The pile of rubble slightly shifted as large pieces of wood went flying. Harper’s body was slowly revealed as she climbed out of the wreckage while coughing. She pulled an out a shard of wood that was embedded in her shoulder with a small grunt. Harper took a few breaths before she stuck her hand back into the debris and pulled an unconscious Sin out. He fared far worse than Harper since he had no chance defend himself while being restrained, in addition to his broken arms. She tossed his body away, but his fall was cushioned by the snow. Harper held her injured arm and descended from the ruined cathedral shortly after.

Harper silently sat down in the snow next to Sin and took a quick rest while evaluating her next step. The flurries of snow had become heavier which meant she had to leave soon if she wanted to keep Sin alive. The reason she was concerned about his well being wasn’t as noble as it might have looked from the outside. Harper wanted to know what went on in detail to make sure she didn’t leave any loose ends, and she was prepared to make Sin talk about it whether he wanted to or not.

Suddenly, her ears slightly twitched and she looked toward the cathedral to see the rubble moving on its own. A blue light flickered in her eyes as she looked with her spectral vision and the only thing she saw was a pale blue flame that was far brighter than normal living creatures. Harper sucked her teeth and then stood up, preparing for a confrontation.

“Heh...heh...heh…” An inorganic and distorted sounding voice echoed loudly throughout the area.

A figure burst out of the rubble and looked around before its gaze landed on Harper and she, in turn, looked at it. A grotesque man who seemed to be living and dead. It couldn't be no one other than Oren, but his body had undergone a massive change. Half the skin on his face was missing, exposing part of his skull with a pale blue eyeball in his eye socket. His body which was previously average height had grown to be 7-feet. The bones that were exposed were far denser than a normal human and the flesh that could be seen carried a rotten look and was covered in dark blue veins.

“Shit.” Harper cursed to herself which, when coupled with her childish voice, sounded strange to hear.

“Can you feel it?” Oren asked as hit tattered black robes fluttered in the wind. “I walk between life and death, child. Can you feel it? The souls of the dead making their way to me...Yes...Those you’ve killed recently. I would thank you, but this entire place is basically a graveyard.” His voice was deep and off-putting, and those who heard it would instantly feel a sense of revulsion.

Harper wanted to say something but could see little pale blue wisps flickering toward the man.

“U-Uncle…” Sin awoke and cried out feebly. “Uncle...Help...Me…” he weakly raised his broken arm toward his Uncle.

“Useless. You’re completely useless and so were your parents, boy.” Oren laughed.

“My...parents?” Sin asked in disbelief, knowing what the implications were, but hoping for something else.

“It seems I should tell you the truth before you die. I’m the one who killed them. Your father got me banished from the family when they discovered my necromancy. Why would I let those ignorant fools carry on without repaying my disgrace?” Oren said with a nasty half smile.

“No...No...No! No!” Sin cried as he looked at his Uncle in horror.

“Quiet.” Oren waved his hand causing Sin to fly into a tree.

Harper looked at whatever the old man had become while attempting to use her spectral control. Since he was something close to a Lich she should’ve had an edge over him in theory, but Oren seemed to notice what she was doing and smirked.

“You may have some abilities related to the dead but in the end, you are very much alive. At this moment, I stand on the boundary between two worlds, living and dead…” Oren trailed off as the souls of the dead rushed toward him, parting the cloud and causing the snow in the immediate area to come to a halt.

“...You won’t win, child.” Oren spoke as if Harper was already dead.

Silence pervaded the air before Harper began to giggle. As she laughed, she tilted her head toward the two moons in the sky.

“Blah, blah, blah. Why are you talking so much?” Harper asked. Feeling the moonlight beaming down on her reinvigorated her and allowed her to think clearly. Her eyes shined with a pale blue light as she looked at all the souls being funneled toward Oren’s body. She remembered that she had an ability that required a numerous amount of souls to use and Oren had provided them.

“Insolent child.” Oren forced the souls into the shape of a giant palm that slammed down toward Harper, but it suddenly stopped right above her head.

“Oh yeah, I know someone who wants to talk to you, old man.” Harper smiled brightly. “Since you brought all those souls here, I should use them,” she added on.

Before Oren could respond, Harper’s skin and eyes turned completely white for a few seconds as a fog rushed out from under her.

“What are you–Stop! Stop it!” Oren fell to his knees as he watched all the souls get absorbed at a speed that was impossible to keep track of.

“No! No! No! Who are you?!” The silhouette of a woman flickered in and out of his vision as he felt his power dwindle away.

Hundreds of spectral chains appeared around Harper before rushing toward Oren and digging into his body. Oren roared as he began to be pulled apart. It was an utterly humiliating ending for all his life’s work. Without being able to struggle, Oren was ripped into pieces and the souls he had called on were completely absorbed into the fog of purgatory.

