Spirit Awakener. A random Spirit Awakener wouldn't work either since you need strong Awakeners to make strong artifacts."
"Oh!" the three of them said at once.
"No wonder there are so few of them," Matthew said.
Mari nodded. "And finally, Spectral Negation is a Reaper's power to negate any effect from a Spirit or a Spirit Awakener. No powers that would directly affect you can affect you and no spirit can take over you. They would die instantly."
Shara rembered the first day she had awakened and was being tested for what she was. A spirit there had died before any of them had known what had happened.
"Four powers," Matthew said. "That's quite incredibly, young miss. Congratulations on becoming this mythical figure."
Shara gave a small smile, but awakening as one had been more trouble than not so she wasn't sure if it was worth it just yet.
"I must say, you know a lot," Ning said. "Nobles must be taught quite well for you to know all of this."
"They do, but that's not why I know so much," Mari said. She took a deep breath and revealed the truth to them.
"My brother was a Reaper as well."
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