Harper’s wounds gushed blood as she stumbled a few feet before falling into the snow. Purgatorial Embodiment wasn’t an ability that could be used casually, even a few seconds was potentially deadly. To put it into perspective, Harper could conjure her Phantom and her spectral weapons up to ten times before it started to take a heavy toll. When using Purgatorial Embodiment, she could summon hundreds of spectral chains without breaking a sweat. Of course, the real cost came after the ability ended.

…

Harper found herself sitting at a familiar ivory table, right across from the Will of Purgatory.

“You’ve done quite well and even grew a large amount.” The Will said with a satisfied smile.

“...Thank you.” Harper responded after delaying quite a bit.

The Will wasn’t bothered by Harper at all because she knew the reason she seemed to be absent-minded.“I brought you here as soon as I could to reduce a portion of the recoil, but you don’t seem to need it. Whatever is in your bloodline is helping you recover quick enough to avoid any fatal injuries.”

“Ah…” Harper nodded without much thought.

“Well, moving on from that. I’ve met two very interesting people that seem to have a close connection to Ira.” The Will said as she snapped her fingers.

The wall of fog surrounding them parted and two people stumbled out, both male and female and both young.

“If I recall correctly, your names were…” The Will looked at the two people before continuing, “Gerald and Zella, no?”

The two nodded while shivering, occasional bits of incoherent words emerged from their mouths, but other than that they seemed in acceptable condition, on the surface that was.

The Will of Purgatory directed her gaze back onto Harper before speaking. “I’ve used quite a bit of power to keep their souls from corroding and kept them from advancing further into purgatory, but it is impossible to do much more. I am not willing to suffer the repercussions of defying the laws of the mortal plane, so I’ll task you with bringing Ira here to say his last words. After this one kindness, I will no longer preserve the souls of anyone associated with him.”

“...Yes...Ira...I’ll tell...him…” Harper answered.

“I’m sure you’ll do just that, but take care not forget, little one. It would be quite upsetting to have wasted so much power for no reason.”

“I won’t...forget…” Harper said.

The Will of Purgatory snapped her fingers again and Gerald and Zella disappeared back into the fog.

“I’ll hope you’ll pardon me for sending you away so quickly, but I’ll be sending you back. I’m very cautious about drawing too much attention. Farewell, for now, little one.” The Will snapped her pure white fingers, sending Harper away immediately.

…

A few hours later.

Harper’s body shot straight up, she opened her eyes before wincing in pain. There were a lot of wounds on her body and her healing rate was nowhere near Ira’s, so she would suffer quite a lot while waiting for her injuries to heal.

“Ow. Ow. Ow. Fucking Ow!” Harper clutched her head and yelled to no one in particular as she climbed out of a frozen patch of blood and snow. She also wasn’t able to ignore the pain as much as Ira.

The sun was rising, signifying the arrival of the morning. The light shined down on the ruined church, and many bodies in its close vicinity, each one frozen solid, except one.

“Sin.” Harper spat as she twisted her baton into a staff and used it to support her as she walked. She limped over to Sin and looked at him, he was as good as dead, so there was no need for Harper to take any action.

His eyes slightly shook as he looked Harper. “He...killed...them.”

A few memories flashed through Harper’s mind which caused her to twist her staff into a baton and place it on her belt before sitting next to Sin.

“My…” She struggled for a moment before continuing, “My parents were killed too.” She said as she looked at the ruins of the cathedral.

“You...too?...Were...were...you...sad?” Sin asked weakly.

“Yeah...I was and the man who killed them kept me locked up in a room for a long time...” Harper’s expression darkened before it cleared up, “I thought I was gonna die until Ira saved me.” In that way, she saw a few similarities in Sin, the only difference was his captor essentially brainwashed him.

“...Ira?” Sin’s breathing had begun to slow.

“Ira, he’s like my brother...He is my brother. He’s the nicest, funniest, strongest person I know.” Harper said with pride.

Sin smiled as his vision began to fade. “Do...you...think...he...would...be...my...brother...too?”

“Of course.” Harper nodded vigorously. “He would’ve killed your stupid uncle much sooner and then we wouldn’t have had to fight at all.”

Sin’s smile grew brighter as a single tear fell, “I...wish...that...I...wish...it” Sin’s voice faded as his expression went stiff and he exhaled for the last time.

Harper closed his eyes before standing up and dusting the snow off of her body. It was only then she noticed a wet sensation on her face. She hurriedly wiped her eyes before speaking.

“It was only snow melting.” She said to herself. “It was only snow.” The snow continued to melt for some time as she stood by Sin under a withered old tree.

...